Formula family movie

A rich man with a family, taking care of another woman and maintaining illicit relationship and entrusting their responsibility to his son before his death and the son taking care of that family. Such kind of stories was not new to the Telugu audiences. Even if such story comes from a senior director like Dasari Narayana Rao, his protégé could have moulded it in an interesting manner by using a little novel orientation. But, when the screenplay too came from the senior, he had no option but chose the treaded path and had no scope for deviation. As a result, the film turned out to be an old fashioned formula family movie.

Hari (Sashank) and his sister Pinky (Sudeepa) are orphans. Their mother deserts their father as he was a rich man and already had a family. She tries to bring up the children by doing daily labour and dies of illness. Hari develops animosity against his father and thrashes whoever calls him a ‘bastard’. Hari, though clever, gets addicted to vices and drugs. The director of the college in which he was studying, Ravindra (Jagapatibabu), challenges with the lecturers that he would reform Hari and works hard over it. He succeeds in his challenge and makes Hari a topper. Meanwhile, Ravindra falls in love with a girl Meera (Meera Jasmine). However, she feels neglected as Ravindra gives preference to Hari in all aspects.

Even Ravindra gives a second preference to his engagements and goes to Hari to take part in his mother’s obsequies. This irks Meera, who chides Ravindra and leaves the venue in a huff. Ravindra’s family members including mother (Jayasudha), brother Rajendra (Sonu Sood) and sister (Hema) pulls him up for not attending the engagements and question him why he was so fascinated towards Hari. In a fit of anger, Ravindra reveals that Hari is none other than his step-brother. He explains to the family members that his father Madhusudhana Rao (Muralimohan), had an illicit relationship with Hari’s mother and they remained orphans due to his neglect. Before Madhusudana Rao’s death, he pleads with Ravindra to search them and ensure them a status in the society. On the other hand, a realtor called Govinda (Sayaji Shinde) eyes the college established by Madhusudana Rao, and tries to convince Rajendra.

Ravindra thrashes Govinda and his men for supplying drugs in the college. Govinda after his return from jail decides to take revenge against Ravindra and his family. He comes to know the family secret and incites Hari against Ravindra. Did Hari who wreaks vengeance on Madhusudhana Rao accepted Ravindra and his family as his family members? What kind of revenge he takes on them? Did Ravindra marries Meera? How did they patch up? Is really Rajesh cruel and how did he react on the addition of Hari and his sister as his family members? Answers to all these questions form part of the climax.

PERFORMANCE:

Jagapatibabu, who had a family hero image, did complete justice to his character. He is at his best in performance. However, the entire story revolves around a common point, the mix of love element and a few actions scenes put him in a typical condition. Jagapatibabu made the audiences to remember Super Star Krishna’s dances in the choreography of duets. The action scenes where Jagapatibabu was involved were also cinematic. Meera Jasmine is good as heroine and played another soft role with a girl to the next door kind f character. With the film being a family subject and the targeted audiences are family folks, the director was quite cautious in portraying her character. Jayasudha, Sayaji Shinde, Sonu Sood and others did justice to their respective roles. However, artistes like Jayaprakash Reddy, and MS Narayana who could give good comedy were not properly utilised by the director in the absence of a good comedy track.

TECHNICAL:

As far as music is concerned MM Srilekha once again copied the tunes of old films and none of them are foot tapping, though they sounded melodious. The choreography of songs was also not impressive, with the heroine unable to show her beauty or expose her glamour. Camera work by Ramanaraju is adequate. The action scenes were also adequate, though they are a little cinematic. Editing by B Krishnamraju is okay as he could not cut much of the film. Dialogues by Marudhuri Raja are also average. With Dasari giving the story and screenplay, the director treaded the routine path and could not deviate from it.

ANALYSIS:

The old fashioned subject and a commercial formula film kind of screenplay resulted in boredom to the audiences. Had the film released in 80s and 90s, it would have become a big hit. But the audiences, especially the youth and mass audiences, who throng the theatres for sizzling dances and fast numbers in audio, would face disappointment. The absence of a strong comedy track could also be counted as a minus point. The scenes coupled with sentiment could only attract family audiences and may not attract youth and mass audiences.

Cast: Jagapatibabu, Meera Jasmine, Jayasudha, Sashank, Gowri Munjal, Sonu Sood, Sayaji Shinde, Muralimohan, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Narayana Rao, Vizag Prasad, Vinay Prasad, LB Sriram, MS Narayana, Jayaprakash Reddy, Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao, Uttej, Lakshmipati, Jayasudha, Jhansi, Sudha, Hema, Ramaprabha, and others.

Credits: Dialogues – Marudhuri Raja, Lyrics – Chandrabose and Chinni Charan, Music – MM Srilekha, Camera – Ramanaraju, Editing – B. Krishnamraju, Art – Vivek, Story and screenplay – Dasari Narayana Rao, Presents – Dasari Padma, Producer – K Ramakrishna Prasad, Direction – Jonnalagadda Srinivasa Rao.

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