Movie: Srimanthudu
Rating: 3.25/5
Banner: Mythri Movie Makers
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Shruti Haasan, Jagapathi Babu, Rajedndra Prasad, Sampath Sukanya, Rahul Ravindran, Sanam Shetty, Angana Roy, Mukeshi Rishi, Poorna and others
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematography: Madhie
Editor: Kotagiri Venkateshwara Rao
Action: Anal Arasu
Art: A S Prakash
Presented by: G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
Producers: Y. Naveen, Y. Ravi Shankar, C. V. Mohan
Story, Dialogue, Screenplay and Direction: Koratala Siva
Release Date: August 7, 2015
Mahesh Babu, one of the biggest superstars in South India, has come up with his latest movie, Srimanthudu. Despite his recent movies not performing well at the ticket counter, this movie carries huge expectations as the trailers and songs have become popular. Does it live up to expectations? Let’s find out.
Story:
RK (Jagapathi Babu) owns a business empire. He wants his son Harsha (Mahesh Babu) to take over the operations but Harsha has other plans – serving people.
Harsha likes Charusheela (Shruti), a post graduate student studying Rural Development, and joins her college to study the course. Both fall in love. But when Charusheela comes to know that Harsha is son of RK, she stops seeing him.
Harsha asks her for the reason, she tells him about her Devarakota, a small village in Uttarandhra. The village’s tank is grabbed by local rowdy Sasi (Sampath) who is the right hand man of central minister Venkata Ratnam (Mukeshi Rishi).
The villagers start migrating to the cities but Charusheela’s father tries to stop them in the hope that good-days would come soon.
What has this plight of the village got to do with Harsha’s father and what does Harsha do when Charusheela tells him this? Watch it on the silver screen.
Artistes’ Performances:
The film is undoubtedly one of Mahesh Babu’s best performance in his entire career. As well-educated, good-natured rich man, Mahesh Babu oozes charm as well as gives his best in the emotionally charged scenes. Even in the action episodes, he exhibits class. Mahesh Babu is the pillar of this movie.
Shruti Haasan looks beautiful, shares great chemistry with Mahesh and has solid role too. Jagapathi Babu is evolving as a reliable character artiste for dignified father roles. He is perfect to the T as a rich businessman. Rajendra Prasad is good as well.
Sampath and Mukesh Rishi have done what is required for the roles. Sukanya, Ali, Rahul Ravindran, Subbaraju, Vennela Kishore, Sitara and a host of actors are present in the movie but they don’t get highlighted.
Technical Excellence:
Rich frames are the striking feature of the movie. Appreciation should go to the cinematographer Madhie. He has distinct style in filming hero elevating scenes.
Songs by Devi Sri Prasad are catchy. ‘Rama Rama’, ‘Charusheela’ and ‘Jaago Re’ songs are effective on screen.
The pace of the movie is not only slow but some unnecessary scenes are also there, good editing would have done wonders. Fights by ANL Arasu are neat.
Highlights:
- Mahesh Babu’s performance
- Shruti Haasan’s charm
- Elevation of heroism
- Dialogues
- Direction
- Jaago Re song sequence
- Cinematography
Drawback:
- Slow first half
- Editing
Analysis:
Director Siva Koratala has proven that he could present regular mass movies in style with ‘Mirchi’. In Srimanthudu, he has used the same style but has strong content and has narrated the movie in focused manner, not deviating from the story.
While watching the movie, you will also spot the similarities with Mirchi like father’s love for son (Jagapathi Babu/Sathyaraj), hero entering into a village on a certain mission.
Also, Koratala selected a topic that rings well with the current mood in the nation – adopting the villages. One can also find influence of Ashutosh Gowariker’s ‘Swades’.
No special intro is given to Mahesh Babu. He comes into the story with a song and then the story is told in leisurely.
In the first one hour, it goes on sluggish pace but picks up later. Even in the first hour some scenes like Mahesh Babu confronting Mukesh Rishi at his residence in Delhi, fight sequence in wedding get highlighted. Second half the movie takes a gripping turn.
“You have earned respect through sheer hardwork, let me also earn it,” tells Mahesh Babu to his father Jagapathi Babu in one scene. Such class scenes laced with dialogues and liberal dose of English are welcome change.
Then there is also one gripping sequence in the second half when Mukeshi Rishi invites the hero to his mango farm. The movie is dotted with many scenes that elevate heroism to the peak.
Dialogues written by the director will also make the fans happy. When Mahesh beats a rowdy, another one comes forward to beat him, then Mahesh tells to this guy: "Nenu Ikkade Untanu..repu kooda untanu..vaade kadatledu..mundu vaani choodandi." Mahesh taking selfie with a rowdy is another hilarious moment in the film.
Mahesh Babu’s class performance, Shruti’s charm, good message, right mix of mass and class elements make the movie a good commercial entertainer.
All in all, Srimanthudu is the movie where content and commercial elements have blended well.
Bottomline: Srimanthudu With Rich Message
(Venkat can be reached [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
