Potugadu Review


Potugadu is a romantic comedy with very high entertainment quotient. On the face of it, would seem to be filled with a more-than-normal dose of slapstick comedy, complete with Manoj-style loudness and eccentricity. Manchu Manoj’s rocking performance is the main attraction in the film.

This Telugu film is for cinema lovers only. You can hear giggles you will hear while watching this latest offering will be laughter in response to just one kind of stimulus – double entendre. All the double entendre, littered with gay abandon, is gratuitous, but there will always be a section which loves it. With three short-lived love sagas and more that number of fights, Potugaadu is more commercial than brainy.

Pawan’s unique script, interesting narration, funny dialogues, comedy stars’ performances, Achu Rajamani’s hit music and background score, Srikanth’s stylish picturisation and good choreography of songs and fights are other highlights of the movie.

Ganeshu (Manoj) is a young man who decides to commit suicide. He meets ‘Venkat Ratnam’ (Posani Krishna Murali) at the suicide point. As Venkat is also there to end his life, the duo decides to sit down for a last drink. Over drinks, they begin opening up about their problems. Govindu starts narrating his four love stories that have led him to his current situation.

Ganeshu is a quirky and gutsy young man, whose dimples always have the girls going gaga. So much so, the first girl confesses love to him in their second meeting, the second girl in the third scene, the third girl, a gora, takes a bit longer, the fourth girl, again, confesses love to him as fast as you can imagine. In the end, you realize that the girl he is going to marry had no more role than the relatively insignificant girls.

His first love story is with ‘Vaidehi’ (Simaran Kaur), a Brahmin girl from his village . Though both like each other, their love story comes to a sudden halt when Vaidehi’s father disapproves their relationship. He does not marry her at the cost of hurting the girl’s father. Thus, when father is seen to be devastated by his daughter’s decision Ganeshu forgets her and, even better, does his best to help her forget him.

Second one is with ‘Mumtaz’ (Sakshi Chowdhary) in the city Their love progresses rather smoothly until one day Govindu in inebriated state comments vulgarly about Mumtaz. Third one is with a foreigner named ‘Stacy’ (Rachel), who is a boss fiancée which also ends badly.

Finally the fourth is with ‘Mary’ (Anu Priya) the social worker It is with this girl that Govindu experiences real love and enjoys spending time with her. But things take a turn for the worse when he gets to know the truth about Mary, which leads him to take the drastic step.
Simran as Vaidehi , Sakshi as Mumtaz, Rachel as Stacy do their best to wish they be dumped by the director before the hero dumps them. Priya as Mary shows grace, and with good roles, she is likely to surprise in the future.

Every time the hero tells Posani how he dumped a girl after a song, Telugu industry’s most admired (or hated) weirdo, Posani, starts the customary lamenting. Please remember, whenever a hero deceptively projects himself as a baddie, it only means that the director has got a plan to show him as a Saviour sometime later (in a flashback). for the purposes of narration, he keeps playing a hide-and-seek with Posani Krishnamurali (as Software Raja) about his
true character.

Manoj is kind of better than the other star kids in terms of diction and he’s quite the funny man,. The film’s big plus is the comedy involving Manoj. He offers the same palette that we saw in Mr. Nookayya. He strikes a rapport with all the girls, he shows energy and verve. The length is proper and the locations are appropriate..

One feels that if Manoj tries to be a bit subtle that will surely fetch him laurels. Otherwise, his stunts are enjoyable. He is as energetic as ever; his dialogue delivery is confident.
The songs could have been impressive with a better choreography and visualization. Overall, they pass muster. The comedy scenes, involving Sathyam Rajesh, Geeta, Ali, Raghu Babu just fall flat. Posani is good enough, although he overstays his welcome.

The production values are worthy of mention.

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