Ramba Oorvashi Menaka Review

Allari Naresh who is doing too many Serious films these days is back to his strong forte, comedy with Ramba Oorvashi Menaka. Directed by Chandramohan, the movie is jointly produced by Hasya Movies Razesh Danda and Annapurna Studios.

What is the Movie About?

Manthena Surya Narayana Raju aka Soori (Allari Naresh) aspires to become a Hero but relies on beliefs than hard work. There is a book in their family which brings Ramba, Oorvashi, and Menaka from heaven when drawn a correct pattern on it. He spends years trying to bring them down and have his desires fulfilled. But when they really come, they only brings chaos into his life. What happens next in his life forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Allari Naresh is sincere in his act in the film. Probably, he has done more comedy characters than any of the heroes in this generation. But then, he is letdown by some bad writing in the film. The character and the story lacks the punch to challenge him in any way. Surabhi is the main female lead in the film. She looks unfit in the film and barely has anything in the story. Vishnu Priya, Rashi Singh, and Prisha Singh plays the celestial beauties but do not have anything in the film. They are confined only to skin show and they are not properly utilized even for that purpose.

Vennela Kishore plays Indra and Ajay plays Yama. They are okay in whatever they are given. Senior actors – Naresh and Srinivas Reddy play full-length roles in the film. Naresh does everything. He gets mocked, hit, and kicked in the movie but his act gets barely used. Rest of the characters are okay in minor roles.

Technicalities:

Chandramohan Chintada disappoints as a director as well as a writer. Chaitan Bhardwaj’s music disappoints. Songs also failed to fire. The Ramba Oorvashi Menaka has that vibe to entertain the audience but it comes toward by when the audience are already exhausted. The cinematography is alright. So is the production design. Chota K Prasad’s editing is fine. Production Values by Hasya Movies and Annapurna Studios are good.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠A Few Comedy Episodes

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Outdated Ideas In Writing
2.⁠ ⁠Unexciting Execution
3.⁠ ⁠Bland Emotions
4.⁠ ⁠Excessive pop-culture References

Analysis:

Films with the backdrop of Human Vs Lord Indra, Bhoolokam – Yamalokam and Celestial Beauties coming down to Earth, have a very high success rate in the Telugu film industry. From Sr. NTR to Chiranjeevi to Jr. NTR, multiple actors in the past have come up with films with the aforementioned backdrops and delivered huge blockbusters. There’s nothing wrong with selecting a hugely popular backdrop but the filmmakers has to make sure the treatment of the backdrop should resonates well with the contemporary audience. For Ramba Oorvashi Menaka, the director, Chandramohan Chintada, chose the backdrop of Celestial Beauties coming down to Earth and tried to come up with a commercial entertainer. Unfortunately, the ideas used by the director to generate comedy are outdated. Throughout the film, it gives us a feeling of ‘have seen before’. It is because of this predictability, the film never excites the audience. There were a few comedy episodes that worked but those moments are few and far in between.

Telugu film industry had quite a few notable writers in the past who used to come up with organic and original comedy. Unfortunately, the new age comedy film writers blindly think that the only way to generate comedy in films is by using the social media pop-cultural references. Why do audience buy a ticket and watch a film which has a social media meme references? Aren’t the audience getting those memes for free on social media? The writers should seriously ask these two questions to themselves before attempting to write comedy films. For example, there is this popular dialogue of Boyapati Srinu – “Hum Ne Already Bol Diya. Hum Ne Caution Kiya”. Aren’t audience already got used this meme on social media? What is the freshness the writer providing to the ticket paying audience here?

Comedy portions worked at places in the first half but the film lost track in the second half with aimless and outdated execution. The mother sentiment portion ans the comedy at most parts appeared too forced. Overall, Ramba Oorvashi Menaka, offers nothing new to the audience.

Bottomline: Outdated Comedy

Rating: 2/5