Trivikram Srinivas has hit a career low with Agnyathavasi. He was humiliated for making a bad film and there have been many other issues too that added fuel to the debacle of the film, to further humiliate him. He has to come back from such a situation and he got a chance immediately with Jr. NTR. Did he make a better film with NTR? Or did he fell for his usual traps? Let’s find out …
Plot::
Aravinda (Pooja Hegde) is a daughter of famous criminal Lawyer (Naresh). The lawyer decides to use every one of his clients for his own works and in one case, Veera Raghava (Jr. NTR) needs his assistance. He connects with Aravinda and one chance meeting before makes Lawyer ask him to be a protector.
But Veera Raghava is a faction feudal lord and he is chased by Basi Reddy (Jagapathi Babu). Veera Raghava kills his entire group and even give a killer blow for Basi Reddy. Bal Reddy (Naveen Chandra) wants revenge and that makes him find Aravinda too. Will Raghava save Aravinda? What is the solution to the entire faction feud between the two groups? Watch the film to know the answers …
Performances::
Jr. NTR is a diamond that needs a good blacksmith to shine better. He has been taking up challenging roles but the writers and directors at times found wanting. This time, Trivikram managed to give him enough substance to play with. He did not try to use comedy actor NTR but the most intense performer in him. This is a movie that the actor in him deserves and he did a great job that raised the script.
Pooja Hegde did a very decent job and for the first time, she looked like a performer than just a glamour doll. Eesha Rebba, Hariteja had their moments. Subhalekha Sudhakar, Devyani, Supriya Pathak, Sunil, Sithara, Naveen Chandra, Eeshwari Rao are aptly cast. Jagapathi Babu got a very different role from his usual villain roles and he did his best. Rao Ramesh is very good.
Technicalities::
SS Thaman is a weak link for this film. His BG score should have been much better to match the intense visuals on screen. His songs are not up to the mark that this story demands.
PS Vinod proved again that his camera is a good audience member. It works very well to bring out the emotions in scenes but could have been better in comedy and normal scenes.
Naveen Nooli puts up a good edit but he could have done a much better job with the film, one feels so. His cut lacks in finesse and some pace issues could have been avoided.
Trivikram and Penchal Das, as writers for the film, did a very good job in writing the conversations between characters. They gave the film a good authenticity by using the dialect well. But the screenplay has the issues as it tries to pass-on some weak sequences with best possible dialogues. That is an issue that undermines the film.
Trivikram Srinivas, the director executed the film well-giving respect to the writer and actors. He left it to his lead actor to carry the film on his shoulders while he proved to be his ally in the much-needed scenes. Still, he is not 100% back to his best of form but he is definitely better than his Agnyathavasi.
Analysis::
If someone tries to re-tell a famous story and he has doesn’t much fresh content to tell then, he or she resorts to telling the same but in their unique way. Like the famous story, One Kingdom and seven young potential Kings fighting for it, every faction movie has to start with a hero who takes up faction due to emotional reasons and then reform himself. Here, Trivikram uses that same template but makes a positive deviation from them. He tries to inculcate a story of self-identity after a crisis and an acceptable solution to the faction feud.
He is good at understanding how a silly reason can start a huge fight and a twisted person with liking to violence can become an obstacle for new beginnings. But the familiarity factor and the sky-high expectations from him, does underwhelm a die-hard fan. Still, he proved that he is a writer who did not lose his basics or his ground. He just slipped during Agnyathavasi and corrected himself for Aravinda Sametha. Even though he corrected much he has still travel many miles to conquer his Athadu form back. Jr. NTR makes this movie a good watch.
Rating:: 3/5
