Chaala Baagundi Review

What is Chaala Baagundi, you begin to ask yourself as you come out of the theater. Is it E V V Satyanarayana's direction? Is it the revenge that the heroine seeks on Naveen? Is it the phenomenal friendship against all odds that Srikant has for Naveen? Or is it L B Sriram in the role of a memory retarded farmer?

If the title has anything to do with the film, it can only be the last part. L B Sriram steals your heart with his innocent and reckless rustic talk with his owner Chalapati Rao. And later, with the same rustic innocence, manages to confuse everyone in the city when he goes searching for the address of his son-in-law. It's not just the character, even the accent has been done beautifully. Good show EVV, keep it up.

That's about all you can say for this flick - there is nothing else in it for anyone to boast about. Srikant is constantly weeping for his friend all through the film like a woman, while Naveen, the friend, is on a drinking spree to forget the guilt arising from a mistake he's made because he was drinking in the first place. And this takes 2-1/2 hours.

The tale is this. Roja comes to Hyderabad for an interview in Srikant's office. Here she encounters Naveen, who, in an inebriated state, tries to rape her. The rape bid fails, and the hero number one Srikant falls madly in love with her and wants to marry her, which he does successfully with the nod from Naveen. But Roja cannot forget what Naveen tried with her, and is constantly seeking ways and means to spite Naveen, so much so that the latter runs away from the city to a remote corner in Andhra Pradesh.

After some twists and turns, some unnecessary, she realizes (or rather, is made to realize) that one should learn to forgive and forget the others' mistakes however serious they might be, if the oter person feels guilty about them and regrets them. See, great tale and great moral.

The film would have been better if EVV had spared some time working on the screenplay. He seems to be so carried away by L B Sriram's character that he loses track of the rest of the film. Chandramohan, Prabha and Chalapati Rao excel in supporting roles.