Movie: Beeruva
Rating: 2/5
Banner: Usha Kiran Movies, Anandi Art Creations
Cast: Sandep Kishan, Surabhi, Naresh, Saptagiri, Ajay, Mukesh Rushi and others
Editor: Gowtham Raju
Cinematography: Chota K Naidu
Music: S S Thaman
Producer: Ramoji Rao
Story, Screenplay and Direction: Kanmani
Release Date: Jan 23rd, 2015
A title like Beeruva is bound to generate some expectations among movie-goers. But all if anyone ventures into theatres hoping to watch an interesting entertainer, then it is bound to dampen their spirits. Leave aside laughing out loudly, you almost feel as breathless as being locked in an almirah from the word go. Let’s see what it is all about…
Story:
The movie opens with a lady buying a fully-furnished flat. And lo and behold, when she opens the ‘beeruva’, out falls Sanju (Sandeep Kishan). So, Sanju explains how he ended up being in the almirah. So the story goes that Sanju falls in love with Vijayawada-based Adikesava’s (Mukesh Rishi) daughter Swati (Surabhi). When his father (Naresh) has a problem, he tells him to go to Adikesava. As expected, he solves their problem, but Sanju comes back with Swathi. And so the chase begins. Now, to the big questions. How did he land in ‘beeruva’? Will he win back his love?
Artistes’ Performances:
Sandeep Kishan is his usual energetic self. As an actor, the film does not stretch his boundaries and he does full justice to the boy next door character. Actually, he had already played similar roles in other films too.
Surabhi is not great when it comes to looks and so is her performance.
Naresh who ends up at villain’s house due to his son, plays his part well. As the scared father, he pulls off his part convincingly and evokes laughs.
Shakalaka Shankar too provides comic relief with his Srikakulam accent.
For Mukesh Rishi, these roles are pretty common. As for Saptagiri, he is getting too repetitive. We hope he tries to break free from being stereo-typed.
Technical Excellence:
The technical team has quite a few biggies and this has added to the richness of the film. For starters, there is Sandeep’s uncle and leading cinematographer Chota K Naidu handling the camera. So, though it is a budget film, it is visually appealing.
Thaman has provided the music and must say it is an average album.
Though the run time is not very long, you still feel that some scenes have been stretched quite a bit and the editor could have been more generous while cutting off a few scenes.
But the art department has done a good job and their work is worth a mention. In short, one cannot find mistakes as regards the production values. Also, no director will get better team with such limited budget.
As for director Kanmani, he disappoints all those who have hoped to see something exciting to pop out of Beeruva. Instead, there is no use of ‘beeruva’ in the script actually. His is a simple love story with some doses of comedy. Now, that will not generate any curiosity among audiences. So, he seems to have thought of having ‘beeruva’ as a prop to generate curiosity. So while some comedy scenes are funny, Kanmani has failed as a director. As the audiences’ interest in Beeruva goes down, all they do is to wait anxiously for the end credits.
Highlights:
- Cinematography
- Production design
- Naresh, Shanker comedy
Drawbacks:
- Beeruva concept
- Routine love story
- Uninteresting comedy
Analysis:
Well, when you tell a story to a little boy, he will stop in between and insist that you tell a different story if he finds it boring. After watching Beeruva, one is left wondering as to why no one from the unit warned the director from making it.
Right from an animated ‘beeruva’ introducing itself in the opening shot, the film only goes down the slide. So, you are told that the hero who sulks and sits in the ‘beeruva’ after his dad scolds him ends up making friends with it. He sits there, eats there, studies there and even sleeps in it as he grows up.
And if you thought that was crazy, here is the surprise element. At least, that’s how we would like to see it. The hero who completes his MBA, tells his parents that he will go into the ‘beeruva’ for some time. Now, the director thinking of them as time pass is one thing and he convincing Ramoji Rao, Chota K Naidu and Thaman to be a part of this project is really mind-boggling. One has to salute Kanmani and writer for pulling it off and actually releasing their film.
The inane comedy does not stop there. The hero gets into the ‘beeruva’ and he is delivered to Hyderabad when he is chased by goondas and when he wants to go back, he once again gets into the almirah as he feels it is not safe to go by bus or train.
So, instead of being a funny, time-pass flick it leaves you surprised that the makers could actually believe that such a film would draw audiences to the theatre. Instead, they could have at least tried a ‘Tom and Jerry’ format to keep the audience in good humour. Instead the film is filled with inane and silly scenes that will want you to run out.
If you are drawn into theatres after seeing Ushakiran Movies and Aanandi Arts banners and feel that Beeruva is an interesting title, then stop there. Else, you will end up feeling suffocated trying to find out what’s in this ‘Beeruva’.
Bottomline: Oh my God!
(Venkat can be reached [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
