Movie: Race Gurram
Director: Surendar Reddy
Cast: Allu Arjun, Shruti Haasan, Prakash Raj, Brahmanandam, Saloni Aswani and Shaam
Rating: **1/2
Race Gurram is exactly the material that budding heroes would have loved to cling on to for the successful massy entertainer mark it bears in tune with the scenario in Telugu cinema today. Surely, it celebrates being bereft of logic throughout, opens up many ways to generate laughs, closes them up as soon as they turn dry or stale and satisfyingly flirts with the strengths of its male lead in the near 150 minute running time. If there’s an able mix of emotion, humor and stunt madness to keep check of the first half, the latter part is a fitting cousin to its commencement with conventional surprises that have the protagonist outsmarting the antagonist.
The title of movie meanwhile could have been anything else instead of a Race Gurram, ranging from a Dammu to a Raccha to also a Julayi 2 excepting a repetition of the same in the dialogues of the final result. The film takes off with an expected conflict between the contrasting siblings that the pre-release trailers have focused. Surendar Reddy wants to make Ram(Shaam), the enviable and the detestable of the two. He gifts him a law-abiding character who works more with his righteousness than anything else. Ram wants to rip his brother to pieces which as a viewer you know won’t happen. But, he is a cop for god’s sake. He has a younger brother Lucky(Allu Arjun) who’s an example for a loveable ‘bewars’, a tag that he gives himself when he’s randomly questioned by his elder brother during a booze check on the roads.
No, don’t take this too seriously, for you have a chance to be disappointed when he talks about blood overpowering personal egos in front of the baddie a few minutes later. Also, just worry little about common sense in the character of his lady love Spandana (Shruti Hassan), who is given that very name for the lack of any sensation in her, never letting inner insecurities show in the form of actions. There’s no point of searching for potholes and reasoning in these aspects when Lucky is in a bid to put an end to the political aspirations of Maddali Siva Reddy and makes a mess of law and order within a day’s span. When you convince yourself that this package is entirely formula ridden and openly intends to make you laugh, sulk, be amused and surprised during their proceedings, the pop-corn becomes crunchier and crispier. During this exercise, Brahmanandam arrives late, but does a fitting mini-rehash of Hrudaya Kaleyam like parody, the way it ideally should be done. This portion makes sure that the film ends well, at least on a humorous note. Don’t blame the over-smart character of the lead actor who comes up with larger-than-life ideas within seconds like Julayi though.
Allu Arjun goes a tad overboard in his use of Devudaa as a sarcastic response this time. He once again enjoys being the on-screen awara and is better with fooling his girl and the villain instead of putting up expressions of angst and smashing them in bunches like a walk in the park. The songs are generally modeled to get more of him as a dancer for the paid ticket. Shruti Hassan too has surreal costumes and betters her comedic and dance repertoire this time, if you count them as significant aspects for survival as a bankable heroine today. Shaam gets a lot of screen-space to show his rigidity and he does that at the cost of comparisons with Kick. Saloni has a blink and a miss appearance. Ravi Kishan is loud for his part, even if there’s nothing much in a role that you would admire. It’s however sad to see a veteran like Prakash Raj being reduced to an object of utter mockery.
SS Thaman’s compositions have energy and also the deja vu feeling every time you listen to them. Race Gurram has many flaws but it is made for you to look at it as a safely played film and be a weekend favorite as a die-hard lover for escapism and nothing more that.
Review by Srivathsan N, who had originally written it for Cinegoer.net