Balupu Telugu Movie
After six back-to-back flops, "Balupu" for Ravi Teja comes as the most-awaited monsoon shower after a long summer. In the most suited avatar, we see Ravi do what he is best at, allowing the audiences to sit back and enjoy. Having tried different genres over the last few years, he sticks to what he is known and loved for, and succeeds in the process.
Ravi Teja plays Ravi and Shankar, in the first and second half, respectively. In the pre-interval session, he is at loggerheads with his father, Mohan Rao (Prakash Raj), on the subject of marriage. Ravi has been delaying marriage for many years and that makes Mohan a concerned father. To speed up things, Mohan gives Ravi an ultimatum - to find a girl for himself within a week or marry someone of his father's choice.
Meanwhile, Sruthi (Sruthi Haasan) and her uncle, Crazy Mohan (Brahmanadam) pull pranks on young, rich men for fun. They fool one of the close friends of Ravi, and this forces him to teach them a lesson. Sruthi and Crazy Mohan pick on Ravi, only to get fooled in the process. They get chased by Ravi, and eventually in the process Shruti falls for him.
In between all this, a gang of goons lead by Poorna (Ashutosh Rana) is searching for Shankar and Nanaji, and before we know it, all hell breaks loose when he sees Ravi and Mohan.
Balupu follows a simple and tested formula for appealing masses. Make a film with good amount of comedy, action, glamour and lot of punch lines, and we have a crowd puller. Undoubtedly, this film resurrects almost dead career of Ravi Teja, but in the process it also proves that creativity is an alien concept in his films.
Despite a cliched and predictable storyline that never allows the audience to slip into boredom, the film relies heavily on comedy. The first half is packed with rib-tickling moments between Ravi, Brahmanandam and Sruthi. It was so entertaining that you wish you walked out at the end of the first half because what follows is violent and extremely disturbing.
The climax again has its share of comedy, but by then you lose interest in the film that has already clocked 150 minutes. The forced comedy towards the end, though enjoyable, only results in extending the climax by few more minutes.
Sexist jokes on women in the first half are not appealing. Women are compared to LCD, LED and 3D models of television with some silly explanation. It might be funny but it's degrading in a way because it can have adverse affect on the audiences.
Gopichand Malineni, who directed Ravi Teja in his previous blockbuster "Don Seenu", was in control of the film from the beginning. He presents Ravi the way audiences would love to see him in even though the approach is passe.
We are either scared or lazy to be creative, and "Balupu" is proof to it. Ravi Teja shines in his tailor made role and all credit to the director for it. You want entertainment that's bereft of logic; this is the film for you.
