Current Theega
Cast : Manchu Manoj, Rakul Preet Singh, Jagapati Babu and Sunny Leone
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The 2013 Tamil film Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam starring Siva Karthikeyan, Sathyaraj, Sri Divya and Bindu Madhavi arrives in Telugu as Current Theega. The original didn’t offer much to rave about, save a few laughs, which were enough to pass some muster at the box office. Current Theega created a buzz from its initial stages of its making, more for signing Sunny Leone than anything else.
Billed as a comedy in a rural setting, the film opens on a serious note. Jagapati Babu is arrested when he admits that he shot down his daughter when she tried to elope with the man she loved. There’s obviously a back story, even if it’s a silly one, to give a motive for the honour killing.
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Jagapati Babu has three daughters and a village foe taunts him that his daughters would grow up and elope, bringing him dishonour. Jagapati Babu almost tears apart his foe’s right ear and vouches that if his girls were to elope, he’d gun them down or have his own ears chopped off. The first two daughters are given off, as it is deemed honourably, in arranged marriages, and the youngest daughter (Rakul Preet) is an intermediate student.
In a situation where one can think logically, questions would arise as to why a father can’t put a foe in place than allowing himself to be cornered to prove the worthiness of his daughters. But this is a masala film where even this is used as an excuse for comedy.
Raju (Manchu Manoj) is a village wastrel who heads an association for youngsters called VIP; he has a crush on school teacher Sunny (Sunny Leone) and uses student Kavita (Rakul Preet) as a messenger. Madam Sunny has other plans and gradually, love blossoms between Raju and Rakul. In the mean time, Raju has done everything possible to earn the wrath of Jagapati Babu.
All the talk of daughters being no less than sons and the importance of parents understanding their children happens at the end. Before that, there’s ample time for the hero to flex his gym-toned muscles, swoon over Sunny Leone and prove he has a heart of gold even if he appears to be a wastrel. A number of gags fill up the odd spaces. One isn’t supposed to squirm if a supposedly tough guy like Jagapati Babu behaves like a lunatic when he discovers his double barrel gun is missing. He considers the gun as his eldest son!
Manchu Manoj shows considerable improvement in his performance and Rakul Preet shines through effortlessly. After Venkatadri Express and Loukyam, she gets enough screen time to prove herself. Even though it appears clichéd that the hero would fall for her after seeing her in a sari and not in a school uniform, there’s no denying that Rakul rises above the limitations of her stereotyped role. Sunny Leone hasn’t been signed for her acting chops. She amps up the glamour quotient and brings the house down when she walks away with Sampoornesh Babu. Jagapati Babu, though stuck in a mostly-brooding partly-comic role, lights up the screen.
A special mention goes to Prudhvi who plays the ageing bachelor whose luck runs out on the wedding mandap so often.Watch Current Theega if all you want is some silly fun.
Bottomline : A regular masala flick laced with comedy.