Guna 369 Review – Raw And Heavy Mass Fare

BOTTOM LINE
Raw And Heavy Mass Fare

OUR RATING
2.25/5

CENSOR
‘U/A’ Certified, 2 hrs 26 mins

What Is the Film About?
Guna (Karthikeya) is that guy in the street who avoids fights. If there is a fight, he tries to solve the issues of the aggrieved parties and let them come to a truce. He has a family who is proud of him and the people around are fond of him.

Guna (Karthikeya) has a friend Bhattu (Rangasthalam Mahesh) and lover Geetha (Anagha). It all looks happy until he is involved in a random unrelated incident related to the kingpin of the locality Gaddhalakunta Radha (Adithya Menon). How a compromise situation changes his life forever is what the movie is all about?

How Is Karthikeya’s Performance?
Karthikeya in his super energetic self like the previous outing, only here he is back to a setting that looks more comfortable for his antics. The six-packs show, the romance which is supposed to be cute, and dances are all there, and Karthikeya does them with supreme confidence.

In the second half, there is a serious turn concerning the character. Karthikeya gets back into the RX100 action mode and improves on it. There is no question of effort; it is visible. Within the overactive, body exposing repertoire, Karthiekya is trying to be versatile, which is commendable, but the subject needs to be good.

Direction by Arjun Jandyala?
Arjun Jandyala making his debut with Guna 369 has taken a routine subject and straightforward narration. The story is wafer-thin and non-existent after a point. However, he has worked on the screenplay and scenes carefully to hold the attention, a bit.

The real story of the movie begins around interval and ends twenty minutes after the intermission when he is given a chance of redemption. The scenes before, show the happy side. What happens after is, how happiness is affected as a result of the core story in the middle.

The treatment is where the movie scores for what it’s worth. It follows a Tamil style narrative as in the romance and characters and some shock factors remind us of those films. Remember Naa Peru Surya or the slew of action entertainers that Vishal kept doing a few years back that was rooted in nature. Guna 369 follows the same.

The first half of the movie is plain until the interval block. We feel that there is an overdose of romance and songs, and nothing else is happening. For a moment, one shudders at the thought of the second half taking the same routine when the hero breaks into an imaginary song with six-packs and shirtless body. Luckily, the narrative gets back on track as soon as the song is over.

Despite a predictable story, the director manages to hold attention via small, but shocking twists in narrative from time to time. They are not unpredictable, just that we don’t expect that to happen in a commercial Telugu cinema. At every turn, there is one such unpredictable moment with a mix of action in between. The director goes a little overboard to justify the action, though.

The pre-climax and climax are sure to make people uncomfortable. The issue it touches is alright, but the way Arjun Jandyala goes about it comes across as crude. There needs to be a refinement that is missing. The climax is very heavy and also takes a message route where is the ‘message’ is hammered.

Overall, Guna 369 is what can be properly said as a – b, c centres fare. It is made in that fashion and done with all sincerity. There are some unexpected moments within the predictable terrain. There is raw emotion. If you are a mass movie lover who doesn’t mind the crudeness and highly clichéd first half, give Guna 369, a try. Otherwise, skip it.

Anagha LK and Others?
Anagha is fine playing a girl next door kind of character. There is no particular depth in it, and she breezes through the proceedings with ease. Naresh is reliable as usual. Hema is wasted.

Shivaji Raja has a small part but is vital and useful. Adithya Menon is adequate in a part that he has done very recently in Rajdooth. There it was a comedy, and here it is a serious subject. The creepy gang of seven are decently cast. They do what is necessary as a group.

Music and Other Departments?
Chaitan Bharadwaj has come up with peppy numbers again. They are decent, a couple is engaging on multiple listens, but overall lack the punch of RX100. The cinematography is decent. There is no particular texture, but the whole things look brightly lit up. The editing is crisp over even though it is jarring at times. The writing is superficial at best.

Highlights?
Parts of the second half
Climax
Action
Screenplay

Drawbacks?
Wafer-thin story
Unnecessary Heaviness
Stretched love sequences

Alternative Take
The way it is is alright for a lowkey b-movie type mass fare. Alternatively, the love story and the villain part could be better fleshed out to give more emotional depth without taking the route we see currently.

Did I Enjoy It?
No, barring few moments

Will You Recommend It?
Yes, but with huge reservations and only to mass movie lovers.

Guna 369 Movie Review by Siddartha Toleti

The post Guna 369 Review – Raw And Heavy Mass Fare appeared first on mirchi9.com.