'Comrade Kalyan' movie review: Sree Vishnu's brain-rot comedy delivers a few good laughs

Director Janakiram Marella's Telugu film is self-aware, and rides on catchy one liners and the strengths of its ensemble cast

Brain-rot comedies hold a special value on those days when nothing makes much sense. They remind the audience to take themselves lightly and treat things at face value. The only promise of these comedies is to shut off reality and deliver a few silly laughs. Comrade Kalyan, directed by Janakiram Marella, is that utterly nonsensical film, quite aware of its own silliness.

At no point does Sree Vishnu's comedy boast about conveying anything remotely meaningful. The film starts with Kalyan (Sree Vishnu) singing a supposedly revolutionary number to inspire crowds to join a rebel group, but it later mocks itself as an attempt to lure viewers into watching an R. Narayana Murthy film, Erra Sainyam, in a shady theatre in a sleepy village.

A vest is used to fix a broken screen in the theatre. Stale samosas are served during the interval. Kalyan's mother (Radhika Sarathkumar) beats up a viewer who calls Balakrishna's Top Hero an average film, plays cards by day, and lands at the police station for odd reasons. "A lot of Balakrishna films are waiting to be watched," she pleads with a cop to let her go.

Comrade Kalyan (Telugu)

Director: Janakiram Marella

Cast: Sree Vishnu, Mahima Nambiar

Runtime: 145 minutes

Story: A lovestruck youngster goes out of his way to help a woman

When Kalyan asks his friend to translate his Telugu love letter into English, the friend literally passes off pandu vennela as 'fruit moonlight'. A short money lender has his assistant carry a stool to talk to people eye-to-eye. The tone is right to the extent that an absurd line like 'a friend in need is a friend in a beard' does not feel out of place.

After a rather insipid start in which Kalyan's antics and repeated efforts to woo an Odia-speaking woman, Sithara (Mahima Nambiar), are more irritating than amusing, it is with Satya's presence that the buffoonery finds its rhythm. A bulk of the relatively shaky first half goes into familiarising viewers with the oddball characters and their quirks.

The plot thickens around the interval, when Kalyan and his wastrel gang find themselves amid a group of Naxals and try to escape, in vain. Many films around the Naxal movement may have struggled to establish their political significance in modern-day cinema, but Comrade Kalyan deals with it in broad strokes.

The writing is better and more consistent in the second half because of the unusual chain of events involving conflicting characters and hilarious one-liners. There is a plot to kidnap a minister, two aspiring actors are put in place for a mock security drill at his residence, and a money lender later abducts Kalyan's lady love.

At a certain level, some of this feels tone-deaf, too. There are repeated gags about Malayalis using coconut oil for cooking. The wife of a money lender casually jokes that her husband is most skilled at beating her up. When he brings a mistress to the house, a joke is spun out of the relief the wife might feel from his domestic abuse.

Amid the scores of gags, Kalyan and the Naxal group leader's heartfelt conversation about true intentions and the smart integration of the subplots towards the end give the film some coherence. The marriage sequence in the climax is mostly funny, though it stretches beyond necessity.

Comrade Kalyan's strength isn't Sree Vishnu or his female counterpart, Mahima Nambiar, but the heavy lifting done by its terrific ensemble cast led by Satya, Muralidhar Goud, Radhika Sarathkumar, Brahmaji, and Upendra Limaye. Redin Kingsley and Vennela Kishore's tracks do not quite create the same impact.

Sai Chand, returning after a brief sabbatical, gives much-needed authority to the Naxal subplot. There are, however, jarring continuity issues with Shine Tom Chacko's appearance.

While there is nothing much to write home about Vijai Bulganin's music, barring the title track, the film is helped by terrific landscapes that add to its visual appeal.

The film is ultimately a product of its times, aimed at a predominantly male audience, featuring ample references to please fans of major stars, sequences staged like Instagram reels, and catchy one-liners for instant gratification.

Comrade Kalyan is the kind of film that will work for viewers who do not expect political correctness or storytelling merit. There is no room to overthink and just enough gags to forget worldly blues for a couple of hours.