Gulaebaghavali (aka Gulebakavali) Movie Review: A Superficial, Yet Brilliant Entertainer

If you are on to an entertaining movie this Pongal, Gulaebaghavali is the one you should choose (after TSK, of course!).

We all know that Prabhudheva did a comeback via Devi as a youthful hero. The movie was well received. Following that, it is Gulaebaghavali.

The team has tried their hands on a full-fledged comedy and that part has worked our really well.

The plot of Gulaebaghavali carries signatures of Maragadha Naanayam for sure. But the spirit of Maragadha Naanayam is not seen in Gulebaghavali even though it tries best.

The movie has Prabhudeva, Hansika Motwani, Revathi, Yogi Babu, and Rajendran in the prominent roles. However, Hansika does not have much scope to strengthen the plot in any way.

She has got more of a glamour role and not much to display in terms of performance.

Prabhudeva is all bubbling, charming, youthful and full of energy as always. And we don’t have to comment on his dance moves.

His dialogue delivery is timely and adds perfectly to the comic sense of the movie.

Revathi’s role deserves a special mention. And she has done it perfectly! Her characterization is fresh and something not everyone would directly expect.

She adds a fresh air of totally different comedy to the movie. Works out neatly.

Her intro is given a lot of weight and the director deserves an appreciation for the same. Yogi Babu steals the show with his awesome timing – but his role could have been bit more allowed in the limelight.

Gulaebaghavali is basically a treasure hunt story. Decades ago a man hides precious diamonds in the premises of Gulaebaghavali temple.

And a couple of generations later, a person from the same family tries to take it up. Prabhudeva plays Badri who is the right hand of Mansoor Ali Khan. He assigns Badri, Viji (Hansika) and Munish the job of snatching this treasure.

Revathy is also after the treasure.

The rest of the story forms a cat and mouse game between everyone who is after the treasure.

The movie has dwelled majorly on comedy and romance and hence doesn’t dive deeply into the script. For some, this could be a full length entertainer – if you are someone who loves to go to the theatre just to laugh for 2.5 hours, go for it.

But if you expect to be impacted by a story and a script you will be disappointed as the story (as well as the screenplay itself) gets diluted and lost in between the scattered scenes.

We get laughs, we get entertained, but we are not provided with an in-depth story or its presentation that we can connect with.

But that’s OK. And Gulebakavali is something you can count on as a full-length entertainer.