Family Circus Review

A year ago, a Hollywood black comedy called American Beauty swept away the Oscars, with family dysfunction being its theme. Till then, people never realized that such an offbeat tale, a script that makes us laugh by inflicting torture on its protagonists, would go down so well with the classes and the masses alike.

Cut to our very own Tollywood, a region where freshness spells taboo, where clichés still rule the roost and where comedy always carries an adjective called 'risqué' attached to it. In such a scenario comes perhaps the first black comedy of its kind, from a director who never seems to compromise on originality even if it hurts the viewer's sentiments. Teja, the director of the blockbuster Chitram, seems to continue from where he has left, and has brought this beauty called Family Circus.

Family Circus is nothing but chaos from take one. And no maker could have brought out this chaos that plagues a family in such a systematic manner. In the process, Teja also produces some of the most hilarious performances from the leading Telugu comedians in this cast.

Subbu (Jagapathi Babu) is a simpleton who works as a manager in a firm. He marries a no-nonsense lady Roja (Roja). All is fine until he decides to adopt his dead sister's two sons and brings them home. The children are two imps who make his life miserable with their mischief and do not even let him have a proper sobhanam. Roja gives birth to twins who add to their misery with their mischief.

Things worsen for Subbu when he and his family buy a house in a locality full of bizarre characters that include a martinet from the army (Kota Srinivasa Rao), a loud-mouthed neighbor (Dharmavarapu) and some demented feminists.

But the worst is yet to come. When they plan to rent a portion of their house, a rather peculiar character called Pataudi (Rajendra Prasad), who seems only too happy to offer double the rent, agrees to the deal. Subbu realizes his mistake when Pataudi's family, which is the most dysfunctional that one can ever imagine, lands up in his house.

Pataudi's son is the Devil himself, and has a passion to usurp anything under the sun. His daughter seems to gulp down any solid or liquid that comes her way. And his wife is a hardcore 'Telangana' virago who brings the sky down when somebody scolds her children. To top it all, the wife's sister falls for Subbu and stalks him day and night.

The film very deftly brings out all the travails that Subbu faces due to this family to the point that the viewer actually sympathizes with Subbu amidst the rip-roaring laughter. Every character in this film plays his/her part to the hilt, especially Jagapathi, who gives a stellar performance as the oppressed Subbu.

The comedy does sometimes become a little loud and the inanity of the characters pricks you. But that is only when you want to have a logical perspective of things, which definitely belies the purpose of the film. Go with a laid-back attitude with your family and you will witness a winner.