Movie: Dictator
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Vedhaaswa Creations
Cast: Nandamuri Balakrishna, Anjali, Sonal Chauhan, Aksha, Rati Agnihotri, Nasser, Suman, Prudhvi and others
Written by: Sreedhar Seepana
Dialogues: M Rathnam
Story-Screenplay: Kona Venkat - Gopimohan
Music: S S Thaman
Produced by: Eros International
Screenplay and Directed by: Sri Wass
Release Date: January 14, 2016
Nandamuri Balakrisha's 99th movie has generated huge buzz before the release for various reasons. Balakrishna is having good phase in his career as he delivered big hits recently and director Sri Wass teaming up with him has created interest.
Balakrishna is considered as Sankranthi star as many of his movies released during Pongal were big hits. Hence “Dictator” released amidst heavy expectations. Does it meet the expectations?
Story:
Chandu (Balakrishna) works in a supermarket and lives with his uncle and his family. Indu (Sonal) is harassed by a gang who want to know the whereabouts of her brother who saw a murder done by them. Chandu helps Indu and beats up the goons.
Meanwhile, a colleague of his steals some money from supermarket’s account for his daughter’s marriage but Chandu takes the blame that he stole the money. He is arrested. Then his uncle and his family demands why he stole the money. Then flashback is revealed that he is actually a very rich businessman called Chandrasekhar Dharma, chairman of Dhrama Group of companies.
What’s his flashback and how is it connected with the current story is what the second half of the movie is all about.
Artistes’ Performances:
Nandamuri Balakrishna has portrayed a character with two different getups. He looks stylish and believable as rich businessman but his acting in the first half is very regular.
Anjali has looked beautiful. Her chemistry with Balakrishna is also good. Sonal and Aksha have looked more like junior artistes as they have limited roles.
The film has no clear cut villain as it has too many rowdies, gangs. One of the villain roles is played by Rathi. Prudhvi has tried to create comedy with some stale jokes. Nasser and Suman are okay.
Technical Excellence:
Sam K Naidu’s cinematography is decent. Two songs by Thaman are good but overall the songs hardly help the movie. It has good production values but the editing is pretty bad.
Highlights:
- Balakrishna
Drawbacks:
- Formula story
- Pretty bad second half
- Predictable screenplay
- Lack of entertainment
Analysis:
While Dictator has many villains in the story, the real villains of the movie are its story and screenplay writers – they have churned out beaten to death story with a formula screenplay that drags on and on without any reason.
Last year the writers team of Kona Venkat, Gopi Mohan, Sreedhar Seepana had given some of the worst movies like Bruce Lee and Soukyam. They have come up with even bad story and screenplay for Dictator.
Since the release of “Samarasinha Reddy”, we have been seeing this formula - Balakrishna appearing as “simple worker” in the first half and later in the flashback he is revealed as big businessman/factionist guy. How long would Balayya accept such clichéd stories?
Except Boyapati, no director in the recent times has made a good mass masala movie with Balakrishna. Sri Wass too has failed to present Balakrishna appealing as he has selected story-screenplay that belongs to 90’s.
Although first half of the movie seems okay thanks to some comedy and songs, the second half is unbearable as it moves on boring manner and puts us in sleep mode.
Not a single thread or scene that is intelligent or decent enough to appreciate can be found in the second half. And the climax is also very boring.
Director Sri Wass and writers have failed Balakrishna. All in all, “Dictator” is a mess. Except for Balakrishna and Anjali’s presence, the movie doesn’t have anything to talk about.
Bottom-line: Old Wine In Old Bottle!
(Venkat can be reached [email protected] or Twitter)
