In this film directed by T N Krishna, the hero’s (Kartikeya) name is Devadas, and he’s fondly called Hippi. Don’t ask why. Maybe the team thought it sounds catchy enough for a title. He is good at kickboxing. This lends itself to a couple of choreographed action sequences in which he can show off skills and, of course, his ripped muscles. One of those instances happens in his workplace, moments after a higher-up (who happens to be a woman) considers if he should be fired for not working enough in the last seven months. No prizes for guessing that the fight sequence makes her change her mind. Fair enough, such random things keep happening in a mainstream film. So it’s no big deal.
The leading lady of this romance is called Amukta Malyada (Digangana Suryavanshi) and she insists everyone refer to her by her full name, not just Amu. Because, well, she likes it that way.
But, all through Hippi and at the end of it, I wondered why they had to drag the 17th century poet John Milton into this story, and equate the different stages in this romance to his iconic poems Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained . Maybe because it makes the hero’s character sound well read and cool. Whatever be the reason, it’s tough to take any character in this film seriously. They are as clueless as the audience that’s watching the film.
- Cast: Kartikeya, Digangana Suryavanshi, J D Chakravarthy
- Direction: T N Krishna
Hippi’s romance begins like an infatuation. He feels drawn to Amukta, who is a friend of his girlfriend. Amukta who seems quite normal for sometime suddenly morphs into a control freak and wants Hippi to be under her control at all times. There’s hardly a streak of romance between these characters to make us root for them.
Hippi doesn’t do much for both Kartikeya and Digangana. The lead pair is just expected to look good and the pointless story doesn’t give them much scope to make an impression. J D Chakravarthy is cast as the boss, who surprisingly doesn’t come under the radar for his inappropriate comments and behaviour with women colleagues. His Telangana dialect sounds forced and his so-called unconventional methodologies at work are tiresome.
Brahmaji, Vennela Kishore and Praveen are all in the fray, trying to lighten the mood. The humour wavers between being silly and loaded with innuendos.
It takes a lot of patience to sit through a film like Hippi .
