Crazy Kalyanam Movie Review:
Of late, several Telugu films have been set against a Telangana backdrop, and Crazy Kalyanam follows the same trend. Senior actor VK Naresh, Anupama Parameswaran and Tharun Bhascker play the lead roles, with Badrappa Gajula making his directorial debut.
Anupama Parameswaran tasted success with Tillu Square in 2024. However, a couple of her Telugu films released later, failed to make much of an impact. Now, she stars in Crazy Kalyanam, which is produced by Jagan Reddy Boosam, while Suresh Bobbili has composed the music.
Director: Badrappa Gajula
Cast: VK Naresh, Anupama Parameswaran, Tharun Bhascker, Akhil Raj, Kireeti and others
The story takes place in a village near Medak. Parvathalu Tikka (VK Naresh) wants to lead a respectable life and earn a good name in his village. His elder daughter is married to Balaraju (Tharun Bhascker), an unemployed drunkard who creates new problems for the family every day. His younger daughter, Keerthi (Anupama Parameswaran), is studying and wants to build a career for herself. She believes that women are not meant only for marriage and wants to become independent before settling down.
Parvathalu is unhappy with his elder brother for arranging his elder daughter's marriage to someone he considers unsuitable. Determined to find a better alliance for his younger daughter, he looks for a wealthy NRI groom so that he can earn respect in the village. One day, a family arrives at his brother's house to see his daughter for a marriage alliance. Parvathalu invites them to his house as well, hoping to introduce his younger daughter to the prospective groom. As he planned, the boy, played by Kireeti, likes Keerthi, and Parvathalu fixes the alliance without informing his daughter.
However, Keerthi is already in love with Uday (Akhil Raj) and wants to marry him. What happens next? Will Parvathalu accept his daughter's love, or will he go ahead with the alliance he has arranged? The answers lie in the film.
Director Badrappa Gajula's central idea is good on paper. A father wants his daughter to marry into a wealthy family so that she can settle comfortably, while the daughter wants to study, get a job and marry the person she loves. This conflict could have made for an engaging family drama. However, the director adds too many elements and focuses more on individual performances than on bringing the story together.
As the saying goes, the operation is successful, but the patient dies. Almost everyone performs well, but their performances do not help the film overcome its writing and narration issues. The first half focuses largely on Parvathalu and his elder son-in-law, Balaraju, whose drinking habit leads to one problem after another. Meanwhile, Keerthi and Uday's love track moves at a dull pace, with little chemistry between them. The story picks up when Parvathalu selects a foreign groom for his younger daughter. However, the individual performances never come together as a team, leaving the audience feeling that something is missing.
The director presents Keerthi as an independent, strong and mature woman. However, she barely reacts when her father insists that she marry the NRI groom. Similarly, Keerthi and Uday do not make any serious attempts to stop the wedding. These inconsistencies weaken the central conflict.
Whenever a story is set against a Telangana backdrop, one often wonders why filmmakers feel the need to include lengthy scenes involving alcohol and biryani. Crazy Kalyanam falls into the same trap, with several such sequences adding little to the story. The entire wedding episode is unnecessarily lengthy and boring. Parvathalu's handling of the scene following his mother's death also feels stretched.
The six-minute single-take scene is another example of a sequence that feels forced. While it gives VK Naresh an opportunity to showcase his acting skills across different emotions, it does little to move the story forward. The spoken-English episode is equally unnecessary and irritating, disrupting the flow of the narrative.
The climax, however, manages to deliver some emotion. By then, the film has already lost much of its impact due to the tedious narration. One line in the climax stands out and offers food for thought: "I couldn't afford Rs 30,000 for my daughter's education, but I borrowed Rs 30 lakh for her marriage."
This line effectively captures the social pressure surrounding marriage and the importance attached to it over a daughter's education. Had Badrappa concentrated more on developing this emotional conflict instead of stretching individual scenes and performances, the film could have been much better.
VK Naresh delivers a good performance in several scenes, though some of his emotional sequences feel tiring. His character remains central to the film throughout, making him its principal protagonist. Anupama Parameswaran gets another performance-oriented role and does a commendable job with the Telangana dialect. Tharun Bhascker plays a familiar kind of character and manages to generate a few laughs.
Akhil Raj has limited scope in his role. The actress playing the elder daughter does a fantastic job, while the actor portraying VK Naresh's wife also delivers a neat performance. Suresh Bobbili's background score is good, and Syam Dhoopati's cinematography beautifully captures the village atmosphere.
Crazy Kalyanam is not crazy enough to keep the audience engaged. Badrappa Gajula chooses a good central idea, but the narration exposes his inexperience. He should have focused more on the writing and emotional depth instead of adding unnecessary drinking and spoken-English episodes. Anupama Parameswaran delivers a good performance, and the film has a thought-provoking point to make. However, the tedious narration and forced scenes make Crazy Kalyanam a disappointing watch.
