PremiumPapam Pasivadu review: Sympathies only for the viewer
Sreerama Chandra’s web show is an unfunny mess
Last Updated: 02.42 PM, Sep 30, 2023
Story:
Kranthi is a confused youngster and a small-time event manager by profession. Dimpy, with whom he’s had a six-year-long relationship, calls it quits when he proposes marriage. Even before Kranthi gets over the breakup, he bumps into Chaaru, an acquaintance with whom he has a one-night stand. Meanwhile, his parents persuade him to marry a practical urban woman Anusha.
Review:
The least you expect from a show positioned as a ‘coming-of-age’ comedy is a few laughs, if not a pathbreaking story. Papam Pasivadu is all about a youngster with a non-happening love life, until all hell breaks loose and he needs to choose his soulmate among three women. From fart humour to fake godmen to the forced Telangana slang, the creator resorts to strange tactics to tickle your funny bones.
There’s no reason to invest in the pivotal character in Papam Pasivadu. In the director’s failed attempt to make Kranti ‘relatable’, the role appears more like a wastrel with no real purpose to life beyond marriage and losing his virginity. The screenplay is all about him boozing around, doing drugs with an equally jobless friend ‘NASA’, their nocturnal adventures complicated by his confusions.
If Kranti’s first girlfriend Dimpy is a control freak, he feels at home in the company of an acquaintance Chaaru but ends up saying yes to a marriage with a corporate professional Anusha. Anusha and Chaaru are among the more sorted characters in the show. Most of the elderly characters - Kranti’s parents and his uncle - have nothing to tell him beyond marriage.
Papam Pasivadu is a show one is likely to make when there’s no clarity in the writing while the botched-up execution only makes it look worse. The casting is so inept - Sreerama Chandra is barely convincing with his dialogue delivery and struggles with his comedy timing. He tries hard, sure, but there’s no meat in the material to justify his effort. Sujatha and Srinivas as Kranti's parents pass muster.
The show is tolerable to an extent only when Raashi Singh and Sri Vidya Maharshi are around, thanks to their assuring screen presence. Gayathri Chaganti’s role is poorly written. Ashok Kumar as Kranti’s uncle is annoying while he lasts; he’s unimaginably over-the-top and can’t do much to salvage the farcical situations. Madee Manepalli as NASA doesn’t fare any better either.
Right from the music to the spontaneity of its actors and the writing, nothing works in favour of Papam Pasivadu. The ‘papam’ in the title is only applicable to a viewer who chooses to watch the show.
Verdict:
Papam Pasivadu is a disastrous attempt at comedy, where a single joke or a scene can elicit laughs from the viewer. Sreerama Chandra disappoints with his acting chops - feel free to do anything this weekend over watching this show.