Tuck Jagadish Movie Review: Nani Has Swag, the Film Is a Drag! (LatestLY Exclusive)

Tuck Jagadish Movie Review: 'Natural Star' Nani plays the main star in Tuck Jagadish, the new Telugu film that has arrived on Amazon Prime Video. Written and directed by Shiva Nirvana, Tuck Jagadish also stars Ritu Varma, Aishwarya Rajesh, Nassar, Jagapathi Babu, Daniel Balaji, Maala Parvathi, Rohini, Thiruveer, Rao Ramesh among others. Tuck Jagadish: Nani Issues Statement on His Film's Release Strategy, Leaves Decision to Producers.

Nani is Jagadish Naidu aka 'Tuck' Jagadish, so named because he always keeps his shirt tucked in. It might be incredulous to think that such a normal trait deserves such a silly nickname. At least Jagadish should consider himself lucky that his villagers didn't have nicknames for what could be clearly misconstrued as his pomposity. In fact, I am rather surprised he is not called Rayban Jagadish, the way he is also obsessed with his shades.

Perhaps the fact that our hero belongs to a rich, well-respected family may have lot to do with it. And that he is set up as this do-gooder who puts others first before himself.

Both the traits, along with his polished sense of dressing, are well-established in his intro scene, where he buys an injured fighter cock (no pun intended please) for 10k! As to what happened to that bird later, I have no clue, for I am sure it's life story would have had more meat than what we get with Jagadish and his family.

Anyway, Jagadish is the apple of the eye of his extended family, led by the revered Aadisesh Naidu (Nassar). He and his elder brother Bose (Jagapathi Babu) are the kids from Aadisesh's deceased first wife, but Jagadish dotes on his stepmother Anjanamma (Parvathi) and his stepsiblings. His father is at loggerheads with the devious Veerendra (Daniel Balaji), and soon, in a Thevar Magan-meets-Srimanthudu kinda plot twist, Jagadish finds himself in the front trying to solve his family crises, as well as save his village from the tentacles of the enemy, by doing what he always aimed to be - a sarkari babu!

Watch the Trailer:

Tuck Jagadish allows Nani to do what no hero in Telugu cinema has never done before.

Okay, sorry, I am kidding. The truth is, Tuck Jagadish allows Nani to do what every mainstream hero in a masala movie has ever done before. So let's make a checklist and see if he ticks all the boxes.

- Have A Sense of Style That Makes You Stand Out From the Rest - Check

- Have Two Girls - in this case, his step-niece Chandra (Aishwarya Rajesh) and the village VRO Gummadi Varalakshmi (Ritu Varma) -fawn over him, but he gets to make the call - Check

- Always Arrive in Swag Conveniently Before Any Moment of Crisis - Check

- Finds himself seeing his family break down, and then do the proverbial good-son sacrificial act to get them together - Check

- Be the Fighter for Farmers - Check

- Get Long Standing Feuds Solves Easily With Monologues - Check

- Have no impossible real-life hurdles that usually affects a government employee in India - Check

- Gets to make some rousing statements on women protections - Check

- And Of Course, Have a Couple of Fight Sequences With Absolutely No Stakes - Check.

So if you have to see a usual family entertainer,/mass entertainer with Nani in the lead, then Tuck Jagadish is totally for you. But for an actor who is known to do things differently from his peers, be it Eega or Jersey or even V (which I quite enjoyed especially for his performance), I found Tuck Jagadish quite a disappointment. It isn't a movie that challenges the actor in anyway, just making him go through the motions in a narrative that is reminiscent of yesteryear family dramas that we have seen, and seen and seen and seen. OTT Releases of The Week: Mohit Raina’s Mumbai Diaries on Amazon Prime Video, Tom Ellis’ Lucifer Season 6 on Netflix, Surbhi Jyoti’s Kya Meri Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai? On ZEE5 and More.

Even staler is the regressive way Tuck Jagadish treats its ladies. Both of them need to depend on their self-styled hero out of their sticky situations, be it in an abusive marriage or dealing with a perverse goon. Jagadish might be protective of the women in his family, but I wish he would have encouraged them to be empowered enough to walk out of unhealthy unions. Considering the ladies who are donning those roles and whose talents we are in respect of, it is surprising to see Aishwarya and Ritu take such characters that gives them no scope to have a voice of their own. Aishwarya Rajesh was so strong in Kanaa and Ka Pae Ranasingam, while Ritu Varma made an terrific impression with Pelli Choopulu. All the above being strong women empowerment movies, and now we have to see them in this. There is a twist around Jagapathi Babu's character who is revealed to be a bad guy at the end of first act. I don't know revealing so is a spoiler in any way, for Jagapathi Babu in any role is bound to turn negative. Daniel Balaji and Thiruveer play antagonists with absolutely no nuance.

Yay!

- Purely for Nani Fans

Nay!

- Stale Usual Run-of-the-Mill Storyline

Final Thoughts

Tuck Jagadish's innovativeness is confined only to its name, while the rest of the elements are the usual run-of-the-mill material, that could mostly appeal to Nani's very die-hard fans. Tuck Jagadish is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 10, 2021 12:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).