Jathi Ratnalu director KV Anudeep’s latest film, Funky, is set in a bubble—the Telugu film industry, a world the filmmaker has immediate access to. The premise itself—where an emerging director falls for the daughter of an eminent producer—is a fictional take on the love story of industry couple, director Nag Ashwin and producer Priyanka Dutt (who are often referenced in the film).
The meta-backdrop provides the storyteller with a convenient excuse to drop truth bombs about the industry in the trademark sardonic humour he’s known for. Every second sequence in Funky is either populated by cameos—from producers Dil Raju to Naga Vamsi and director Harish Shankar—or filled with jargon specific to showbiz: pre-release events, location scouting, on-set drama, and gossip.
Komal (Vishwak Sen), a new director, is deemed a recipe for trouble on a film set. The budget of his film (also titled Funky) multiplies manifold over time, much to the stress of veteran producer Sudarshan (Naresh). When things spiral out of control, his daughter Chitra (Kayadu Lohar) steps in to salvage the project. After initial friction, Komal and Chitra fall for each other, though the romance is far from conventional.
Funky (Telugu)
Director: KV Anudeep
Cast: Vishwak Sen, Kayadu Lohar
Runtime: 128 minutes
Storyline: A struggling director falls for a rich producer’s daughter in the middle of a shoot
Apart from the love story on set, subplots involving a goon-like financier, GK (Sampath), and Komal’s family (comprising his mother and a soon-to-be-married sister) keep the narrative busy. Funky tries to play with the common man’s curiosity regarding how the film industry operates, but Anudeep struggles to offer a fresh perspective or keep the narrative engaging.
When Komal’s film is on the verge of being shelved, he makes a ludicrous offer to Chitra: ‘Either fund the project or fall in love with me.’ The banner is named Manchi Productions, simply to further the pun of the producer always making ‘good’ (manchi) films. In another instance, a financier is so desperate to meet Jr NTR that he takes his family to a promotional event, packing a box of savouries and snacks for the star.
As the producer asks Komal to complete the final chunk of the film within one crore (rather than four crores), he assembles his resources to finish the work with minimal expense. He asks Chitra to share her costumes with the heroine, gets the producer to play a gangster, and ropes in his childhood friends as junior artistes. However, the screenplay runs out of ideas quickly and the comic punches become tiring.
There’s hardly any flow to the proceedings and the entire film plays out like an industry insider’s indulgent joke, denying the viewer any chance to relate to the backdrop. Chitra lacks even an ounce of personality; it is hard to understand why a woman of power would put up with a prankster like Komal. Even Komal’s character is derivative, modelled on the director’s off-screen persona and the leads of his previous films.
Surprisingly, in the film’s second hour, the narrative gathers brief momentum when the story sidesteps the industry drama to focus on Komal’s oddities in a domestic setup. The thread involving his sister’s marriage is particularly effective in its commentary on social obligations at events and provides a strong context for Komal’s vulnerabilities in expressing himself.
The film should have ideally centred on Chitra’s need for a partner who cares for his family and heeds their concerns. Komal is far more relatable as a family man dealing with two-faced relatives and naysayers during the marriage sequences than he is as a director. Funky’s most poignant scene is one where Komal bothers to explain to his mother how he is wired differently, yet means well.
The subplot involving the financier GK is the only segment that delivers bang for its buck, largely due to Sampath’s conviction and effective delivery. Otherwise, Vishwak Sen’s awkwardness in bringing meaning to a confused character is palpable. As the comedy runs out of fuel—which happens quite early—he looks largely clueless, barring that brief stretch in the second half.
Kayadu Lohar is denied anything substantial, reduced to a character with the soul of a fashion parade. Easwari Rao, despite a brief role, excels with her comic timing and brings reasonable emotional depth to her performance. Naresh is in crackling form, though his talents are underutilised. Jai Krishna, Pammi Sai, and Muralidhar Goud fail to register a strong impact.
The film offers no respite with Bheems Ceciroleo’s music; the flavourless songs are shabbily dropped in, appearing as temporary distractions from the emptiness of the plot. The background score is equally clumsy. The narrative is far from cohesive; most scenes lack continuity and appear to have been randomly strung together. Needless to say, every problem in the film boils down to bland, lazy writing.
It is high time Anudeep stopped placing the same bunch of goofy characters in different situations across all his films and made a genuine effort to deliver something fresh. While his previous release Prince (which misfired at the box office) was a fairly watchable fare, Funky is his weakest work to date. It is simply too laidback to even try.
Published – February 13, 2026 04:14 pm IST
