Film: Hyper
Cast: Ram Pothineni, Raashi Khanna, Sathyaraj, Murali Sharma, Rao Ramesh
Director: Santosh Srinivas
We have seen several films made on the father-son relationship. In the recent past, Sukumar’s Nannaku Prematho comes to mind when it comes to this specific subject. A story where the protagonist loves his father immensely and can do anything for him – is nothing new to Telugu cinema. To director Santosh Srinivas’ credit, he does try to showcase this with a new twist in his latest commercial potboiler
Hyper. Unfortunately, a film which is entertaining to start with, is marred by cliches and stereotypes. There is nothing about Hyper which would make the audience sit up and take notice and its supremely predictable storyline turns the film into a yawnfest.
When Surya (Ram Pothineni) is born, astrologers predict that he will love his father more than anybody else, and this love can even cause problems to his family. Surya’s father, Narayana Murthy (Sathyaraj) is an honest government employee, who works as a city planner. The astrologer’s prediction comes true and Narayana Murthy often finds himself in a bit of a pickle because of his son’s overt affection. For instance, Surya beats up traffic cops because they accepted bribes in front of his father.
The love for his father is so immense that he befriends a rowdy sheeter Gaja (Murali Sharma) after he saves his father from being hit by a moving truck. He also starts pursuing Bhanumati (Raashi Khanna) only because his father thinks she’d make a good daughter-in-law.
When Narayana Murthy refuses to sign off on a project to approve the construction of a mall, he invites the wrath of a powerful politician (Rao Ramesh). The consequences he faces and how he tackles them, makes for the rest of the story.
What works for Hyper is its humour. While most of it is slapstick humour, it’s quite fun to watch. The first 30 minutes, in particular, is entertaining. Trouble is that, once you scratch the surface, Hyper simply has no substance. Despite several twists and turns, the sheer lack of depth in the story makes it boring. Also, there is an overdose of ‘social messages’, which are delivered in a far from subtle manner. They are preachy and feels like listening to boring lectures. Screenplay could’ve been tighter and the runtime of 2 hours and 24 minutes, actually feels like three hours. Songs are jarring and jerk the narrative.
Ram Pothineni does a good job as Surya, though he does go a bit over-the-top at times. A hallmark of a great actor is when a performance elevates the film to look better than it actually is. Sathyaraj has that kind of an impact on Hyper. He does a brilliant job as the worried father, the honest government employee and the doting husband. Raashi Khanna gets little scope to shine, other than dance around in skimpy clothes. Murali Sharma is fantastic as the local goon, while Rao Ramesh tries too hard to be the antagonist.
While Santosh Srinivas gets brownie points for his unique twist to the father-son relationship, Hyper remains a film that fails to live up to its potential.