Director: T.N. Krishna
Cast: Karthikeya, J.D. Chakravarthy, Digangana Suryavanshi, Jazba Singh, Brahmaji, Vennela Kishore
Hippi Devadas (Karthikeya), a corporate employee, is in love with Sneha (Jazba Singh). Not very far into the film, he falls in love with Amukta Malyada (Digangana), who happens to be Sneha’s best friend. He proposes to her, but (wait for it) she turns him down because he’s in a relationship with her best friend. Sneha ends up entering wedlock with another man, and that is when Amukta opens up to Hippi about her feelings for him. All seems to be going just fine until Hippi realises that Amukta is controlling his life. So they decide to live in for some time (as a pre-wedding pilot run) and like any other relationship, they, too, go through their share of ups and downs. Whether they eventually marry each other or split up is essentially what Hippi is all about.
Now, everybody knows Karthikeya became immensely popular after his bold performance in RX100. So while debutant Tamil director T.N. Krishna very wisely cast him to play the lead character in Hippi, he failed to write even a borderline convincing story for the film.
To begin with, the film’s narration seems a tad all over the place. For example, while one flashback in the movie portrays Karthikeya as a kickboxer, another one portrays him as a biker, while he is primarily presented in the film as a software engineer. In addition to this, the director has loaded the movie with sexual innuendos, and that has unquestionably irked the audiences. Further, a large number of scenes depict Karthikeya shirtless and showing off his toned body, perhaps to enhance the film’s appeal for the ladies?
Except that it does not end there. There’s a number of unimaginative scenes which come as a test of patience for patrons, with the potential to literally bore them to sleep, as many have claimed. For example, the scenes wherein the lead pair is seen throwing household objects at each other, or the one with J.D. Chakravarthy, who, although portrayed as a high-ranking corporate official, is shown hanging out with a beggar after his car breaks down — which is also in no way connected to the film. Apparently, even the climax of the film is a drag.
As far as performances are concerned, Karthikeya has without a doubt done justice to his role. Even his dance moves have turned out far better in Hippi than they did in RX100. J.D. Chakravarthy delivers a rather disappointing performance — needless to mention his forced Telangana accent here. While Digangana is indeed a very pretty woman, her performance in the film is rather off the mark. Unfortunately for her, director T.N. Krishna evidently decided to focus on accentuating her glamour quotient with the ostentatious, short outfits she is seen sporting throughout the movie. And while Vennela Kishore and Brahmaji did manage to make the audience laugh a little, their characters seem quite irrelevant to the plot. The same with Shraddha Das who makes a cameo appearance in the film, and nobody knows why.
Unfortunately, most of Hippi’s music turns out pretty average, except for one song (or perhaps two?) The cinematographer has done a good job, though, and one cannot discount that.
In a nutshell, Hippi is a mediocre film with a fairly disappointing plot. Looks like the director was trying to attract the youth with the romantic and innuendo-esque nature of the film’s screenplay. Well, he failed, despite having Karthikeya on his side. Better luck next time, maybe?
