Movie: Meeku Maathrame Chepta
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: King of the Hill Entertainment
Cast: Tharun Bhascker, Abhinav Gomatam, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Vani Bhojan, Naveen George, Avanthika Mishra, Pavani Gangireddy and others
Cinematography: Madan Gunadeva
Music: Siva Kumar
Art director: Raj Kumar
Producers: Vijay Deverakonda, Vardhan Deverakonda
Written and Directed by: Shameer Sultan
Release date: November 1, 2019
After establishing himself as a talented actor, Vijay Deverakonda has ventured into film production.
“Meeku Maathrame Cheptha” is his maiden venture as a producer and it stars none other than his friend and film director Tharun Bhascker as a hero.
This unusual combination has raised a lot of interest. The film is here. Let’s find out its merits and demerits.
Story:
Rakesh (Tharun Bhascker) is an anchor in a TV channel that has low rating points. He has a girlfriend Steffi (Vani Bhojan) who puts him under pressure to disclose all his bad habits or any wrongdoings he had done on the spot, before the exchange of wedding vows.
A year ago, he had acted in a film as a hero and he did a first night scene with the heroine. But the film never got finished and this small first-night scene has surfaced on porn sites, putting Rakesh in a series of embarrassing situations.
Artistes’ Performances:
Tharun Bhascker is very much convincing for the role he has played and at the same time, his acting skills are damn good. He is quite natural in doing comedy scenes. He is just like today’s youngsters. He has pulled off the lead hero’s role believably.
Abhinav Gomatam has already proved his comic timing in ‘Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi’ and here he adds another dimension and brings the house down with a good comedy. He is like another lead hero, not a comedian.
Anasuya Bharadwaj has done a guest role. Vani Bhojan as female lead is decent. Pavani Gangireddy and Avantika Mishra have played smaller roles.
Technical Excellence:
The film has a short-film production setup. It seems to have shot on a tight budget. Cinematography and background music are adequate.
Dialogue writing is superb; many lines are impressive. Editing is neat. However, even at the short 2-hr runtime, it looks overstretched.
Highlights:
Funny first half
Drawback:
Second half
Lack of convincing scenes
Extended marriage scene
Analysis
Anyone who has seen films that depend on the rippling effect (one problem leading to another) can easily guess the screenplay of “Meeku Maathrame Cheptha”. A simple film that gives more importance to funny situations. Comedy is its strength.
The first 45 minutes are hilarious. The director neatly establishes the problem – how Tharun landed in a ‘sex tape’, why he can’t explain the issue to his girlfriend and the constraints (time and money) he has to overcome the scene.
Tharun seeks the help of his close buddy played by Abhinav Gomatam in this situation and their comic timing makes the proceedings entertaining.
The names of Tharun and Abhinav are similar – Rakesh and Kamesh. The director also pulls up a terrific twist in the end.
The screenplay is structured in a genre-specific way. We don’t find any problem with the movie’s first half. But you feel the movie is almost nearing to its end at the interval time. This is where the problem has begun.
The second half is stretched like an elastic belt. Also, the characters and their traits start to seem clichéd. A hacker with food obsession, an uncle who keeps nagging, heroine’s Bava who vows to marry her, and a politician …. all these are stock characters.
While we get a good supply of laughs, scenes like a politician appearing and threatening hero, Anasuya’s background story and the lengthy marriage episode have undone the mood. These seem straight out of Sriram Aditya’s recent movies.
The director seems to have run out of ideas after a point. Keeps on repeating the same thing. The pro-longed wedding scene is totally out of place and gives the short-film feel.
Bottom-line: Funny in Parts