Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Lakshmi Narasimha Productions
Cast: Gopichand, Rajendra Prasad, Taapsee, Shraddha Das, Roja, Naresh and others
Music: Babu Shankar
Cinematographer: Srikanth
Editor: Gautam Raju
Story, screenplay, direction: Krishna Vamsi
Producer: Nallamalapu Bujji
Release date: 04/11/2011
Creative director Krishna Vamsi has been off the hook since a while and he is back with a film that runs around family bonding, essence of marriage, is it that touching? Let us see
Story:
Anjaneya Prasad (Rajendra Prasad) is a self made man and after lot of struggle he becomes successful. He brings up his children with loving attention and family bonding as the strength. His son Bujji (Gopichand) is loved by all.
Bujji is also a man of ideals and believes in essence of marriage as a lifelong commitment. His life takes a turn when he sees Rajeshwari (Taapsee) and in no time they fall in love. Rajeshwari’s mother (Roja) is a politician.
The initial process goes smooth but moments after the marriage takes place, a clash between the traditions of both families leads to major fight. It leads to Bujji and Rajeshwari going for divorce. The misunderstanding widens further due to certain incidents. However, both Bujji and Rajeshwari love each other. Do they unite? What happens to the families? All this forms the rest of the story.
Performances:
Gopichand has come up with a mild and subdued performance and this is not something his fans would like to see but, he did his best to give a matured and balanced act.
It is good to see Rajendra Prasad in a full length role and that too in a very effective manner. Though his role was not etched rightly, he has given a valuable act.
Taapsee is the show stealer. She is sexy, she is energetic and she has carried her role with aplomb. The dubbing she has done was not that perfect but it was natural to an extent.
Shraddha plays the typical sacrificial role and oozes her bit of glamour wherever required. But she has developed ease and confidence in her expressions and body language.
Ahuthi Prasad appeared in a short role saying a dialogue about YS Jagan, Chiranjeevi and Chandrababu. His role is a bit hilarious.
Roja was loud as usual and more than her dialogues, it is her expressions which were apt. Naresh was natural and made his presence felt. The support artistes in the form of Pragati, Raghava, Harshavardhan, Lakshmi Bhargavi, Taapsee’s friend, Gitanjali were there to fill the screen and give the required emotional dose. Venu Madhav was just okay.
Highlights:
- Taapsee and Shraddha Das
- Music
- Songs picturization
- Technical values
Drawbacks:
- Poor screenplay
- Second half
- Extremities of unwanted emotions
- Inconsistent etching of characters
- Predictability
- Lack of depth in crucial scenes
Analysis:
Krishna Vamsi is a talented storyteller and a highly regarded technician. So it is natural to have high expectations on his films. Given the fact that this was a film on family bonding, some expected it to be another ‘Murari’. However, there is a chalk and cheese difference between that. The primary reason for the film to suffer is a weak script. Taking cinematic liberties is alright but not to the extent where audience is dumbstruck. Here are few instances which resulted in the audience getting disconnected from the film totally
- Drunk Taapsee brought to Gopi’s home and the next day she is considered as a traditional girl and welcomed with open arms. Such things are not common in regular Telugu families.
- Chain reaction of slapping between the families of Gopichand and Taapsee. KV tried to bring an intense emotion but it turned out to be a comedy.
- Rajendra Prasad being a senior citizen gets all geared up with a knife and rushes to Roja’s home with vengeance. That’s absurd for his image and characterization.
- The conversation between Roja and Taapsee in their puja mandiram about sleeping with husbands. That was cheap.
Since it was being essayed as a neat family treat, the dialogues should have been polite, the number of times they got muted goes to show the flavour of raunchiness.
As such, the idea of coming up with the value of marriage, importance of family is all good but there is a way one has to execute it and Krishna Vamsi has failed this time.
At the box office, the film will find it hard to survive. The only consolation is Taapsee, only she can pull in some crowds.
Bottomline: Drama Mogudu
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
