‘DNK’ movie review: Mouli’s crime comedy is funny but chaotic

A relatively foolproof formula for making underdog stories work is to cast emerging faces as the leads. The connection is instant, and the audience tends to root for them. YouTuber-turned-actor Mouli Tanuj Prashanth made the most of that advantage with his feature debut, Little Hearts, a year ago.

When the same actor tries to punch above his weight, outsmarting his kith and kin at every turn in his sophomore outing, DNK (Donga Naa Koduku), a crime comedy, it can leave viewers with mixed feelings. DNK, marking Sreenu Kambala’s Telugu directorial debut, is desperate to impress.

The low-stakes crime caper is a hotchpotch of several Telugu hits over the years, tailored specifically for an Instagram Reels/YouTube Shorts-consuming audience. So much so that there is barely any breathing space between its dialogues or plot turns.

The pitch is high, silence is rare, and every second sequence feels like the director’s attempt to prove himself a cinephile. Every opportunity for humour is squeezed to the limit with punchy one-liners and witty retorts, to the point where I wished the film would go easy on itself.

It is frequently caught in a conundrum: placing foolish, money-hungry characters in one crisis after another while trying to convince us of the shrewdness of its good-for-nothing protagonist, Eshwar (Mouli). He is a laughing stock at home and an opportunistic lover, yet somehow manages to be street-smart when cornered.

Neck-deep in debt from cricket betting and hounded by microfinance apps, Eshwar even pawns his girlfriend Deepa’s (Sushmitha Shetty) jewellery under a flimsy pretext. Things spiral further when he and his friend plot to rob the very jewellery store where his father, Narayana (Ali), works.

The heist sees him narrowly dodge the cops, stumble drunkenly into a speeding car, and land himself a bag full of gold. One complication tumbles into another, yet Eshwar wriggles out of trouble with remarkable ease. One of the robbers is named Manchithanam; the jewellery store owner is Gundu Boss, and while the cop is called Sarvanash.

When Eshwar tries to hang himself at home, his father is worried about the fan collapsing, while his mother frets over the loan they would have to repay later. His soon-to-be mother-in-law has a weakness for money, fancy clothes, ornaments and a highbrow lifestyle, an archetype straight out of an Anil Ravipudi film.

A twist towards the intermission steers the film in a new direction, though it ultimately inflicts more damage on the narrative. DNK goes overboard connecting the dots, recontextualising past events in the garb of twists, a few too many to handle.

It keeps introducing new characters into the mix, assigning each of them a motive. The dots become increasingly hard to connect, inviting needless chaos. The subplot involving a stalker chasing Eshwar and his friend feels unnecessary and is in poor taste.

Even at a condolence meeting for a pivotal character, multiple partners turn up at once, each claiming to be his wife. As much as the film strives to be funny at every given opportunity, and nothing is meant to be taken too seriously, its excessive quirks and cacophony limit its appeal.

The creative liberties go out of bounds as the film keeps switching between irreverence and cerebral plot turns. What it needed was someone to rein in those impulses. Mouli proves that he has it in him to shoulder a film essaying a goofball character, though DNK is desperate to make a hero out of him.

His vulnerabilities take a backseat after a point as he goes on an outsmarting spree. Babloo gives him formidable company throughout. Ali, Rajitha and Priya also get substantial, full-length roles, though Raghu Babu shines brighter.

Sushmitha Shetty is confined to being a conventional object of glamour, with little scope to make a strong impression. The ensemble cast is packed with talents such as Bhadram, Ramana Bhargava, Nanda Gopal and others, though it gets exhausting by the time their roles are fleshed out.

Sinjith Yerramilli’s music is among the film’s strengths, even if it gets gimmicky and flashy at times. DNK suffers from a problem of excess. There are funny moments in both halves, proving that both Mouli and director Sreenu Kambala have a funny bone.

But they overcomplicate a simple plot and it gets tiresome.