Ulavacharu Biryani Review

Behind the Movie Ulavacharu Biryani: Being an official remake of Malayalam hit movie ‘Salt N Pepper,’ it’s the presence of Prakash Raj acting as protagonist and himself directing the movie makes this a special treat. Sneha, Tejus, Samyuktha Hornad in other leads we have Ilayaraja special here. Let us see how tasteful is this new recipe?

In the Movie Ulavacharu Biryani: Story begins with a smooth introduction to a mid life bachelor Kalidasu (Prakash Raj) working in Archaeology Department leads a simple life with set of his own people Uncle (MS Narayana), Cook (Brahmaji). The best part of Kalidasu is he is a foodie who loves to cook various kinds of dishes and also relish them with same fervor. In the opposite side, there is an aged spinster Gouri (Sneha) working as a dubbing artist in Prasad Labs mistakenly rings up Kalidasu ordering a Kutti Dosa. Starting with a small misunderstanding, they develop good friendship which turns into an appetizing romance on phone. When the time comes in to meet personally at nearby coffee shop, Kalidasu’s nephew Naveen (Tejus) and Gouri’s roommate Meghana (Samyuktha Hornad) becomes the substitutes. However, none of them knew that the counterpart is a substitute. This widens a small gap between Kali and Gouri which is finally filled by simple preaching of life by Kali’s colleague Asha (Aishwarya). Did Kali and Gouri meet? If so, how is the rest of movie.

Values & Out of the Movie Ulavacharu Biryani: This is a sort of screenplay based film written originally by Viji, T. Gnanavel has a different flavor of its own. In fact, it is hard to connect with mid life crisis of a bachelor who is into 45+ and a spinster into 35+. Yet when these characters begin to speak and behave, a decent contact is established with audience and thus is the network of other artists on screen. However, problem lied there on with pulling of crucial threads in an entertaining format without getting into a lagged mood. Here our writer Vallabha did not go much into the business. Story and scenes move very slowly in second half when the entire premise shifts on to Tejus and Samyuktha. After watching a sapid dish cooked jointly by senior most cooks Prakash Raj and Sneha, the young pair leading majority of scenes in second half aren’t palatable. This is the area where entire premise built by first half goes into drain. In between they have added a sub thread of aborigine at Archaeology site which is primitively left without a proper ending. At any given instance, Ilayaraja is a master in breathing the soul for your concept. More than songs, it’s the re-recording made director PR job easier. Preetha’s camera work is like icing on cake while Kishore Te’s editing needed a little more crispiness to relish. Production values of Creative Commercials and Prakash Raj Films are tangible.   

Well, there are many such drawbacks to point in ‘Ulavacharu Biryani’ but even then when there is someone like most talented, proficient and skilled person Prakash Raj performing on the screen, every emotion is like an easy pill to swallow. His expressive body language with demonstrative eyes is worth catching our attention. PR just honestly walks through Kalidasu with perfection. Sneha too played her part convincingly matching the chemistry with PR. Tejus and Samyuktha Hornad are good into their portions. Script inherently had a loophole on how does a new pair can get elevated in standards after watching seasoned PR and Sneha stealing the show of first half. In that way, the young pair disturbed the flow for sure. Then MS’s comedy timing with modern day Nala Maharaju Brahmaji gets you into splits. Urvashi, Aishwarya etc are okay.

All in all, ‘Ulavacharu Biryani’ is a romantic comedy film with lumps of feel good factor sprinkled here and there. All the ingredients needed for cooking a tasty recipe are at PR’s disposal but somehow this taste does not consistently stimulate your taste buds to open up. If first half is as smooth as a Paradise Biryani, there is a mess in mixing it with Ulavacharu finally spoiled entire dish. From BO point of view, there might be no takers for this new menu item.

Cinejosh Verdict of Ulavacharu Biryani: Not So Mouth Watering.

                                                                 Cinejosh Rating: 2.5

                                                                                      Reviewed by Srivaas