Guntur Kaaram is a Toxic Spice That Must be Marketed with a Statutory Warning

You sometimes feel words like obnoxious are inadequate. You are tested on your vocabulary, for not everyone is as gifted as Sashi Tharoor. Trivikram Srinivas is thus at an advantage. A misogynist approach to cinema is a mark on our social mindspace. When a Sandeep Reddy Vanga can successfully sell a beast in the name of an ‘Animal,’ it is troubled times for those who see cinema as a social influencer. Today, Sandeep Reddy’s ‘Arjun Reddy’ has become a benchmark. He is the new normal. They are the new normal. Scene after scene, for approximately three hours, ‘Guntur Karam’ is toxic and a spice that must be marketed with a statutory warning that it is ulcer-causing for the sensitive. Look at the fatigue-stricken audience walk out of the theatre like a flock of sheep and your heart goes out for the viewers and for the hope-filled naive herd of guinea pigs waiting eagerly and walking towards the guillotine.

Objectifying women is an old habit, in fact a style statement in our cinema. Bollywood fortunately has largely outgrown it. It has evolved from the way Shammi Kapoor and the like wooed women, (Rafi notwithstanding). Tollywood is still revelling in the age-old formula of crudely discussing the female anatomy. Our mainstream cinema perceives it as heady cocktail of art and commerce. Heroines — Sreeleela here — have no compunctions about being microscopically examined physically through the gaze of the guy — Mahesh Babu in this instance.

Even before you have settled in your seat, you have the actor Sunil literally hammer someone to death. Sledging is the new modus operandi. This is followed by a blast, it is purposeless to look at the storyline of ‘Guntur Karam’ beyond a point. Baddies Marx and Lenin are big-time lawbreakers in Guntur. Satyam is the victim of their conspiracy. In a group fight carried out like a mini-civil war sees Lenin (Sunil) killed. Satyam (Jayram) takes the blame. In the event, Satyam’s son partly loses his vision thanks to an explosion in a factory. Satyam’s wife Vyara Vasundhara (Ramya Krishna) deserts the family which includes her son, sister-in-law (Eeswari Rao) and her husband (Raghu Babu).

Fast-forward by two-odd decades and you see Vasundhara as the face of the political party headed by her father Venkata Swamy (Prakash Raj). Vasundhara is now married to Narayana (Rao Ramesh). Patriarch Venkata Swamy wants his son Gopal (Rahul Ravindran) to be the heir to his political empire. Flimsy attempts to threaten, tempt, assassinate Ramana (Mahesh Babu) from the scene so as to eliminate any claims to the throne and how he sees through the plans is what ‘Guntur Karam’ is about.

Typically, the film is crowded with different layers and sets of villains ranging from Marx (Jagapati Babu) to the inconsequential Abu (Ajay), Katta Madhu (Ravi Shanker), Haridas (Ajay Ghosh), Yakob (Pammi Sai) and the unnamed son (Mahesh Achanta) of Lenin. Not all the villains can match the brawl and brain of the protagonist who seen as the ‘Guntur Karam’. The sub-title itself says ‘Muttukunte Antukuntundi,’ highly inflammable.

The script is about the romance between Ammu (Sreeleela), the daughter of Pani (Murli Sharma), and the attorney working at the behest of Venkat Swamy. Typically, the film swings from poor sexist statements to insensitive visuals of violence. The drunk dance by Ammu for the song ‘Oh My Baby’ thus gets the desired effect, namely catcalls aplenty. The virtues end there. It is indeed unfortunate that social influencers, like mainstream heroines, are willing to cater to the baser instincts. If you have the ‘Oh My Baby’ dance as an example of the choreography, you have the destruction scene after an FIR is lodged against the principal character to show over-the-top pleasure of destruction. This world of the filmmaker is full of men with a gregarious appetite for the grotesque; they are all enthusiastic in throwing up din and dust, sand and rust. A busload of unkempt men willing to kill at the drop of the hat and falling prey (a la the audience) constitutes the painful experience of having to sit through nearly 160 minutes.

Search hard for positives and you find Ramya Krishna with her signature designer saris. She carries herself with dignity and grace. It is amazing how Rao Ramesh can add credibility to anything, even the cliches of Tollywood. He is a misplaced gift. Vennela Kishore as a sidekick musters a few laughs. The one positive thing that is noticeable about Sreeleela is a pink kurta that she wears in the film.

Playing the main role, Mahesh Babu has reached the comfort of inertia. His trademark dances, tongue-in-cheek comments, often sexist, are repetitive. Artistes of greater talent and fame have suffered the side-effects of being repetitive, there is no logic for Mahesh Babu to believe that he would be any different. The box office results seem to suggest that it is time for the matinee idol to change gears. He would avoid it at his own risk.

You need a terrible appetite with a high insensitivity quotient to appreciate anything in ‘Guntur Karam.’