It's a well narrated theme by squeezing out the tears of bhakthi
from audiences. It's a known story of how Kancharla Gopanna
(Nagarjuna) becomes Ramadasu and accomplishes the construction
of Lord Rama's temple at Bhadrachalam.
Story
The film starts with the penance
of Bhadra (Sarath Babu) who turns out to be a hill with the
blessings of Lord Rama. In later centuries, Dammakka, the
tribal lady and worshipper of Lord Rama unearths and looks
after the idols of Rama on the hill and awaits someone who
can construct a temple there.
On the other hand, Gopanna
and his niece (Sneha) snuggle in love and get into wedlock
after a small turmoil with their parents. After the marriage,
Tanisha, the emperor of Golconda, with the recommendation
of Akkanna and Madanna (the uncles of Gopanna), appoints Gopanna
as Tehsildar of Husnabad. Thus, a Muslim Tehsildar (Jay Prakash
Reddy) who had been the Tehsildar to the place gets dethroned
for the sake of Gopanna. That ignites disgust among a few
groups and attempts murder on Gopanna. However, Dammakka saves
him when he lies unconscious on the bank of Godavari. She
shows him the place of Bhadragiri and Gopanna turns an ardent
devotee of Rama. After a series of incidents, he decides to
construct the Rama Mandir on the hill. He collects funds from
people with the help of Kabirdas, his guru, and completes
the construction of temple. Lord Rama, Lakshmana, Seetha and
Anjaneya live in invisible forms in the place during the construction
of temple. They keep on guarding Gopanna till he accomplishes
his mission. Thus with immense bhakthi on Lord Rama, Gopanna
turns Ramadasu.
The enemy groups of Ramadasu
pass on negative message to Tanisha about him, stating that
he constructed temple with the money of people without taking
the king's permission. Exasperated Tanisha imprisons Ramadasu.
After many ordeals faced by Ramadasu in prison, Lord Rama
and Lakshmana appear to Tanisha in dream and pays required
amount to him. Then Tanisha, releases Ramadasu from prison
and discovers that the two persons who cleared the debt were
Lord Rama and Lakshmana.
Plus-Points
The situations chosen to accommodate
the songs of Ramadasu are convincing with conviction in screenplay.
The way the song 'Antha Rama Mayam…' is screened, would
pervade the theaters in the flood of bhakthi and total immersion.
Music plays the prominent role here.
Graphics used to depict 'Pancha
Mukha Anjaneya', 'Dasa Mukha Ravana' and 'Lord Rama' are interesting
and up to the mark.
Nagarjuna's performance is
first-rate in the film and specifically his histrionics in
the long scene before interval and in the climax deserve great
mention. Sneha's performance in climax scene is also good.
Dialogues are okay except
the one where Sunil uses the expression 'darsakathva prathibha',
which sounds to be a filmy expression.
Sneha is graceful pairing
up with Nagarjuna.
Analysis
The film runs equally good
in all the centers and it proves to be a great deal for the
audiences to watch an upbeat devotional film after a long
break.
The symbolic representation
of heralding Ramadasu's imprisonment with a parrot sequence
is marvelous. Screenplay writer deserves credit in this matter.
Same is the matter with song sequences those sound very convincing.
First half of the movie
closes with a tinge of bhakthi, where the second half inundates
with the flood of Lord Rama's worship. The story is well known
to the people. Only the screenplay and direction decide the
fate of the film. Both the faculties worked adeptly squeezing
out tears of bhakthi from audiences in a few incidents.
Audiences
Response
Audiences couldn't resist
without clapping while the song 'Seethammaku cheyisthi…'
is screened. Similarly the appearance of ANR as Kabirdas,
Nagababu as Ravana and Nagarjuna as Ramadasu for the first
time on screen grabbed shouts of joy and claps of audiences.
Emotional bhakthi scenes are enjoyed with
immense attention in theatres.
