'Lingoccha', produced by Yadagiri Raju on Srikala Entertainments, was released in theatres today (October 27).
Plot:
The story is set in the old city part of Hyderabad. Shiva (Karthik Ratnam), a barber by profession, has been in love with a Muslim neighbour named Noor Jahan (Supyardee Singh). Since she has always smiled at him since her childhood, we gather that the feeling is mutual. Their romantic feelings evolve into a love affair until the religious divide plays a spoilsport. Shiva and Noor will have to go through torment and pangs of separation. Will they become stronger after all this?
Post-Mortem:
Films set in the Old Hyderabad have been notorious for being a pile of cliches, archetypal conversations, and stock characters. Our directors believe that showing the Charminar half a dozen times is enough for their film to be called the metaphorical Hyderabadi-flavoured biryani. In 'Lingoccha', director Anand Bada attempts a story that comes across as a cross between Hyderabadi films like 'Angrez' and some melancholy love story he accidentally got inspired from. Ninety percent of the film is loud and soulless, while the climax is heavy-duty in an unintentionally comical way.
Telangana-based films are becoming more about reckless and loud-mouthed men indulging in cavalier, unending, semi-filthy conversations. The men are unemployed drunkards constantly shamed by their fathers. This is still fine if your story-telling is engaging. Not gonna lie, we liked the recent 'Mem Famous' and 'Pareshan', which were panned by others for portraying Telangana youths as good-for-nothing, jobless alcoholics.
But 'Lingoccha' does the same in the blandest possible fashion. The male lead (Karthik Ratnam has previously done 'Care Of Kancharapalem' and the recent 'Chaangure Bangaru Raja') behaves like a headless chicken at crucial turns in his life. The heroine behaves as though she has been fooling around Shiva for years. When she verbalizes her love, we are actually surprised that she has a heart and a brain. They exchange smiles, their non-verbal communication is enough to convince everyone and their uncles that they are in love with each other. Yet, they take eons just to exchange their, wait for it, phone numbers! This is what happens when you confuse comedy for a clumsy male protagonist who behaves like a moron at the drop of a hat.
An eve-teasing scene here, a 'joke' on transgenders there, stock frames that show the Old City in the most outdated way (daylight murders by hoodlums, narrow bylanes where people beat up each other), sidekicks who live just for the male protagonist's love life (they have no job or what?)... Such elements have started to feel indescribably boring.
Supyarde Singh looks good but, acting-wise, it is Karthik who is better. Thagubothu Ramesh is seen as the audience's surrogate character, while Uttej plays a narrator who struggles to come to the point.
Closing Remarks:
'Lingoccha' is a pile of Hyderabadi filmi cliches with an unsettling and tonally laughable, so-called emotional climax.
