Tuck Jagadish Movie Review: An obsolete drama that could have been saved by humour

Title: Tuck Jagadish

Cast: Nani, Jagapathi Babu, Aishwarya Rajesh and others

Director: Shiva Nirvana

Rating: 2.5/5

'Tuck Jagadish' comes across as an uncomical, wearisome version of 'Kadaikutty Singam' (Tamil; 2018) at times. There are moments where Jagadish Naidu, the titular character, overpowers stubborn people into resolving differences by brandishing the sword, quite literally. In those few moments, he could well be the 'Mirchi' Prabhas who just happened to crack the civil services exam. 

In the fictional village of Bhudevipuram (a name the characters repeat 26 times to remind us that 'Tuck Jagadish' is Nani's 26th movie), Jagadish has to bring peace in his family and village after his good-hearted father (Nasser in a cameo) conveniently dies after a Thaman-powered family song. He also has to redeem a failed marriage and save his niece Chandramma (Aishwarya Rajesh, who is more relevant to the story than Ritu Varma). The question is, what does he weaponize to accomplish his mission? Will he, the ever-so-'Brahmotsavam' dude resort to unforgivingly boring monologues? Or, will he use a best-kept secret as a bargaining chip? Will conflict resolution make us tear up? Just as these questions pop up in your mind, writer-director Shiva Nirvana tells an unremarkably self-indulgent story.

Jagadish acquires power in a certain way and starts breaking bones and signing papers in two shakes of a lamb's tail. Between coercing otherwise good souls into burying the hatchet and redeeming the land records of the village, he doesn't even sip tea. He is like that one-day CM from 'Oke Okkadu'. He can make a child smile and old women tear up at will. Amidst all this, Jagadish forgets to develop chemistry with most of the characters. The hook originating from Nasser's character was so crucial, but the father-son bonding doesn't suck you into the drama. 

The interval block makes us feel that Jagadish's violence is sudden and shockingly instant. But, as the story moves forward, his violence becomes drab and regular. And it doesn't help that Nani's minimal facial muscle movement doesn't lend a touch of believability. 

The many family members living under a roof do remind us of the Krishna Vamsi school of family entertainment. But since the conversations are barely humorous, the consolation of comedy is non-existent. Most of the conversations sound sanitized, and it's only VK Naresh's drunkard relative who sounds slice-of-life somewhat. 

So much could have been made out of Jagadish being torn between contradictory promises that he has made. To the film's credit, the pre-climax portion where Jagadish falls into self-doubt and goes through a phase of transient misery is moving.

The mass-masala tropes were meant for a theatrical experience but it is doubtful whether Nani would have managed to draw whistles from the more demanding front-benchers. The writing is remarkable where it asks whether someone is even a good government officer if he doesn't browbeat the bad guys through coercion.

Danile Balaji's character is a caricature. Jagapathi Babu, more or less, looks as if he is posing for a teaser. It's only in the last 35 minutes or so that his character is fleshed out properly. Even here, the revelation is so '80s. The confrontation scenes between him and a crucial character are unimpressive. Jagadish doesn't seem to go through enough agony while issuing ultimatums. Gopi Sundar's background music turns out to be underwhelming.