Movie: Tuck Jagadish
Rating: 2.5/5
Cast: Naani, Ritu Varma, Jagapathi Babu, Daniel Balaji, Aishwarya Rajesh, Nasar
Director: Shiva Nirvana
Produced By: Sahu Garapati and Harish Peddi under Shine Screens
Release Date: 9th September 2021
Natural Star Nani’s much-awaited family drama Tuck Jagadish finally had its OTT release on Thursday. This is his second consecutive digital release after ‘V’. Directed by Shiva Nirvana, this film has been promoted throughout as a bouquet of family emotions. Shiva, who through his earlier films has successfully conveyed complex relations has been quite confident of the product while Nani who is known to be a natural at conveying all emotions has promised an enjoyable experience. Did the duo succeed? Let’s find out.
Story: The story set in Bhudevipuram is an age-old tale of land disputes among families and how they are handle it. How this particular family handles it is the crux of the story. Nani plays Tuck Jagadish, a family-centric caring, and loving younger brother while Jagapathi Babu plays Bose Babu, the elder son of the family. Together they live happily in Bhudevipuram but it all changes because of certain events.
Performance: The scope for performance is pretty little in a commercial entertainer like this. We have seen movies on this very premise for the last few decades and every character reminds you of something you have seen before. We have a loving younger son, a drunk brother-in-law, a brutal and greedy village villain, an honest government official, a caring and fatherly village elder. All these characters have appeared in countless films for the past many years and now it feels like a standard template. Nani has done adequately and nothing major can be said about him except for the emotional scenes. Jagapathi Babu again felt underutilized despite having great screen time. Ritu Varma is just present in the screens and doesn’t have a major character arc. Surprisingly it is Tamil actor Thiru who impresses the most with his menacing and sadistic act. Others like Rohini, Aishwarya Rajesh, Devadarshini have nothing new to offer.
Analysis: Nani’s Tuck Jagadish is in an age-old story which would have made sense if it released a couple of decades back. The tales of village land disputes and their violent solutions along with family melodrama seem to be too old for this age of fresh stories. The twists are quite obvious and any viewer who has grown up on Telugu movies can predict them from a mile away. Shiva Nirvana has tried to balance the emotions in the story well but sometimes it goes a bit overboard. Nani’s love track with Ritu Varma is another big minus as it doesn’t provide enough credibility. All it takes is a fight and scene for them to fall in love, this track right here is proof of the depth of writing in the film.
Plus Points:
Production Values
Prasad Murella’s cinematography
Minus Points:
Outdated plot
Dragged climax
Nani and Ritu Varma’s track
Songs and BGM
Verdict: Tuck Jagadish is an outdated attempt at presenting family relations in a village setup. The wafer-thin screenplay and predictability of the plot and twists gives the viewers a sense of deja vu. Nani tries his best to carry the film and even does decently in the action scenes. However, its the writing and character arcs of almost all the major characters that let us down. Overall Tuck Jagadish is a one-time watch and might not appeal to many apart from Nani fans.
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