Movie: Mem Famous
Rating: 2/5
Banner: Chai Bisket Films, Lahari Films
Cast: Sumanth Prabhas, Mani Aegurla, Mourya Chowdary, Saarya, Siri Raasi, Kiran Macha, Anji Mama, Narendra Ravi , Muralidhar Goud, Shiva Nandan and others
DOP: Shyam Dupati
Editor: Srujana Adusumilli
Music: Kalyan Nayak
Art: Aravind Muli
Producers: Anurag Reddy, Sharath Chandra, Chandru Manoharan
Written and Directed by: Sumanth Prabhas
Release Date: May 26, 2023
To get people's attention, small films require creative and effective promotion. "Mem Famous," which featured almost entirely newcomers, succeeded in generating a lot of buzz on social media. The Chai Bisket team is known for making a lot of noise with their promotions, and they have done an excellent job of generating publicity for this small film. Even before the film's release, superstar Mahesh Babu praised it.
Let's see if the film is worth all the hype.
Story:
Three friends in a village named Bandla Narsampalli in Telangana wile away time doing nothing. They are shamed for their irresponsibility. One of their elder friends Anji Mama advises them to do something unprecedented in their village.
They begin a tent house business. However, after only a few days in business, their store is destroyed. So, one of their friends has moved to the big city. The other two mull over a number of options before settling on the idea of starting a YouTube channel called "Famous TV" and uploading videos there about daily life in their village.
Will they become famous with their attempt?
Artistes’ Performances:
Sumanth Prabhas is the writer, director and lead actor of the movie. His acting is surprisingly natural, especially considering this is his first film.
A young kid who plays "Lipstick" steals the show. Another excellent find is Anji Mama. The rest are average at best. The two leading women play their respective roles neatly.
Technical Excellence:
The film's technical quality is below par. The camerawork is typical of low-budget videos posted on YouTube.
Another major problem is the sync audio which was not properly corrected. The "Dosthulamu" song is the only good one on an otherwise mediocre album.
Highlights:
Couple of episodes
The young boy’s torn-jeans joke
Drawback:
Predictable screenplay and direction
Poor writing skills
Low production values
Giving short-film vibes
Analysis
The trailer and promotional materials have given the impression that "Mem Famous" is a hilarious comedy about village life. But the film is quite different. Despite being set in a village and focusing on three friends, the film has a surprise for you: it is made more like a short film and YouTube fun video than a feature film.
Even after the movie is over, we can't get this feeling out of our heads. Because it lacks the proper structure of a movie script. The beginning, middle, and end all look the same.
Sumanth Prabhas, the actor-writer-director, delivers one or two amusing moments. That’s all, nothing more. The film depicts rural life to some extent, and provides a couple of watchable moments.
The jokes are passable. It's hilarious to see a young boy is scolded by his mother for wasting money on torn jeans, believing that the shop owner duped him by giving him old jeans. Only this episode provides a laugh out loud moment. Others are passe.
The film conveys a message: youth should be encouraged (Youth Ni Encourage Cheyyali Dhum Dhum Cheyoddu). The film employs an episode of Famous TV, a YouTube channel created by teenagers, to convey this message. The message is okay but when it comes to script coherence, it falls short.
It's difficult to believe that in the age of Instagram Reels and Tik-Tok videos, there are rural youth who don't know how to make YouTube videos. Aside from these flaws, the film is mostly superficial and lacks the quality of a feature film.
The film contains a prank video episode. Even in such a case, the director failed to deliver. The film would have looked better if they had used half the creativity they did in the trailer.
"Mem Famous" is yet another attempt to cash in on the rural drama trend. Significant drawbacks include a lack of feature film qualities and random sequences with no cohesiveness. It is a short film video that is mostly boring to watch.
Bottom line: Short Video