‘Bhaag Saale’ movie review: This Sri Simha Koduri outing tries hard to be a quirky dark comedy

Stories that try to be quirky dark comedies and are woven around oddball characters are not easy to pull off. The Telugu dark comedy Bhaag Saale, written and directed by Praneeth Bramandapally, rides on an interesting premise of a diamond ring of historical value changing hands between a motley bunch of characters that range from a don who wants it to win over his lady love to a poor chef who wants to bail out his girlfriend and her father from trouble. While the idea and the characters might seem promising, the writing isn’t sharp enough to make Bhaag Saale an edge-of-the-seat fun ride. Bhaag Saale Cast: Sri Simha Koduri, Neha Solanki, John Vijay Direction: Praneeth Bramandapally Music: Kaala Bhairava Storyline: A priceless historical diamond ring goes missing and a poor chef, who hopes to open his own restaurant some day, has to retrieve it. The premise and characters of Bhaag Saale have plenty of potential for a wacky crime comedy — a hero who rents luxury wheels to impress the affluent heroine, a father who orders the painter to work with as less paint as possible to give his house a new look, a Don who finances the films of the actress he loves but will not meet her until he has the diamond ring she wants, and copies of Bhagavad Gita sold by a child which become a plot point.