BOTTOM LINE
Slightly Thala’Potugadu’
RUNNING TIME
125 minutes -‘A’certified
OUR RATING
What is “Potugadu” about?
Potugadu is a faithful remake of Kannada film ‘Govindaya Namaha’. It is the story of a fickle minded guy, Govindam (Manchu Manoj) who keeps on loving girls for all the reasons except for the genuine ones. After a series of love failures, he decides to commit suicide and when he is about to do that, he bumps in to Venkata Ratnam (Posani) who was in news earlier trying to commit suicide after a love failure. Both of them share their stories and give up the idea of suicide. What happens further in their life is the film about.
How is Manoj?
Manchu Manoj always brings his real life character on to the screen. He pulled out some scenes very well and gets extremely loud in some occasions and had to control it for some extent. In some of the scenes in the movie he looked out of shape and in some scenes he looked decently fit.
How is Pavan Wadeyar’s direction?
This is Pavan Wadeyar maiden Telugu movie. He also directed the original Kannada movie, Govindaya Namaha. The first success is the selection of the story which fits well for Manoj and his image. But the problem is with the second half, he did not stay faithful to the actual script and made some changes to embed fights, heroism which played spoilsport. The pace of the movie dipped in the second half.
What about Sunil’s Voice Over?
Comedian turned hero Sunil has lent his voice for the Lord Ganesha in the movie. The extremely funny voice over comes in the opening sequences of the movie. The conversation between Manoj and the idol also invoked good laughter
What about the new heroines and others ?
There are 4 new heroines making their debut in this movie. Simran Kaur Mundi as Vaidehi, Sakshi Chowdary as Mumtaz , Rachel as Stacy , Anupriya as Priya did okay to their parts. They added necessary glam quotient. There are too many other comedians – Ali, Satyam Rajesh, Shiva Shankar Master, Srinivas Reddy, Thagubothu Ramesh who played their part. Rest of the actors who played little roles are okay.
How is Music, Songs, Dances other departments?
The back ground music and songs delivered by Achu are funky and youthful. There is no much scope for dances. Camera work by Srikanth is good. Dialogue writer Sreedhar Seepana came up with some very good one liners. Editing by MR Verma could have been crispier in the second half. Production values of Sirisha – Sridhar are good.
Highlights?
1. High dose of comedy in several tracks
2. Pavan Wadeyar’s direction
3. Songs
Drawbacks?
1. Manoj’s over histrionics in some scenes
2. Pace dropped in the second half
What about its box office prospects?
Potugadu is such kind of movie which aims to entertain you through even though there is not much of novelty in story. The first half of the movie justified to it but the pace in the second half dipped a bit. Nevertheless, the movie is expected to go well with the audience.
Did I enjoy it?
Yes
Reviewed by Siddhartha
