‘Mathu Vadalara 2’ Movie Review

‘Mathu Vadalara’ which came without any expectations five years ago turned out to be a good hit. Keeravani’s younger son Sri Simha was the hero while his elder son Kaala Bhairava was the music composer. Ritesh Rana impressed everyone with his writing and direction with this film. After a setback like ‘Happy Birthday’, Ritesh is back again with ‘Mathu Vadalara 2’. Along with the same lead actors, he had some new additions too. The trailer and promotional activities impressed the audience big time. Let us see how the film turned out.

Story:

After getting stuck in the midst of a drug racket, delivery boys Babu Mohan (Sri Simha) and Bujji (Satya) end up as a part of HE team which aims to stop crimes. They bribe heavily to get these jobs. They become experts in dealing with kidnapping cases and try to nab some of the recovered money to become financially stable. Babu and Bujji plan to deal with a girl’s kidnap case unofficially and get 2 crores of money. But they end up becoming the suspects in a murder case. Who is the dead man? Who killed him? Why did they frame Bujji and Babu? Answers to these questions form the rest of the story.

Analysis:

‘Mathu Vadalara’… This film came five years ago and gave a new experience to the Telugu audience. It made the audience laugh and thrilled them with unexpected twists. When there is a sequel for such a film, people expect a lot. They want to see double the fun and double the thrill. They want to witness a gripping thriller with loads of fun. Looking at the trailer, we get a feeling that the team might reach those expectations with ‘Mathu Vadalara 2’.But it disappoints you to a certain extent. The tightness and thrill factor in the first film goes missing this time. Ritesh Rana failed to create the same impact despite picking the same drugs backdrop. Though there are a lot of twists in the film, they don’t work out as expected. The team made comedy the primary factor in this film and took a non-serious approach. This led to illogical scenes and the viewers did not have a chance to take anything seriously. But where they failed in giving a thrill to the audience, they succeeded in making them laugh. Satya took the entire responsibility for bringing the house down. The movie is a genuine entertainer if you connect with his character. But the film will disappoint you if you expect more than that.

Even ‘Mathu Vadalara’ had silly comedy and entertaining main characters but the story runs with a lot of tightness that keeps the audience glued. The manner in which the director dealt with the drugs concept shocks the audience. But such intensity is missing in ‘Mathu Vadalara 2’. Having good-for-nothing guys like Babu and Bujji in a special HE team shows the nonseriousness in this film. Even having Sunil as a higher officer to them and generating fun with his character makes things even sillier. This makes them tangled in murder, HE team chasing them and trapping them looks normal. They don’t engage the viewers. Despite getting stuck in such a situation, the hero and his friend go wherever they want and do whatever they want. Before the twist in the first half and after the twist, it is Satya’s comedy that keeps the audience away from getting bored. The comedy works big time and the racy pace of the first half engages the viewers.

With Vennela Kishore’s entry, people predict more fun and tempo in the second half but his episode stops the flow of the film. Kishore’s act as hero Yuva fails to make people laugh. It even tests your patience due to its length. The twists keep coming one after the other but none of them thrills you. People don’t get excited when the real culprit gets revealed. They took a lot of cinematic liberties which makes the film hard to believe. ‘Mathu Vadalara 2’ ends up as a not-so-special film. The serial episode where they create spoofs in the first film was repeated here too but it failed to get the same response. ‘Mathu Vadalara 2’ ran solely on Satya’s comedy and it is no match to the first part. If you watch the film keeping your expectations in check, the film will entertain you. But make sure to leave logic behind.

Performances:

Sri Simha’s character was quite similar to what he did in ‘Mathu Vadalara’ which is why his performance was the same too. He was apt for this role and he improved a lot when it comes to his look, acting and dialogue delivery when compared with the first part. Though Sri Simha is the hero on the posters, it is Satya who is the real showman in this film. He overshadowed every other actor and excelled in his role. His expressions and dialogues will leave you in splits. While an elite comedian like Sunil failed to bring laughs, Satya managed to entertain the audience a lot. Faria Abdullah’s character was passable and her acting is decent, Compared to her earlier films, she looked a bit trendy and bold in this film. Rohini’s character is quite different from what she usually does. It failed to create an impact. Ajay did well in the role of Akash while Raja Chembolu’s character was haphazard. Her acting is okay.

Technicians:

In a film that doesn’t have any songs, Kaala Bhairava managed to impress the audience with his background scores. He drove the film forward with his trendy music just like the first film. The scores are a bit crazy which suits the film’s outlook. Suresh Sarangam’s cinematography is quite good. The visuals suit the style of the film. Production values are adequate. Ritesh Rana who stunned everyone with ‘Mathu Vadalara’ has failed to create the same impact with ‘Mathu Vadalara 2’. His narration suited for the comedy scenes but his storytelling took a severe beating due to this. The comedy scenes are very funny when watched individually but the story failed to create suspense or thrill the audience. ‘Mathu Vadalara 2’ is a better film compared to ‘Happy Birthday’ but he failed to achieve what he did with the first film. He scored average points both as a writer and director.

Verdict: ‘Mathu Vadalara 2’ – Good For a Few Laughs!