‘Funky’ movie review: KV Anudeep’s lazy parody of the film industry tests your patience

'Funky' movie review: The Vishwak Sen and Kayadu Lohar starrer is undone by a non-existent plot and directionless storytelling

Jathi Ratnalu director KV Anudeep’s latest film, Funky, is set in a bubble—the Telugu film industry, a world the filmmaker has immediate access to. The premise itself—where an emerging director falls for the daughter of an eminent producer—is a fictional take on the love story of industry couple, director Nag Ashwin and producer Priyanka Dutt (who are often referenced in the film).

The meta-backdrop provides the storyteller with a convenient excuse to drop truth bombs about the industry in the trademark sardonic humour he’s known for. Every second sequence in Funky is either populated by cameos—from producers Dil Raju to Naga Vamsi and director Harish Shankar—or filled with jargon specific to showbiz: pre-release events, location scouting, on-set drama, and gossip.

Komal (Vishwak Sen), a new director, is deemed a recipe for trouble on a film set. The budget of his film (also titled Funky) multiplies manifold over time, much to the stress of veteran producer Sudarshan (Naresh). When things spiral out of control, his daughter Chitra (Kayadu Lohar) steps in to salvage the project. After initial friction, Komal and Chitra fall for each other, though the romance is far from conventional.

Apart from the love story on set, subplots involving a goon-like financier, GK (Sampath), and Komal’s family (comprising his mother and a soon-to-be-married sister) keep the narrative busy. Funky tries to play with the common man’s curiosity regarding how the film industry operates, but Anudeep struggles to offer a fresh perspective or keep the narrative engaging.

When Komal’s film is on the verge of being shelved, he makes a ludicrous offer to Chitra: ‘Either fund the project or fall in love with me.’ The banner is named Manchi Productions, simply to further the pun of the producer always making ‘good’ (manchi) films. In another instance, a financier is so desperate to meet Jr NTR that he takes his family to a promotional event, packing a box of savouries and snacks for the star.

As the producer asks Komal to complete the final chunk of the film within one crore (rather than four crores), he assembles his resources to finish the work with minimal expense. He asks Chitra to share her costumes with the heroine, gets the producer to play a gangster, and ropes in his childhood friends as junior artistes. However, the screenplay runs out of ideas quickly and the comic punches become tiring.