This is a debut film as a director for Vishwak Sen, who was one of the actors in Ee Nagaraniki Emaindhi. He made a right choice by picking Angamaly Diaries, a hit Malayalam movie to remake in Telugu with umpteen new faces, much like the Malayalam movie.

For that native flavour, Vishwak Sen used the local Telangana dialect to advantage, has made additions and deletions to the original story, and yet retained the soul of the story. The end product is an uncomplicated script that goes to make an engaging story. The film benefits with an undercurrent of dark humour and also by the women who flit into Das’ life. In the original story, food plays a great character, with pigs being slaughtered and the entire pork and beef business in the limelight. In Faluknuma Das he tones that down and focusses more on the human drama.

This is a story of youngsters with big dreams, who as school kids idolise a certain Shankar Bhai who heads a local gang and treats them to an occasional dosa from Ram Ki Bandi and mutton chops, all for free. There is a Barkas gang, Falaknuma gang and some more. Das grows up as Falaknuma Das having formed his gang very early in life.

Das belongs to a modest background. He wants to get his sister married and move to Germany with his girlfriend. The conflict begins when his fetish for getting into brawls lands him into serious trouble.

When Shankar Bhai is killed, they are distraught but they have Shankar’s Man Friday Pandu who becomes their guide. The hot headed young gang and the other groups are mostly seen in bars, getting into brawls and violent fights, which often on to the streets. One day, Falaknuma Das (Vishwak Sen) and his gang chase a rival group into the forest and Das hurls a bomb onto one man and he is killed. Das is framed in a murder case and the rest of the story is about how he gets out of the situation and about the future of these groups.

This is not a very violent film, it is more about petty politics in business, it highlights the activities of the youth and thugs whose lives are real. Das and his buddies are charming with their witty exchanges in the local dialect, which for some reason, becomes inconsistent towards the end.

The group’s swagger, grit and a good mix of action sequences, set to some conventional and sometimes zany music, makes for an interesting watch. The film throws up some phenomenal fresh talent who all look comfortable in their shoes. Tarun Bhasckar who makes his acting debut, lends an interesting dimension to his cop role. He’s absolutely brilliant and leaves us asking for more. Uttej makes a strong impact and makes us wonder why such talent isn’t being used more.

While music and the background score are in tandem with the fights and storyline, the sound of the trumpet is copied from the original. The songs doesn’t impress. The film comes alive as a decent story, an engaging watch primarily due to cinematographer Vidya Sagar. Be it the Vikarabad forest, Mekala Mandi, Dhoolpet, Shalibanda, City College or the pain and violence in confined places, Vidya Sagar captures and delivers it in an imposing manner. Falaknuma Das, for the most part, keeps you on your toes and makes us want to see where its twists and turns lead.