‘Pakka Commercial’ movie review: Gopichand and Raashi Khanna have fun-filled moments, but the film is far from entertaining

That director Maruthi is downright commercial in his approach towards his films. Some of his films guaranteed hilarious moments, while others remained flat and nostalgic. sure commercial falls into the second category and is ultimately an old wine in a new bottle, although the writer-director maintains it through his characters that they are not following the old route.

The courtroom becomes the playground of this story. Surya Narayan (Satyaraj) is an honest magistrate, who regrets his wrong decision which ruined the life of the victim while freeing the criminal. On the contrary, his son Lucky (Gopichand) grows up to be a cunning lawyer who is passionate about being professional.

The film would like to make us believe that Lucky is smart enough to betray his honest father. Lucky’s plan to create a neat image in front of his father seems so fake that unless the father was too naive or was living under a rock, he would see the real picture. A chain of absurd events sets up how Son and his assistant (comedian Praveen) keep the former magistrate in the dark. For anyone who grew up watching mainstream cinema, it won’t be a surprise when an ex-convict, Vivek (Rao Ramesh), grows stronger and more powerful.

The new entrant in this power game is Sirisha aka Advocate Jhansi (Rashi Khanna). Looks like Raashi had a ball in playing this over-the-top role of a melodramatic lawyer-actor. His character becomes a tool for Maruthi to take potshots at the workings of the entertainment industry – actors who won’t cut their fees, becoming his assistant dialogue promoters, and so on.

Some of the ghazals written for the character of Rashi keep on laughing. For example, she suggests IPC sections and the next course of legal action by recalling the plot of the TV series in which she starred. If only the writing had avoided ludicrous humor. Sample this: When Jhansi and his assistants said that he studied law to play a lawyer and was cast as a cop, he would have trained to be an IPS officer, remarks Nayak. Thankfully she wasn’t offered the role of a prostitute! The humor is also in poor taste in the later parts involving Rao Ramesh, full of double expressions.

The drama has the potential to get interesting when Lucky and his father are pitted against each other and inspired by sansaram oka chadarangam, a line divides the house into two parts. However, the promise of a heated argument between father and son fails with a one-sided display of how nexus Lucky can be and the father’s moves just pathetic.

Gopichand plays the gray lawyer Lucky and does reasonably well. Sathyaraj looks lost in an underwriting section, while Rao Ramesh tries to rise to the top in the final part. Songs and dance sequences also add to the boredom.

sure commercial Banks on some lame comic moments and loses the big picture.