Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Abandoned by his mother when he was only ten, Venkata Ramana, a dashing young man from Guntur, sets off to Hyderabad for an emotional reunion, only to realize it will take a lot more than a visit to win his mother back, who is now a powerful politician managed by her corrupt father.
Written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas, the 2024 Telugu action-comedy movie “Guntur Kaaram” opens with a fiery flashback scene of a group of goons setting a chilli godown on fire, resulting in violence and forever altering a family’s destiny. Mahesh Babu stars as the protagonist, Venkata Ramana, whose mother, Vasundhara (Ramya Krishnan), abandons him on the night of the fire, for reasons unknown to him. Years later, Ramana’s grandfather, Venkata Swamy (Prakash Raj), summons him through a lawyer. The story tracks Ramana’s efforts to foil his grandfather’s plans to cut him off from the family, untangle the past, and perhaps earn his mother’s affection in the present.
For the first 20-25 minutes, “Guntur Kaaram” is quite entertaining, establishing an intriguing premise filled with family conflict, drama, and action. Mahesh Babu makes a stylish hero’s entry, driving a bright red jeep, symbolizing Ramana’s fiery personality. The story starts to go downhill from the introduction of Ramana’s romantic interest Amulya (Sreeleela), who is the daughter of his grandfather’s lawyer Pani (Murli Sharma). Amulya is introduced as a pretty girl who is portrayed as dumb, coy, and speaks as if she is still in school. Nowhere in the movie are we told what she does in life, except for making random videos for social media and running errands for her father. The romantic plot was annoyingly bad, instead of being comedic or cute.
2 hour 39 minutes long, “Guntur Kaaram” has some staple action sequences and a bunch of songs running through the runtime that sound like forgettable rehashes of popular tracks. Not one song stands out in the film, not even Ramana’s intro song “Dum Masala”. Even the background music doesn’t do much to heighten interesting moments in the plot. It’s been months since I watched Rajinikanth’s “Jailer,” and I still vividly remember the tune that played every time he had a punchy scene in the movie. However, I can’t recall a single piece of music from “Guntur Kaaram,” even though I watched it just a few hours ago.
The screenplay feels too formulaic, and the dialogue strains to come off as cinematic and ‘cool’. Take, for instance, the excessive emphasis on the phrase “Guntur Kaaram” throughout the film. The writers are constantly trying too hard to paint Ramana as a hot chili or spice. Mahesh Babu is aging like fine wine, viewers don’t need verbal reminders to acknowledge his personality. And while there are some enjoyable sequences and punchlines, they fail to distract from the worn-out script. The climax does deliver a satisfying twist concerning Ramya Krishnan’s character, Vasundhara. However, considering her ultimate impact on the story, she deserved more screen-time. On the flip side, her limited appearance serves to elevate her character, both in the eyes of her son Ramana and within the narrative itself. Political strategy emerges as a prominent theme towards the end, but unfortunately, the script falls short of fully capitalizing on its political story potential amid the comedic fluff that fills the overly long runtime.
There’s a line in the film where Amulya says, “He’s good-looking, that’s why I’m keeping quiet,” when she’s asked what she thinks of Ramana blatantly flirting with her for the first time. And, well, that’s probably how most fans will manage to get through the long, clichéd story of “Guntur Kaaram” too — by finding solace in Mahesh Babu’s enduring boyish charms.
You can stream “Guntur Kaaram” on Netflix.
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