G Nageswara Reddy’s Current Theega (2014) Movie Review

Cast: Manchu Manoj, Sunny Leone, Rakul Preet Singh, Jagapati Babu, Tanikella Bharini, Vennela Kishore, Dhanraj and Thagubothu Ramesh.
Music Director: Achu Rajamani
Cinematography: Satish Mutyala
Editor: S R Shekar
Director: G Nageswara Reddy
Censor Certificate: A
Runtime: 142 Minutes

An official remake of the Tamil flm “Varutha Padatha Valibar Sangam”, this enterprise by G Nageswara Reddy has the producer’s brother, Manchu Manoj in the lead role.

A current Theega start with the serious intro of Village head Shivarama Raju (Jagapathi Babu), who leads a prestigious life and can do anything to save his respect. Raju (Manchu Manoj) and Kishore (Vennala Kishore) are running a club and they have no other job to do. As usual, Raju falls in love with SHivarama Raju’s daughter Kavitha (Rakul Preet Singh), who is strongly against the idea of love marriage and what happens after that is to be watched on the big screens.

Manchu Manoj seems to repeat the role of Potugadu but seem to give an excitement to his fans and appears to unique. Manchu Manoj and Thagubothu Ramesh scenes will surely make every one laugh and they both have more screen presence than anyother characters. Rakul Preet Singh has not much scope in this script to show her acting skills, she is totally sizzling in her introduction scene. Jagapathi Babu, who appears to be strict father, a respected man in the village given his best in every scene he came. The episode of stealing the gun of Jagapathi Babu by Manchu Manoj and Thagubothu Ramesh is total fun. Sunny Leone’s cameo is nothing new but she looks fresh on screen as a school teacher. Dubbing is the major issue with her character. Prudhvi, Shiva Reddy and Jyothi sequences are nicely shot. Dhanraj, Vennela Kishore, Tanikella Bharini, Raghu Babu, Fish Venkat and Jeeva support the main leads decently.

Current Theega follows the same predictable path about a playful guy, falls in love with daughter of a marquee person in a village and the rest of the story is same the other hundred’s of films released in this format. Thin storyline, predictable screenplay with unnecessary add-ons (Villain and Fight sequences), but the film is comic in parts, thanks to the Thagubothu Ramesh & Manchu Manoj punch lines in the first half. Unfortunately the narrative doesn’t stick to that predominant story idea. The Narrative in the movie moves in divers’ directions and then come back to the main idea rather like a lost soul finding himself at long last. And in meantime we are treated to some heavy-duty melodrama and corny theatrics that went out of fashion a decade ago.

Frankly, if you ask me it’s a bad idea transposing what worked well in a preponderantly Tamil milieu into a commercial Telugu set-up. Director has to appreciate for mixing political punches and one-liners here and there, which is very much subtle.

The songs (by Achu Rajamani) are more or less riling. Not only they are aesthetically displeasing and deigning, to me as an audience, but the manner in which they break the flow of the story is the most bothering bit of them all. Here you have two songs that can fit that bit. Current Theega also has a decent Background Score. Fights in the film by Ram Sunkara & Thrills by Manchu Manoj are impressive, but situation less inclusion of fights just spoils the effect of the fights. Cinematography by Sathish Mutyala is neat. Editor could have easily reduced the runtime to about 10-15 minutes. Production values of 24 Frames Factory is grand.

An official remake of the Tamil film “Varutha Padatha Valibar Sangam”, despite its isolated nature, Tamil version manages to provide concrete entertainment through its bright native treatment. The major letdown in remake comes mainly from the script work and the direction. The script with more tongue-tied anxiety than sense, fails to capture the nature of the original and G Nageswara Reddy spineless guiding comes across as more concerned with perceived commercial viability rather than pure story-telling craft.

Survi Review: 2/5

Theatrical Trailer: