‘Funky’ Movie Review: Funny In Parts, But Never Quite Takes Off

There’s nothing painfully unfunny about Anudeep KV’s Funky. In fact, the film’s an easy watch. The jokes are free-flowing, a deadpan delivery every second scene, the setting is a relatable minefield of meta references, and the actors, Vishwak Sen and Kayadu Lohar, are agreeable on screen. But the film is often as self-operating and stiff as the former point.

Funky is a film that leaves us on tenterhooks, eagerly waiting for it to take off. It has a solid premise. A film about a film is a genre that admirers of cinema from the south are somehow always pumped about. There’s drama about budgets, the persistent shadow of the pan-Indian ghost lurking in the corner, and the itch to turn any film into a cinematic universe. Anudeep checks off a lot of these points as self-referential jokes in Funky. When first-time filmmaker Komal (Vishwak Sen) keeps stacking up the budget of his film, his producer (Naresh) almost gets a heart attack. His daughter Chitra (Kayadu Lohar) promptly takes over the responsibilities — on top of her list is getting Komal to stay in lane and wrap up the rest of the film within a crore. The circus then begins. 

A still from 'Funky'

There’s no lack of intent in Funky. Normal people are placed in absurd, extraordinary situations. To pinch pennies, Komal rallies his high school friends to stand in as junior artists (one of them gleefully flies in from London) in the guise of a school get-together. To escape cagey financiers, he promises to feature their garlanded images in the film’s opening credits in exchange for peace. We see why these scenes would’ve been uproarious on paper, and some of them do land well. Sampath, for instance, gets to play GK, a financier who is frothing at the mouth to attend Jr NTR's pre-release event. The actor is a hoot, and his scenes remind us of Anudeep’s light hand from Jathi Ratnalu (2021). But this isn’t replicated in the film. While the intent is visible, the jokes somehow fizzle.

The film lacks structure, and isn’t accompanied by the frenetic energy that powers absurd comedies, so the jokes appear as though they’re compilations. Similarly, the narrative also doesn’t have a story to hold it on its own legs, hence we're urged to look closely at every joke with a fine-tooth comb — and of course, not every joke flies. The editing is matted and jarring, reminding us almost of funny, unrelated Reels we compulsively scroll through Instagram. This zombie-scrolling is accompanied by some fun cameos, including producers Dil Raju, Naga Vamsi and director Harish Shankar, who play exaggerated version of themselves.

Komal is stoic and cringes at any emotional feeling, including indulging in filial duties or expressing love in a romance. Vishwak Sen delivers most of his jokes in keeping with his character's deadpan sensibilities, but we sense his exhaustion. Kayadu is important to this story, but one still wishes she were written into this world better. Funky aims for just vibes, but it needed to be a lot more edgier to hit the brief.