Sudhakar Komakula has been struggling hard to find a hit under his belt from the day he made his debut with the film Life Is Beautiful. He is ready with his new film Narayana & Co.
Story: Narayana(Devi Prasad) is a middle-class man who is forced to repay a big amount because of a grace mistake that he has committed at his office. Narayana has two sons, Anand(Sudhakar Komakula) and Subhash(Jaya Krishna) who have their own set of problems and they too need big money to come out of their issues. Left with no choice, the entire family plans a scam to make big money. Well, will they be successful in their plans, that form the story of Narayana and Co?
Performances: Devi Prasad and veteran actress Amani play the main couple and they are very good with their natural acting. Their innocence is neatly trapped by the director and this creates good laughs for the audience. Sudhakar Komakula is a decent actor and he does well in his role of a reckless guy. Jaya Krishna is neat in his role and he ably supports Sudhakar. Yamini was good and so was the performance of Pooja Kiran.
Technicalities: Dr. Josyabhatala Sharma, Naga Vamshi, and Suresh Bobbili compose the music and it is decent. But one gets a feeling that there was no need of having songs in the first place as they provide a hindrance to the film completely. The camerawork showcasing the middle-class setup was good. The dialogues need a special mention as they have been written well. Editing is not that great as two songs could have been chopped off. The screenplay should have been even more gripping.
Analysis: Narayana and Co is a crime comedy that has some decent laughs in a few areas. There is not much story in the first half but the manner in which the makers have created small fun elements looks good. The film has three to four key characters which are established nicely. Though the limits of the characters go overboard in many scenes, they make sense otherwise. The film has a striking resemblance to Allari Naresh’s Blade Babji as the basic backdrop is the same.
After a decent first half, the audience looks forward to knowing what is going to happen next. But the second half is let down with a boring execution. The scenes are dragged on for no reason and bore the audience. If this was not enough, the songs create a disturbance in the flow. In trying to showcase things in a light manner, the key emotion is lost in the transit.
There is a lot of comedy that is generated through memes. This looks good initially but bores the audience later after a point in time. There is not much to say in the film and that is the reason, the film wanders here and there. More grip in the second half would have made the proceedings quite better but that does not happen and the film falls flat. The showcased thrills also do not you engage much. A little bit of seriousness would have made matters a lot better.
Verdict: Overall, Narayana & Co has a good premise and decent comedy. All that works in the first half but things fall flat in the second half which is the key. The scenes are dragged and drama is taken way too lightly making this film a boring affair apart from a strictly few laughs.
Bottom Line- Strictly for gags
Rating: 2.25/5
