Rating: 2/5
Banner: Sree Keerthi Creations
Cast: Balakrishna, Lakshmi Rai, Kota, Pradeep Rawat, Saloni, Brahmanandam, Jayasudha and others
Music: Kalyani Malik
Cinematographer: Surender Reddy
Editor: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Story, screenplay, direction: Paruchuri Murali
Producer: M L Padma Kumar Chowdary
Release date: 01/06/2012
Nandamuri Balakrishna who has been going through a string of flops after ‘Simha’ returned to the original genre of mass masala entertainment. Was he successful this time, let us see
Story
Bobby (Balakrishna) is a contract killer based in Mumbai and he discovers that he has a family. His father Ramakrishna Prasad (Balayya again) is a feared and respected leader in the Rayalaseema region but his life is in danger due to his old enemy (Pradeep Rawat). Ramakrishna Prasad strives to upkeep the ideals of his father Harishchandra Prasad (once again Balayya) who is killed. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, Harishchandra Prasad never dotes on Ramakrishna Prasad. And something similar happens between Ramakrishna Prasad and Bobby too. How things take shape in the end forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Balayya’s triple role failed to deliver. Except few scenes as Ramakrishna Prasad and Harishchandra Prasad, his characters and scenes didn’t have anything solid to entertain his fans.
Lakshmi Rai gave ample dose of skin show and her voluptuous oomph factor will be a treat to the masses. Thankfully, her presence in the songs brings some visual relief to the viewers.
Saloni was there for a song. Pradeep Rawath was weak. Kota and Murali Sharma were not used to their potential. Brahmanandam comedy was just okay. Jayasudha was a complete misfit. Sukanya looks fresh and sensuous, she should be seen more. Rahman was decent. The others had no scope.
Highlights
- Some Dialogues
Drawbacks
- Screenplay
- Direction
Analysis
Getting an opportunity to work with a big hero is definitely a great boost to a director’s career but it is here that the real material of the moviemaker is tested. In an industry and spectrum of audience where big stars are idolized as demigods, only a director with sensibility and ability to project the hero equivalent to his image and reach the expectations of the audience can score success.
That was completely missing in this film. The key reason for the failure of this product is the director. He just didn’t know how to handle a heavyweight like Balayya or he had no clue what working with a big star should be like. The very fundamentals of a commercial entertainer were not followed. For starters, the script was unable to justify even one character. Not one role had strength.
There is a certain level of emotional intensity and drama required for this type of movies but here, forget the emotion, there was not even proper motion in the sequences. The entire screenplay lacked grip and the major reason for that was the poor writing. Barring three or four lines, the entire dialogue department was a disaster. There is no emotional connect between any of the characters.
It looked as if a story is happening in the neighborhood and it had nothing to do with audience. From the surface, having a political link to the story and having a strong actor like Balayya doing a triple role were the USP to the film but the director failed completely in delivering the required punch. And where is the plot? What is the plot? Without a plot, the film is as good as a body without a spinal cord.
The basic approach towards the film was like a B-grade commercial movie which is remade from a Kannada hit. When an actor like Balakrishna is standing, it requires a very strong villain to counter his strength. Here again, the director could just provide few actors as opponents but with hardly any character or the vengeance. Due to this, the conflict graph was zero and the action adrenaline came down drastically.
On a whole music and background score made the film tasteless.
Of course, the makers might give covering that the film went through a lot of hiccups financially and otherwise and that’s why the final product came out like this. But after looking at the film, one gets a feeling that due to the poor output only the film was lying in the cans since long..
Bottomline: Outdated masala
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
