Super Over (2021), the Telugu film by Praveen Varma released on Aha has an intriguing premise. It was about the huge sums of money and the crime network operating in illegal cricket betting in India. I guess it was inspired by the IPL betting scam that was uncovered a few years ago. The film starts well, unfortunately, the plot loses strength in the middle and we couldn’t wait for the whole thing to get over. Because of this, what should’ve got a ‘Ripe’ in our mangoidiots score gets only a ‘Raw’.
Naveen Chandra as Kaasi comes as a youngster with a huge family debt to take care of. He is joined by his friends Ajay and Chandini Chowdary in their quest to make big monies quick, and they chose to go gambling on a season of NPL (a fictitious cricket tournament) matches. Surprisingly, in their first run itself, they win over 1.7 Crores of Rupees. When they go to collect the cash, they keep getting into one trouble after another – did they succeed or fail?
The film spends a lot of time explaining the mechanics of the cricket betting racket, and how the hawala cash network operates, initially it was interesting but becomes boring beyond a point. While I don’t look for social science lessons from films, which is entertainment, I find it unhealthy to glorify illegal gambling and show it to be the (only) way to rise up in life – there has been news of too many people losing their savings and even their life due to betting.
Super Over by (Late) Praveen Varma
The credit roll shocks us with the news of the death of the Director Mr Praveen Varma. Googling I learned that the young director had passed away in a road accident before the release of the film. R.I.P.
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