Gurram Paapi Reddy Review

NIA Arrests Pro-Maoist Activist Gade Innaiah In Warangal HYDRAA Chief's Gunman Attempts Suicide, In Critical Condition President Murmu Invited To Sammakka-Saralamma Maha Jathara RTC Turned Profitable With Mahalakshmi Scheme: Bhatti 33180 33181 33179 33178 The best crime comedies are those where the actors behave as if they don't know whether they are in a comedy, a tragedy or just a slice of mundane daily life - while you, as the audience, laugh at almost every scene. Shaun Of The Dead is a fine example. Gurram Paapi Reddy treats humour in exactly this way. It suggests that the director knows precisely what he's doing, while the cast performs as if none of them has read the full script. This results in honest acting and organic humour.

The major characters - Gurram Paapi Reddy (Naresh Agastya), Goyyi (Jeevan Kumar) and Soudamini (Faria Abdullah) - are not particularly smart. They attempt a crime for quick money, fail at a heist, and land themselves in deeper trouble while trying to swap a dead body from Srisailam with another in a Hyderabad graveyard, all for a meagre sum. Soon, they are in a real soup. These three, along with several other petty criminals, often find themselves before Justice Vaidyanathan (Brahmanandam). Though a good man, the judge's punishments are bizarre - he penalises criminals not so much for the crime itself, but for the sheer stupidity involved in committing it.

The movie bursts with curiosity, like a toddler touching and examining everything in sight. At times, the filmmaking loses control; the sequencing can be uneven. But none of that really matters. Everyone is laughing - for the genuine humour, for the cinematic absurdity, and sometimes simply at the ideas the film explores one after another. The cinemas are full even as the film competes with big-ticket releases like Dhurandhar, Avatar 3 and Akhanda 2, and for that alone this movie deserves a badge of honour.

Four things stand out in the film: first, a regular Matador vehicle (how many of us even remember that?) used by the quartet of accomplices; second, Faria Abdullah's presence without any forced romantic angle; third, Brahmanandam in one of his wackiest avatars as a judge; and finally, the fact that you really haven't seen a Telugu film quite like this. You may like some things and dislike others, but you can't stop laughing - even though the plot is thick (with many subplots) and convoluted, and the movie is rather long at 160 minutes.

By now, you already know the lead cast - but make no mistake, there is actually no single lead. Almost everyone shares equal screen time and space, and the actors all justify their roles. Brahmanandam has comparatively less screen time, but that hardly matters. A mere glance at him brings a smile, and once he opens his mouth, he's downright hilarious.

There are three other notable actors - Rajkumar Kasireddy, Yogi Babu and John Vijay. While Yogi Babu appears prominently in the promotional material, his role is even shorter than that of Brahmanandam. He works best when silent, as his dubbing is audibly poor. John Vijay, unfortunately, is uninspiring and easily forgettable. He feels more like a prop, having repeated the same performance style for over a decade.

In terms of filmmaking, Gurram Paapi Reddy doesn't waste time on cinematic gloss. Don't expect technical brilliance from the movie - the cinematography and overall composition are decent, and the background score is merely functional. However, the song that plays during the end credits is an absolute banger.

Gurram Paapi Reddy deserves a full family watch - it is clean even if chaotic, and very much relatable. Even if it doesn't win any box-office success, it is going to be the mainstay of many TV channels and OTTs. Telugu cinema should make more films like this.