Tharun Bhascker developed a cult following among the youth with just two films. His ‘Pelli Choopulu’ and ‘Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi’ connected deeply with the youngsters and his superb comedy sense earned with a lot of craze. After turning into an actor for a few films, Tharun has put on the director’s hat for ‘Keedaa Cola’ once again. Whilst playing a key role in the movie, he wrote and directed it. Tharun’s brand and the interesting trailer generated a lot of buzz on this movie. Let us dive into the review straightaway to find more about it.
Story:
Vaasthu (Chaitanya Rao) is a 30 year old man who is yet to settle in life and get married. He suffers from Tourette syndrome and his grandfather (Brahmanandam) is confined to a wheel chair. A young lawyer named Kaushik (Raag Mayur) lives with them and is a good friend to Vaasthu. He has some issues too and they all decide to have a small party in the midst of all their problems. They bring a set of cool drinks and one of them has a cockroach inside. Vaasthu & Co devise a plan to sue the company and get settled for live. In this process, Kaushik gets kidnapped one day. They find out that there is more to this cool drink bottle with a cockroach inside. Who kidnapped Kaushik? Did Vaasthu & Co solve all their problems? These questions will be answered in the movie.
Analysis:
Crime comedy is an evergreen genre. There is a separate fanbase for this type of films. Most of these movies revolve around money and the common point is a lot of gangs fighting for the same money. Every movie starting from ‘Kshana Kshanam’, ‘Swamy Ra Ra’, ‘Brochevarevaru Ra’, ‘Bhale Manchi Roju’ and others run on the same premise. While the story is the same, each director tries to bring something new to the table with their narration. They write peculiar characters and create interesting situations thereby trying to generate comedy from it. Tharun Bhascker too followed the same path for ‘Keedaa Cola’. There are some crazy characters in the movie and some situations with ample scope for comedy have been written. Known for his sense of humour, Tharun excelled once again with his simple one-liners and generated a lot of fun. Though the setup is quite good, the conflict point in the movie is quite silly. All the gangs fight for one thing and what they fight for is quite weak. People may not find enough stuff in the movie that is required for a feature film as it revolves around a cool drink bottle. There is no seriousness in the movie which was intentional but some may not find it relatable. With the lack of right buildup and racy screenplay, the ending turns out to be very ordinary. But the movie never bores you as the two hours go very smoothly. But ‘Keedaa Cola’ fails to leave a strong impact at the end.
Everyone laughed a lot when Chiranjeevi translated Telugu proverbs into English in ‘Shankar Dada MBBS’. After a long time, Tharun Bhascker used the ‘English’ comedy in ‘Keedaa Cola’. It worked out very well as the rowdy gang makes it a point to speak two hours daily in English. They translate Telugu sentences to English and it generates a lot of entertainment. There are some more scenes like Tharun Bhascker saying ‘Car Take’ and Vishnu replying ‘Rich Gift’ which leads to Tharun keeping his rule aside and shouting ‘Car They Bey!!’. Mispronouncing ‘Surrender’ and ‘Surender’ and many more scenes worked out amazingly. They sound silly on paper but the situational comedy worked out brilliantly in the movie. Tharun Bhascker created a lot of such scenes. He set the tone of the film at the very beginning and the audience get accustomed to it real quick.
‘Keedaa Cola’ is two hours long and ninety minutes of the film runs pretty smoothly. Every scene is funny but the movie is not strong enough when all these scenes are put together. The lack of strength is the main reason for it. The story is about a gang who tries to make money out of a cool drink bottle with a cockroach and another gang who gets a hold of this bottle. After some time, both gangs team up and fight against another gang. There is nothing serious in this film. One wonders whether making crores of money is that easy. The lead characters do everything for money and the audience would have connected more with them if there was an emotional backstory. The way the story begins is quite dull as Vaasthu and his granddad’s thread bores you a bit. The movie picks up pace when Tharun Bhascker arrives as Naidu on the scene. He brings energy and josh every time he is on the screen. He and Vishnu took care of the comedy in the entire film. Jeevan too made us laugh at times. But Brahmanandam, Chaitanya and others did not bring a lot of laughs. The first half is just okay but the second half turns into a crazy ride. Had the ending been better handled, ‘Keedaa Cola’ would have been on the next level. While many may say that ‘Keedaa Cola’ is not in the range of ‘Pelli Choopulu’ and ‘Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi’, one needs to remember that they were also criticized for the wafer-thin story. Especially, ‘Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi’ did not get a positive talk initially because of not having a story or a direction. Tharun Bhascker’s films get more enjoyable as time goes by. Let us see if the same happens for ‘Keedaa Cola’ or not.
Performances:
Every actor suited their roles in ‘Keedaa Cola’. There are no heroes and villains in this movie. Each character is significant to the story but the highlight among them is Tharun Bhascker’s Naidu role. He did extremely well and Jeevan too was good as his brother. Chaitanya Rao’s character is ordinary and his acting is decent. Brahmanandam did not bring the house down like before but managed to bring a few laughs. One feels that he was not completely utilised. It is a different character for Brahmanandam. Vishnu who did fantastically in ‘MAD’ has shown his brilliance in this film too. Raag Mayur too did a very good job. Ravindra Vijay is okay and the rest of the cast are fine.
Technicians:
The biggest asset of ‘Keedaa Cola’ is Vivek Sagar’s music. He created a unique vibe for this movie. His background scores, hummings and beat songs played a key role in the proceedings. The movie is a crazy ride because of his music. Without Vivek Sagar’s work, ‘Keedaa Cola’ would have been very dull. Aaron’s cinematography is excellent. He delivered what Tharun wanted and the cinematic visuals are a treat to watch onscreen at places. They are unique and stylish. The production values are adequate. One can say that it is not a rich film but it is technically very sound. Writer-director Tharun Bhascker once again showcased his strength in comedy. His sense of humour is different from the rest and the one-liners in this flick are a big plus. But his story is wafer-thin and he faced a huge challenge of making a two-hour movie with it. Though the movie never bores you, one feels that there is something missing in it. With good entertainment, the movie turns out to be a decent outing with good technical quality if you can ignore the predictable nature.
Verdict
Keedaa Cola’ – A Time Pass Crime Comedy!