Rating: 3/5
Banner: Kartha Creations
Cast: Jagapathi Babu, Kota, Vimala Raman, Tanikella, Kota Prasad, Harshavardhan, Ajay, Tarzan, Nagesh, Ravi Kale, Jeeva, Revathi, Siva Krishna and others
Dialogues: Gandham Nagaraju
Music: Ilayaraja
Camera: Anil Bandari
Editing: Praveen
Director: Praveen Sri
Producer: Dharma Kartha
Release date: 03/09/2010
RGV came up with a hard hitting hit ‘Gaayam’ and now the sequel of the film has been brought by his protégé. Jagapathi Babu is also back with the sequel.
Story
Ram (Jagapathi Babu) leads a peaceful and happy life in Bangkok with a successful coffee shop business and a loving family in the form of his beautiful wife Vidya (Vimala), doting son and a brainless brother in law (Harshavardhan). His life takes a turn with the arrival of two people from Hyderabad- a lawyer (Tanikella) and Shankar Narayana (Kota Prasad), son of politician Guru Narayana (Kota Srinivasa Rao), an aspiring CM through the crooked way. The trio suspects that Ram is none other than Durga, their age old rival who gave them sleepless nights. Shankar Narayana and his lawyer try several ways to confirm the true identity of Ram. Whether their doubts are true or not and what happens after that forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Jagapathi Babu has done it before so he didn’t have to strain much, however, he still maintains that intensity in his eyes and the icy violence in his baritone voice.
Vimala Raman is a screen scorcher, though her role is domestic, she shows her wild side in one song which is enough visual feast. She is a tempting seductress blended with good acting skills.
Kota Srinivasa Rao is the show stealer. Despite so many years, his class as an actor and his typical Telangana style dialogues are excellent.
Tanikella was another impressive performer. His character has got length and he fits into it with perfect caliber and screen presence.
Kota Prasad’s performance was effective, he has carried out his role with ease and the right kind of emotions. It is sad that we have lost a fine actor…
Ajay was brief, Ravi Kale was regular, Jeeva was natural, Tarzan was funny, Harshavardhan was average, Nagesh was a new face who is to be watched out for, he has shown potential, the others were there to fill the screen and contributed in their own way.
Analysis
Any film coming from the house of Ram Gopal Varma comes with certain expectations and usually, the results are extreme- a super hit or massive flop. But this time, the director has managed to bring it a saving grace and he was sharp in carrying the film without much hiccups. The dialogues were good, the background score was neat, songs could have been better as they had a retro effect, cinematography was appealing, editing was crisp, costumes and art department made their presence felt. Here are a few highlights of the film
The first half of the film is a straight lift from the Hollywood movie ‘A History Of Violence’. It is a literal scene to scene lift.
The makers had bravely shown the exact political situation in the state and one can relate Kota’s character to KCR in many ways. Incidentally, there is a lot of truth in the portrayal. The connection between the original and sequel was convincing which is a challenging part.
Scenes from the original ‘Gaayam’ drew whistles and claps from the audience, it was nice to see the raw clippings
On the flip side, since the plot was already known, there was not much variety tried and this brings down the interest. Also, those who have seen the Hollywood movie may not find the first half too appealing since the English flick was awesome. There was an inconsistency in few emotional scenes and the graph fluctuates. Overall, the film runs well due to its racy narration, good continuation and some fine performances. At the box office, this would be an above average grosser but if the makers can push it with aggressive publicity, the film will surely strike the success mark.
Bottom-line: It’s just ok