Meeku Maathrame Cheptha Movie Review: Vijay Deverakonda's debut production venture is let down by a weak script

Meeku Maathrame Cheptha is rather an unconventional offering from Vijay Deverakonda, who has donned the producer's hat for the first time to nurture young talent. This new-age slapstick comedy, directed by debutant Shammeer Sultan, tells the story of two childhood friends Rakesh (Tharun Bhascker) and Kamesh (Abhinav Gomatam), who work for a nameless television channel.

Rakesh falls in love with a doctor named Stephy (Vani Bhojan) and just hours before his D-day, he discovers himself in an incriminating video going viral across several social media platforms. The rest is about how these buddies put their best efforts to take down that video from the cyberspace.

Cast: Tharun Bhascker, Abhinav Gomatam, Anasuya Bharadwaj
Direction: Shammeer Sultan

The plot of the film is simple and uncomplicated. The director tries to intersperse it with a bit of suspense, thrill, and humour but falls short in his efforts to make it an engaging affair. He seems to have focused exclusively on Pataas (the TV show) kind of one-liners to provide entertainment in the first hour and in the process, the basics in various departments are ignored.

For a large part, the narration is perfunctory and the lack of soul and emotional wallop doesn't let the viewers invest in the characters. The second hour of the film, unfortunately, loses steam early on when believability goes for a toss and logic goes out the window.

Even though the film is only two hours and four minutes long, its premise is too weak to hold through the entire duration. The screenplay either drags its feet conveying the same point again and again or deviates in strange directions with boring dialogues like, "Jaundice unnodiki James Bond kooda Jaffa laaga kanipistadu." The twist in the pre-climax is fun, but it doesn't hold together the already stretched tale.

The only thing that manages to hold our attention is Abhinav Gomatam's sincere efforts to get his friend out of the crisis. He anchors the film like a top-order batsman who is trying to record the highest last-wicket stand with a number 11 batsman. He is supported by Tharun Bhascker, who deliveres a confident and uninhibited performance in his first outing as a lead actor. His comfortable rapport with Abhinav is a pleasure to behold, but Tharun needs to work on his facial expressions a bit more.

Anasuya Bharadwaj and Vani Bhojan are seen in underwritten characters and they don't bring much gravitas to the narrative.

The film is intermittently entertaining and works only in parts. Overall, Meeku Maathrame Cheptha is a let down from a talented unit.