Review: Venkatadri Express - fun on the run

Director Merlapaaka Gandhi picked up a simple storyline and refined it with novel treatment. Many films operating in such a format switch to a non-linear storytelling mode, but Gandhi stayed close to the linear one, though going back-and-forth in time.

The moments of truth for the film are the peculiarities of each character and when the story runs out of fuel, the comedy bandwagon reignites it with their uncontrolled humour. However, the movie traverses the path of picking some masala staples in the second half and ends on an emotional note.

Venkatadri Express starts with the voice-over of Allari Naresh introducing few characters and what are they (in)famous for, then it shifts to Sundeep's (Sundeep Kishan) introduction where he runs and hits the goons in slow-motion, all amid loads of colours of Holi.

Sundeep is in stark contrast to his father Ram Murthy (Nagineedu) who is a self-centered stickler and penned a family guidebook ' the offenders of which are pardoned for 100 times and later disowned.

Sundeep is now riding high on his 99th mistake. He has to save himself from committing the last one and stay with the family. The director chooses this to be the main conflict point in the film.

On a fateful day, Sundeep misses the train Venkatadri Express from Kacheguda and tries all ways to board it from other stations. The journey paves way for many interesting characters ' Sapthagiri (a dialer tone fanatic), Thagubothu Ramesh (even the expensive liquor looks cheap to him), M S Narayana (Mr Cool who always looks for some thrill), a ticket collector who has a fetish for Telugu literature and above all, the heroine Prarthana (Rakul) ' a penny more pound foolish girl.

The best part of the film is its cast and gripping narration. The gags are fresh and there's no trace of crude humour anywhere. Short runtime is an asset to the film and with just two songs; its pace is well controlled.

However, the back-and-forth narration holds no suspense till the end as the audience is eagerly waiting only to see some new characters popping up and the comical tapestry weaved around them.

Even the twist in the end has been stretched too much, which in turn made it dull and predictable. After the interval, the fight sequences went overboard and didn't sync into the mood of the film. Moreover, they are placed so closely that they seem dragged after a point.

Venkatadri Express has a refreshing first half, but the later part slips into few clich's. The story is like a m'lange where the audience has no scope to play the guessing game.

However, the movie is backed by fine writing; good performances and the comedians take the entire cake for churning out many rib-tickling moments.