Bedurulanka 2012 is a dark comedy within the setup of an apocalypse/disaster drama. Just like how the predictions of American satellite Skylab falling on India led to havoc and consternation in Indian villages in the 80s, similar predictions were also made for the end of the world in 2012, leading to much gossip and false theories surrounding it. The Mayan calendar, predictions by our own Veera Brahmendra Swamy, Baba Vanga’s predictions and many such theories were collated and spread endlessly via TV. A small island village called Bedurulanka gets caught in these wild theories. A crooked village elder Bhushanam (Ajay Ghosh), with the help of a Hindu priest Brahmam (Srikanth Iyengar) and a Christian priest Daniel (Jabardast Ram Prasad) tries to turn the situation to his advantage and swindle the gullible village folk. A self-respecting and intelligent young man Shiva (Karthikeya) is forced to confront them as their plans also disturb his love affair with his childhood friend Chithra (Neha Shetty), who is also the daughter of the vainglorious, dumb-witted village president, played by Goparaju Ramana. A smorgasbord of minor characters typically found in villages fills this island village in the coastal belt of Andhra. The story is established quickly and progresses at a fast pace with the hero entering the village for a local fest with the aim to get the approval of his childhood love. The short episode, in the beginning, showing how fast gossip runs in the village is very interesting. The plan by Bhushanam, Brahmam, and Daniel takes shape, and so does the love affair. The song “Vennello Aadapilla” is beautifully picturised with the splendour of a rainy night in the rural setting captured well by the camera. As the villagers fully believe and implement the villains' plan, the hero is forced to leave the village because his reasoning doesn’t find any support there. The breaking point offers enough interest to come back to the story. The hero has to come back to the village to save his girlfriend, and this time, he decides to counter the madness perpetuating in the village with a full-scale plan. This plan, executed with the help of his friends, played by Satya and Vennela Kishore, works well. But then the story loses direction when it turns away from exposing the culprits to making the whole village come to their senses. The villains too kind of lose purpose once the gold is gathered. While mildly entertaining, the events get sluggish till the episode with Kasiraju (Rajkumar Kasireddy). The minor characters, particularly the kids searching for the javelin, are very entertaining. The overall social criticism comes out nicely, but reaching there feels dragged. Ajay Ghosh, Iyengar, Goparaju Ramana, and Rajkumar Kasireddy deliver the goods. Karthikeya played his character with much ease. Neha Shetty also did well portraying the different emotions of her character. Mani Sharma’s music is good. Sai Prakash and Sunny Koorapati’s camera work is impressive, capturing the island beautifully. The dialogues have mostly worked well. The screenplay gets a little confusing and muddled, running around in circles in the second half. But overall, the choice of subject and the execution are convincing. Bedurulanka 2012 is a fine option this week to lose yourself in the small universe it is situated in and the odd characters living there. This feels like the universe senior director Vamshi used to present us so often during his heydays. Debut director-writer Clax deserves appreciation for having done his job well. Bedurulanka 2012 movie cast: Karthikeya, Neha Shetty, Ajay Ghosh, Srikanth Iyengar, Goparaju Ramana, Rajkumar Kasireddy, Satya, Vennela Kishore, Ram Prasad, Prabhavati Bedurulanka 2012 movie director: Clax Bedurulanka 2012 movie rating: 2.5 stars
