Hippi – Movie Review

What’s it about
Even as he’s in a relationship with a girl named Sneha, Hippi aka Devadas (Karthikeya), who is kick boxer cum software employee, gets attracted to Sneha’s good friend Amuktha Malyada (Digangana). Only after Sneha moves on in her life and gets married another guy, Amuktha Malyada accepts Hippi’s proposal. Hippi and Amuktha start living-in together but he believes his life has changed and paradise is lost. Rest of the drama is all about they end up living happily and get consummated.
 
Analysis
 
Hippi begins on interesting note with Karthikeya trying to commit suicide but he can’t do it as his girlfriend has resurfaced and he follows her silently. Why this bodybuilder and tiger-like man has become a cat? He tells that men feel ‘Paradise Lost’ when in love and feel ‘Paradise Regained’ when they are free. ‘Paradise Lost’ and ‘Paradise Regained’ are the works of famous poet John Melton. The director says he is deeply inspired by John Melton’s work and uses them in this story. If you think that ‘Hippi’ is some kind of literary movie, then you are wrong. Those expressions are used just like that but the movie is actually point-less and plot-less.
 
The director begins with heroine playing a prank on hero. She tells him that his ‘erection will be cut’ as he consumed the chocolate that she gave him which is filled with some chemical that downs his erections. This is comedy! Then hero kisses his girlfriend while she wrapping her legs around him sitting on a milestone in Hyderabad – Goa highway. Around the same time, another girl appears on her bike in the scene. She is the friend of hero’s girlfriend and he gets attracted to her. He bares his chest constantly. He flirts with her. His boss (played by J D Chakravarthy) who talks silly using double-meaning words like ‘Lechindi’ acts weirdly in his own office and hires some goons to protect the glass panels of his office. So many nonsensical sequences happen.
 
When finally Karthikeya and Digangana start seeing each other, the plot completely goes in different way with weird concepts of ‘paradise lost’ and ‘paradise regained’. There is also another silly scene: a lady boss from head office comes to Hyderabad, she questions JD Chakravarthy why he hired Kartikeya who seems odd guy to act in this corporate office. Then J D asks Karthikeya to beat some goons and he does so removing his shirt. And lo, the lady boss changes her mind after getting mesmerized by his abs.
 
The film is all about exhibition of Karthikeya’s chiseled body and double-meaning dialogues and excuses for song and dance routine.
 
The film finally ends with the hero proving that he’s potent. From ‘erection prank’ to proving potency, it meanders in all alleys with no direction. 

Karthikeya has proved that he can act. He is good both in body showing and performance skills. JD’s acting and his bad Telangana slang is irritating. All female actors have good ‘features’ but zero acting skills.
 
‘Evathive’ song is a catch but rest of the songs don’t make an impression. Cinematography and rich production values are wasted in this futile movie.
 
Bottom-line: ‘Hippi’ is just an attempt to cash in on Karthikeya’s success of ‘RX100’ but the Tamil director has made it into a showcase of Karthikeya’s bare chest. Full of silly sequences and double meaning dialogues, pointless fights and romance, this tests patience.