Story

Hari (Siddhu Jonnalagadda) and Giri (Naresh) are two small-time thieves who work in a medical shop at Guntur. Giri's policy is rob in an insignificant way (small sums, trivial items) so that the victims don’t complain the robbery to police. One night, they rob cash in lacs. As they runaway to Goa, both police and mafia start chasing them. Rest of the story is all about how they emerge as winners.

Artists Performance

Actors: This film essentially belongs to two actors - Siddhu Jonnalagadda and Naresh. Both these characters are author-backed ones and behave just the way male adults behave in slums. Their portrayal is raw. Siddhu has shown terrific variations and Naresh has shown an unexplored side of him. Rashmi Gautham played the role of a slum girl and she looks pretty sensuous. Shraddha Das has guts to accept the role of a sex addict who is also a lady rowdy. She performs with effortless ease. Since it’s a north Indian character, her dubbing suited the role. Raja Ravinder gets a meaty role of a cop and does a complete justice. Mahesh Manjrekar is good as a Mumbai don working in Guntur. He used too many hindi expletives (ch…a). Fish Venkat is funny as a goon. Director has made sure that each and every character is cast well and performs well.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: Guntur Talkies is a dark comedy that deals mainly with crime and sex against the backdrop of Guntur. Screenplay is a non-linear one with a couple of interesting twists. Praveen Sattaru should be appreciated for the way he made this film in such a raw and quirky manner. This is the first of it’s kind in Telugu with such a degree of rawness. From the story point of view, the film is interesting but for the latter part of second half. The final episode looks abrupt and unconvincing. I loved a couple of quirky episodes (Naresh reading sex book in restroom while his mother interrupting with yelling, the way Siddhu Jonnalagadda fears Sraddha Das (for obvious reasons) when she comes to find him in second half).

Other departments: Background music of the film is scored in retro style and its very good. The title track is nice. Cinematography sets the mood for the film. Art direction is authentic. Dialogues are well written and raw. Editing is fine. Production values are sufficient..

Analysis: Guntur Talkies is probably the only Telugu film that deserves to get A certificate in true sense. This film reeks crime, sex and expletives. It’s daring step for Praveen Sattaru for making a film like Guntur Talkies immediately after directing the national award winning Chandamama Kathalu. He is one such director who doesn’t care for how a film would be received and ends up doing it the way he wants. This film will surely draw flak from regular movie goers for it’s content. It’s a kind of film one wouldn’t acknowledge either watching it or liking it. On a whole, Guntur Talkies is a daringly different film that appeals to a different set of crowds!!