Story
There is an island village called Bedurulanka in 2012, Bhushanam (Ajay Ghosh) gets an idea after looking at a conspiracy theory on TV channels that the world is going to end in 2012. He takes the help of a Hindu priest (Srikanth Iyengar) and a Christian preacher (Auto Ram Prasad). They propagate to the followers that the village is ending and they have a solution for stopping it. Shiva (Kartikeya) who resigned his job in Hyderabad returns to his hometown Bedurulanka. As everyone else believes in the words of the priest and father, he wants to expose them. Rest of the story is about how he did it.

Artists Performance

Rajinikanth: Kartikeya who has established himself as a mass hero with RX100 has accepted this content-driven film. He is good as a man with an attitude and logic. Neha Sshetty looks good as a village belle. Ajay Ghosh is impressive as a man who runs the whole story. He refers to himself as Bedurulanka Chiranjeevi and his characterization is good. Ramana Goparau is excellent as the village head who gets easily misled when somebody praises him. Rajkumar Kasireddy has stole the show with a character that has variations. Srikanth Iyengar is very good as Hindu priest. Auto Ram Prasad provides some entertainment as a church father. Satya does a cameo and there is good response for his entry in the theater. Vennela Kishore did the role of an aspiring actor and he is entertaining. LB Sriram is good in a meaningful role.

Story - screenplay - direction: The basic story point is novel. It’s about how a group of people made the entire village believe with a hoax. The film is entirely shot on an island (not a single shot in a studio). The backdrop is fresh. Most of the characters in the film are innocent and one character (Ajay Ghosh) is cunning. Humour works in parts. The entire story revolves around one man’s foul play. It runs on a single thread with no sub-plots. It revolves around 5-6 main characters. The writer couldn’t create enough drama that engages for more than 2 hours. Hence, we see a lot of portions in the film to be repetitive. However, the last 30 minutes of the film has interesting moments. The main aspect of the film where it says one has to live without any masks/filters is exploited well through the character of Rajkumar. Direction of the film is partly okay. Screenplay should be more effective. The concept of recreating earthquakes reminds us of Ocean’s Thirteen.

Other departments: Background music by Mani Sharma is good. However, songs are not effective (except for vennello aadapilla). Cinematography by Sai Prakash Ummadisingu and Sunny Kurapati is decent. Dialogues are good. Editing by Viplav Nyshadam is okay. Production values by Loukya Entertainments are decent.

Analysis: Bedurulanka 2012 is a mixed bag. It has a novel story idea, a world of a Godavari island is created and has some quirky moments. At the same time, the story should have been written more gripping with some interesting sub-plots. Movie works in parts, but should have been more engaging. On the whole, Bedurulanka 2012 is a commendable effort that works partly.