After Money, there hasn’t been any really good Kidnap comedy that entertained the Telugu viewers. Dongaata that released today attempted it. It failed miserably and how.
The very beginning of the movie has Venkat (Adivi Sesh) and Vijju (Madhu) sketching a plan to kidnap a leading action heroine Shruthi (Lakshmi Manchu) for a ransom. They succeed in kidnapping her and decide to hide her in an apartment owned by Madhu’s boss Brahmi (Brahmanandam) . Brahmi stays in U.S.A , but much to the surprise, he arrives as a private detective to solve the kidnap case. Chaos begins when Brahmi realizes that Shruthi has been kept at his abode. The rest of the movie is whether Venkat and Vijju are successful in bagging the money, and settling in life as they dreamt.
With such a plot there is an ample scope to create great situational comedy. However, from the very first frame the movie keeps delivering humour that barely evokes any laughter. The audience lips won’t even move even move by a millimeter even for a smallest smile. That bad is the comedy. Despite having Brahmanandam in almost a full-length role, and not able to generate a single laugh clearly shows that the film suffered big time at the writing phase itself.
What makes the film worse is the love-triangle between Brahmanandam , Prithvi and Pragathy, which is filled with double-entendre dialogues which will only get on to your nerves. Every scene where the former two are hitting on Pragathy, is an infuriating experience.
A spineless and spiritless game
The movie tries so hard to make you laugh. The movie tries so hard to give some ‘unexpected’ twists as well. Not just that, but there is a half an hour where it talks about orphans and orphanages. Oh yes, and a song too cheering them (on the lines of ‘Santosham Sagam Balam’ song in Chirunavvuto). The characters almost get into a preachy mode too. One could sense some desperation from the writer and director that all they wanted is to engage the viewer continuously. Fair enough! But, the way the dealt and the screenplay royally killed the film, there were hardly any exciting moments.
Performances wise, all the cast were appropriate if not extra ordinary. The movie had three songs out of which two were in place. Thankfully, no duets!
If seen under the microscope, the only appreciable aspect of the film is the penultimate 20 minutes which have twists. But their entry was too late, because by that time the viewer would have already had a wearisome two hours of humdrum.
All in all, Dongaata turned out to be a spineless and spiritless game.
