Five minutes into the film, it becomes clear that Amayakudu is going to be packed with too many crass jokes on Krishnudu’s weight issues and melodrama about how ‘cute’ the family is. While we have had films which intelligently turned these elements into their advantage, Amayakudu is a film which is both naïve and absurd in its approach as well as filmmaking. The film follows the ups and downs of a fat but innocent guy’s life as he struggles with expressing his love.

What’s the story? Krishnudu stars as Krishna who leads a happy life thanks to his doting parents and a sister. One day he comes across Divya (Ananya) in a temple and falls in love with her. Krishna’s sister and Divya join the same college and they become good friends. She introduces him to Krishna and finds out that Krishna likes her too. When all seems to be going well, tragedy strikes the family and Krishna finds himself in a tricky situation where he has choose between his family and love.

Performances : Krishnudu has been cast in a handful of films as a lead hero and some of them worked because it was probably the first time that a love story was made on a fat guy and a cute girl. But with time, the jokes surrounding his weight have become banal and boring. In Amayakudu, it’s good to see that he has put in some effort in terms of his dances, which were totally unnecessary, but he never evokes the sympathy which should have been the basic purpose of the film. It’s an embarrassing film which he would probably want to forget as soon as possible. Ananya who stars as Divya comes up with a disappointing performance where she hardly makes a mark. Her character faces a unique problem where she faces the danger of ending up as her lover’s sister! Yet there isn’t even an iota of awkwardness in her expressions. Poonam Singhar’s role is brief and except for couple of scenes and songs, she doesn’t add any value to the film. Charan Raj and Rao Ramesh are totally let down by the script.

Technical Deparments : The only silver lining in this film is Manikanth Kadri’s music. Not that the songs are great, but compared to rest of the film his tunes and background score are the only noticeable elements in the film. Cinematography is alright and the film needs some serious editing. Bharati Ganesh, the director of the film, deserves applause for the way he has handled the story and screenplay. Only a man with an IQ of over 200 could have written this story which is a cluster of ill-conceived plots and sub plots. However hard one may try, it’s difficult to envision what exactly the director was thinking when he wrote the script and it’s even more surprising that he was able to convince so many people to be a part of this film. Talk about innocence!

Bottomline : Amayakudu falls way behind with everything it sets out to achieve. The innocent part of the film is its title and nothing else. Calling it boring and absurd would be an understatement. Perhaps the only thought crossing one’s mind, after watching the film, would be – why was the film made in first place? Maybe Bharati Ganesh would have an answer. Maybe even he didn’t have a clue of what he was doing. Two big thumbs down to Amayakudu. Stay away.