Anaganaga Oka Raju… but big budget

I don’t know if I remember any stories or Chandamama Kathalu that parents or grandparents narrated. However, I know enough from pop culture that each story more or less starts with “Anaganaga oka raju…”. The English equivalent of “Once upon a time, there lived a king”. After watching the 2026 Telugu movie Anaganaga Oka Raju, starring Naveen Polishetty and Meenakshi Chaudhary, I was reminded of those simple stories with a moral at the end.

Did I like this simple story? Yes!

Is it predictable? Yes!

Did I like the movie? Also, yes, but… it has its hits and misses. Let’s delve.

The Hits

The movie opens with a silly but predictable scene in which a TV anchor interviews the protagonist, Raju (Naveen Polishetty). Towards the end of the movie, it does feel like it wasn’t just a gimmick. It was placed there with some thought. Multiple comedy setups had a payoff or a flip.

Take the selfish ‘Fake-saving’ a dog, which transforms into helping people wholeheartedly. Another scene involves Raju piggybacking on his househelp to get to the temple, but when he puts his ‘heart’ into it, he does it himself. Raju is never shown as a bad person. He is who he is — lazy, arrogant, and vain, but never evil.

Meenakshi plays Charulatha, and her character seems like a dumber version of Ha Ha Hasini from Bommarillu with the same energy, and I’m not complaining. The romance between the leads (though sketchy) worked greatly even on a repeat watch. Surprisingly, this energy seems to be missing in the second half, which left me feeling underwhelmed.

Naveen brings the energy akin to the AIB days to the performance, which worked well for me. His supporting cast and their gags work well, too. Some punches demanded a chuckle for their wits, and some had me laugh out loud!

The child artist who plays Bulli Raju from Sankranthiki Vasthunnam (Sai Subhash) has an extended cameo and does clean comedy, which is a plus. Another surprise cameo from Naveen’s earlier outing also worked greatly for me.

The misses

The movie definitely suffers from the “small-story-big-budget” problem. The movie would have been better without the so-called “commercial” elements, and personally, I’d have liked it more if it resided in the Chandamama Kathalu space — simple, entertaining yet effective storytelling. When put in the same basket as Pilla Zamindar (2011), this movie pales in comparison. A “Pilla Zamindar 480p but on big budget”, if you will.

The energy drop in the second half of the film is extremely palpable. The scenes that need to evoke emotional highs fall flat, mainly due to sudden changes of heart and rather poor acting from the extras. Predictability seeps in the second half. While I was watching the movie with a friend (second time for me), he was able to predict the entire story as the movie progressed.

The movie is in a rush to tell its story that it loses grip. Resolutions are simple, logic leaves the room, and even the comedy playing peek-a-boo isn’t enough to save the second half.

A side note — Raju’s parents (I think) are introduced in a 1-minute scene and then go missing for the rest of the movie. Did I miss something?

The conclusion

Naveen brings his A-game —co-writes, acts, dances, sings, and fights — to this project! He even imitates some A-list stars of Tollywood with ease. While Naveen Polishetty keeps his average up like a batsman who’s not out in a losing cricket match, it’s not enough for the movie to join the leagues of comedy-entertainers-with-a-message like Pilla Zamindar. If you are looking for a non-cringe, “family movie” (movie you can watch with your family) with decent comedy (seems like a low bar), this movie might just be that for you.