Budugu Movie Review
Budugu” is psychological thriller, which is about a busy couple Pooja (Lakshmi Manchu) and Rahul (Sreedhar Rao), who admit their 10-year-old son Bunny (Prem Babu) to a boarding school. But their son is thrown out of the school for his psychological problems. How these parents struggle to get treatment for their son’s psychological disorders forms the crux of the story.
Story:
Rakesh (Sridhar Rao) and Puja (Lakshmi Manchu) is a couple and have two kids. One of the kids named Bunny (Master Prem Babu) is somewhat abnormal. He is more of an introvert and doesn’t attend school regularly. Rakesh and Puja are quite busy with their respective jobs and as a result fail to give time to the kid. When the problem doesn’t solve, they join him in a boarding school. Bunny’s behavior sets the whole school to shock. He scares the fellow students on a dark night in the restroom and also the watchman by walking upside down. The boarding school management obviously takes this seriously and send him off thinking something is wrong with him mentally. A girl in the colony dies incidentally and Bunny gets her visions. That’s why he is scared and scream during the nights. Why is this vision happening only to Bunny? What is the issue which is troubling Bunny? How does he get out of this problem- forms the rest of the plot.
Performances:
Lakshmi Manchu: She did a decent job as Puja. Usually, Lakshmi tends to get into overacting mode but this film doesn’t have it. She emoted well as a concerned mother and even fearful sequences. Her role gets full fledged in the second half and she scores full marks there.
Sridhar Rao: This small screen actor has proved his mettle on the big screen as well with good acting skills.
Prem Babu: He played a pivotal role for the film and did full justice to it. Prem did a commendable job especially in the scenes where his character behaves abnormally.
Others: The girl who acted as sister to Prem Babu did a good job. After long time, yesteryear heroine Indraja got a good role and she makes best use of it.
Technical Aspects:
The film’s music is composed by Sai Karthik and has only one song. It was composed well and suits the film’s theme lyrically as well. After a long time there is a song which suits the film’s theme as per the situation. Re-recording is quite impressive.
Cinematography and camera work is adequate for the film. Even the rest of the technical departments did their job perfectly. Most of the film is shot in one house location and that didn’t hamper the quality.
Analysis:
This is the first film for director Manmohan. He chose a different theme and executed it well. What would happen to kids if their parents neglect them? How is the psychological behavior of kids when they are alone? What are their fears? How is their mindset? What influences them?- such crucial and interesting questions were answered in this film. These aspects got the thriller and suspense touch and it was blended well.
First Half: The film starts off at a slow note but gets gripping from the moment Bunny starts behaving abnormally.
Interval Bang: It is quite thrilling with stunning introduction of the ghost.
Second Half: Most of it looks like attending a psychology class. The initial ten minutes might look boring but it has thought provoking points regarding the concern which parents should show to the changing psychological behavior of kids. The film gets more thrilling as it reaches climax.
In fact this film can be presented in a normal fashion. But the director added the thriller dimension so that people who would appreciate such films would relish it as well. It was made targeting children but the film may not appeal to them fully because of thriller elements. Moreover, most of the crucial clues in the film are given beforehand which makes people guess the suspense easily. The film would have been even more gripping if additional care was taken for screenplay. There are some repetitive and slow moments in the film which might make it little sloppy. To add to that, some editing glitches and too much of abrupt change in scenes are also there.
Verdict:
Budugu is a unique film which deals with the complex subject of child psychology and their struggles.In fact, it is like a lesson for parents. However, the big question is whether it would appeal to them or not.
