'Gayapadda Simham' Movie Review

Movie Review: 'Gayapadda Simham'

Cast: Tharun Bhascker, Faria Abdullah, Manasa Choudhary, Sree Vishnu, JD Chakravarthy, Shubhalekha Sudhakar, Kashyap Srinivas, Vasu Inturi, Anita Choudhary, Krishna Bhagavan, Anish Kuruvilla, Harshavardhan, and others.

Music: Sweekar Agasthi

Cinematography: Vidyasagar Chinta

Original Story: Suryaprakash Josyula

Producers: Kalyana Chakravarthy, Bhanu Kiran, Vijay Krishna, Umesh Kumar Bansal

Writer & Director: Kashyap Srinivas

After getting introduced as a director to Tollywood, Tharun Bhaskar is impressing as an actor. Recently, he has done a lead role in Om Shanti Shanti Shanti, which was released months ago, and now he has come up with Gayapadda Simham. After enthralling everyone with some crazy promotional videos, did the film manage to enthrall in the same fashion? Let’s see.

STORY:

After wrapping up studies, Darahas (Tharun Bhaskar) works in the IT Industry and, upon his girlfriend’s father’s condition for the marriage, he plans to go to the USA. However, with Donald Trump’s new immigration policies in place, he was deported from the airport, and his girlfriend ditched him. Unable to bear the heartbreak and humiliation, Darahas decides to exact revenge on Donald Trump, and what he has done later forms the rest of the story. Whether he succeeds or not is the climax.

NARRATIVE-ANALYSIS:

After getting elected as US President for the second time, Donald Trump is shaking the world with his ruthless decisions. From tightening VISA norms to imposing tariffs to declaring war on Iran, Trump is creating a ripple effect of his decisions on the world. However, though none will be able to do anything, if any of Trump’s decisions affect us personally, then we will get angry. This story deals with such a guy who was affected by Trump and decides to take revenge. As the US president is untouchable otherwise, if our guy decides to trust in black magic to trouble him, that’s an interesting plot point, which is dealt well in “Gayapadda Simham”. While the story idea is quite crazy and exciting, this type of content should be filled with large-scale original fun to make it work. But newcomer director Kashyap Srinivas failed to write some original comedy and relied on spoof comedy, whose dose isn’t enough to make the movie work.

Though the story was written well with sprouts of relatable present-day situations and the humour woven around it, the comedy situations haven’t come out organically, which never made Gayapadda Simham more than an average movie. Had the story run on the thread that a deported Indian IT employee wants to take revenge on Trump, it would have worked out well. But by bringing a crime racket, the usual confusion comedy involving a misplaced parcel, and the hero’s gang, rowdy gang, and police gang chasing each other, the film became a routine trope. There’s neither comedy nor thrill, thus diluting the action sequences. Despite giving lots of exaggeration for JD Chakravarthy’s role, it fizzled out on the screen. Coming to Sreevishnu’s presence, he did a full-length role rather than a cameo. While he wants to become an IAS officer, his father forces him to take up the family’s traditional black-magic profession, thus spreading hilarious laughter.

While Sree Vishnu’s track got highlighted, the hero vs Trump track failed to click. When the story’s core point is that, one has to elevate it big time, but then, the overdone subplots led to the belief that the hero is unimportant in the flick. The title ‘Gayapadda Simham’ never got justified. Rather than using the plot point to create fun, the director relied on spoof comedies when the movie went off track, and that engaged a bit. The spoofs on Bommarillu, Pokiri, and Salaar sound routine, though they spread laughs. Though there are no special sparks towards the end, they have given a lead that a sequel, “Porata Simham” featuring Sree Vishnu, will come out, but that didn’t excite anyone. Without expectations, if you are okay even with fewer laughs, you can pick this film.

PERFORMANCES:

Tharun Bhaskar is good in the role of Darahas with impressive comedy timing. With the director not giving enough weight to the role in the story, it looks like even Tharun couldn’t do much. Despite having a lesser screen time, Sree Vishnu’s role as Bhairav Das creates lots of impact. Both the heroines, Faria Abdullah and Manasa Chowdhary, have done justice to the smaller portions they were offered. Director Kashyap Srinivas, who played the hero’s friend in the movie, is okayish. Though JD Chakravarthy’s role was given lots of elevations, it didn’t match the hype, while the actor performed well. Subhalekha Sudhakar, Pradeep Ravat, and Harshavardham have done good to the roles given.

TECHNICALITIES:

Gayapadd Simham extracted the best from technicians, starting with music composer Sweekar Agasthi, whose songs haven’t worked out much, but the background score gave energy to scenes. Cinematographer Vidyasagar Chinta’s visuals are colourful and impactful too, making it look like a star hero’s film. Suryaprakash Josyula’s base story has matter, and Kashyap Srinivas extended it well, but then the screenplay lacked intriguing elements. While the director’s direction is okay, the writing could have been damn better.

Finally: Gayapadda Simham, just for a few laughs

Rating: 2.5/5