A watchable show

As people, you cannot get to see anyone more bohemian and double-faced than the two men shown in ‘Guntur Talkies’. Sidhu Jonnalagadda and Senior Naresh, working as employees in a medical shop are actually petty thieves, dishonest and cheaters to the core. The long arm of the law catches up with them after they steal money from the house of a cop, eventually landing them in big trouble.

If this is not disastrous enough, a smuggling gang too gets hot on their heels as the duo flick a plastic box containing drugs unknowingly, which belongs to the don (Mahesh Manjrekar). It travels out to Naresh’s village home by mistake. Among all these stressful situations, the younger rascal Sidhu gets hooked into adulterous liaisons, chases the heroine (Rashmi Gautam) till she succumbs to his charms and is forced to service a horny gun-toting Revolver Rani (Shraddha Das) who finances him too!

Riding on a situational set of scenes which play up the confusion aspects through and through, the film breezes through by and large. The language in the film, leaving nothing to imagination, is coarse and in-your-face; the crime-laden milieu in which it is shown, justifying it. The director Praveen Sattaru picks the right cast with Sidhu and Naresh keeping the momentum going excellently, the latter bringing all his acting experiences into his histrionics.

Employing a matter-of-fact tone to his persona, Sattaru shows him as a harassed husband, whose wife elopes with yet another wastrel and he having to bear the burden of a haranguing mother and a demanding set of sons. The rib-tickler of sorts comes to a smooth end as things get sorted on its own, with the bad elements perishing with a final twist to the story, the seed of an idea for a sequel at a later date.

Rashmi Gautam and Shraddha Das, despite reduced screen presence, leave their marks, the former, radiating a sizzle which many of her upcountry counterparts have not been able to. Das, enjoying her tomboyish character lives it up with comic sidekicks in tow.

Special mention is to be made of Mahesh Manjrekar and Raghu Babu who essay their roles with ease. A sitcom which stays unabashedly committed to slapstick and raunchy comedy, ‘Guntur Talkies’ manages to raise chuckles and keeps the audience engrossed for a major part of its running time.

Film Name : Guntur Talkies
Cast : Naresh, Sidhu Jonnalagadda, Rashmi Gautam and Shraddha Das
Direction : Praveen Sattaru
Genre : Drama-crime
Likes : Linear story-telling, Senior Naresh’s performance
Dislikes : Slackening pace in the