Sankranthiki Vasthunam(3 / 5)
Anil Ravipudi packs his latest entertainer with almost too many gags, and yet manages to sail through with his irreverence, aided by great performances from the entire cast
For a straightforward mainstream entertainer, Anil Ravipudi’s Sankranthiki Vasthunam has several flashback sequences in the first half that constantly jolt us in and out of the story. In one of them, we see how Raju (Venkatesh) and Bhagyalakshmi (Aishwarya Rajesh) meet and instantly hit it off. As the two actors hit impeccable comic timing, with their characters exchanging rhythmic sweet nothings, we realise that the true charm of the latest Venkatesh starrer lies in its ludicrous, over-the-top lunacy—you either buy into it or you don’t. Thankfully, Anil sells the madness of his latest entertainer with impressive ease.
There is an interesting premise in Sankranthiki Vasthunam. Meenakshi (Meenaakshi Chaudhary), a police officer and Raju’s ex-girlfriend, seeks him after six years for a high-stakes mission. The only catch: Raju now is a doting husband to an innocent yet possessive Bhagyalakshmi, who is too afraid of losing her husband to his old flame. Anil Ravipudi blends this quirky love triangle with a farcical rescue mission plot, aiming for nothing but relentless fun.
Cast
Venkatesh, Aishwarya Rajesh, Meenaakshi Chaudhary
Director
Anil Ravipudi
This is not a film that can be judged on the grounds of realism or logic—and fortunately, Anil is in great command of his material. The plot barely moves in the first hour, being strung together with a series of delightfully absurd gags and sequences, driven entirely by the banter between its many characters—and it lands, purely because of the actors here.
How long can the writer-director seamlessly integrate the love triangle thread into the central comic caper premise, you wonder as the film veers into the second half. However, Anil Ravipudi keeps dialling up the madness with each gag (including a hilarious Kalki 2898 AD reference), pushing his characters against the walls as they dig deeper into their unhinged side, creating graver problems for Raju and bigger laughs for the audience. Everyone in this universe, from the dumb cop figure (a fabulous Upendra Limaye) to the menacing gangsters, has a goofiness to them that is consistent with the narrative tonality. Gladly, each and every cast member is in fine form here, be it VTV Ganesh, Babloo Prithviraj, VK Naresh or child artist Revanth, who delivers some of the biggest laughs as a foul-mouthed boy and the apple of his father’s eye.
There comes a point in the second half when the barrage of silly gags almost gets exhausting. Fortunately, Anil Ravipudi sails through despite the occasional sense of overdose. Though the climax again leaves a weird taste in the mouth (who needed a sermon about respecting your teachers in a film like this?), your first instinct is to let it slide, considering how rewarding the film has been so far and how out of place this subplot appears in context to the rest of the events.
Aishwarya Rajesh deserves special accolades for how she embraces Bhagyashree’s childlike quirks without making her a caricature. Meenaakshi Chaudhary has an impressive screen presence and is efficient with the material at hand, holding her ground while sharing the stage with Aishwarya and Venkatesh. Meanwhile, Venkatesh pulls off the henpecked yet doting husband act just as effectively as the angsty force of deconstruction in the final act.
Again, what’s commendable about the film is how it uses Venkatesh’s persona to propel the storytelling. The screenplay somehow keeps Venkatesh under the spotlight and on the ringside at once, letting him casually embue the proceedings with his affable presence even as the supporting cast drives the show. While the film never mentions Raju’s age, it alludes to the element of age gap in both of his romantic relationships. A little later, the story also makes a clever use of the actor’s off-screen age, questioning Raju’s virility as a potential hero figure. After all these years out of service, Raju, we are told, might not be as ferocious and strong as everyone expected him to be, and is now forced to rely on his brain than brawn to complete the mission.
And yet, the film turns the tables on us in the pre-climactic action sequence, as a pent-up Raju unleashes his wrath on a bunch of bad guys, resulting in a hysterical sequence loaded with kicks, punches and chuckles. Of course, if one attempts to scratch the surface, there is a lot to unpack here in terms of subliminal messaging, what with Raju beating the hell out of the villain’s henchmen while simultaneously venting out his frustration to the two women in his lives. In a film that barely takes itself seriously, do we really have to see, albeit in a light-hearted fashion, the hero vehemently prove himself as the victim and the women as the ‘irrational’ kind?
But then again, it depends on you if you want to judge this film from that lens. For everyone else who merely wants to have a few hearty laughs, Sankranthiki Vasthunam offers them in plenty.
News Credits: Cinema Express
