Movie: Guna 369
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: SG Movie Makers
Cast: Kartikeya, Anagha, Aditya Menon, Naresh, Hema, Manju Bhargavi, Rangasthalam Mahesh and others
Music: Chaitan Bharadwaj
Cinematography: Ram Reddy
Editor: Tammiraju
Art: GM Sekhar
Producers: A. Tirumal Reddy, Anil Kadiyala
Written and Direction: Arjun Jandyala
Release Date: August 2, 2019
“RX100” fame Kartikeya has teamed up with a new director who is a disciple of Boyapati Srinu. The film’s trailer gave the impression that Kartikeya is attempting to get noticed in a mass action drama.
Let’s find out how Kartikeya has fitted in this genre.
Story:
The film is set in Ongole. Guna (Kartikeya) is a middle-class youngster who leads a simple and happy life. He gets attracted to Geetha (Anagha).
While they are deep in love, an incident happens due to his friend. He involves in a murder case related to a local rowdy Radha (Aditya Menon).
How did he land in this case and what twists are in store for him and for his girlfriend?
Artistes’ Performances:
Kartikeya who impressed in ‘RX100’ has done a typical mass hero role. While he played a simple middle-class hero, he has indulged in more action and fights later. He is okay.
Anagha lacks acting skills. Aditya Menon, Manju Bhargavi and Rangasthalam Mahesh get meaty roles and they have done justice to them. Naresh is okay. Hema is not fit for this role.
Technical Excellence:
The film has music by Chaitan Bharadwaj of ‘RX100’ fame. However, except ‘Bujji Bangaram’ nothing makes much impact.
Action stunts are good but they are over the top. Production values are decent.
Highlights:
Twist and turns
Final moments and interval bang
Drawback:
Formulaic narration
Dull romance
Weak songs
Analysis
New director Arjun Jandhyala weaved the story based on real incidents. The director has reserved the main plot for the last 20 minutes, which is engaging and interesting.
Despite the shocking twists and turns, the film runs mostly in a predictable manner with dull love sequences, with formulaic episodes.
The final twist in the movie is shocking. The director seems to have been inspired by realistic situations but his packaging of the movie should have been better.
At a time when new-age directors are giving more importance to the gripping screenplay and different narration, the director has followed the template of his guru Boyapati Sreenu.
Like his guru he has presented the film and hero in a family setup and then has taken the movie to action and revenge route.
The first half of the movie mostly runs on love and family moments which are quite boring. The romantic episodes shot on Kartikeya and Anaga are not only boring they have killed the interest in proceedings on the screen. He has tried to tell a relevant social message in a commercial format but the director should have taken care of other aspects as well.
However, the film’s last 20 minutes and the twists come as a saving grace. These penultimate scenes have made a difference. The twists and the main theme also remind us of Karthi’s “Naa Peru Siva”.
On the whole, “Guna 369” is another attempt to make an upcoming actor an action star with formulaic action blocks. This makes a routine mass movie even though its final moments are realistic, and has dealt a topical issue.
Bottom-line: Action Kartikeya
(Venkat Arikatla can be reached at [email protected])
