‘Ala Modalaindi’ was impressive only in comparison with other products of the local market and I couldn’t sit through ‘Band Bajaa Baaraat’. So, the second film of Nandini Reddy which is a remake of the latter was unsurprisingly tedious. The film’s attempt to keep it constantly funny was often handed to the used up improvs of the actors and characters chasing each other in the way it was never funny, for a long time now.
Plot
Money is all Bairaju cares for and in the rush to get rich, he had scammed people and also failed in the many businesses he tried. To escape the forced marriage to a creditor’s (Bihar Yadav) sister he arrives at Hyderabad and while hiding in a bathroom to escape another creditor he gets to hear the ideas of Shreya. And using these ideas he steals the job of assisting a successful wedding planner, a job Shreya wanted. Shreya puts up an act of crying and Bairaju arranges for both of them to work the job together.
Soon they have issues with their employer and they decide to put up their own event management company. They have a successful run until Shreya falls for Bairaju and the split screen interval shot is after Bairaju tells his friend about how money is all that matters and his general thesis about girls and their ignorable feelings.
How many times is such a major turn in the story done with the scene where a character says things it’s not supposed to say out that loud and the ONE character that is not supposed to listen to it is within earshot?
Post interval Shreya is fed up with Bairaju’s money mindedness and asks him to leave the company. Raju leaves to set up his own company and one of his first costumers is Saraswathi (Nithya Menon). The two strike a chord from the very beginning and Saraswathi becomes one of the partners in business. Raju’s company flourishes as Shreya’s becomes more and more mismanaged. Then comes the day Saraswathi’s true colours are revealed as she scams Raju for more than he can afford.
At this point comes the film’s most random occurrence wherein a Don (Sri Hari) from Malaysia sends tickets to Raju and Shreya to come organise the wedding of his sister. And just when Raju is warming up to the idea of loving Shreya, she tells him she is getting married and moving to the US. After struggling with his feelings, a little pep talk from his friends and after playing the (ultimate) orphan card he finally wins Shreya at her wedding.
Few ways
Our films have explored so few ways to be funny. Though this film stays away from the silent movie practice of slapping people, it still uses ways we are overly familiar with. It might get you to laugh at the beginning where the basic premise provides room for a little novelty, but, soon it becomes monotonous.
Even the acting only has room for novelty of the premise and the humour falling flat time and again makes the actors seem tiring and the performances regressive.
Verdict
Not funny, not engaging, not worth it.
