Bhootayyana Mommaga Ayyu: an inane, insipid flick

Rating: One star (out of five)

Kannada (U/A)

Cast: Chikkanna, Sruthi Hariharan, Bullet Prakash, Tabla Nani, Honnavalli Krishna, Prashanth Siddi, Rockline Sudhakar, Girija Lokesh

Director: Nagaraj Peenya

Trying to cash in on yesteryear's iconic film Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu is director Nagaraj Peenya with Bhootayyana Mommaga Ayyu and what a trash of a film he has dished out on unsuspecting audiences in the garb of entertainment.

Peenya's film is an insult to the earlier film. Bhootayyanna Maga Ayyu, directed by Siddalingaiah based on Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar's short story, had not only broken box office records but is remembered for several other singular achievements.

Peenya, who has filled his film with pitiful comedians, wants to make his audiences laugh but the antics are simply asinine.

Leading this set of comedians is Chikkanna, with Rockline Sudhakar and Honnavalli Krishna, who completes 1000 films with Mommaga.

It is baffling that the sensible and versatile Shruthi Hariharan had agreed to such a film, where she has to play a very distasteful role.

The film, which is loud, ludicrous, chaotic and cacophonic, is about Ayyu, who is on the hunt for a docile and domestic bride along with his uncle, played by Tabla Nani.

In one of the plotlines, Ayyu has gone on as many as 99 searches looking for a bride, and when he meets Shruthi, the audience is led to wonder if 100 would be his lucky number.

Another track involves the mistaken death of the village usurer, Machine Muniyappa. The comedy of errors from these intertwining lines provides the meat for the film.

Full of double meaning phrases and suggestive dialogues, the film caters to the audience's basest instinct. And if that's what you're looking for in a film, you will get your money's worth!

As for a discerning audience, Mommaga is nothing but an assault on sensibilites.

S Viswanath