Cast: Avika Gor and Sai Ronak
Director: Murali Gandham
Producers: Acharya Creations,Avika Screen Creations
Music: Shravan Baradwaj
Cinematography: MN Bal Reddy
Editor: Karthika Srinivas
K. Ramya Sree
Given that the lead pair — Avika Gor and Sai Ronak in ‘Popcorn’ get stuck inside a lift, and are condemned to fend for themselves after the shopping mall gets sealed following a bomb blast, this film could have belonged to the sub-genre of a survival thriller. However, it was promoted by the makers as a romantic comedy entertainer. I would say it is very much a survival thriller — for the audience.
Ad filmmaker Murali Naga Srinivas Gandham tells the story of a young guitarist named Pawan (Sai Ronak) and a young singer named Sameerana (Avika Gor), who enter a shopping mall to sing, dance, play music, and probably also do some shopping. They get into a lift and before they can get out of it, the mall comes under a terrorist attack, leaving the duo in the lurch.
Pawan and Sameerana accept the reality in no time – as if getting stuck inside a lift has been their favourite pastime. Had the girl not gulped down ten glasses of sugarcane juice before the accident, she might not even have questioned where they would be peeing the next morning. On his part, Pawan has a dismissive attitude toward any mild attempt that she makes to cry for help. He warns her of thirst if she uses her vocal cords too much, only to do non-stop blathering himself.
They eventually find an escape but for the time they are there inside the lift, they behave like compulsive juveniles. When they playact a phone call, their mental age is 4 or 5. To support this statement, we have an example from the movie where the hero compares getting stuck in a lift to that of getting stuck in our own house with all the luxuries during lockdown (What bro? Seriously?). When they play ‘truth or dare’, their mental age improves to 12 or 13. Had it not been for their itch to sing and sing and sing (there are some 3-4 odd songs out there, one of which is on the “cute crime” called smoking. Meh!), they would have given rise to the suspicion that they are kids whose age was artificially raised to 25-something by the same scientist whom Mahesh Babu visited in ‘Nani’.
But the beauty of ‘Popcorn’ is not in the puerile antics of Pawan and Sameerana but in what it gives you when you watch it with a dirty mind. The lift in which 80% of the movie is set, has got a sexy poster of a condom ad, powered by the brand ambassador Sunny Leone. There is more script on the poster than in the film. As if to offer soft-porn entertainment, Pawan and Sameerana use words like ‘mood’, ‘fantasy’, and ‘pleasure’ with glee, making us suspect that they are a married couple disguised as strangers and doing some elaborate roleplay for sexual stimulation. Only RGV’s cringe camera angles go amiss. With some oomph, ‘Popcorn’ would have been Pop-corny.
Speaking of technicalities, the story and narration are lagging and so was the screenplay. The cameraman seemed to deliberately romanticize the entire plot with his camera angles, especially in a scene where Avika suffers asthma and she is about to faint. The music was okay and the editing should’ve been crisp.
Now comes the performances, since Avika is producing the film, it felt like they tried to make this movie ‘Avika-centric’. She is a brilliant performer, however, she lacked the punch in her performance this time. It was mediocre. Speaking of Sai Ronak, compared to his previous films, he did a slightly better job in this film and maybe that’s how much the script demanded from him. The others barely got any screen space. The little time that we get to see Sameerana’s mom was funny not because of the comedy but for using some bygone words like “Parachakam, Virajajulu” etc.
The entire film is an experiment attempting to arouse erotic feelings (in vain) or outright exasperation (successfully) in the audience. Nothing exists in between. On a lighter note go with your friends to laugh out loud at the senseless making of the film. I’m sure you’ll have a great time with the right bunch of friends. Also, I doubt if this film is made for the “nibba-nibbis”?
Rating: 1/5
