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Story
Neelakanta Naidu (Prakash Raj) is a big factionist. He has
a loyal confidant called Narasimha (Suman), who is willing
to give his life for the sake of his master. After gap of
many years, Neelakanta Naidu's wife gives a birth to a baby
daughter. But all the earlier babies born to Neelakanta Naidu
expired due to some unknown reason. The priests advise Neelakanta
to name his daughter as 'Gangotri' (Aditi Agarwal). They also
warn Neelakanta that the kid is having 'jalagandam', hence
they ask Neelakanta to take Gangotri to the holy place of
Gangotri in Himalayas and do the 'abhyangana snanam' (bath
with turmeric, milk etc.) for the next 15 years. After 15
years, Gangotri would be free of any dangers.
When
nobody could entertain the kid Gangotri; Simhadri (Allu Arjun)
- the son of Narasimha - makes her smile by entertaining her
with a song. Simhadri becomes a servant cum friend to Gangotri.
They grow together. In the mean time mother of Simhadri (Seeta)
sacrifices her life to save Neelakantam.
When
Gangotri attains puberty, Gangotri's aunt (Sakuntala) restricts
Simhadri from meeting Gangotri. Gangotri and Simhadri realize
that they fell in love. When Simhadri comes to Gangotri's
place clandestinely to meet her, they are caught red-handed
by Neelakantam. Neelakantam beats Simhadri. Meantime, Narasimha
comes to the spot and interferes. This causes a rift between
Neelakantam and his trusted lieutenant Narasimha. Neelakantam
is misinformed about Narasimha's intentions; hence he bombs
the house of Narasimha. Simhadri is away at that time. When
Simhadri comes to know that Neelakantam is responsible for
the bombing, he comes to Neelakantam's house and challenges
that he would marry Gangotri in 365 days.
Then
Simhadri reaches Gangotri and waits for his ladylove to come
to that place for the final 'abhyangana snanam' (sacred bath).
The rest of the film is about how Simhadri and Gangotri unite
together.
Artists:
Allu
Arjun: Allu Arjun - the son of ace producer Allu Arvind
and nephew of Megastar Chiranjeevi - is launched with a dream
project directed by K Raghavendra Rao. On the looks front,
Arjun is pretty average. He has shown the sparks of brilliancy
with his histrionics in a few vital scenes (scene challenging
Prakash Raj and the climax scene). He did well in sentiment
scenes as well. His voice needs some toning and modulation.
He looked odd wearing those knickers in the first half (pre-puberty
days). In the second half (post-puberty days) he looked good.
Every actor has weaknesses and strengths. Allu Arjun should
choose roles that amplify his strength and nullify his weaknesses.
But unfortunately, his main asset of dancing talent has gone
unnoticed because of not having many mass tunes in this film.
Vijayan composed good fights for Arjun in the climax.
Aditi
Agarwal: She looks pretty tender in the role of Gangotri.
Since she has to be shown as a small girl in the first half,
the glamour aspect was not touched. In the second half, she
is glamorous in the song of 'Nuvvu
Nenu Kalisunte'.
Prakash
Raj: Prakash Raj gets the lion share of footage in this
film. By now, Prakash Raj has done so many roles that he nothing
new to offer when he attempt these kind of roles. However,
there are a couple of scenes where he was fresh.
Others:
Suman is very smart in this film, but has a limited role to
play. Seeta too has a short role, but she is at her best.
Sunil made a special appearance as a master in this film.
His dance (wearing a red shirt, red pants and white shoes)
with Arjun for Mavayyadi
Mogalturu song is hilarious. Tanikella Bharani played
a positive role.
Technical
Departments:
Story - Screenplay: Story of the film has few drawbacks:
1. There
is no justification about why Suman is willing to give his
life to his master Prakash Raj, without bothering about
his wife and son.
2. When Suman had an argument with Prakash Raj and comes
back, he is misinterpreted as he has joined hands with rivals
of Prakash Raj. With that information Prakash Raj summons
his goons to bomb Suman's house. But the real nature of
Suman and his loyalty towards his master was not revealed
to Prakash Raj through any character later. Hence this thread
becomes an incomplete one.
