Movie: Jai Lava Kusa
Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: NTR Arts
Cast: NTR (triple role), Raashi Khanna, Nivetha Thomas, Nanditha, Hamsa Nandini, Tamannah(item song), Posani Krishna Murali, Brahmaji, Sai Kumar, Pradeep Rawat, Jayprakash Reddy and others
Screenplay: Kona Venkat, K Chakravarthy
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Camera: Chota K Naidu
Editing: Kotagari Venkateshwara Rao, Thammiraju
Art Director: A S Prakash
Producer: Kalyan Ram
Story, dialogues, Direction: K. S. Ravindra (Bobby)
Release date: September 21, 2017
Young Tiger NTR who is on a roll with back to back hits has played three roles for the first time. Ever since this project was announced, it has generated tremendous buzz among film lovers.
The teasers and trailers have further hiked up expectations. As NTR is now riding high on popularity, the film is also released in more than 2000 screens which is a record of sorts.
Let’s find out whether the film has lived up to all the hype.
Story:
Jai, Lava, Kusa are the three brothers whose family lives performing stage plays. Lava and Kusa are given importance while Jai is mistreated due to his stammering. A fire accident separates all three.
Years later, Lava (NTR) becomes bank employee and Kusa (NTR) turns a thief. Lava and Kusa get united due to an accident. Kusa comes to help Lava with the problems at his bank with ulterior motive of stealing money from the bank but both of them are get kidnapped. The kidnapper is none other than Raavan Maharaj (NTR) aka Jai.
Raavan Maharaj builds his own rowdy empire in some part of Orissa. Why he has kidnapped them and how the three brothers become one is the rest of the story.
Artistes’ Performances:
NTR who has already proved many times that he can pull off any role has done three varied roles with so much ease here. Even though this is the first time that he has done three roles in a movie, NTR has not shown any discomfort. There is not much difference in the appearances of three roles but the performance in all these three roles is faultless. But NTR shows his true strength in the role of Jai. His performance is the pillar to the movie. This is one of his best performances in his career.
Nivetha Thomas as Jai’s jodi is decent. Raashi Khanna has done a glamorous role. But none of them have much roles and appear in one song each. Nanditha and Hansa Nandini have done guest roles.
Tamannah’s item song is not so impressive. Posani, Sai Kumar and Ronith Roy are effective in their roles.
Technical Excellence:
Cameraman Chota K Naidu’s cinematography is bland. Visual effects (used for the three roles in one frame) are superb. The VFX team have done good job with a tight budget. Art work is neat. The editing is uneven.
None of the songs composed by Devi Sri Prasad are appreciable though “Tring Tring” and “Nee Kallalona” are good onscreen. The much-hyped Raavana song doesn’t make any impact on the screen.
Highlights:
NTR's performance as Jai
Pre-interval sequences
Pre-Climax
Drawback:
Weak direction
Lack of entertainment
Too much of stage play
Analysis:
The USP of “Jai Lava Kusa”, as the title says, has NTR playing the triple role. NTR doesn’t appear as Jai, Lava and Kusa for the sake of playing three characters, but the movie has solid story base for his roles.
It begins with the childhood stories of the three brothers and why and how Jai was ill-treated by their uncle while staging plays.
After establishing the childhood episodes, the movie moves to the introduction of Kusa who becomes a thief and his comedy acts. Then the story goes to reveal the story of Lava who is a bank employee.
The love story of Lava and his problems at bank are handled in a clumsy way. It bores to death. Except the “Tring Tring” song nothing works here.
As boredom creeps in, the story heads to reveal the identity of Jai who has now become Raavan Maharaj. The interval bang sets nice mood and brings us back into the story.
Post-interval, the director has driven the story part engagingly. How Jai has developed into Raavan and his characterisation is told interestingly. As the film moves swiftly, the director suddenly slips off the track. It goes downhill from there.
There is one interesting element here: the three brothers have to pose as one for a particular reason. So, all three guys change their attire as well as look and pose as Jai for everyone. This should have been used effectively. A golden chance is missed by the director. The following sequences are pretty bad and unimpressive.
Though, three brothers getting separated is there from the days of “Yaadon Ki Bhaarat”, this film has one guy as Raavan. This new angle has been wasted with too much emphasis on stage plays and other silly points. Moreover, other than Jai’s character, the other two roles don’t create any interest.
The film also gives the feel of low production values as the costumes worn by the hero and heroines, the sets that are created for this are of low quality. There is no marked difference in the physique of three roles of NTR that we got to see in Kamal Haasan’s “Michael Madana Kamaraju”.
Music is also not that effective. Such mass movies need more entertainment and catchy music. This is where the film lacks. Also the emotional quotient in the film towards the end is not handled well.
On the whole, “Jai Lava Kusa” has nothing much to offer beyond NTR’s terrific performance as Jai. It may go down well with the fans and the festival season might help it in the collections, but as a movie it is so-so.
Bottom-line: Not Exciting Enough!
