Film: Paisa
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Yellow Flowers
Cast: Nani, Catherine, Siddhika Sharma, Charan Raj, Raja Ravindra, Bharath, Tabar, Raju, Duvvasi Mohan, Harikrishna, Upen Reddy and others
Music: Sai Karthik
Cinematographer: Santosh Rai
Editor: Thyagarajan
Director: Krishna Vamsi
Producer: Puppala Ramesh
Release date: 07/02/2014
After the disastrous ‘Mogudu’ director Krishna Vamsi is teaming up with hero Nani who was last seen in ‘Eega’ and was desperate for getting onscreen. Let us see whether this combo worked or not.
Story
Prakash (Nani) is a streetsmart Sherwani model in the old city who believes that money rules the world. His dream is to earn 1 crore and settle. Noor (Catherine) is a girl in the neighbourhood who loves Prakash to the core but he doesn’t acknowledge her feelings. One day Prakash comes across Sweety (Siddhika), daughter of a wealthy politician (Charan Raj) and feels she is his ticket to settle in life. But one incident happens and that ends up with Prakash and Noor on the run along with huge money bags belonging to Sweety’s father. How that happens and where it leads forms the rest of the tale.
Performances
Nani is the cynosure of the entire movie and he carries it on his shoulders with responsibility. His ease and dialogue delivery makes him a natural performer and he delivered it without a hitch.
Catherine is a deserving beauty. She is the perfect package of attraction and sex appeal. Most of her feelings are conveyed through her eyes and she fits the role very well.
Siddhika Sharma was there for the visual feast and she did justice to it. Good to see Charan Raj back in action and he was good. Bharath Reddy was effective.
Raja Ravindra stood out with his role. Subrahmanyam was adequate. The guys who did Nani’s friends roles gave a committed act. Others filled the gaps and added value.
Highlights
- Nani Performance
- Background score
Drawbacks
- Second half
- Familiar concept
- Insufficient entertainment quotient
Analysis
Whether it has to do with the DNA of those who belong to Ram Gopal Varma’s school or it was the case of pure grit and determination to score, the genre of racy thriller laced with crime and practical greed comes really smooth and fine with some filmmakers.
Krishna Vamsi who was in hibernation since quite a while and gave a massive bomb with ‘Mogudu’ seems to have attempted his comfortable genre.
As such, this film tends to give a déjà vu feeling since we have already seen something similar in ‘Swamy Ra Ra’ but there are those flashes of brilliance that come from KV which is his unique signature style.
The scene composition, camera angles, slow motion shots and the total color of the film is very appealing to the eyes.
However, the amount of energy and adrenalin he has pumped through his screenplay required more strength. Though commercial masala is part of this product, Krishna Vamsi has not forgotten to display his philosophy of life through certain scenes such as Nani giving Gyan to his friends about the duration of love and how real life consumes it with daily responsibilities and how money is the spinal cord for every happiness.
There is also that ruggedness in certain characters which has been seen in his earlier ventures like ‘Sindhooram’ ‘Antahpuram’ and others.
The opening few minutes of the film doesn’t waste any time and gets the audience into the story. It is not until the interval caption that one realizes that first half is over.
But trouble begins in second half. It could not sustain the same speed and had a dip which eventually played the spoilsport.
The songs were more forced into the situation to kill the time.
The RR was louder than required and the focus was more on action than providing balanced entertainment.
The director could able to bring in interest in a few scenes but suddenly dips down.
Overall, Krishna Vamsi has tapped the element of human greed for money so while it appeals to the masses it doesn’t have enough for other genre of audience to like it.
Bottomline: Average treat
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
