Movie: Temper
Rating: 3.25/5
Banner: Parameswara Art Productions
Cast: NTR, Kajal, Prakash Raj, Posani Krishna Murali and Others
Story: Vakkantham Vamsi
Editor: S. R. Sekhar
Cinematography: Shyam K. Naidu
Music: Anoop Rubens
Background Score: Mani Sharma
Producer: Bandla Ganesh
Screenplay, Direction: Puri Jagannadh
Release Date: Feb 13th, 2015
A totally out of form NTR, Puri and Bandla Ganesh looking for a blockbuster come together for Temper. Already, shots of NTR sporting six-pack abs have become a huge rage among his fans and director Puri Jagannadh claims Temper will be NTR’s career best film. So, let’s see how the film has come up…
Story:
The film starts off with a little boy learning that if you are ‘police’, life is one happy ride with lots of money coming in the form of bribes. A few establishing scenes and a cut later, the actual story begins in present-day Vizag. Waltair Vasu (Prakash Raj) is the don of Vizag who rules the city with his cronies and four brothers. In comes Daya as the new SI. Vasu and Daya form an immediate friendship as Daya is as corrupt as Vasu wants him to be.
Meanwhile, Daya meets Sanvi who runs Pet Cross, an animal NGO (Kajal Agarwal), on the beach one day and immediately falls for her.
Life indeed goes on smoothly till the day he saves Madhurima from Waltair Vasu’s brothers and gets her home to keep his promise to Sanvi.
From there on, the story moves on to a different track and by interval, begins the slow transformation of corrupt cop Daya.
So what is the incident that will make him look at life differently? Why does Daya choose to help Madhurima who is a nobody to him? Will Madhurima get justice? Will Daya fight his friend Waltair Vasu? This forms the rest of the story.
Artistes’ Performances:
NTR Jr makes a comeback of sorts with the film. To all those who complained that he had become too monotonous, Temper seems to be NTR’s way of saying that he has decided to change his image slowly but steadily. Gone are long dialogues about Nandamuri vamsam, though he still says some heavy-duty dialogues nevertheless in a different style.
Yes, he sports six-pack abs much to the delight of his young fans, both male and female. And he has also worked on his wardrobe. So, he wears a lot of linen shirts, thanks to his stylist Ashwin who seems to be have used the fabric in keeping with the present trend.
Kajal too looks toned and well-dressed. After her disastrous look in GAV, she looks refreshing and pairs up well with NTR.
We have to make a special mention of the stylist and her fitness trainer as both of them have done an amazing job to her. Her clothes have been picked up well and her lean frame carries them effortlessly.
Prakash Raj as Waltair Vasu is his usual best. Well, he gets to wear some really colourful clothes (his styling is actually very similar to the film’s stylist Ashwin). He also gets to shake a leg in the item number. Though surprisingly, while he is the main villain, it seems as if he has a shorter role than Posani Krishna Murali.
Madhurima, who has been in news for all wrong reasons, plays the ‘sister’ of NTR who is on the lookout for her lost sister. Despite all stories prior to the release, she leaves her mark with her presence and does a fairly good job.
Posani Krishna Murali gets another meaty role in keeping with his present popularity and since he is a pro, he carries it well.
Ali, Saptagiri, Vennela Kishore are wasted in badly etched roles.
Pavithra plays the mom once again, but thankfully her role is not melodramatic.
JP, Subbaraju put in decent performances.
And last, but surely not the least, there is the item number by Nora Fatehi who is a hot find.
Technical Excellence:
Music for the film is by current wonder boy of Tollywood Anup Rubens. Must say, he does not disappoint. A couple of songs are catchy and in all it is a decent album. A mention has to be made of NTR’s favourite Mani Sarma who provided the background score.
Cinematography is by Sam K Naidu, who does a good job. The editor could have chopped off some scenes added in the name of comic relief.
Stunt choreography is by Vijay who had worked for Salman Khan’s films like Dabaangg and he does a visually impressive job.
As always, the choreography is another highlight of the film and NTR gets to do some interesting moves which will make his fans go crazy in theatres.
Incidentally, Temper is also a do-or-die film for Puri Jagannadh who is going through a bad phase himself. But he seems to have got all his elements right this time around for Temper.
Highlights:
- NTR
- Direction
- Climax twist
Drawbacks:
- First Half
- Ali-Saptagiri episode
Analysis:
By now it is old news that Temper is a rather important project for Puri, NTR and Kajal, all of whom are going through mid-career crisis. But one look at the film and you can say that all of them including the producer Bandla Ganesh have done their best to make it an interesting cop story which will work with NTR’s fans and general audiences.
So, like all NTR films, it has enough action, sentiment, emotions and of course romance. And in quintessential Puri style, it is a cop story. The overall story and format remain the same like other films of this genre, but where Temper differs is the way in which Puri has treated it.
An out and out emotional story which also has a strong social message, the film keeps you involved through out and you keenly follow the path of inspector Daya. Goes without saying, that’s exactly where Puri scores. NTR and Kajal too put in spirited performances and that makes for easy viewing.
Of course, Puri has also tucked in some scenes to provide some comic relief, but they could have been handled much better considering that he is now a senior director in the industry. Incidentally, he also puts in a cameo in the film.
While the first half mostly shows how a corrupt Daya is forced to stop and change, it is the second half that really gets the story going. Probably, it is this half that NTR fans will love the most as it has good doses of emotions which are his strong point.
However, by the time the film reaches climax, Puri plans a sudden twist which is bound to leave NTR’s fans totally surprised. And like all films, Temper too has a couple of loopholes, but an otherwise gripping story more than makes up for them.
In all, Temper is all that the Puri and his team had promised it would be. It has all the commercial elements and some good work put in by Puri, NTR and Kajal. This is surely going to work well with the audiences. The timing will also work in film’s favour as there are no big releases lined up for a long, long time.
Bottomline: Bang, bang!
(Venkat can be reached [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
