After a string of deafeningly loud action flicks and the high-concept really-really gritty Gaami, Vishwak Sen—the self-proclaimed "Mass Ka Das"—is making a sharp U-turn. He's teaming up with Anudeep KV, the filmmaker whose admitted "logical illiteracy" managed to transform Jathi Ratnalu into a sleeper hit, and Sen is shifting gears to go for some meta-comedy with his next big thing, Funky.
The trailer, which dropped to pretty decent social media buzz, suggests that this movie is just about to upend the whole notion of what a movie is - or at any rate, what a movie in Tollywood is supposed to be.
From Indie Outsider to Industry Mainstay
Sen's career path has never looked especially linear. He broke into the scene via the indie-leaning Vellipomakey and that sweet little ensemble piece Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi starring Tharun Bhascker. Unlike most of his peers who were all about lining up those industry connections, Sen built his brand on the grounds of being a bit of a loose cannon.
When he wrote and directed that raw, rough-around-the-edges Falaknuma Das, he won himself a dedicated fanbase that loved the rough energy of it all. However, as he tried to scale up with big-budget projects like Das Ka Dhamki and Gangs of Godavari, the response started to get a lot more mixed. Critics were complaining that there was a disconnect between the "content-first" vibe he'd started with and his all-out pursuit of stardom. And now it looks like with the lukewarm response to Laila, Funky is his genuine attempt to get back to being an actor who's actually willing to take some real creative risks.
Breaking Down the 'Funky' Puzzle
The trailer shows off a story that is playing on at least two levels. On the surface it's a standard comedy about a filmmaker down on his luck. But scratch down a bit, and it's actually a scathing critique of the state of modern Tollywood - all those familiar tropes and whatnot.
- Tearing Down the Industry: Sen is playing Komal, a director trying to get through the surreal world of film-making. The trailer specifically targets the absolutely absurd way Tollywood's production budgets are inflating - from ₹4 crore to ₹40 crore without so much as a script rewrite - and that all-out mania for "Pan-Indian" marketing.
- The Anudeep KV Factor: You can tell the guy's fingerprints are everywhere. The comedy is built on an awkward, deadpan kind of humor and over-the-top, just plain bizarre dialogue that somehow just works because it's trying so hard.
- The Supporting Cast: Alongside Sen is Kayadu Lohar as Chitra, an actress whose dad just happens to hold the purse strings to Komal's entire project. Where a lot of this sort of film would go for the usual high-stakes romance, Funky is instead all about the situational farce.
Trying to Make a Commercial Go of Absurdism
Releasing on Valentine's Day weekend (February 13, 2026), Funky is putting itself right in the middle of a market that's dominated by ₹500-crore blockbusters and hyper-violent dramas. By putting an absurdist comedy up as an alternative to all that other stuff, KVN Productions is putting its money on whether the "Mass Ka Das" brand can carry a film that really doesn't follow any of the standard hero-arc rules or body-count templates.
For Sen, getting Funky right would be a huge validation of his ability to change things up and would surely give him a welcome break from the heavy-handed action genre. It's a bit of a risk that the audience is at least as fed up with the standard formula as the character he's playing on screen.