Movie: Bhagavanth Kesari
Rating: 2.25/5
Banner: Shine Screens
Cast: Nandamuri Balakrishna, Kajal Aggarwal, Sreeleela, Arjun Rampal, Priyanka Jawalkar, R Sarathkumar, John Vijay, and others
Music: S Thaman
DOP: C Ram Prasad
Editor: Tammiraju
Production Designer: Rajeevan
Producers: Sahu Garapati, Harish Peddi
Written and Directed by: Anil Ravipudi
Release Date: Oct 19, 2023
Nandamuri Balakrishna's films became extremely popular after he scored hits with "Akhanda" and "Veera Simha Reddy." "F2" director Anil Ravipudi is known for making entertaining films. They worked together for the first time and attempted to make a different film. The trailer looked promising. Sreeleela, who played Balayya's daughter, added to the film's popularity.
Let's see if this delivers on its promise.
Story:
Nelakonda Bhagavanth Kesari (Nandamuri Balakrishna), a prisoner in Warangal, befriends the jailor (Sarath Kumar). When the jailor is involved in a car accident, Kesari promises to make his daughter Vijji an army officer and take care of her from then on.
Kesari and Vijji (Sreeleela) create a father-daughter bond.
While Vijji avoids joining the army owing to a phobia, Kesari is strict with her and tries to inspire her to get into army.
Meanwhile, a deputy CM's secretary who is on the run from a business mafia boss Rahul Sanghvi (Arjun Rampal) encounters Vijji at a café and saves a file on her laptop. Rahul Sanghvi's men are now on the trail of Vijji.
How can Kesari protect her from Rahul Sanghvi, and what is Sanghvi's history with him?
Artistes’ Performances:
Nandamuri Balakrishna, sporting a salt and pepper look, has played a character with two shades – adavi bidda Nelakonda Bhagavanth Kesari and a surprise role. However, he is more effective as Sreleela's chiccha and the Adavi Bidda.
His Telangana dialogue delivery and dynamic flair set him apart from his previous works. His emotional scenes with Sreeleela are effective as well.
This is a good role for Sreeleela, a change from her more mass-oriented roles. The role not only has given opportunity to her to showcase her acting abilities, but it also gives a scope for her to do some action stunts. She has performed admirably in her capacity.
Kajal Aggarwal is okay. Arjun Rampal, who plays Rahul Sanghvi, has imposing personality, but his role is poorly written, and he ends up playing a cardboard villain.
Muralidhar Goud and VTV Ganesh, among others, make an impression.
Technical Excellence:
The cinematography is superb. Ram Prasad's frames and magnificent production design have contributed to the film's rich look. While certain action feats are effective, there are just too many of them. The fights were tedious after a while.
Thaman's music is okay. There isn't much room for songs, but the background score is rather conventional, with a high decibel level. Some of the dialogues are excellent. However, the editing lacks sharpness.
Highlights:
The message about girl child
Nandamuri Balakrishna
Some dialogues
Drawback:
Uninteresting first half
Inconsistent narration
Too many of fights with no logic
Blend of two different tracks of the story
Analysis
"Bhagavanth Kesari" is not Anil Ravipudi's typical type of film. There is no comedy, no duets, and no over-the-top moments. This is not one of Nandamuri Balakrishna's normal mass masala films. Ravipudi attempted to enter Balakrishna's zone by presenting the film as an action drama sans comedy, and with a touch of sentiment. Balakrishna, on the other hand, has sought to do something distinct in his zone, the first being the Telangana dialogues and the elimination of duets. These are the best parts of this movie. We should appreciate their attempt to come out of their zone.
But like a fish out of the water, Anil Ravipudi has struggled in narrating this action drama. He lacks the ability to adequately tell an action film. This is why the whole first half of the film, in which he tries to establish the essential idea of the plot, fails to engage us.
While he takes his time explaining how Balakrishna became a father figure to Sreeleela's character, the succeeding sequences are ineffective. The entire Balakrishna and Kajal episode is devoid of entertainment.
There is a major twist - a flashback to Bagavanth Kesari's life in the Adilabad forest - and it is also revealed that the main villain Rahul Sanghvi (Arjun Rampal) was present. This is one of the stronger episodes in the first half. However, the villain's general characterisation and his arc in the second half are weak.
While Anil Ravipudi has a very strong message to convey – making women stronger and turning our daughters into tigresses, this message and the main thread – the fight with the villain doesn’t merge well. It looks forced.
Sreeleela realizes Bhagavanth Kesari's sacrifice for her only at the end of the story. It appears to be a bit add. Nonetheless, the film's final hour is far better than the preceding sequences. The portions involving Sreeleela's army training experience in a Hydrabad center, as well as Balayya discussing good touch/bad touch, generate strong emotions.
The film suffers from uneven narrative and illogical situations, which remind us of Boyapati's films. The CM, as well as ministers, discuss and deal in corporates devoid of logic and far from reality.
Overall, despite having an excellent message to express, "Bhagavanth Kesari" suffers from excessive fights and action elements, slow narration, and inconsistencies. It's not fully engaging, but it's also not wholly boring. Balakrishna playing a role that corresponds to his actual age is appreciable.
Bottom line: Chi-Cha
