Good Luck Sakhi Movie Review: Outdated elements drown this banal sports romedy

Title: Good Luck Sakhi

Cast: Keerthy Suresh, Jagapathi Babu and others

Director: Nagesh Kukunoor

Run-Time: 118 minutes

Rating: 2/5

The film under review marks the Telugu-language debut of acclaimed director Nagesh Kukunoor, who had said in an interview that 'Good Luck Sakhi' is a metaphor for life. It's an irony, considering that most of the scenes/dialogues in the movie are lifeless. The staging is basic and the audience have hard luck with almost everything, barring Keerthy Suresh's portrayal of a small-town girl whose tryst with 10-metre rifle shooting is both sudden and pedestrian. 

Sakhi, the titular character, has an inborn talent for shooting. It takes her childhood friend Goli Raju (Aadhi Pinisetty, who is a superstar theatre artist in the district) to spot her talent and a retired Colonel (Jagapathi Babu as a coach) to hone her skills. The journey is slightly dramatic and monumentally banal. The tropes found in the climax are barely emotional. 

Perhaps, this is the least witty of Nagesh's movies. Even the serious-minded scenes wear off in no time. The staging of the rivalry between Suri (Rahul Ramakrishna in an outdated role) and Sakhi is skeletal. There is no excitement of watching a semi-sports film. Nor is there any thrill about the prospect of a high-stakes battle taking root. 

The romantic track wants us to soak in the simplicity of the conversations. But the dialogues (co-written by Sandeep Raj and Devika Bahudhanam) are vapid. The film wants us to marvel at the sight of an over-cute character played by a National Award-winning actress entering into a one-sided platonic relationship. The film is not interested in being a coming-of-age drama.

A fatal flaw is that Adhi's character doesn't look involved at all. He comes across as a city-bred tourist on a visit to Sakhi's village when he is not wearing the greasepaint and performing on stage with anguish in his heart. We don't get when he started loving Sakhi in the first place.  

The film takes a swipe at regional chauvinism and misogynistic attitudes. That's the only element that works. Otherwise, 'Good Luck Sakhi' is riddled with old-fashioned characters and characterizations. 

Jagapathi Babu looks like he has no zeal at all at the age of 50. Contrastingly, his character is into honing a shooter the nation can be proud of. Raghu Babu, Shravya, Venugopal, Gayatri Bhargavi and Rama Prabha are seen in other parts. 

Devi Sri Prasad's good tunes have been wasted. Chirantan Das' cinematography and the dubbing compete with each other to drown out our experience. 

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Check out the trailer of Good Luck Sakhi below: