You know a film is serious about its comic ambitions when it regards no topic as too sacrosanct and when everythig and everyone can be made fun of. One such moment arrives early in Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam, when a hypochondriac family member dies all of a sudden. After a frothy 20 minutes or so, we expect the film to sombre down a little during this scene—except writer-director Lakshman Karya has a surprise in store. Even as the grandmother’s dead body lies there, the father-son duo indulges in farcical self-pity, going off with their indulgent self-introspection, oblivious to the weight of the moment. The laughs keep on building in this sequence, setting the perfect tone for the roller coaster comic ride that Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam is in its entirety.
Subramanyam (Rao Ramesh) is a middle-aged, unemployed man who behaves like the hero of his story. His son Arjun (Ankith Koyya) is an equally good-for-nothing young boy with delusional fantasies about having a more affluent lineage and a dramatic past. It’s Arjun’s mother, Kala Rani (Indraja), who runs the household, and she is understandably weary, having carried the domestic responsibilities for over 25 years. However, fortune smiles upon Subramanyam one day as he suddenly finds himself a wealthy man. How Subramanyam deals with the stroke of luck forms the rest of the story.
Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam is so fast-paced that it barely gives you time to breathe. But more importantly, the film understands the value of consistency—and fortunately, the plot never loses focus. Props to Rao Ramesh and Ankith Koyya for carrying the entire film on their shoulders. There are many gags or sequences that could have easily fallen apart at the hands of lesser actors, but the two actors are consistently goofy and disarming in their energy. Imagine a situation where you are crying your heart out, lamenting the loss of something that was never yours in the first place. Rao Ramesh sells this silly moment (like many others) in this rib-tickling farce with great ease.
But it’s not just the witty dialogues and outrageous situations that drive the film. Director Lakshman Karya displays an impressive flair for finding humour even in the peripherals. During a moment where the father and son bicker about Arjun’s obsession with being part of the famous Allu dynasty, Subramanyam’s wife, Kala Rani, quietly moves around the house, finding all the hidden cigarette packets without disrupting the conversation. It creates a great visual synergy and establishes the directorial ambitions here.
Similarly, Arjun going off to rescue his beloved on an antique-ish Luna moped is a sight to behold. In another moment, the makers make a howlarious KGF reference as Arjun realises that his crush is someone whom he used to babysit and treat like a sister many years ago. Even a minor touch like Subramanyam asking Arjun to write ‘Om’ on the top of a page before they list their creditors and the due payments to be made makes you laugh.
Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam clearly wants to pack in a lot in its 147-minute runtime. Having said that, Lakshman Karya does overindulge in visual gimmickry (read use of graphics, animation, and editing effects) in order to keep up the hyper energy it begins with, though. In fact, at one point in the second half, the film might strike you as overbearing in its energy to evoke laughs. The laughs also get less frequent post-interval, and the narrative stakes do seem to subside occasionally, but the film remains true to its comic spirit throughout. It keeps you so busy with its comedy that you are unprepared for some of its minor twists, like a sequence in the final act where a serious character is suddenly seen dancing with unbridled vigour and enthusiasm. We find the reason for it only later, but Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam has plenty of these moments that offer surprises and chuckles at the same time.
The comedy also works because we remain invested in the characters’ fortunes. At some point in the second half, a new character joins the chaos, trying to help the father-son duo figure out the mystery of their new-found wealth. And soon, it becomes clear that he is as much of a stumbling buffoon, if not more. We are scared about how the sticky situation will play out, yet we never become overtly sympathetic towards them. It’s evident the men in this story have screwed up things for people in their lives, and we wait for the situation to get better while laughing at them throughout. There is an impressive balance of attachment and distance in this comedy.
This is also the reason why the limited moments where the film delves into poignance land well. When Kala Rani lashes out at Subramanyam for not realising his responsibilities, it rings sincere. Similarly, when Kala Rani’s brother laments never financially supporting her sister, it never feels like a force-fit, despite being a rare moment of emotion. There is only one subplot where the film threatens to become a melodrama, when a character’s life is suspected to be in danger. However, the writer-director quickly resolves that tension, and soon we are back to the goofy antics of Subramanyam and Arjun trying todamage-control their way out of the unlikely mess they have created.
Even the cursory love interest character Kanchana (played with a suitably wide-eyed goofiness by Ramya Pasupuleti) has a shade of quirkiness that sets her apart. With her indescribable affection for a ne’er-do-well like Arjun, Kanchana fits in perfectly in this universe, where some strokes of luck that are beyond explanation drive the plot. Subramanyam might not be a classic hero figure in his morality, but this doesn’t stop him from visualising himself as one, at various junctures through the story. At one point, Subramanyam sets up his chair in the verandah as he awaits the arrivals of a few police officials, ready to deal with them with swag and fearlessness. There are many of these moments where we see Subramanyam dial up the swag quotient, only to be let down either by his circumstances or his partners-in-crime.
Long story short, you never forget that Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam is a pure comedy, where nothing can be taken seriously—and that can only be a good thing.
MARUTHI NAGAR SUBRAMANYAM
Cast: Rao Ramesh, Ankith Koyya, Indraja, Ramya Pasupuleti, Harsha Vardhan
Director: Lakshman Karya