3. Seeta ties bells to the neck-thread of Suman so that
he would listen to ringing of bells whenever he tries to
kill somebody. Those ringing bells remind him of his family
and hence discourage him from indulging in any violence.
But later on, those same bells are tied to the wrist-thread
of Arjun. Those bells mainly help him in fighting with the
goons in the second half. Hence the bells, which were meant
to preach non-violence, are used for violence.
4. Since hero and heroine are childhood friends, the moments
when they fall in love with each other and the incidents
where their friendship turns into love relationship has
to be shown very carefully. He established the scene of
showing heroine's affection to hero very well (in stone
throwing incident). But he did not have a gripping scene
where and when the hero falls in love with heroine.
Chinni
Krishna has the habit of using a divine element in his stories.
Likewise, this story mainly revolves on the holy place called
'Gangotri' - the birthplace of river Ganges. In the first
half, he has shown the elements of faction fights. But the
second half takes a turn and rivalry shifts towards Prakash
Raj and Arjun.
Chinni
Krishna has also given screenplay for the film. Screenplay
of the film is pretty slow in the first half and erratic in
the second half.
Direction:
When K Raghavendra Rao - the legend of Telugu cinema - directs
his 100th venture - the expectations are pretty high. And
it's very difficult for anybody to satisfy that kind of expectations.
K Raghavendra Rao is known for his exceptional handling of
songs department. His mark is evident in all songs. He is
also pretty good at inserting songs into storyline without
disturbing the flow. He managed well in establishing the characters
in the first half. But he could not handle the second half
of the film in a proper manner. The climax should have been
better.
Dialogues:
Dialogues by Viswanath are good. He should have added more
humor to the dialogues.
Music:
The main asset of the film is mellifluous and melodious tunes
by Keeravani. Here are the sequences of songs in the film.
1. Jeevana
Vahini: This song comes as backdrop for the titles of
the film. Various scenically beautiful locales where river
Ganges flows are shown. This is the theme song of the film
and the same music is repeated in various scenes.
2. Vallanki
Pitta: This song starts as the song between two kids
(Gangotri and Simhadri). By the time the song is completed,
the kids grow up.
3. Railu
Bandi: This song explains the journey of Gangotri train
through seven states.
4. Mavayyadi
Mogalturu: This song is the highlight of the film. Allu
Arjun did extremely well in the female get-up. The way he
seduces and dances with Sunil is superb. This is the best
mass song of the film. Lawrence choreography helped this
song a lot.
5. Oka
Thotalo: K Raghavendra Rao has his typical style of
showing symbolism. When heroine attains puberty, the camera
moves on to a flourished flower. Hero comes to entertain
heroine's 'pushpavati function' by singing a song on heroine
by comparing her to a flower.
6. Nuvvu
Nenu Kalisunte: This is the best song of the film. KRR
used all kinds of fruits in this song for a great effect.
Allu Arjun does a couple of mass steps in this song. This
songs comes as a separation song with heroine in AP and
hero in Gangotri.
7. Ganga:
Another song on Ganga symbolizing the love between lead
pair to the purity of river Ganges.
Photography:
Photography by Chota K Naidu is excellent. He captured the
beauty of Gangotri and other holy places with camera and presented
us with the virtual tour of holy places.
Production:
The movie comes from the stable of two of the most prestigious
producers of Telugu cinema - Aswini Dutt and Allu Arvind.
The production values are very rich.
Analysis:
First half of the film is decent as it establishes basic characters.
But the tempo has not picked up in the second half. Hence
the second half has become very slow. The climax of lead pair
going into unconsciousness (or death?) and coming back to
life again is not appealing. Over all its an average film.
The plus points of the film are the good songs followed by
photography. The minus point of the film is lack of comedy
(except for Sunil's episode and AVS episode). We have to wait
and see how this summer release is going to quench the thirst
of Box Office.
Related
Links:
Juke Box
Wall Papers
Mega
Posters
Audio Release
function
Sreya Audio Review
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