Bhagyalakshmi Bumper Draw Review

You can't go too wrong if you take the entire comic crew of Tollywood and put them in one movie. If, however, the first sign that greets the audience upon entrance to the theater is a notice saying "Children below the age of 18 are strictly not allowed" - and this in a theater like Sensation Sunshine, which hardly recognizes the concept of children - perhaps you did manage to.

A remake of Malamaal Weekly, Bhagyalakshmi Bumper Draw does what it thinks is necessary to make the movie suit the Telugu tastes - it puts in plenty of skin show, sleazy songs and double entendre. The plus points are …well, those. There's nothing much else to talk of.

Yes, the plot is good, but people go to comic capers for instant gratification - every scene should make you laugh. The comedy in Bhagyalakshmi Bumper Draw is unfortunately more in the plot, which means you giggle only when major twists happen - the dialogues in general lack the punch that characterizes most of Tollywood comedy, and this results in you laughing in individual scenes more because of who's saying something rather than what he's saying. There's only so long you can do that, before you start to catch on.

This is how the plot unfolds: Bullabbai (Rajendra Prasad) is a lottery ticket agent in a small village that has various characters all united by seemingly one trait - lust.

They are almost all in drooling after Mallika (Bhuvaneswari) at her tea-cum-liquor shop, salivating after her ample assets. The villian - Venu Madhav as Abbeesu - peeps through holes to watch girls changing. His malicious sister (Kiran Rathod) is in primarily for her looks though that character could always have been a male. The hero Kittu (Rishi) is constantly trying to fondle his girl Bhagyalakshmi (Farzana) and has a field day with her in the songs. And just in case you missed the point, there have a hot item song by Mumaith Khan.

The story starts when Yesudas Gottam (Ali) wins a Rs. 1 crore lottery, and unable to bear the happiness, dies of heart attack. Bullabbai discovers him dead and tries to get away with the ticket, but is caught by Paala Pullayya (Tanikella), and offers to split the loot with the latter if he keeps quiet.

Together they are trying to dump Gottam's body, when they are discovered by Kittu with it, and offer to split the loot with him too if he co-operates - Kittu however wants the hand of Bhagyalakshmi, Pullayya's daughter, in marriage, and her reluctant dad agrees. However, before they can do anything, Gottam's brother lands up with his wife (Brahmanandam and Kovai Sarala), and they are offered a share in the money too if they keep quiet.

You get the drift - the number soon swells to cross 20, with even Abhinayasri landing up as Gottam's wife, and by the time the inspector from the lottery (Nagababu) comes to verify the credentials of the winner, a lot of people have to stage a drama. In the middle of all this is Abbeesu who wants to marry Bhagyalakshmi himself, and threatens to spill the beans if everyone else doesn't co-operate.

Bhagyalakshmi Bumper Draw could have been a much better film and a family entertainer with a lot less vulgarity and better dialogues. L B Sriram apparently penned the dialogues for this one, after a gap of 7 years - he's clearly rusted. Then, the climax doesn't really tickle as much as it could have.

The performances are all, of course, good. Rajendra Prasad, after a long while, plays a role his age and thankfully doesn't sing duets. The songs are mostly interruptions to the flow. The film is set in a village, and so does not offer much in terms of presentation.

There was a time when a movie like April 1 Vidudala worked despite plenty of adult theme. However, those were different times with different audiences, it was Rajendra Prasad's and comedies' heyday, and besides, April 1 Vidudala did not have any skin show.

The release of big movies scheduled over the next 2-3 weeks, its own lackluster fare, and the 'A' rating making the families stay away, are likely to make this one just an average grosser. Watch it only if you laugh easy.