Masti Masala dose!

The premise is comedy, the style designedly over-the-top. Given this, it is up to the audience to sit back to take it or leave it. To the uninitiated, the film is a Tollywood version on Rohit Shetty’s ‘Bol Bachchan’. The comic caper functions within a very clearly defined territory and in that sense, makes clear that it is for the viewer to take it or leave it depending on whether the viewer finds comfort in the said zone.

The story deals with Rahman (Ram) and his sister Sania (Anjali) who are forced to leave the city and at the instance of their foster uncle Narayana (MS Narayana) to reach the village of Bhimarajapuram which is governed by a whole set of seeming hooligans under the charge of Balram (Venkatesh) and his man Friday Eddlodu (Jayaprakash Reddy). Balram has an inherent intolerance to liars and gets violent with utter lies. He has a fetish for the English language, just as his Man Friday.

The relationship between Balram and Rahman who is introduced to as Ram and his sister Sania as Sarita is based on falsities and thus the attempts to hide some lies only ends up in a lot more lies. Unlike Premchand’s ‘Gaban’, this is fun-filled and the script is full of Rohit Shetty antics inclusive of situational foolery and destruction aplenty. With a cliff hanger climax, the audience is given a treat of English indulgences by the actors.

Without an iota of doubt the film, belongs to Venkatesh and Jayaprakash Reddy. Venkatesh is ageing and gracefully so. Not for him the usual romance, but not yet the non-romantic space either. It is a crucial stage of an artist’s career and it is obvious that Venkatesh is handling it wonderfully. In fact, arguably, if there is one definite area where the film can claim to be a tad better than the original than it is the performance of this central character. There is something more interesting and down-to-earth in Venkatesh when compared to the performance by Ajay Devgn. In a light hearted film script of this kind, performances often tend to get secondary and it is the treatment that matters. Having seen the original, one would expect the remake to offer something different in treatment. But this is a faithful rehash inclusive of its loud decibel levels. One very interesting aspect of the original was the fine sense of dressing that the female cast. Here it goes haywire and they simply fail to deliver. Of course when it comes to Kovai Sarala as the mother (Archana Puran Singh in the original) the over-the-top level and design is obvious and intended. Ram tries his best and falls short in comparison with Abhishek.

Director K Vijay Bhaskar has the task cut out for him and delivers just that. No attempt to strain and offer anything different. Perhaps the script was not a bad idea for the native humour that is distinctly different in the region and thus could have offered a lot more to offer if experimented. None of that though is undertaken. The film remains true to its original and thus is a salute to the school of cinema that is defined by Rohit Shetty and nearly monopolised. The formula to the bank is always a good bet and so believes K Vijay Bhaskar.

As the title song, suggests the film is Jolly Jolly Masala - Venky Ram ‘Masala’. - L Ravichander