"The way you dress determines how men see you. Therefore, saree is the best," a mother tells her daughter, the female lead, in FCUK. It's not a one-off statement. Umaa (Ammu Abirami) fondly remembers this problematic message in an emotional scene. And a key message of the film is that a female and a male child are not equal as they are brought up in different ways.
Fani Bhoopal (Jagapathi Babu) is 60 but his ways are those of a youngster. He is into the condom-manufacturing and nobody can be a better advertiser for condoms than him. His womaniszing ways at times irk his son, Karthik (Ram Karthik), who is a compulsive flirt minus the itch to philander. Karthik is in love with Uma, who is engaged but somehow feels that she should date Karthik as she flirted with him during a wedding.
Director Vidyasagar Raju had claimed that the film is very bold and the censor board had broad-mindedly decided not to cut any scenes. Perhaps they shouldn't have been so broad-minded. The film does have lines about ejaculation and the unreliability of virginity tests. But barring the occasional good ones, most of the so-called bold dialogues are WhatsApp forwards.
The characters break into analogies and metaphors at the drop of a hat. Some lines mimic oddly-written LinkedIn posts and some belong to the Bhanumathi era.
A major portion of the film is about how Uma and Karthik bond over peculiarly-staged dates. In one of the scenes, they are at a tourist spot and the guy happens to talk about how different men and women are. Our heroine, who is accidentally a doctor, talks about X and Y chromosomes and declares that, as per science, boys are contaminated. What?
We realise that some characters are sad but we don't feel that they are genuine about it. There is too much silliness, with no emotional core. The heroine's joint family seems to be very bored ahead of Uma's wedding and they want to do everything that they can to mess it up. The way they behave in the presence of the groom-to-be is laughable.
The climax, wherein a TV debate calls out the regressive ageism prevalent in society, should have been more dignified. There was so much potential in the material. A 60-year-old man coming of age because of his infant baby and his son's rage was so special on paper. Alas, what we get on screen is just a farcical drama.
Cast: Jagapathi Babu, Ram Karthik, Ammu Abhirami
Direction: Vidyasagar Raju
Rating: 1.5/5