Naanga Romba Busy is a straight to television film starring Prasanna, Ashwin Kakamanu and Yogi Babu amidst several others in the lead and is a remake of the Kannada flick Mayabazar 2016, suited to the sensibilities of the audiences here.
The plot is fairly simple – three guys, a police officer (Prasanna as Kumaravel), a young man in love (Ashwin as Karthik) and a crook (Yogi as Kuberan) – all in need of money and how they go about it during the time of demonetisation.
Initially, lady luck seems to shine on them a la Thaana Serndha Kootam style, however, soon enough, the Assistant Commissioner of Police nonetheless, Ravichandran (Shaam) catches up with them. What happens to the trio and do they escape the clutches of the ACP forms the rest of the story.
First things first, the comedy is for the most part, neat, save for some toilet humour and makes you smile and laugh at times, and at other times, really guffaw loud. The screenplay is built in such a manner that the story is engaging except for a few lags here and there.
Prasanna’s track with wife Sangeetha (Shruti Marathe in a spirited performance) is melodramatic but at the same time, helps him deliver his brilliant acting chops. Ashwin puts up a matured performance and so is Yogi Babu. Thankfully, jokes regarding his physical appearance is to a minimum here. Rittika Sen as Meera, Karthik’s love interest may not have much to do but helps with moving the story ahead.
The surprise package is definitely Shaam, who makes a mark with his good cop bad cop routine. VTV Ganesh brings the house down with his antics, even if it is at the expense of the stereotype of politicians we see in the movies. Power Star Srinivasan is adequate and fits in the scheme of things.
There aren’t many songs in the movie and even the one or two, we get to see, could have been done away with. Other technical departments like editing and cinematography have done their job well.
All in all, despite its flaws, Naanga Romba Busy is an engaging ride, makes up for a decent family entertainer and offers respite during this corona time.