Mr. Work From Home, produced by Lotus Creative Works, was released in theatres today. In this section, we are going to review the latest BO release.
Plot:
Aravind (Trigun), a successful US-based software engineer, leaves behind his comfortable American life to return home, driven by a mission to make a difference on his native soil. Alarmed by how chemical fertilizers are destroying land fertility and endangering human lives, he pivots to organic farming. Merging his tech roots with agriculture, he develops an innovative app, 'Mr. Work From Home', to empower local farmers. However, his vision takes a personal toll when his girlfriend, Mahi (Payal Radhakrishna), walks away, dismissing his passion as a lack of a real job.
Post-Mortem:
Everything about this film comes across as a scam, right from the title. If you are wondering why the agritech app is named 'Mr. Work From Home', you have to listen to Aravind's logic. As per him, the concept of working from home was invented by our great ancestors who regarded the farm field as, well, their home. So, all farmers have always been "working from home". If you find the reasoning funny, the film is anything but - it is actually disgusting.
The film's main focus is not smart farming or the plight of farmers. It's not the tension in the Aravind-Mahi relationship either. It's body-shaming and low-brow humour. Harsha Chemudu is called 'Elugu Banti', 'Panda', and 'Pandi' just in the first hour. Gundu Sudarshan is called, well, 'Gundu' and 'Potti' (the writer-director Madhudeep Chelikaani spent all his brain cells on Harsha; he was left with none for Sudarshan). Thankfully, Nellore Sudharshan's looks are spared. Probably, they had a second part in mind and therefore spared him in the first part. Someone gets called 'Ambothu naa koduku'. More than MS Swaminathan or some other agri scientist, the film invokes Shakila and Johnny Sins with earnestness.
The characters crack unfunny jokes, break into a guffaw, and then crack worse jokes, only to break into awkward guffaws. Suddenly, the male lead remembers that Bhoodevi (Goddess Earth) is weeping because the Planet is dying. He rushes to lecture Prof. Balaram Chakravarthy (Shivaji Raja looks like he just walked out of a bar rather than a university) on how millets nourish our bodies.
It's very likely that the film was commissioned just after the Covid-19 pandemic. Venu Yeldandi has a bit role (he stopped playing small roles years ago). Saptagiri doesn't look tired (surprise!). Anish Kuruvilla and Satya Krishnan, who play the male lead's parents, are in a singular mode.
The film's interest in farmers doesn't go beyond the male lead talking about farmers. Their inner lives are not explored. Rather, their open defecation habit is made fun of. Had Tollywood not made a film like Maharshi, Mr. Work From Home might have been a relationship drama. Because its premise has that potential. Mahi is not the ideal cinema character. She is unapologetic about wanting to marry a well-off provider. The character of her future husband comes second in her calculus. This was potent material to build a nice romantic tension between Mahi and Aravind.
The film suffers from exceptionally mediocre performances. Arun Chiluveru's background score is unnecessarily playful in some scenes.
Closing Remarks:
The film wastes a potentially engaging premise about agritech and relationship conflict by relying on outdated body-shaming humor and shallow character development.
