Prashanth Varma who made an impressive debut with Awe had disappointed with second film Kalki. Introducing child actor Teja Sajja as hero, Prashanth Varma comes up with his third film Zombie Reddy which is first Telugu film with zombie concept. Intriguing teaser and trailer promised the film will be a hilarious as well as thrilling ride for movie buffs. Will this film provide break for Teja?
A game designer Mario aka Marri Obul Reddy (Teja) goes to Kurnool to attend his friend’s marriage along with couple of other friends, right after lockdown was lifted. On the other hand, a scientist works on corona vaccine. But, it fails resulting in birth of a new virus because of which people bitten by the virus affected become zombies. How Mario and batch tackle with this forms crux of the story.
Zombie was a new concept for Tollywood, but not Telugu audiences who have watched numerous films on the concept in other languages. And, due to OTT resolution, people are watching different genre films available on different platforms. To add newness to the concept, Prashanth Varma made it as a comedy entertainer. But, like vaccine for corona in his film, the comedy also failed most of the times. Since he is not good at dealing comedy, the experiment failed utterly. Moreover there are ‘n’ number of loopholes in script. The emotional connect is also missed in many places. While it took entire first half to enter the main story, the second half due to lack of potential stuff is a disgusting show
Mark K Robin scored couple of songs and his background score is the only saving grace. He tried hard to give life to the soulless scenes. Cinematography by Anith is other positive aspect. However, editor Sai Babu despite editing the film for close to 2 hours, we still feel like watching recent masterpieces of RGV films together. Production values of Apple Trees Studios are excessive for the debutant.
Onto artists, Teja Sajja is just okay in the role of a youngster who is on a mission to save his friend affected with zombie virus. However, the excess action looks unnecessary and unable to digest for viewers. Anandhi is cool in traditional avatar and she played her part aptly. Daksha Nagarkar represents most of the youngsters of this generation who are addicted to mobile games. Getup Srinu provides some laughs here and there. Hemanth and Kireeti are good. Prudhvi Raj, Raghu and many other comedians are wasted. Harsha Vardhan makes his presence felt in initial and climax portions. Others are okay.
Few Comedy Scenes
Plotline
First Half
Tedious Screenplay
Predictability
Weak Editing
Loopholes In Script
Ugliness
The plotline of the film is intriguing and it has enough scope to create comedy out of it. But, Prashanth Varma with his lack of skills came up with an ordinary script. Even the much hyped sequences looked ordinary on screen. It’s better not to talk about ‘logics’ as you find countless blunders in narration.
The film begins on interesting note with a bird with electric shock falling in a pond in a temple and it has connection to the climax. Then, Modi’s announcement of lockdown followed by a scientist trapping a youngster to use him for his vaccine trials promises us a thrilling ride for the next two hours. But, that is the moment the film takes complete new turn and our search for entertainment continues till interval. In between, all the time is wasted on faction elements and other unnecessary drama. Curiously, the protagonist who takes a drastic step to save his friend from a factionist family forgets completely about his other best friend who goes missing for long after he’s infected with zombie virus. Peaks of Zombie stupidity.
The latter half begins on a tedious note with Teja entering opponent house to save his friend. But, there’s a twist about the real identity of Anandhi and Teja which somehow are ok. The big fight at a drama is too lengthy and the emotional element looks unrealistic. Then, the scientist’s revelation of his failure experiment and then his secrecy over vaccine leads to two faction groups entering a temple where they get a solution. But, this ‘devotional touch’ doesn’t look logical, as zombies which are to be considered as ghosts won’t have the powers to enter the temple. The extended climax portions are painful and hints us about probable sequel- perhaps the double torture.
On the whole, Zombie Reddy failed to live up to the expectations. Prashanth Varma is not good at dealing commercial subject and it was proven with his last film Kalki and proven again now with Zombie Reddy. Thankfully, he got good support from camera man and music director or else the outcome would have been much worse. CJ goes with 1.5 star rating and we recommend you to stay away from this one as Zombies will attack you in theatres!