Movie: Loukyam
Director: Sriwass
Cast: Gopichand, Rakul Preet Singh, Brahmanandam, Kovai Sarla, Chandra Mohan, Sampath Raj, Pradeep Rawat
Rating: **
What if a batch of hotel management students is taught to make the same dish in different hues and names on the menu card just because it sells? The customer is cheated at the end of the day, but the business is done. Cooking is an art, a popular dialog of Sridevi’s English Vinglish says. They take a break realizing that and are still confident of the customer’s lack of a better regional choice. That in short is the cinematic equivalent in the case study of Loukyam.
Oh my! Has the writer duo of Kona Venkat and Gopimohan missed the opportunity of working in Sreenu Vaitla’s Aagadu? Not to worry, they’ve made up for their absence in a week’s span. Gopichand is honoured to wear the mask of an action hero in this quarterly, more or so, the bimonthly concocted package. It’s a different cast, another director and most importantly, a mass film. Audiences and not Brahmanandam are the easy punch bags. We still manage to enter the theatres with an open-mindedness of finding some joy in an escapist world. Its ability to surprise is as good as the industry’s quest in embracing some change.
‘The fans of Gopichand will love Loukyam’ is the writer’s idea behind the film. Continuing that, we can imagine him saying, “Sahasam was too much of sense. This is just the opposite. Leave your brains outside.” When questioned about the film’s opinion, we can jump to call it a ‘one time watch’ with a disclaimer that should prompt Sreenu Vaitla registering a patent for his screenplay of Dhee.
Brahmanandam continues to be an uncredited lead actor who talks more than Gopichand. He once says, ‘Cinema bagundi kada ani theater lone undakudu’. “This is already a super-hit,” should’ve been its tag line. Please consider the film as a ‘time pass’ as it is also updated with the latest parodies in the market, say Chennai Express, Legend and Aagadu to say the least. The bonus is Hamsa Nandini’s ‘performance’.
”Please don’t read the reviews of the film. We guarantee you entertainment that can be watched comfortably with families” should be the statement that you can expect to hear in the next press conference.
Review by Srivathsan N. First published in Cinegoer.net
