Narayana & Co Movie Review: The Devi Prasad, Amani, Sudhakar Komakula starrer has decent comedy but falters elsewhere

2.5/5

Story

Narayana(Devi Prasad) is a middle-aged man whose silly mistake leaves his office in losses. To save his job, Narayana has to repay a chunk of the money back right away. Left with no choice, he decides to become part of an illegal deal and earn quick bucks to repay the loan. He teams up with his wife(Amanai), and sons Anand and Subhash, who are losers in their own right and embarks on a crime journey to earn big money. Will the family accomplish their goal and get out of their problems? That forms the rest of the story.

Review

Narayana & Co is a crime comedy that has an interesting backdrop. A simple middle-class family trying hard to cash in on an illegal deal and make big money out of it lands in big issues. This aspect has been showcased in a great manner and the manner in which the crime angle is brought into the family drama is also impressive.

The film is mainly about a crime comedy and the troubles the family faces. This required solid performances and Narayana & Co has some impressive acts. Devi Prasad, the director turned actor gets a meaty role and he does well as the one who is scared to death but still wants to come out of his problems by hook or crook. The way he has been showcased throughout the film is quite good to see.

Amani, the veteran actress plays his wife and she too was impressive in her act. Her banter with her husband Devi Prasad is quite good in the film. Sudhakar Komakula is also neat in his role and looks young as ever even after being for so long in the industry. Having such great performances where does the film falter in the first place? The entire first half is taken to establish the main plot and showcase each character's entry and the issues they go through.

There are a few comedy gigs that also catch your attention in the first half. But story-wise, there is nothing special that is showcased in terms of story twists. The narration is flat for the most part. Things end on a high at the interval point and one would be waiting to see how the director would handle this crime comedy from here on when the actual action would begin. But the director deviates from the actual plot and adds so many boring scenes that bring a restless atmosphere to the auditorium.

After a point, the fun created through memes and other aspects bore the audience big time and scenes look over the top. Dr. Josyabhatala Sharma, Naga Vamshi, and Suresh Bobbili compose the music and none of their songs make any sense. In fact, they create a big hindrance to the plot. The camerawork is neat and so are the production values. The entire crime setup is just about okay and a few logic goes for a toss in the second half.

The dialogues and tongue-in-cheek humor has been written quite well. The banter between Devi Prasad and Amani works well in a few scenes. The editing is disappointing as two songs and one subplot should have been trimmed to make the proceedings light. But that does not happen and there is no grip in the proceedings as they lack seriousness as the makers' only aim is to elevate fun but that does not happen as the key aspect of drama goes missing in key areas.

Verdict

On the whole, Narayana & Co has some really fun moments in the first half. The film falters in the latter part when things needed to be serious. The lack of gripping thrills and seriousness in the narration brings this film down by the end of the second half. Watch it only if you like loud crime comedies.