Kartikeya who made grand debut with RX 100 tasted debacle with second film Hippi. He needs another hit to stop calling him as one film wonder. Will Kartikeya regain a hit with Guna 369 from Boyapati protege Arjun?
Guna (Kartikeya) is a decent youngster, gives utmost importance to family comprising of dad (Naresh), mother (Hema) and sister (Kaumudi Nemani). This guy falls flat for Geetha (Anagha), his lucky charm. Things go smoothly until he is trapped in a murder case of rowdy sheeter Radha (Aditya Menon). Who killed Radha? Why they killed him? What are other big crimes they committed and who’s protecting them?
While new age Telugu directors are inspired from Hollywood or other foreign language films, debutamt Arjun Jandyala seems to have influenced from couple of South Indian films. Yes, Guna 369 has shades of Naa Peru Shiva and Gulabi. In fact, two major twists in Guna are inspired from the aforesaid films. These two episodes look bang-on but thats not enough. The lethargic narration with routine love track and accustomed family emotions played the spoilsport. Arjun Jandyala clearly showed inexperience in directing the mid portions while I and climax stood like spine. Raam’s cinematography is outdated with typical camera angles. Chaitan Bharadwaj botched to build any interest with his songs and BGM. Production values of SG Movie Makers are decent.
Onto performances, Kartikeya looked handsome and is showing significant improvement for each film. But he needs to work on comedy timing and emotions. He is at best when it comes to action scenes. Anagha looked decent in the role of Kartikeya’s girlfriend. Naresh and Hema are regular as hero’s parents. Aditya Menon played his part efficiently. The young batch who played negative roles were okay along with Mahesh who got a lengthy character.
Kartikeya
Twists aka Interval, Climax
Outdated Story
Lethargic Screenplay
Weak Direction
Zero Freshness
Lack Of Entertainment
For an experimental film or a commercial potboiler, screenplay needs be gripping to engage viewers. Developing a story based on one or two twists is not a bad idea if the narration has freshness and characterizations get close with viewers. But, Guna 369 missed on other intriguing elements except the exciting interval and pre-climax twists.
First half begins with introduction of Aditya Menon as a mighty rowdy sheeter. In no time, hero Kartikeya makes entry as a responsible family person. Things go at slow pace with zero freshness in romantic track and typical family emotions till the bang-on intermission. In parallel, the medical shop adda scenes and content thereof look forced.
Latter half too begins on dull note where Kartikeya just released from jail goes hunting the young batch behind his arrest. Like first half, narration is tedious until the pre-climax where an unpredictable twist is disclosed. Lengthy chases test patience. The message in climax amd twist is also thought-provoking.
Overall, Guna 369 is average fare and better than Hippi for Kartikeya. Sluggish narration and weak direction diluted the overall essence. CJ goes with 2.5 stars and with big competition for the films released this week and to be released in coming week, the film has to arrive on Kartikeya's following on B, C center's to cash on box office.