''Venky'' is a 2004 Indian
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
-language
comedy thriller film
Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy and thrillers.
Criteria
They often include a darker tone, relative to other genres, of humor.
List of comedy thriller films
* '' The Big Fix'' (1978)
* ''Charad ...
written and directed by
Srinu Vaitla
Srinu Vaitla (born 24 September 1972) is an Indian film director who works in Telugu cinema. Known for his best film works in the action comedy genre, Vaitla made his directional debut with ''Nee Kosam'' (1999) starring Ravi Teja and Maheswari. ...
, and produced by
Atluri Purnachandra Rao
Atluri Poornachandra Rao (4 April 1925 – 29 October 2017) was an Indian film producer and communist leader. As a film producer he produced several films between 1960s till 2005. ''Aadabaduchu'' (1967), ''Mathrudevata'' (1969), ''Papam Pasivadu' ...
. The film stars
Ravi Teja
Bhupatiraju Ravi Shankar Raju (born 26 January 1968), known professionally as Ravi Teja, is an Indian film actor and producer who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. He is known for his roles in action comedy films. He is one of the highest- ...
,
Sneha, and
Ashutosh Rana
Ashutosh Ramnarayan Neekhra (born 10 November 1967), known professionally as Ashutosh Rana, is an Indian actor, producer, author and television personality. He has worked in Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, and Hindi films. He has also worked ...
while
Devi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad (; born 2 August 1979) is an Indian film composer, lyricist, singer-songwriter and performer. Popularly known by his initials DSP, he is best known for his work in Telugu-language films, and has also worked in a few Tamil films ...
composed music. The film marks Vaitla's first collaboration with writers
Kona Venkat
Kona Venkat ( born 19 February 1965) is an Indian screenwriter and producer known for his works in Telugu language, Telugu and Hindi cinema.
He is known for his works in box office hits such as ''Alludu Seenu'', ''Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi'' ''Ba ...
and
Gopimohan
Gopimohan (born Pinnamaneni Gopi Mohan) is an Indian screenplay and story writer who works in the Telugu language, Telugu film industry. Gopi Mohan was born in Kurumaddali village Near Vuyyuru, Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh. From childho ...
.
Released on 26 March 2004, the film was successful at the box office.
Plot
Venkateswarlu "Venky" is a wayward youth from
Vizag
, image_alt =
, image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...
. After several unsuccessful attempts of finding employment, Venky and his friends Suri, Ramana and Bujji, luckily clear a police recruitment test, and they are selected for
SI training. They travel to
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
on
Godavari Express
The 12727/12728 Godavari Express is an express train of India's South Central Railway, operating between Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
History
On 1 February 1974, the Indian Railways announced the first railway service between Hyderabad and ...
train to attend the training. Venky meets Sravani on the train and instantly falls for her. He proposes the same to her, but she harshly rejects the proposal. Furious Venky threatens to murder Sravani's father Prasad Rao and a lady co-passenger, in a state of inebriation. To their astonishment, both of them are found dead the next morning.
Venky and his friends quickly escape from there. On a belief that the police academy is the only safe haven for them, they join the training immediately. The academy chief Yogendra Kumar Sharma is a very strict officer and a close friend of
ACP Bharath, who is assigned to investigate the train murders case. In order to escape the scrutiny, they enter Sharma's office at night to tamper with the date of their arrival, but they find that Sharma himself is responsible for the murders. They learn that Sharma is after Prasad Rao's camera and Sravani would also be killed. Venky saves Sravani and keeps her in an old building behind their academy.
Later, they overhear that Bharat has found Venky's camera as evidence and its reel is given for development. They head to the studio beforehand and receives those photos. Upon looking at them, Venky finds out that Gajala, who introduced himself as a software engineer is actually a thief. They trace him and enquire about Prasad Rao's camera, but he lies that he had already sold it. Sharma finds out that Venky and his friends are after him, where he publicizes their names in the media and pressurizes their parents so that they would turn themselves in. He also finds out about Sravani's hideout and attacks her but she escapes.
Venky and Sharma make a deal to hand over Prasad Rao's camera which he doesn't honour. Gajala sees an opportunity and calls Sharma to make a deal in exchange for the camera, but Venky takes away the camera from him. With the camera, they learn that Prasad Rao recorded Sharma murdering a senior officer Sarath Kumar IPS, as he wanted to escape from a fake stamp case. Prasad Rao unknowingly called Sharma to report the murder. He came to their home to take the camera, but they escaped to their village.
Unaware that Sharma came to their home, Prasad Rao gave away their berth numbers, and Sharma sent his hitman to kill them, murdering him and a lady who slept on Sravani's berth. Sharma's henchmen attack them for the camera, but Venky fights them off. Sravani seeks the Governor's appointment to directly submit the camera as evidence. Sharma tries to shoot them, but is caught red-handed in front of the Governor. Venky and his friends are awarded medals in appreciation of their bravery.
Cast
Soundtrack
The music and background score was composed by
Devi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad (; born 2 August 1979) is an Indian film composer, lyricist, singer-songwriter and performer. Popularly known by his initials DSP, he is best known for his work in Telugu-language films, and has also worked in a few Tamil films ...
.
Reception
A review from ''
Sify
Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...
'' opined that ''Venky'' was a mishmash of three films, the Malayalam film ''
No.20 Madras Mail
''No.20 Madras Mail'' is a 1990 Indian Malayalam-language comedy thriller film directed by Joshiy and written by Dennis Joseph from a story by Harikumar. The film stars Mohanlal in lead role and Jagadish, Maniyanpilla Raju, M. G. Soman, Ashokan ...
'' and the American films ''
Training Day
''Training Day'' is a 2001 American crime thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by David Ayer. It stars Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris and Ethan Hawke as Jake Hoyt, two LAPD narcotics officers over a 24-hour period in the gang- ...
'' and
''Police Academy''. They added that the film failed to impress as it missed a "natural flow of one leading to another." ''
Idlebrain.com'' rated the film 3/5 appreciated the film for its humour but wrote the film falls flat as the suspense is revealed.
References
External links
*
{{Srinu Vaitla
2004 films
Films directed by Srinu Vaitla
2000s Telugu-language films
2000s comedy thriller films
Indian comedy thriller films
2004 comedy films