'Bubblegum', produced by Maheshwari Movies and presented by People Media Factory, will be released in theatres this Friday (December 29). In this section, we are going to review the latest BO release.
Plot
Aadi (Roshan Kanakala) is a wannabe musician who is fascinated by Jhanvi (Maanasa Choudhary), a 22-year-old rich kid with dreams of pursuing a fashion design course abroad. Six months ahead of her planned immigration, Jhanvi toys with the idea of being in a situationship with Aadi with the intent of ditching him at will. She eventually falls in love with his carefree behaviour and attitude. However, a drastic incident radically alters their equations. Aadi calls it quits and goes in search of his dreams. Will the twain ever meet?
Post-Mortem
The biggest problem with 'Bubblegum' is that it doesn't stick around. It is a relationship drama that actually feels like an elaborate wet dream of a 'basthi' guy. Imagine a slum-dweller in Krishna Nagar dreaming of dating a Banjara Hills hottie, whose biggest adjustment issue is adapting to his non-veg culinary tastes while being a self-confessed vegan fanatic.
Jhanvi comes across as a real person in just one scene - when one narcissist named Joel gets chatty with her at a party. Otherwise, she behaves as if everything about her has to concern Aadi, whom she met in a casual setting just a few weeks ago. She is toxic at one level, resorting to abuse without listening to Aadi's side of the story. Had her problematic personality been explored, the film would have been deep.
Aadi, on his part, has this self-image of being a Telangana cinema hero who wants to make himself counted by shouting 'Izzat' with veins popping out from his neck. He achieves his dream just like that. But for his supernatural ability to go viral while in a singular state of mind (anger, impotent rage - whatever you call it), he might never have been able to move on in life. His conversations with Jhanvi are one-note and far from reality.
The nature of comedy turns slapstick whenever Harsha Chemudu and the two over-talking friends of Aadi are around. The humour is over-the-top and strictly derivative. Aadi's friends try to be clowns; they try hard to behave like Tharun Bhascker's witty characters without possessing the wit.
The male lead's father (Chaitu Jonnalagadda, who is Siddhu Jonnalagadda's elder brother) wants to attain the ease of an Uttej while reminding the audience that he comes from the family of the 'DJ Tillu' actor. Brahmanandam makes a cameo probably because Suma Kanakala requested him to do so for her son's debut. In a way, the real-life mother Suma is more present in the film than the reel-life mother, played by Bindu Chandramouli. The heroine's father, played by Harshavardhan, looks out of tune with the whole setting.
On the bright side, the class differences between the lead pair are subtly portrayed. The conflict has a trace of freshness but the treatment is vacuous.
Debutant Roshan brings a certain rawness to his character but beyond that, he is a big bore to watch. Maanasa, who has been a model before, looks hot in a few scenes although the film's gaze was not meant to project her as an eyeful. The story writers (Ravikanth Perepu, Vishnu Kondur and Seri-Ganni) are clueless. Sricharan Pakala's music is a bit loud. Suresh Ragutu's cinematography and Vithal Kosanam's art direction are mid.
Closing Remarks
'Bubblegum' is an elaborate wet dream interrupted by a urine break. Once the dream is resumed, it turns wetter. Utterly unreal and superficial. Avoid it.
