Chedugudu

Sure, looks aren't everything, but debuting in a film when 19, passing off an unshaven kooky grin as acting is no socially embraced norm. Jayanth, the debutant in question, whose dubious claim to adulthood is his certified degree in somersaults, does nothing to make you believe he's not been accidentally pushed to the front of the camera.

And, he does somersaults. Somersaults when happy, somersaults when angry, somersaults when dodging Shinde's bullets, and somersaults when the choreographer calls in sick. Luckily, whatever else Chedugudu's trying to do, is working.

Jayanth (Jayanth) and Swetha (Swetha) 'elope' with the help of his parents and her mom (Hema), and Swetha's father (Sayaji Shinde) barks orders to kill the scraggy teen who she's eloping with. Shinde may have very strong opinions in life but he goes softer on the women, and just sticks to mild expletives starting with the letter 'm' if he's very angry with his wife or mom-in-law.

The two keep outwitting her father's goons ('Ammayekkada??' 'Adigo akkada!!' - in opposite direction, followed by general scramble and everyone getting all funny about it) and hitch-hike on a bus of bath-starved nomads headed by Ali, before landing in a village. Brahmanandam and Kovai Sarla, rumoured to be a live-in couple there, suffer countless eviction attempts by the people of the village, even as they claim to be highly influential policeman and woman there.

When our eloping couple takes refuge in the village, some skeletons tumble out of the local closets. Of course, in the end, things are set right, as the priest helps in the "get-one-villain's-death-muhurtam-free-with-couple's-marriage-muhurtam".

We have to admit, for those who care to watch, the film entertains. And that is because of the umpteen senior comedians, who have pretty long comedy tracks, even if a lot of the funnies aren't exceptionally written. Ali's nomad act is funny, and so are some of MS' jokes.

The lead actors don't have much to do except behave like cheeky, smart teenagers, and they just end up behaving like stupid, dumb teenagers. Shinde painfully overacts, and Hema acts pained.

The songs are passable, but the choreography and visuals are not even so. The director's attention span is so low, no one's carrying the same expression beyond one scene. On, second thoughts, they probably didn't even want the technical details to be evaluated, so we could leave it at that.

For 2.25 hours of solitude with nothing but a packet of Lay's and a soft drink (and around 30 people in the balcony who think like you) with you, Chedugudu is worth around Rs. 20 of the (Rs. 35 ticket + Rs. 10 parking + Rs. 35 snack) price, which, even by our 10th pass knowledge of mathematics, makes fuzzy sense.