What an impressive feat it is to pull off farce convincingly! While satire relies on the safe crutches of its context to get the message across, farce, just a step removed from downright ridiculousness, is an even tougher balacing act, depending almost entirely on the sincerety and the ability of its performer(s) to sell its outlandish point. There are only a handful of movies in telugu that were able to ride the tide of farce and come out unscathed on the other end, and that number is very (very) small not for the lack of trying. In fact, as the line in "Sixth Sense" goes, "I see dead people, they don't know they are dead", most farcical fares don't know they are farces as they stumble, struggle and try to change courses midway, instead of wholeheartedly embracing their inner wacky natures. Vamsi's "Ladies Tailor", EVV's "aa okkaTee aDakku" (a kindred soul to Ladies Tailor), "Jambalakidi Pamba", "Hello Brother", and his ambitious failure "alibaba aradazanu dongalu" immediately come to mind when talking about farces, because all these acknowledge the far-fetchedness of their premises and still go about building upon them, and not resort to any course correction in a bid to broaden their appeal and become more mainstream. This is where most of the farces fail because of their infidelity (or fear) to its core idea.
"Jaathi ratnaalu" has no such reservations, qualms or confusions about the nature of its existence. It is very low brow, lowest common denominator, and importantly, least bothered about its aspirations, and while being at these, comes up all trumps. The clarity of the director needs a special mention here as he steadfastly refuses to smoothen out the rough edges and bares it all, crumpled, wrinkled and soiled, and proudly proclaims, TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT! Only one other director before had such kind of confidence on his comedic craft and his zany material, for better or worse, and it was EVV (remember the dialogue from 'Hello Brother', "raadha! nee adharaamrutaanni grOlaalani undi", "grOlaDaaniki adaemanna Gold Spot aa? ummu!"?). When even Vamsi had, to a certain extent, tried to tie a bow around his wacky features, EVV had the audacity, even when dealing with stars, to push his chips and go all in, cocky about and giddy at his own craziness. The sensibilities of EVV find a resonance in Anudeep as he too resolutely marches along, unapologetic and with his head held high, owning, building upon and reveling in every silly idea, plucking along every low hanging fruit and finally delivering a movie that would have surely made EVV proud. The whole "Hakka noodles" idea might have been relegated to the recycle bin at the hands of other serious "comedic" directors, but Anudeep, like Lady Liberty's "give me your tired, your poor, your weak", welcomes every anemic, silly, juvenile idea and turns them all into comedic gold. తోటకూర పప్పు.... అనుదీపు తోపు...
What Anudeep appears to be to EVV, Naveen Polishetty is definitely to Rajendra Prasad. He can sell a concept ("friends kooDaa, హే! ఏంట్రా నువ్వు చాలా intelligent గా కనిపిస్తున్నావ్ అని comments కూడా పెడతారు సార్", he can sell a one liners ("Prime... Amazon Prime, Netflix, all illegal downloads"), he can sell angst (watch his "Half Day" harangue on youtube) and his emotional outburst is no mean sell either (again, Engineering Campus placements on youtube). This man is as prepared as they come to the silver screen having earned (and honed) his chops on the digital fora over a wide range of expressive fares. The experience certainly came in handy here when having to deliver lines, like "French Wine (and just enough pause) with English Subtitles!", convincingly without slightest hint of affectation or condescension. This is the chief characteristic trait that helped Rajendra Prasad cement his position as the go-to guy all those years ago to all stripes of comedic (and sentimental and emotional) roles - slapstick, situational, irreverent, inane, and the tougher ones, subtle and understated. His tantalising blend of an emotive expressive face coupled with pitch perfect dialogue delivery and modulation is any filmmaker's dream and delight. The contrasting schools of Jandhyala and EVV, Vamsi and Relangi, all found homes in Rajendra Prasad's all encompassing variation repertoire. And Naveen Polishetty is right up there with Rajendra Prasad during his golden run. The measure of a (comedic) actor is in demonstration of how good can he be at selling "bad" stuff (something that is subpar to his superior talent) and Naveen makes no distinction - bearing his vulnerability in the awkward routine with his "chiTTi" on one end and being rude and cocky even when being just a rung above in his gang of bumbling idiots. If "Aatraeya" announced his arrival in a big way, "Jaathi Ratnaalu" propelled him into that rarefied strata reserved only for actors with strong fundamentals, viz., an expressive face and a perfect diction to match.
Playing second (and third) fiddles in comedy movies is always a thankless job for a performer, as he is at best a sounding board for the hero's funny and witty quips, or worst, the butt of the hero's transgressions and excesses. But Priyadarsi, with a perfect deadpan face and a droll dialogue delivery, and Rahul Ramakrishna, who seemed to be only a step away from a complete meltdown in every scene he was a part of, hold their own against the scene-stealing performance of Naveen. Though the glue that holds it all together is the colloquial style writing, taking those words on paper and creating a spaced-out character as Priyadarsi's or high strung character as Rahul's, is all those brilliant actors. It is only fitting that the movie is named "Jaathi Ratnaalu", instead of "oka maelimi rathnam, renDu rangu raaLLu". An exercise of audacity bordering on madness, this, to deliver a product that is rough and serrated ready for a stomach-tearing, gut-busting, innards-emboweling comedic assault!
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