Vijay Deverakonda and Mrunal Thakur coming together for a romantic comedy directed by Parasuram Petla had our hopes up, but what The Family Star does is only test your patience through its 150-minute runtime. For one, it has none of the chutzpah of Deverakonda and Parasuram’s 2018 box-office success, Geetha Govindam.

In The Family Star, Deverakonda plays Govardhan Rao, an architect who is responsible for running his family despite being the youngest of three siblings. From buying groceries to paying the school fees for his nephews and nieces, and even arranging a bank loan for his brother’s business venture, Govardhan is the Man Friday in this middle-class household. He leads a life of discipline and austerity until a new tenant Indu (Mrunal Thakur) rents their penthouse.

Govardhan is smitten by Indu at first sight but, intimidated by her lavish lifestyle, hesitates to express how he feels about her. As Indu’s ties with his family members grow stronger over time, Govardhan finally decides to pop the question, only to discover he was merely a subject for her thesis on a middle-class family.

As this love story hits a roadblock, the scene shifts to the US where Govardhan ends up working under Indu. Don’t ask how; there’s no logic. From thereon it’s the old-age track of a jilted lover burying the hatchet and uniting with the loved one.

While the premise had the promise of an engaging drama, the film is an incoherent mishmash of events, conflict points and sequences that mostly feel absurd. Govardhan’s beef with his eldest brother, for example. The subplot takes you away from the core theme without serving any narrative function. And don’t even get us started on how Govardhan lands his high-paying job in the US, or why he disrupts a wedding at a powerful minister’s house in the climax.

The Family Star is also tone-deaf in all respects. Govardhan, of course, is the epitome of the alpha male. He not only provides for the whole family but also teaches his sisters-in-law how to make a dosa. Talk about mansplaining masquerading as wokeism. There’s a whole subplot where Govardhan beats a man black and blue when he makes advances towards one of his sisters-in-law. And when spurned in love, he wishes for Indu to be married off to a disabled man!

What heightens the film’s shortcomings is its sluggish action sequences and misplaced songs. Though Deverakonda and Mrunal play their parts well, it all goes to waste because of the lack of emotional depth in their characters. Deverakonda particularly shines in the comic scenes with Rohini Hattangadi, who plays Govardhan’s grandmother.