Jathi Ratnalu - Drunk and Tailor, Cooking Guy

 

Jathi Ratnalu

Telugu, 2021

Director - K V Anudeep

Stars - Naveen Polishetty, Rahul Ramakrishna, Priyadarshi, Faria Abdullah, Murali Sharma

 

Mohan's Measure  ⭐⭐⭐

 

Our slow, but hopefully, steady return to watching movies in the theater is marked with wearing masks, disavowing the always tempting theater junk food, and sitting a significant distance away from others in the audience.

 

But, all of this seems well worth the effort, if only to watch imaginative movies like Jathi Ratnalu, which tells the tale of three losers from a village determined to find fame and fortune in the big city; their only reason being to rid themselves of the nicknames their fellow small town residents have given them.  The very talented Mr. Polishetty leads an all-star cast through a series of unpredictable but clean vignettes straight out of classic comedy film.

At times we are reminded of 1955's We're No Angels, at other times the Three Stooges; and, in the lough-out-loud courtroom sequences, charming newcomer Faria Abdullah seems to have evolved directly from Marisa Tomei's Mona Lisa in My Cousin Vinny.

 

Sadly, even comedy becomes tiring when it is repetitive, particularly when the jokes feel like they were taken from the banter we hear in school yards.  It seems to me had the movie been pared down and the plot thickened slightly, we would have seen a genuine classic. 

A healing world, however, could use a good laugh, and Jathi Ratnalu, particularly for those of Telengana origin, will certainly provide that.