Verdict: A middling marriage drama with its heart in the right place, rescued by Naresh's strong final stretch and a game Anupama Parameswaran, but weighed down by repetitive writing and comedy that rarely clicks.
Rating: 2.5/5
Director: Badrappa Gajula (debut) | Cast: Naresh, Anupama Parameswaran, Tharun Bhascker, Akhil Uddemari | Producer: Boosam Jagan Mohan Reddy, Arrow Cinemas | Music: Suresh Bobbili | Cinematography: Shyam Dupati | Runtime: 144 minutes | Released: October 16, 2026, in theatres
Crazy Kalyanam, a Dasara release moved up two weeks from its original October 30 date, puts Anupama Parameswaran at the centre of a story rather than beside a star, and pairs her with veteran Naresh as a father who cannot let go. The idea is sound. The film around it is less sure of itself.
The story
In Medak, Keerthi (Anupama) is preparing for government exams and wants to stand on her own feet. Her father Parvathalu (Naresh) has other plans: a wedding into a rich family, partly to win back the standing he lost over his elder daughter's match. Tharun Bhascker plays that elder son-in-law, Balraj, while Akhil Uddemari is Uday, Keerthi's childhood sweetheart. As the wedding preparations snowball, father and daughter head for a showdown. How it ends is worth seeing for yourself.
Performances
Naresh is the film's backbone. He makes Parvathalu's slow unravelling believable, and in the final half hour, including one long, unbroken take, he lifts the film well above its writing. A few of his emotional stretches in the middle do overstay, though. Anupama, best known to Malayalis as Mary from Premam, takes on a rural Telangana character and dialect for the first time and pulls it off convincingly; Keerthi is spirited without turning into a speech. Tharun Bhascker is fine in a limited part, but the romantic track with Akhil Uddemari never convinces, and most of the side characters stay sketches.
Direction and technical work
Badrappa Gajula, who came to features from making advertisements for the producers, picks a good core idea: the film refuses to treat marriage as the only goal in a woman's life. His inexperience shows in the narration. The first half entertains in a light way, then the film settles into a routine track, a few subplots are simply dropped, and the drinking and spoken-English comedy bits add nothing. The wedding episode runs far too long, and tighter editing would have helped across the board. Shyam Dupati's camera gives Medak an authentic look, and Suresh Bobbili's music is serviceable.
The scene that stays is the long, unbroken take in the final half hour. The camera simply holds on Naresh as Parvathalu's pride gives way, and with no cut to hide behind, the moment works because he lets the father's stubbornness crack slowly instead of all at once. It is the one place where the film's message about a daughter's choice lands as feeling rather than a lecture.
Anupama's Telugu journey
Since Premam, Anupama Parameswaran has quietly built one of the steadiest careers of any Malayali actor in Telugu, from A Aa and Karthikeya 2 to Tillu Square. Most of those films gave her a strong part beside a male star. Crazy Kalyanam is different: Keerthi is the story, and the film's central question, whether a daughter gets to choose her own future, rests on her. Taking on a rural Telangana dialect for the first time is a real stretch, and she handles it with ease. Even when the script lets her down, this is a role that shows how far she has come since Mary.
The film also marks a debut behind the camera, and that shows in both directions. Badrappa Gajula has a clear feel for small-town Medak households, their pride and their gossip, and the father-daughter scenes have an honesty that bigger Dasara releases often skip. What he has not yet learned is when to cut.
What works
- Naresh, especially in the climax
- Anupama's confident Telangana act and the father-daughter scenes
- A sensible message about a daughter's choices
What doesn't
- A familiar, repetitive screenplay
- Uneven comedy and a stretched wedding episode
- An unconvincing romance and thin side characters
Final word
Crazy Kalyanam is not crazy enough to stay gripping, but it is honest, and its last half hour belongs to Naresh. Watch it for him and for Anupama's first proper Telangana role, with patience for the middle.
Also read: Premam: cast, story and where Anupama began
