Towards the final portions of the Telugu film Om Bheem Bush, starring the fun troika Sree Vishnu, Priyadarshi Pulikonda and Rahul Ramakrishna, the writer-director Sree Harsha Konuganti cleverly pulls the rug from under the audience’s feet. Until that point, the narrative has all the trappings of an absurd horror comedy and plays to the gallery, packing in ample contemporary pop culture references. In the initial hour, the comedy is mostly banal and later gets outrageously hilarious and spooky. The surprise element comes in when the director reveals an LGBTQ-friendly story. That, in itself, deserves appreciation though the journey towards the sensitive tale is far from perfect and could have cut some flab.
The last time Sree Vishnu, Priyadarshi and Rahul were seen together was in director Vivek Athreya’s 2019 Telugu black comedy Brochevarevarura. As the R3 batch, the three portrayed students struggling to clear Intermediate exams. In spirit, Harsha acknowledges the recall value of the gang and shows them as older PhD students in this story, referred to as Bang Bros. They are far more silly and farcical here.
