Bangaru Bullodu Movie Review: A frivolous, badly-written comedy

Bangaru Bullodu is filled with old-fashioned tropes. Within the first fifteen minutes, the film starts giving us the vibes of watching a TV soap. Illicit affairs, a mawkish grandfather, a goddess' curse, a leeching pekata rayullu, sexist jokes, the list goes on.  

In a small Godavari village in Andhra Pradesh, Bhavani Prasad (Allari Naresh) has to gather a large chunk of jewellery for the local idol as soon as possible. Just as he is running out of time, he faces obstacles in the form of a robbery at the temple, a loanshark (Posani Krishna Murali) and a petty thief ('Get-up' Srinu). How he manages to accomplis this task and evades the curse of God, forms the rest of the story.  

Cast: Allari Naresh, Pooja Jhaveri
Direction: PV Giri

Writer-director PV Giri stuffs the film with degenerate jokes built around extra-marital affairs and a man dressing up as a woman. The film also unabashedly presents us with situations that can make Sankranthi's Alludu Adhurs seem like a pardonable gag fest. For example, a character says this bizarre line to chide women: "You are not seasonal fruits, you are seedless fruits." I wonder what the film's writer Veligonda Srinivas was smoking while penning these lines. 

The love track between Naresh and Pooja Jhaveri is the film's only watchable portion, thanks also to Vennela Kishore's largely hilarious presence. The track gives way to a pointless segment involving 'Get-up' Srinu, who is presumed by Prabhas Srinu and Sathyam Rajesh to be running an affair with the male lead.

Posani Krishna Murali manages to evoke some laughs in the role of a loanshark who lends money by taking animals (including a snake) as collateral. There was so much potential here, but the director merely scratches the surface and gets busy with misogynist 'jokes' and substandard situations. 

Tanikella Bharani, who fears divine punishment, is forgotten in the second half. The film underplays the element of divinity, thereby letting the audience forget the core of the conflict.

For a good part of the film, the story is stuck in the same place, with the hero looking either superficially worried or sometimes inexplicably relaxed. When the one who is haunted by fear of being cursed by an angry goddess is busy dancing in the bushes, should we be bothered about the happazzard happenings onscreen?