Funny lines can’t save this Mahesh Babu film

Sarkaru Vaari Paata

Telugu (Theatres)

Director: Parasuram

Cast: Mahesh Babu, Keerthy Suresh, Vennela Kishore, Samuthirakani

Rating: 2.5/5

It’s so good to see Mahesh Babu play a goofball. He seems to have discovered a bottomless barrel of fun. Hence, whenever he puts on his funny hat, he delivers. There’s a particular scene in ‘Sarkaru Vaari Paata’ where Mahesh (Babu) receives a text message from his crush, Kalavathi (Keerthy Suresh), while he’s pouring his heart out to his assistant, Kishore (Vennela Kishore). On the surface, it’s pretty mundane, but Babu’s retorts are on point.

The humour lies in the dry fact that Kishore sees through the false stories that Kalavathi, a gambler, builds to extract more moolah from Mahesh, who’s a moneylender. Kalavathi doesn’t make a dime at the poker table. Yet she becomes addicted to it.

As long as ‘Sarkaru Vaari Paata’ centres on Kalavathi, Mahesh, and Kishore, it is watchable. But the ridiculous bits that are stacked on top of each other fall apart when director Parasuram brings out the microphones for Mahesh to give speeches on the grisly nature of financial crimes.

Rajendranath (Samuthirakani), when challenged regarding his refusal to pay back the loan taken from a bank, tells Mahesh that nobody can touch him. He takes the lender on a short trip and gives a ringside view of the life he lives. Rajendranath knows that the bank would rather stay away from him than ring him up to ask for dues.

‘Sarkaru Vaari Paata’ could have been a jolly good ride, like ‘Jathi Ratnalu’ (2021), if it had focused extensively on the small fish that it catches in the beginning. But there appears to be a lot of pressure to punch above its weight. Alas, the wait for a perfect comedy, featuring Babu and Kishore continues.