Film: Namo Venkatesa
Rating: 3.25/5
Cast: Venkatesh, Trisha, Brahmannadam, Dharmavarapu, Kasi Viswanath, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Mukesh Rishi, Subbba Raju, Surya, Prithvi, Master Bharat, Surekha Vani, Telangana Sakunthala etc
Banners: 14 Reels Entertainment, Suresh Productions
Music: Devisri Prasad
Cinematography: Prasad Murella
Editing: M R Varma
Story, screenplay, direction: Srinu Vytla
Producers: Achanta Ram, Achanta Gopichand, Sunkara Anil
Release date: 14th Jan 2010
Victory Venkatesh has paired up with Srinu Vaitla this time and the expectations obviously went high. With the title also catchy, this was a promising flick, how good is it, let us see
Story:
Venkatramana (Venkatesh) is a ventriloquist by profession and his only problem is marriage. He goes to European Telugu Association celebrations as a performer and encounters some interesting people there.
He is waiting for his dream girl to come. She comes in the form of Pooja (Trisha) but then, her uncle Paris Prasad (Brahmanandam) who is a manipulative kind of person creates a drama just for fun and convinces Venkatramana that Pooja is in love with him.
Meanwhile, Pooja’s marriage gets fixed with Bhadrappa (Subbaraju), the hardcore factionist and what happens from there forms the rest of the story.
Performances:
Venkatesh
It was a Venky show all the way and he has shouldered it responsibly. However, the looks of age are showing on him and even his reflexes lack that emotion. Overall, he did a good job.
Trisha
Unlike in ‘King’ where she looked healthy and bright, Trisha looks quite dull and shrunk. Also, her character doesn’t have much to perform except be there on the screen and for the songs. So, not much hard work from her.
Brahmanandam
His character was developed well and Brahmi did justice to it in a good way. Some scenes emit a lot of hilarious moments and others could have been developed better. He scored good in this one.
Others
Mukesh Rishi was regular, so were Jayaprakash Reddy, Kota, Subbaraju and others. Ali was not upto the mark, M S Narayana was good as usual, Dharmavarapu and Kasi Viswanath generated few laughs, the others like Surekha Vani and Master Bharat were there for brand value but more could be extracted from their end. The ladies also had the same effect in terms of performance and contribution.
Highlights:
- Venkatesh dancing for songs Allu Arjun’s ‘Mr Perfect’ and ‘Ringa Ringa’ brought laughs in theaters
- Vehicle chasing is a visual treat
- Dog chasing is a mass entertainer
Disappointments:
- Music
- Lack of sufficient rib tickling dialogues and situations
Analysis:
The movie is a storehouse of entire Srinu Vaitla battalion again. The standard cast and crew he maintained for his previous films is seen in this entertainer as well. The concept is just an old wine in new bottle but the shape of bottle could be more interesting. The laughing riot is not worked to the level of his earlier entertainers. Brahmanandam is used well but the dose of script is a bit weak. Master Bharat who is a standard comedy star in Srinu Vaitla’s films is also not fully utilized.
First half of the movie is entertaining but the interval bang conveys something very interesting is waiting in second half. Even the interval liner is ‘Get Ready for Real Game’. But the game is very well in predictable limits. The movie stands out to be a wonderful entertainer for the audiences those didn’t watch ‘Dhee’ and ‘Ready’. But in comparison ‘Namo Venkatesa’ of Vaitla scores little less.
Music could be better to bring better mileage for the film. On a whole it’s a family entertainer for this Sankranthi season.
Bottom Line: Can be watched with families
(SiraSri can be reached at [email protected])
