Bachchala Malli Movie Review

Subbu Mangadevvi who made his debut as a director with the not-so-successful, Solo Brathuke So Better, teamed up for his second film with Allari Naresh for a serious rustic action drama, Bachchala Malli. Allari Naresh who is largely doing serious action drama films over the last few years needs a unanimous box-office hit. He got a successful production house, Hasya Movies, Amritha Aiyer, who delivered a blockbuster with ‘Hanuman’ earlier this year & music director Vishal Chandrashekhar, on board for the film to deliver a success. Did Subbu Mangadevvi deliver a hit film? Did Allari Naresh score the box office blockbuster? Did Hasya Movies & Amritha Aiyer continue their success streak? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Bachchala Malli(Allari Naresh) is a stubborn & foolish guy who spoils his life by discontinuing his studies and getting addicted to alcohol because of his strained relationship with his father. He falls in love with Kaveri(Amritha Aiyer). Kaveri brings the much-needed change in his life and instils a sense of purpose in him. Why does Malli hate his father? What challenges did Malli & Kaveri face after falling in love with each other? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Allari Naresh delivered a commendable performance in the role of a stubborn guy. His performance during the pre-climax and climax deserves appreciation. He definitely deserves better scripts and films the kind of acting prowess he has. Amritha Aiyer as Kaveri appears out of the place most of the time. The costumes selected for her character look out of sync with the rest of the characters in the film. Although the director gave a justification, it looked very odd to see a village rural girl in the 1990s wearing modern clothes.

Rao Ramesh & Achyuth Kumar did their parts well in not-so-well-written characters that lack depth. Rohini as the mother of Malli is overly melodramatic. Praveen and Hariteja generated a few laughs and both of them were good in emotional sequences as well. Harsha Chemudu’s comedy is irritating. Ankith Koyya did well in the limited screen space he got.

Technicalities:

Vishal Chandrashekhar’s background score was good at the start of the film and in a few other places but his score lacked consistency. Both the lyrics and music of the song ‘Mari Antha Kopam’ are good but the rest of the songs would have been better. Richard M. Nathan’s cinematography deserves appreciation. He captured the rural coastal Andhra very well with his camera. Chota K. Prasad’s editing was strictly ok. Production values of Hasya Movies are adequate.

Positives:

Allari Naresh Performance
Realistic Action Choreography
Mari Antha Kopam Song

Negatives:

Lack of Depth In Writing
Predictable Screenplay
Too Many Songs
Age Old Melodramatic Narration
Clueless Lead Actress Characterization
Weak Characterization of The Protagonist

Analysis:

Apart from Sukumar with ‘Rangasthalam’, there are hardly any Telugu movies in the recent past with raw and rustic backdrops that succeeded and left a long-lasting impact on the audience. Tamil filmmakers have a high success rate when it comes to raw and rustic movies because they make these genres of movies in an unapologetically hard-hitting & shocking way with a very tight & gripping screenplay coupled with intense and strong emotions. Many Telugu makers in the recent past in Telugu tried to emulate Tamil filmmakers with no luck. It was only Sukumar who cracked the formula & made Rangasthalam, a memorable film for ages.

The director of Bachchala Malli, Subbu Mangadevvi wrote an adamant & stubborn lead character and tried to build drama around the lead character. We can see the genuine effort that is put into making the film as realistic as possible. The effort to present rural people & their lifestyle in coastal Andhra Pradesh between 1995 & 2005 is clearly evident and is commendable throughout the film and the action choreography is very realistic as well.

However, the outdated, routine and half-baked emotional drama worked against the film. Bachchala Malli is the story of an adamant & stubborn guy and the challenges he faced during multiple phases of his life because of his stubbornness. The character Malli goes through multiple transformations (i.e. A district topper in tenth standard, a rogue, a guy in love who can go to any extent to keep his lover happy, a guy who refuses to adhere to a condition that is put by his would-be father-in-law and a guy who realises his mistakes at the end) but because of the lack of depth in writing, the transformations of the character appear forced and convenient.

Allari Naresh performed very well throughout the film but unfortunately, the writing and direction of Subbu Mangadevvi were unable to watch Naresh’s intense performance. Also, the screenplay that the director chose is very predictable and outdated. The film had many notable actors and all of them delivered good performances but none of the characters left any strong impact because of the half-baked writing.

Overall, Bachchala Malli is a genuine effort to make a hard-hitting & realistic movie. It has a few well-made sequences but the poor writing, predictable and routine screenplay and lack of emotional depth worked against the film.

Bottomline – ‘Half Baked’ Malli

Rating: 2.25/5

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