Happy journey

Director M Gandhi makes a noteworthy debut. He is not Rohit Shetty, at least not yet. So not for him the scale or spoof thereof. On a contrasting scale to ‘Chennai Express’, we have a relatively new heroine and a searching for foothold hero trying their sincere best. He has a crew and cast assisting him rather than crowing the scene or pushing the tale at your face. And yes, the film is all about just one night travel in a train and a little thereafter.

Unfortunately, the film gets wrapped in typical clichés to wind up its narration. Even here, to the credit of the director, he ensures that the climax is short, sweet and humourous. Since it is Venkatadri Express going through the Rayalaseema belt, the profiling is bound to be there and there is also this hospital scene which makes the narration a tad jarring. The fun-filled script inevitably gets into the ‘region of violence’ for a while but quickly recovers to humour mode.

Ram Murthy (Nagineedu) is the elder patriarch of this family of sisters, brothers, son-in-law and what have you. A stickler to self-made strict rules, this family runs on an ‘errorometer’ to be conscious and scared of. The golden domestic rule is: touch 100 on the error calculator and you are banished like Subramanyam (Prithvi) was so many years ago. While all members are safe with poor counts on the calculator, the younger son Sandeep (Sundeep Kishna) is perilously close to the century mark. The reason is that he just can’t keep away from trouble while dad believes in total indifference to happenings around. After a very contrived intro of the hero and an intro to the other family members, trouble begins when the family alight the Venkatadri Express for the wedding of the elder son Brahmaji (Brahmaji). Mom leaves the traditional mangalsutra back home and it is for Sandeep who is to quickly go and get it without the knowledge of his dad. Also heading for Tirupati in Venkatadri Express is Prarthana (Rakul Preet Singh). The two meet. Talk of initial misunderstandings, the warming up, the slow but sure blossoming romance, this time in the midst of some hilarious support coming in the form of auto driver Anji (Thagubothu Ramesh), Bhadra (MS Narayana), Dastagiri (Saptagiri) and you are on this ride of fun and frolic. Stating anything more would be telling. Watch and have 127 minutes of fun. The gags may not be very innovative or fresh, but they click and that is what matters.

The lead pair are not bottled down by an image and this works to their advantage. Both try sincerely to put in an effort and hopefully we would get to see more of them in the future. The film, however, belongs to the director and the comic moments. Thagubottu Ramesh is hilarious and his presence gives the film the most riotous moments. Also giving a fine performance is Sapthagiri as a passenger going to Tirupati for a job interview and willing to do anything to ensure the safe return of his certificates.

Take a ticket on this Express without too many expectations, have fun and return to the mundane world.-L Ravichander