Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu Review

Bringing out a sequel is not new to the Telugu Film Iindustry, though it has become the talk of Bollywood these days. Rajendra Prasad gave a blockbuster called Appula Appa Rao directed by EVV Satyanarayana and produced by Suresh in 1991. After a 9-year gap, EVV Mallikarjuna Rao planned to bring out a sequel to that film under the direction of Relangi Narasimha Rao, with a name Appa Rao Nela Tappadu. The film was almost ready by 2001. Since then, the film remained in the labs as there were no buyers and none had come forward to distribute the film. Somehow, Nattikumar who learnt about the movie purchased it outrightly and ensured its release of course, with a different title Appu Chesi Pappu Kudu. The film deals with how the middle-class families are getting cheated in the hands of gullible people.

Three middle class families of Mohan Rao-Sumitra (Giri Babu, Kalpana), Chalapati-Pankajam (Chalapati Rao, Y Vijaya), Tayaru and her husband (Sri Lakshmi and AVS) stay in a combined locality. They remain good neighbours and are very friendly with each other. However, the women always grumble that their husbands are not making attempts to bring furniture and other households. They also crave to own a house of their own. At this juncture, they come across Schemes Appa Rao (Rajendra Prasad) an intelligent guy, who helps others in getting household articles in installments and at the same time, gain commission from the businessmen for bringing customers. Once, this Schemes Appa Rao gets cornered by a mischievous girl called Gita (Madhumita), who plays pranks with him. Though the prank troubles him first, the incident bonds them together, who lose heart to each other. When Appa Rao goes to Gita's father Anjaneya Prasad, who keeps a condition that Appa Rao should build a house first in a year and then only he would allow him to marry his daughter. To build a house in one year, Appa Rao has no other option but to resort to cheating. So, he collects money from the three women Sumitra, Pankajam and Tayaru and completes his project within 11 months. However, Appa Rao make them believe that they got flats in a posh apartment. Surprisingly, the women arrange money without any notice to their husbands. One fine morning, Mohan Rao reveals that a realtor company reversed its board and cheated the public. So the three women come out in open that they too are among the investors in the company. The three couples plan to catch Appa Rao and get at least a part of the money. They also come to know that he is getting married. To their misfortune, they come across Appula Appa Rao (Rajendra Prasad), a look alike of Schemes Appa Rao and kidnap him, though he claims that he is not the man they are searching for. Schemes Appa Rao also gets kidnapped by some people as he owes some money to them. Finally, both Appa Raos reach the venue and the Schemes Appa Rao's story reaches a happy climax.

PLUS: Above everyone, it is Rajendra Prasad's energetic performance, which would remain a highlight all through the movie. The debutant heroine Madhumita is a big dud and though she looks a little pretty, she could not dish out any performance in the film. As the film is eight-year-old film, artistes like Kalpana looks ravishingly hot, Y Vijaya is in her usual self. Surprisingly, Sri Lakshmi has not shown her usual tinge of humour. The director tried to make use of the KBC programme, which was very popular during those days to evoke laughter and it worked well even on this day.

MINUS: The film, being a sequel to Appula Appa Rao, was supposed to be a comedy treat. Though the director tried to bring it out as a hilarious treat, he could not do so in the absence of a gripping story. Literally, he faltered in narrating the story in a proper manner. Especially, he was not able manage different crafts like camera, editing, dialogues appropriately. Moreover, the director could not utilise the services of senior artistes like Giribabu, AVS and Chalapati Rao.

REMARKS:Though the film has all the qualities to become a fantastic entertainer with a host of senior artistes who could give a very healthy comedy, the director has failed to succeed to evoke laughter from the audiences. The entire first half of the movie runs with just time pass episode. The director has failed to establish the roots of love between the hero and heroine and it should have been built in a more proper manner. The second half gains a little momentum with pregnancy and to certain extent, the director was able to grab smiles from audiences. Again the climax is narrated in a poor way. Music by Vandemataram is also not impressive as it was already said that it was supposed to hit the screen in 2001.

Cast: Rajendra Prasad, Madhumita, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Tanikella Bharani, Giribabu, Chalapathi Rao, AVS, Gundu Hanumanta Rao, Kalpana, Sri Lakshmi, Y Vijaya, and others

Credits: Cinematography – S V Suresh Kumar, Dialogues – Sankaramanchi Parthasarathy, Lyrics – Chandrabose, Kulasekhar, Gundavarapu Subba Rao, Art – KV Ramana, Editing – D Krishnamraju, Music – Vandemataram Srinivas, Story and Producer – Natti Kumar, Screenplay and direction – Relangi Narasimha Rao

Banner: Visakha Talkies

Released on: July 04, 2007