Ungarala Rambabu: A complete snoozefest

Comedian-turned-hero Sunil has been making continuous efforts to secure a hit after a long line of duds. He has joined hands with acclaimed filmmaker Kranthi Madhav for Ungarala Rambabu. Having seen his recent outings, one has to walk into the theater wondering how unique the story will be. The film, which was supposed to be rib-tickler, ends up being very bland fare indeed.

Cast: Sunil, Miya George, Prakash Raj
Director: Kranthi Madhav

Sunil is Ungarala Rambabu, a staunch believer in astrology who attributes all his successes to a fake godman Badam Baba. He sports unusual outfits in weird colours to work every day. Director Kranthi Madhav tries to show how Rambabu's character copes with financial loss and how his beliefs get him back on track provided he marries a girl born in an unusual (chikubuku) star. What we get for the remainder of the film is an emotional Rambabu’s struggle to win his love.

It’s natural to expect parodies in a Sunil-starrer, and yes, we do see him mimicking Baahubali's Shiva Linga act, Chiranjeevi’s iconic veena step, Mahesh Babu’s funny dance moves from Brahmotsavam. There are some scenes which definitely test your patience. For instance, Rambabu overhears Savitri's (Miya George) conversations with her friend, and determined to spring a surprise, makes her relive the same day three times in Dubai. Making it more chaotic, there's an irritating room service man who asks her 'How was your first night?' during each of her three days at the hotel. 

In the second hour, the action shifts to Chegune Pugonde Vanam, a strange little communist village of Kerala where people speak fluent Telugu as if it is their official language. Suddenly, the director takes himself way too seriously and tries to add more weight with terms like humanism and struggle for equality.

One shouldn't expect high technical values or strong storyline in films such as these. With such a lackluster screenplay and the cast who all give just rigid expressions, there is nothing much to root for in Ungarala Rambabu.

The only respite in this snoozefest comes from the performance of Prakash Raj. Although the story doesn't give him much space, he manages to pull off a refreshing act for a few minutes. But, at the end of the day, Ungarala Rambabu is a testament to Sunil’s poor script selection and lack of audacity in terms of his performance.

From incorporating silliness to trying out parodies, and choosing the communist ideology to humanism, director Kranthi Madhav has tried everything to woo the audience. And he still fails.