The inmates of a large household, at one point in this film, spill their innermost secrets to Brahmanandam, who is called Babu Re (there’s a story as to why he is called so). At the end of the confession session, Babu Re is a troubled man, unable to make sense of the proceedings. Somewhere amidst the overdose of comedy, the audience too may find themselves in such a situation.
Mohan Babu is a straightforward tourist guide in Pattaya, a contrast to his sons Manoj, Varun Sandesh and Tanish who can pull a smart trick and make away with wads of cash from a betting den. The sons save themselves from the father’s wrath using the sentiment of not having a mother to care for them. At another end of the same Pattaya beach is Raveena Tandon who runs a beach-side eatery and lives with her sons Vishnu and Vennela Kishore, who own a small water sports company. Hansika Motwani is a paying guest in the house. In a plot similar to Golmaal 3 , the sons are at war while the parents happen to be long-lost lovers. Tanish plays the innocent mute, like Tusshar Kapoor in the Hindi flick.
This family drama is only one part of the film. Since the title cards open with paintings representing Mahabharata, we know there’s going to be more to the family reunion. In a new interpretation of ‘virata parvam’ of Mahabharata, Mohan Babu and all his family members take on different identities for a purpose. An interesting premise that could have provided a decent mix of drama and comedy becomes a wasted opportunity. The comedy is mostly silly, some lines that one can laugh with and many others that can only be laughed at. ‘Melt a gold chain and you get gold; but you won’t get a cycle if you melt a cycle chain’ is one of the better PJs unleashed at the audience.
Mohan Babu is given ample scope to treat the audience to his trademark dialogue delivery and he even delivers a few punches in the action segments. Vishnu, Manoj, Hansika, Varun and Vennela Kishore try to make the audience laugh with rhyming, albeit inane lines given to them in the garb of comedy. A few of these are hilarious while most others fall flat. The gorgeous Raveena Tandon breezes through her role, though it’s tough to digest watching her as a mother of grown-up sons.
Apart from the main actors, the film also has a battalion of comedy actors trying to up the humour quotient. In the later portions, most of this fun is crude in the scenes that show three men ogling at Manchu Manoj in a woman’s guise. One would expect this sort of humour in a slapstick sex comedy that targets front benchers, not in a film that positions itself as a family entertainer.
A film that brings together two generations of the Manchu family could have done with a better script and avoided cringe-worthy portions.
