What happens when a middle-class family suddenly wins the lottery for a whopping Rs 100 crore? And what happens if this once-in-a-million dream turns into a terrifying nightmare for the family? This is exactly what Telugu director Trivikram Srinivas has explored in his film Aadarsha Kutumbam – House No. 47, starring Venkatesh, Srinidhi Shetty and Nivetha Pethuraj.
The filmmaker has delivered numerous blockbusters in his career, but his last outing in 2024 with Mahesh Babu, Guntur Kaaram, failed to make a big impact at the box office. Trivikram pairs up now with Venkatesh after two decades for a crime drama sprinkled with comedy in the form of situations, characters and dialogues. Known for his screenplays revolving around family dynamics, relationships, witty exchanges and sharp dialogues, Trivikram attempts to bring his familiar storytelling template into a crime-driven narrative. The question, however, is whether this combination works and whether he manages to offer something new in a story that has a fairly familiar premise.
We meet Chittibabu (Venkatesh), a working middle-class man who is struggling to pay the rent while his wife Swarna (Srinidhi Shetty) is inefficiently running a home business that lands them in big debt. His teenage daughter is busy romancing a young man whom her parents don’t approve of, and added to this, he discovers that his son needs urgent surgery for a hole in the heart.
As he is struggling to keep his family together, Chittibabu also gets fired from his job, and when he thinks things are spiralling out of control, their lives change overnight due to a sudden revelation – he has won the lottery for an astounding Rs 100 crore! Overnight, they become millionaires and their newfound wealth pushes them to lead a lavish lifestyle, which attracts all sorts of people, including a notorious North Indian criminal gang. What follows is a mix of family drama, comedy and action, as the family tries to escape the clutches of these criminals. How does Chittibabu end up saving and protecting the family?
The first half is relatively light, lively and fun and progresses briskly as it takes us through the family’s woes and how they end up becoming famous lottery winners. There is a certain charm to watching their fortunes change overnight, and the humour works in several portions, particularly between Venkatesh and Srinidhi. It’s when we get to the second half – with the involvement of the criminal gang – that the screenplay and the film start to struggle as predictability sets in.
The story that Trivikram presents us is very 90s and offers no novelty in its presentation. The filmmaker has tried to introduce some new ideas, like gender role reversal by making Chittibabu, who calls himself the ‘man of the household’, cook and clean, or Swarna be a happy-go-lucky wife sitting idle at home – these are more to just elicit laughs rather than serve any meaningful purpose in the narrative. While an older template can be revisited, its presentation and unpredictability are paramount to make it engaging for the audience. And in this instance, the writing clearly misses it.
The crime angle feels dated, the twists are easy to anticipate, and the proceedings lack the tension required to keep audiences invested. This is really a let-down from Trivikram, who is known for his highly engaging family dramas and witty writing.
Venkatesh is comfortable playing the middle-class family man and has aced such roles in previous films. In Aadarsha Kutumbam too, he is in his element, adding his effortless charm to Chittibabu’s character. Kannada actor Srinidhi Shetty shines in this film as the slightly scatter-brained wife and provides adequate comic relief.
Characters like Sathya and Ramesh Rao have again been added to provide the comic factor but they don’t really add much value to the narrative other than eliciting a few laughs. Technically, the film is competent. Ravi K Chandran’s cinematography gives the proceedings a polished look, but S Thaman’s songs in this film are largely forgettable.
There was a lot expected from the Venkatesh-Trivikram Srinivas combination after two decades, but unfortunately Aadarsha Kutumbam is just a run-of-the-mill family entertainer with a few laughs and sans surprises or novelty.
