Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Sachin Khedekar, Tinnu Anand, Ramki, Sai Kumar
Crew:
Music by G.V. Prakash Kumar
Editing by Naveen Nooli
Cinematography by Nimish Ravi
Production Design by Bangalan
Produced by Sithara Entertainments, Fortune Four Cinemas
Written & Directed by Venky Atluri
Release Date 31st October 2024
Dulquer Salmaan is one of the best performers of Indian Cinema. He has been looking to make a name for himself instead of just being known as legend Mammootty's son. The actor has been part of good cinema in various languages and in Telugu, he did Mahanati and Sita Ramam. Now, he has come up with Lucky Baskhar in the direction of Venky Atluri. Let's discuss about the movie.
Plot:
Baskhar Kumar(Dulquer Salmaan) is asked to appear in a bank related CBI inquiry in 1992. CBI officer(Sai Kumar) finds it hard to believe that Baskhar, a bank clerk, has earned Rs. 100 crores. Baskhar starts narrating his story and he talks about his middle class life and problems. His wife Sumathi(Meenakshi Chaudhary) hails from a well-to-do family and her family doesn't accept their marriage. She feels humiliated by them and asks Baskhar to arrange money for her Home Foods business. On the other hand, his brother has high ambitions and his sister isn't too serious about studies.
Being a solo provider, Baskhar starts to find ways to earn money faster. He hopes to be assistant regional manager but the post goes to regional manager's favourite. So, he starts scamming Bank. How does he find a way to escape every time? Or does he get caught? Watch the movie Lucky Baskhar to know more.
Analysis :
Venky Atluri has a style in presenting his protagonists and he does bring the same flair to Dulquer Salmaan as well. But the actor is able to charm us into the world of Baskhar Kumar, effortlessly. Even though he doesn't get big moments, with subtle change in expressions he is able to clearly register the emotion. He is the cog of this movie wheel.
Meenakshi Chaudhary has been given a good meaty role while she tried she could have been better in some emotional scenes. Ritvik is good and rest all cast are apt for their roles. None of them really leave a great impression while they all did a good job.
Writing wise Venky for the first time tried to be very focused on his character driven drama than taking commercial detours. He is able to understand the need for mounting everything on shoulders of Dulquer for this film to really have any impact. Still, it feels very routine in the second hour as the proceedings get predictable till the climax.
In a con movie, the con artist has to face tough situations and needs to be challenged every single way. While there are beats in the screenplay, Venky did not allow them to breathe with his execution. You keep waiting for the hero to find a way to win because he is hero, mainly, in the second hour. A little bit more push was required for us to feel still connected to Baskhar and his actions. The moral policing takes over the character driven narrative.
Had this been corrected and with better choices in camera movements and execution, movie would have been much better. Still, it is an easy one-time watch. Production Values are top notch by Sithara Entertainments and Bangalan needs to be credited for creating 80's Mumbai. GV Prakash Kumar's music is fine but it could have much better.
TeluguOne Perspective :
Movie is watchable for Dulquer Salmaan's performance.
