2 Countries – Movie Review

‘2 Countries’, starring Sunil and Manisha Raj as a husband and wife, hits the screens this Friday. Let’s see what works and what doesn’t.

Story:

Ullas (Sunil) is a good-for-nothing guy who doesn’t want to work. He wants to strike rich by conning people. His first ‘bakra’ is a rich moneylender (Sayaji Shinde), whose handicapped sister he claims to love. But upon learning that Laya (Manisha Raj), his childhood friend is even richer in the US, Ullas decides to fool her by making her believe that he has always lived with her memories over the years. Laya, who has not had proper parental love, falls for him and marries him although he is unemployed.

It’s time for the first night. Laya boozes whiskey, much to the shock of Ullas, the typical Indian man who can’t tolerate it if his wife is a drinker. But Laya is helpless and as circumstances have pushed her to the brink. She is quite a sad woman deep inside. It’s now up to Ullas to save his wife from falling into self-destruction. But in the process, he has to face obstacles and convince his wife that he is not a cheat.

What works?

Cinematography is asset. Srinivasa Reddy’s role is bearable. Prudhvi comes as a relief here and there, especially in the climax where he has to translate Sunil’s Telugu for the American judge.

What doesn’t work?

Everything in the movie is boring. From writing to music to direction, every aspect of the moviemaking reeks of snob attitude. Surprisingly, even ever-reliable music composer Gopi Sundar has given utterly bad music.

The initial scenes in the village go into establishing Sunil’s character. But the run-time also becomes too long because of this. His political ‘arangetram’ and such elements are an excuse to make references to Pawan Kalyan, among others. Sayaji Shinde as a greedy money-lender, whose differently-abled sister falls in love with Sunil is a miserable element that doesn’t add any value. In fact, it makes the climax look old school stuff.

In the US episodes, Sunil’s difficulties with English lack newness. Naresh can hardly be trusted to strike a chemistry with the hero, with his Americanized Telugu testing the patience. Manisha Raj’s character is quite integral to the story and she has many sequences. But such a character becomes monotonous after a while. The dialogue writer expends all his energies on writing rhyming lines but not on giving strong lines to her.

Sample some of the dialogues and decide for yourself if they impress you:

‘Mosali mounanga unte, chepa sarasam adindi anta’

‘Ee jealousy Gelusil vesukunna thaggadu’

‘Amitabh Bachchan dhi Bollywood; Chiranjeevi dhi Tollywood; Manadi childhood’, Sunil tells his friend Srinivas Reddy to win over the latter.

‘Pelli ante 7 adugulu.. 3 mullu.. 2 ungaralu.. 1 bed!’

Such lines are delivered by Sunil in his typical style. Had there been an innovation in his characterization, body language and modulation, they would have worked better. Director N Shankar is torn between the compulsions of staying true to the original (‘2 Countries’ in Malayalam) and Sunil’s image. So, many times, scenes that would otherwise have been calm become too loud to bear.

Performance score:

Sunil is in his worst phase now. He is totally miscast in this role. Although he has tried hard to evoke some laughs with his trademark mannerisms, the tricks are too clichéd. His performance in this film doesn’t warrant any appreciation.

Manisha Raj as alcohol addict NRI woman fails to impress either. To some extent, Srinivasa Reddy is the saving grace. There are a host of actors – Chandramohan, Krishna Bhagavan, Shayaji Shinde, Chammak Chandra, Raja Ravindra, Sitara, Sijju, etc – but none of them have a worthy act.

Bottom-line:

‘2 Countries’, a remake of a Malayalam by the same name, is one of the crappiest movies to come out this year. This supposedly comedy film tests the patience. The comedy is outdated, the dialogue writing is cliched, the performances are loud and gaudy and direction is out of sync with the current times. Totally it is a big bore!