‘F3’: A laugh riot with a caveat

Hyderabad: Packaged as a family entertainer, this F franchise stands for fun and frolic. In a popular chat show Amitabh Bachan talks about ‘suspend logic’ school of Manmohan Desai entertainment. Anil Ravipudi goes the whole hog and does exactly the same in a two-and-a-half hour ‘family entertainer’. To those conditioned at Telugu filmdom, this is […]

Hyderabad: Packaged as a family entertainer, this F franchise stands for fun and frolic. In a popular chat show Amitabh Bachan talks about ‘suspend logic’ school of Manmohan Desai entertainment. Anil Ravipudi goes the whole hog and does exactly the same in a two-and-a-half hour ‘family entertainer’. To those conditioned at Telugu filmdom, this is the ‘no harms laugh riot’ — cracking jokes where the normal sidekick comedy becomes the mainstay.

It is in Vizianagaram that a rich businessman Anand Prasad (Murli Sharma) oversees his financial empire. Far away in Hyderabad is where the F2 gang is at large. Venky (Venkatesh), Varun (Varun Tej) are no do-gooders hoping to make a mega buck. The all-women con team comprising Harika (Tamannaah), Honey (Mehreen) and their grandmothers (Annapurna and Y Vijaya) and mother (Pragathi) are geared up.

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Venky has a sidekick in Raghu Babu while Varun has Sunil. There is also the honest Police officer, Nagaraju (Rajender Prasad) who constantly succumbs to the while of the corrupt Police Commissioner (Sampath). Every money-making scheme of Venky and Varun fall flat while their debts to the money lender (Ali) keep rising.

The film’s prologue has Anand Prasad talk about the importance of money. His crisp narrative notwithstanding, Venky and Varun act out long comical scenes to push the envelope. By half-time, the romantic lines are clear. Venky and Harika, Varun and Honey.

The rich businessman adopts the ‘Naan’ (1967 Tamil film) methodology to search the heir apparent to his throne. All the characters land up in Vizianagaram. In the business tycoon’s palace is also Prithvi and gang alongside the former’s PA, Sharma (Srikanth Iyengar). The script becomes a circus. Jokers galore, PJs aplenty, guffaws allowed and fans laughing aloud. The fig leaf screams that this is family entertainment.

Anil Ravipudi is as brazen as it gets. Unapologetically Manmohan Desai like, he not only has his finger on the veins of the audience but has a rightfully insulting assessment of the viewers’ taste and intelligence.

What saves the film, its long-drawn loud narrative notwithstanding, is the performances from most in the film. Be it Sunil or Vennela Kishore, Prithvi, Srikanth Iyengar or Tulasi, they deliver what is expected of them. Murli Sharma and Sampath add signature credibility.

The women folk, particularly Annapurna, Pragathi and Y Vijaya, deliver more convincingly than Mehreen and Tamannaah, who are mere props in a madhouse. Varun Tej and Venkatesh have good on-screen chemistry (think of Amitabh with Vinod Khanna and Shashi Kapoor). They translate the ludicrous with consummate ease and help the filmmaker achieve the houseful boards.

This is a laugh riot with a caveat. A caveat that bids goodbye to common sense and sensitivities thereof. One who subscribes to this euphemism of entertainment would have a field day with ‘F3’.