Cast: Nandamuri Balakrishna, Simran, Anushka, Nisha Kothari, Ashutosh Rana, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Krishna Bhagawan, Raghubabu and Others
Director:Y.V.S.Chowdary
Producer:Yelamanchili Yuktha
Music:Mani Sharma
Action:Vijay
Art: Anand Sai
Cinematography:Madhu A. Naidu
Dialogues:Chintapalli Ramana
Editing:Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Lyrics:Chandrabose
Story and Screenplay:Y.V.S.Chowdary
Presenter:Yelamanchili Geetha
Executive Producer:Kommineni Venkateswara Rao
Banner:Bommarillu Vari
Release Date:11th January, 2008
Take plots or sub-plots from 'Bharateeyudu', 'Aparichitudu' and 'Shivaji' (all three Shankar movies in fact) and mix-and-match with inferior production values and bad makeup. Then sprinkle a heavy dose of vulgar and double-meaning dialogues courtesy the two ladies, Nisha Kothari and Anushka. What's the result? One and Only.
Plot:
Satyam (Veeravenkata Satyanarayana Swamy) a.k.a. Tsunami is a beloved person for several villagers, having touched and changed many a life. His grandmother is 'Baby' whose husband dedicated his life to gain independence, taken later as a prisoner of war and missing henceforth. Meanwhile, corrupt doctors, lawyers and journalists are allegedly killed, but their bodies are missing. The suspicions are on Swamy who is arrested, but an old man calling himself Okka Magadu claims to have committed those acts. The point is, Okka Magadu looks like the older version of Swamy whose sworn enemy is Namboodriyar, a politician whose son elopes with a middle-class girl under Swamy's protection. The search for Okka Magadu intensifies and the confusion thickens.
Story, Screenplay and Direction:
As mentioned before, the story is mishmash of earlier successes, but with production values not up to the mark. The first 30 minutes with Nisha Kothari is like watching a C-grade movie with a big star in it for unknown reasons. Then you have the last 30 minutes which should have been a high-impact, high-voltage sequence, but is completely bungled up.
The scene before Anushka enters i.e., the confrontation with Namboodriyar is a scene meant solely for getting a message across-that he will eventually enter politics. Not surprising. The movie picks up a little for a brief period of time, only to finish off with a regular fight sequence and then fall flat after the break with a half-hearted pre-independence era flashback. The speech at the climax and the subsequent fight sequence using Chinese (supposed to be martial art experts) is a lift from 'Aparichitudu', but a low-key lift.
The makeup on Simran as an old woman is terrible, while Balakrishna manages to get away with an old man get up. All this distinctly reminds you of 'Bharateeyudu', and even the part where the irresponsible press is punished reminds you vaguely of a sequence in Bharateeyudu where he kills in front of the camera. There is a lot of inconsistency in the narration and the characters are not clearly defined apart from 'Baby'.
There's hype and hoopla that a star with such mass appeal can generate, but one can do so many other things than waste him with absolutely vulgar sequences. K.Raghavendra Rao and Rajamouli's school of thought seems to have a taker in YVS, but the entertainment quotient in the former's movies also keep the pace up instead of relying on cheap gimmicks with women throughout.
Performances:
Balakrishna looks fresher and the stiffness of his earlier two movies is completely absent. In a few scenes, he is engaging while some scenes are so badly scripted, that it all looks plain silly. It's a weak script, and there ends the matter. As an old man, his performance is just okay, but definitely better than Simran's over-the-top cantankerous old woman act.
Simran, who is actually a good artiste, is wasted in what seems to be a challenging role on paper, but ends up being utterly ridiculous. Nisha Kothari, the less said the better. Same goes for Anushka, because both are used only to wear skimpy outfits and mouth (and worse, act out) third class stuff. Ashutosh Rana acts and the dubbing is like that of Raghuvaran, while surprisingly even the old Balakrishna's laugh is similar to that of Rajnikant in 'Shivaji'.
Song and Dance:
The title song is good. It's good to see Balakrishna energetic and also minus the little stiffness that was just setting in. The duet with Simran is okay, while the ones with the other two female leads are just what the doctor ordered for the front benchers. And the rest of them too.
Last Word:
Shankar's movies are huge hits, or at least well-known and mimicked all the time. You just can't go take ideas from his movies that are relatively recent and think you can get away with it. YVS made watchable movies before, but he disappoints thoroughly in handling the star. Why do directors forget the script and bank entirely on the star now-a-days? The star, some purposeful and well-meaning dialogues in trademark style, a little skin show plus two fights and three songs that stand out does not make a good movie. YVS disappoints terribly in this seen before inferior quality yarn and a star has been totally wasted in an incompetent script. |  |
|
