Last updated: 9 February 2023

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Film: Amigos (Telugu)

Directed by: Rajendra Reddy

Cast: Nandamuri Kalyan Ram (triple role), Ashika Ranganath, Brahmaji

Highlights: Intriguing title card, doppelgänger concept, good performance(s) by Kalyan Ram, dialogues, Brahmaji’s comic timing, Rajendra Reddy’s direction and racy screenplay, action scenes

Lowlights: offensive Somalia reference in the pretext of “comedy”, normalising stalking, too many unnecessary slow-motion scenes, overstretched climax

Cinemania rating: ★★★☆☆

Detailed Review

Plot: Action-drama Amigos follows an entrepreneur Siddharth (Kalyan Ram) who comes across a website that helps its members find their doppelgängers from across the world. This gets him excited and he registers himself on the website and uploads his photograph. The next day, the website reveals to Siddharth that there are two men who look exactly like him, one is an innocent software engineer Manju who lives in Bangalore and the other is Michael from Kolkata. The three of them decide to meet in Goa, where they party and become friends. Siddharth is also in love with radio jockey Ishika, however she rejects his marriage proposal. Using the help of Manju and Michael, Siddharth manages to impress her, however the proceedings take a dark twist as the identity of Michael and his motives are unveiled leading to chaos.

Performances: Kalyan Ram plays all three characters with ease, maintaining different accents. However, Michael’s extremely slow dialogue delivery is a bit annoying in the second half and tests audience’s patience. Ashika Ranganath, playing Siddharth’s love interest, is impressive in her Tollywood debut. Brahmaji entertains with impeccable comic timing, but one of his dialogues in which he compares Kalyan Ram’s attraction towards Ishika to that a “drought-affected Somalian’s” craving for food is highly offensive and could have been avoided. The rest of the supporting cast (Jayaprakash, Kalyani Natarajan, Pranavi Manukonda, Subhashree Rayaguru, etc) do justice to their roles.

Technical departments: The title card is interesting and cleverly sets the premise of the film. Director Rajendra Reddy (also screenwriter) has weaved the love story and family drama seamlessly into the main plot without any distracting scenes. Editing (Tammiraju) is mostly good but the climax scene could have been trimmed a bit. Background score (Ghibran) is apt. The action-choreography is impressive in the police van fight scene. The remix of Ilaiayaraja’s Enno Ratrulosthayi Gani remix song is a treat to hear and watch, but it’s a bit odd to see the antagonist romancing Ishika’s character in that song.

Amigos is gripping until the pre-climax when things become predictable and then stretches a lot. Michael’s character is portrayed with excessive slow-motion scenes which eventually become less impactful. Also audiences in the cinema were a bit unhappy and let out a collective groan at the way the director ended a crowd-favourite character (you’ll understand this when you watch the film).

Despite its flaws, Amigos is an entertaining film with an interesting concept of doppelgängers, good performances and impressive technical elements. This is likely to be the second consecutive commercially-successful film for Kalyan Ram after Bimbisara.

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