Dasari Narayana Rao’s Errabus (2014) Movie Review

Starcast: Dasari Narayana Rao, Manchu Vishnu, Catehrine Tresa, Raghu Babu, Mounika, Vishnu Priya and Surya
Music Director: Chakri
Director: Dasari narayana Rao
Censor Certificate: U
Runtime: 158 Minutes

First of all, when we hear the word “Errabus” we would have thought it’s a village based film with traditional drama. Manchu Vishnu as Ragesh, a small town boy raised solely by his gramps Narayana Rao (Dasari Narayana Rao). Rajesh with a singular desire of settling down in USA and in the brief time, he created the opportunity and working towards achieving goal. Where as Rajji (Catherine Tresa) slightly deflects the obedient professional early on in the film, who was found by Ragesh as lover in a casual scene at the traffic signal. Ragesh is now selected to go to USA in three months time and he brings his Gramps to the city to spend quality time before he leaves. The rest of the film is how the old man with a heart of gold creates havoc and nuisance in the life of Ragesh, residents of the residential apartments and even in the American consulate.

Performance wise, Dashakaratna Dasari Narayana Rao is very good in the title role. This is the kind of performance that seems second nature to him, and he eases into it comfortably. Manchu Vishnu’s strength is not drama, and though he tries hard to keep it real it obvious he’d rather be slapping Brahmanandam than play a regular software professional trying to cope up with work and life. Catherine Tresa is just okay with nothing exceptional to write about. Raghu Babu is a delight to watch in few scenes and from the rest of the cast Surya stands out as head of apartments. The child artist playing Vishwanath’s daughter doesn’t get much scope in the script.  Rest of the characters are just middling in their scenes.

The first half is spent in introducing the characters and the fast track life that the youngsters of today lead. It then discloses into how the prolonged stay of a gramps turns from bliss to pain. Especially, when the grandpa comes from a village completely unaware of modern life. The second half, with a bit of filmic liberty, has some implausible scenes (Embassy accepts a rejected person, Pokkiri beggar spoof with Crows) that hint down the charm of the film. Instead of writing some novel and fresh scenes in the script, the writers have gone for the usual punches involving the Police, Tourists, Love and residents seen many times before in similar other projects. The writers also involve popular sms joke “Nahi Malum” and Youtube “Toaster” joke in the film.

The entire treatment by Dasari Narayana Rao is so lacking in imagination that the whole series of events appears enfeebling. The tone is also not light enough to make it a feel good experience. The dialogues are just unassuming and story lacks definitiveness. The set-up is believable, but the lack of proper development hampers the objective of maintaining a light hearted vitality. The performances are fine but Dasari’s heavy-handed approach renders them ineffective.

The problems are at a more impalpable level. The biggest drawback of the film is lack of any real emotional connect with the audience. In trying to keep the story light, it ends up too frivolous. You are not rooting for anything or anyone at any point of the film; neither do you anticipate any event to unfold. The film becomes a soliloquy, and seeks no response from you. The blame lies on the one-dimensional nature of the screenplay and the roles.

The story of a grandpa overstaying and walks the trampled path, proceeds not an inch. What adds to the lack of depth is the monotonous pitch in the interactions between the Dasari – Mounica, Dasari – Vishnu, Dasari – small girl and Dasari – Catherine. There is a nice semisweet flavor to them in the beginning, which is real and works well. But this doesn’t change in a way that creates any conflict or drama, and the one time it does, its diffused right away. It is only at the end that you see an emotional spike, but without a serious character or plot build up to it, it fails to resonate with the audience.

 Musically the soundtrack is okay with a catchy first track from Chakri. Cinematography serves the purpose well and dialogues are good in some particular scenes. Editing by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao lacked vision and the transition gag-worthy. Especially Brahmanandam – Crow scene could have easily trimmed off from the film. Special effects in the film are middling. Production values of Taraka Prabhu Films are fine.

A flat, unexciting, half-hearted drama that pre-publicity defined as a dra-medy. Errabus fails to make the desired impact despite its decent cast that includes Nandi award winning actor Dasari Narayana Rao, Manchu Vishnu, Surya and Castherine Tresa. A sheer waste of talent if you ask me. In short, Errabus is a dreadful attempt (as an official remake to Tamil hit Manjapai), could have been much better with some fresh developments and funny sequences added into the script.

Survi Review: 1/5

Theatrical Trailer: