Ammulu Review

If you just heard the name, you might be forgiven for thinking it's one of them religious flicks. In a sense, it is - it makes you start praying for the souls of the other poor, innocent people in the hall, who got duped... just like you. The film, or to be precise, the second half, is about a little girl called Ammulu. Naah, she's actually pretty sweet - she's just pissed off 'cos she's stuck with that name.

Ammulu is the apple-of-everything daughter of Suman and Ravali. Kittu (V Sreenivas) is the friendly neighborhood innocent auto-driver-do-gooder. He wears a Charlie Chaplin costume throughout. That should tell you how credible the whole character is. Anyway, the first half is a flick through the director/producer's address book to show us how many comedians he knows in the industry. Time to go "oooooohhhhh!!" Yes, yes, thank you... that'll do just fine.

I guess I might as well get to the story. It turns out (read flashback) that Ammulu is not the daughter of her 'parents'. To make the whole thing interesting, let's play fill in the blanks. Mother (original) - girl child - hubby not thrilled - attack - mom kill dad - run - leave baby Kittu rickshaw - stolen from there - sold to childless Suman and Ravali. Wheeeew... deeeep breath...

Evil uncle - want kill Ammulu for inheritance - try try try - kill parents - Ammulu c/o Kittu and general junta - Ammulu kidney probs - fultoo sacrifice - the (blessed) end. Help, help... reviewer hyperventilating... oxygen, oxygen... in, out, in, out... beep beep... condition returning to normal...

I honestly thought I'd die of all that self-righteous crap near the end. This is a Mr. Sreenivas major ego trip through and through. I mean, c'mon dude, the Chaplinesque crap was totally unnecessary, as was about one full hour of the movie. Every comedian you can think of was there to fill about three fourths of the movie. For a minute there, I thought they missed out the baap of them all, but no! There was Kota in the very next scene. Reviewer to the end, I will spare you all the inane side-plots. However, one small bit with AVS is smileable.

Come one, come all! Watch the 'evergreen' hero! He will dance for you... he will prance for you! He will even grow more jet black hair as he grows older - for you! At least thankfully, the mega self-righteous dialogues aren't spouted by Suman. I feel really bad for his fan club - all three of them must be so disappointed he's not the main lead.

Come one, come all! Watch the heroine! She will gro... well, this being a family site, I can't really mention what she grows, but it sure ain't acting talent. But I heard that the weighing machines went on strike.

The Paruchuri brothers (screenplay) may be aiming to be the next Warchowski brothers. No problem. They're just missing a little class, innovation, common sense, talent and a few other things.

I guess at some point I have to tell you about the main two - Vandemataram and the girl. She's fairly cute but I don't think she's going to make it to 'Anjali' status. I guess V just played the part in the script, but he isn't going to make it to 'Anjali' status either - acting-wise.

There are, however, still some half decent points in the flick, which adds that half point in the rating. The film does raise some issues and smartly stays away from overdoing the melodrama about them. Mentions them just enough to get the audience thinking. And some little interest is generated near the end when we, extremely sadistically, wait and watch to find out who dies. Someone once sang "Suicide is painless..." - I don't know what the person in the film felt, but God, was it painful for me for the next five minutes! This one's only if you absolutely must kill 2 hours.