'Zombie Reddy' has released in theatres today (February 5). Although the element of coronavirus may make us believe that the story was conceived after the onset of Covid-19, the film had admittedly gone on the floors before the virus became a household name in India in February, 2020. Writer-director Prashanth Varma has come up with a coronavirus-meets-zombie genre-Seema factionalism story. Does the film live up to the expectations?
Story
Mario (Teja Sajja) is a game developer whose new video game starts going viral. But trouble begins when users encounter a bug and troll the game. He and his team (Kireeti Damaraju and Daksha) quickly go to Kurnool, where their technical expert (played by Mirchi Hemanth) is getting married, in order to get the bug fixed. Here is where Mario and his friends cross paths with zombies even as an age-old rivalry between two factions (one of them led by the groom's father-in-law) comes to the fore. Who will die and who is going to live?
Performances
Teja Sajja makes a confident debut. He needs to improvize on his comic timing. The youngster looks better in the serious scenes. Anandhi gets to play a pivotal role and she is convincing in the role of a vengeful character. Daksha Nagarkar and Kireeti struggle to tickle the funny bone.
Hemanth, Prudhvi and Get-Up Sreenu get much space in the story. Raghu Babu, Harshavardhan and others are adequate. Hari Teja has a funny role.
Technical aspects
Mark K Robin's music is stylized in many scenes and it works. The songs are montages and used well to increase the impact of the narration. Anith's cinematography is decent. The night-effect scenes demanded more efficiency. The action scenes get affected by some not-so-perfect editing. Sri Nagendra Tangala's art direction is a plus.
Analysis
'Zombie Reddy' is, by and large, a mishmash of various sub-genres. The film was touted to be a comedy essentially. However, the second half is barely funny. A good part of the film doesn't try to make the audience laugh.
The screenplay by Scriptsville is either chaotic or superficial or both at times. The revenge element is set up well in the beginning. However, as the drama progresses, it becomes too predictable and doesn't rise above its ordinariness.
The comedy scenes involving Get-up Srinu lose sheen after a point. It's telling that such a talented artist is wasted in the movie. The situations lack meat and therefore, whatever humour is conceived out of them falls flat.
The second half packs in two overlong action sequences. The zombies don't excite the audience's interest in spite of the fact that the technical departments try to be the saving grace. The climax is a bit funny.
The exciting revelation that comes in the early part of the second half should have been milked properly.
Closing Remarks
Director Prashanth Varma, after making 'AWE' and 'Kalki', has tried his hand at full-on commercialism. He doesn't really set the ball rolling and makes us wonder that experimental films are his forte. Like in 'Kalki', he fails to see that some of the sequences/scenes are overlong in the film.
