Movie: Funky
Rating: 1.5/5
Banner: Sithara Entertainments
Cast: Vishwaksen, Kayadu Lohar, VK Naresh, VTV Ganesh, Sampath, Eeswari Rao, and others
Music: Bheems Ceciroleo
DOP: Suresh Sarangam
Editor: Naveen Nooli
Art: Jonny Shaik
Producers: Naga Vamsi S - Sai Soujanya
Story, screenplay and Directed by: Anudeep KV
Release Date: Feb 13, 2026
Anudeep shot to fame with the blockbuster "Jathi Ratnalu". However, his follow-up film "Prince" failed at the box office. Now, he is aiming for a strong comeback with this new fun entertainer starring Vishwaksen.
Let’s see whether he has returned to form.
Story:
Komal (Vishwaksen) is an aspiring director whose film runs into trouble after he overshoots the budget, forcing the producer (VK Naresh) to halt the shoot midway.
Determined to prove himself, Komal impresses the producer’s daughter, Chitra (Kayadu Lohar), and boldly promises to complete the remaining portion of the film within a tight budget of Rs 1 crore.
The rest of the story follows how he pulls off this challenge while also winning her heart.
Artistes’ Performances
Vishwaksen plays the role in his usual style. Thankfully, he avoids unnecessary mass elevations or forced action sequences and keeps his performance grounded. While his sincerity shows, there is a visible mismatch between his screen persona and the director’s quirky writing, which affects the overall impact.
Kayadu Lohar looks beautiful and adds brightness to the screen. However, her character lacks depth and meaningful development, limiting her scope beyond visual appeal.
Sampath Raj’s role starts off on a promising note but gradually loses steam. VK Naresh is adequate in his part, while Eeswari Rao delivers a neat performance as the mother.
Muralidhar Goud is largely underutilized. Dil Raju’s cameo works to an extent, but the other special appearances fail to create any real impact.
Technical Excellence
Technically, the film is mounted decently. The cinematography and production design suit the tone of the film. However, the editing feels patchy, affecting the narrative flow.
The music is largely unimpressive and does little to elevate the proceedings.
Highlights:
Couple of single liners
Kayadu Lohar’s screen presence
Drawback:
Hollow writing
Bad editing
No scene-to-scene connection
Aimless narrative
Analysis
The title Funky vaguely suggests fun or quirkiness, but much like its meaning, the film itself feels hollow. Director Anudeep, who struck gold with the hilarious “Jathi Ratnalu”, failed to recreate that magic with Sivakarthikeyan’s “Prince.” With this latest outing, he goes further downhill, delivering a more toned-down and emptier version of his trademark comedy.
The film starts on a mildly promising note. A few witty one-liners land well and set an enjoyable tone. However, the problem begins when the entire narrative continues in the exact same rhythm. Audiences are patient for the first 15–20 minutes, even if the director takes time to establish the story through scattered punchlines. But when the same pattern repeats for over two hours without a strong conflict, engaging story progression, or memorable comedy blocks, boredom inevitably sets in.
At its core, the story is wafer-thin; a struggling director tries to impress a producer’s daughter while completing his film. On this single-line premise, Anudeep stretches a two-plus-hour runtime using repetitive jokes and random gags. The humor works intermittently, but it rarely feels organic.
The interval block — featuring an abrupt car blast — feels more like a desperate attempt to manufacture drama than a natural progression of the story. It gives the impression that the director himself is unsure how to move the narrative forward.
Kayadu Lohar looks stunning, and her early chemistry with Vishwaksen shows brief sparks. Unfortunately, the relationship track isn’t developed meaningfully. The film also appears confused about its identity; unsure whether it wants to be a satire on filmmaking trends, a love story, or a string of Jabardasth-style punchlines stitched together.
Cameos from names such as Naga Vamsi and Harish Shankar feel forced and random. Even Sampath Raj’s track turns repetitive after a point.
While “Jathi Ratnalu” worked for several reasons, including Anudeep’s fresh punchlines, it was also elevated by Naveen Polishetty, Rahul Ramakrishna, and Priyadarshi, who took the humor to another level with their impeccable comic timing.
Here, however, Anudeep repeats a similar style of punchlines, but without the same freshness or performances to lift them, they fail to land effectively.
Overall, “Funky” starts with mild promise but quickly turns into a repetitive, hollow comedy that overstays its welcome without a solid story or sustained laughs. It becomes quite boring midway and ends on even more boring manner. Much of the film is flat. Everything, right from the storyline to the screenplay and the dialogue, this 'Funky' looks like junky. There is no purpose to this story, and no one even knows what poetic justice the film makes towards the end.
Bottom-line: Junky
