Oh..! Sukumari, bankrolled by Maheshwara Reddy Mooli, was released in theatres today.
Plot:
Yadagiri (Thiruveer) aspires to lead his late grandfather's small political party in his hometown in Telangana. He discovers he stands to inherit his grandfather’s massive fortune, but with a bizarre catch: he must father a child before his brother does. Desperate to win the race, he marries Dhamini (Aishwarya Rajesh). However, Yadagiri’s grand plans hit a high-voltage roadblock when he learns his new bride suffers from a rare congenital condition: she emits benign electric shocks upon contact, leaving anyone who touches her temporarily paralyzed with their hair standing on end. Unable to consummate his marriage, Yadagiri faces the ultimate crisis. How can he claim his inheritance when his only path to victory is literally too hot to handle?
Post-Mortem:
Consummation comedy is an emerging sub-genre in Telugu cinema. Thiruveer's own recent movie, Paapam Prathap, was that. The situational slapstick in the male lead's journey in initiating the first sexual intercourse with his 'dangerous' wife creates a whole lot of embarrassing or unenviable situations. The farce goes on and on until it's time for a contrived climax. The lead man in these films behaves like he is communicationally challenged, and his inability is milked for physical comedy. Screenplays of this garden variety sub-genre are populated by men and women who are incapable of listening to someone for 30 seconds at a time. On one occasion, they are not paying attention because they got to pee. On another occasion, they fall asleep under the effect of intoxication. Anything and everything is a good reason to avoid an adult-grade conversation in this universe, mostly set in a village because that's where the most unserious people live. This kind of a relentless assault on the senses necessitates a strong emotional core to at least show for something in the end. Only emotions can offer a semblance of respite, but the first emotional scene (since the male lead's intro) in the film under review arrives only post-interval. That's after a good one hour.
These consummation comedies are family entertainers, apparently, but the family members need an external stimulus to even remember that they share the same roof. That one greedy/traitorous insider, that one manipulative outsider, that one extraordinary circumstance that falls from heaven just at the right time. Boom!
Oh..! Sukumari is not hard on itself. It is confident that the heroine's atypical syndrome is enough to keep the audience invested. So, it doesn't reach for the support of a star comedian like Satya. It is not in search of a budget. Its technical output is primitive. Its sense of shot composition is archaic.
The political plot is banal. Srinivas Gavireddy's character is straight out of a Raviraja Pinisetty rural entertainer from the 1990s. MAD comedian Vishnu Oi's presence is as dull as that of TV show host Jhansi and DJ Tillu fame Muralidhar Goud.
As far as problematic humor goes, in one of the scenes, Aishwarya Rajesh's Dhamini plays Sita in a stage show. And you would be dead wrong to think it's a solemn occasion where her character's dignity is enhanced. The show is called Sitapaharanam, and the gaze is neither patriarchal nor matriarchal; it's "Tollywood-iarchal," a unique sociological phenomenon where defeat is snatched from the jaws of meaning and spirituality.
Closing Remarks:
A mildly amusing premise about a bride who emits electric shocks is stretched into an exhausting comedy of misunderstandings and arrested communication. Oh..! Sukumari banks almost entirely on its central gimmick. It is unwatchable.
