Baapu, produced by Comrade Film Factory, hits the cinemas this Friday. In this section, we are going to review the latest BO release.
Plot:
The story is set in a Telangana village where a farmer named Mallayya (Brahmaji) lives with his father Rajayya (‘Balagam’ Sudhakar Reddy) and wife Saroja (Aamani). He has a daughter, Varalakshmi (Dhanya Balakrishna), and a son, Raju (Mani Aegurla), an auto-rickshaw driver. Years of crop failures has rendered Mallayya mired in debts. The village elders pressure him to repay the loans, threatening to seize his land if he fails. Desperate, Mallayya starts believing that if he takes his own life, the government might provide compensation, which could relieve his family’s financial burdens. However, Saroja plants a different thought in his mind. The thought is evil and executing it could have unintended consequences for the entire family.
Post-Mortem:
Baapu, written and directed by Daya, proves at least one thing: that morality is dispensable in our society. The immorality of the characters in this film is not even acknowledged. The way the film ends, it is as though the film wants you to believe that you have just watched the tale of an unknown peasant family from Mahesh Babu's Maharshi.
Cruel thinking is philosophized by the film; All moral choices made by the characters are laid at the doorsteps of God. The montage song following a stunning decision alludes to fate in a shameless display of convenient fatalism.
To hell with morality, you say? Fine. Baapu doesn't score otherwise either. Even when the characters make or try to make drastic moves, the narration is undramatic and bizarrely dull. The writing screams of twisted morality as it is. In addition, the film is low-effort in every way possible.
Mean talk against family members is milked for laughs. Scenes related to the poignant plot are interrupted by a romantic track. The driver-son is as vacuous as your neighborhood sociopath. The language of the characters lacks EQ and, concomitantly, basic intelligence. They are amoral characters alright, but they behave as though they have always been thinking about murders all their lives.
The equations between the different family members are made to feel stagnant although there is so much room for nuanced writing. There are two love stories and the feel-good music for them is as dumb as the childish characterizations populating the film.
The music by RR Dhruvan would have served its purpose in a film of the depth of Balagam. The cinematography by Vasu Pendem is basic. Aalayam Anil's editing is functional. The production values are stuck in a time warp.
Closing Remarks:
The film's understanding of black comedy is as dumb as the belief that DeepSeek and DeepThroat are one and the same. Family members appear to mimic cinema characters rather than life. Above all, this is a godawful movie with a twisted heart.
