A film that left Kalyanram disappointed

Making a film with all ingredients which could please all classes of audiences is a great feat which cannot be done every time. Though the Goddess of Luck could knock one’s door once or twice but not always. This fact was proved clearly with NTR Arts. When Kalyanram is craving for a hit, he got a hit in the name of ‘Athanokkade’ by launching his own banner, NTR Arts, which was named after his grandfather. However, he could not succeed in any other banner with a notable hit. Again, he produced ‘Hare Ram’ on his own banner and that ran with an above average to moderate hit talk. But Kalyanram tasted bitterness in his third attempt. He could not blame any others for his misfortune but for himself as his selection of story, director was poor in taste.

STORY

Bhavani Shankar (Mukhesh Rushi) and Narasimha (Jayaprakash Reddy) are very good friends. Their friendship is so good that even their families too enjoy their friendship. However, their colleague Yadagiri @ Yadu (Asish Vidyarthi) could not digest their friendship and tries his best to separate them. He manages to launch a union in their factory and make Bhavani to announce Narasimha as the president. Differences of opinion crop up between the two and the two friends turn bitter enemies. Both of them grew up as big trade union leaders. Bhavani keeps his son Ram (Kalyanram) away from the country in the name of education fearing attack from his enemies.

Narasimha too sends his daughter Anjali (Hansika) to Hong Kong for higher studies. Ram once visits India and learns from one of the close associates of his father, Benarjee (Benarjee) that Bhavani is not happy with Yadu, who was now in Hong Kong running a big cricket betting mafia. So, Ram goes to Hong Kong and convinces Yadu that he could do wonders with cricket betting. They both work together and earn whopping money through one match. When Yadu was in such a happy mood, the police come and arrest him following revelation by the cricketers that they were forced to lose the match due to the pressure from Yadu. Like this, Ram sends Yadu behind bars.

However, during his stay in Hong Kong, Ram accidentally meets Anjali. Unknowingly that they are the children of bitter enemies, they fall in love with each other. After their return to India, they realise the truth. Did their love is fruitful? How did they convince their parents for their marriage? What kind of plans did they hatch to win the heart of their elders? What happened to Yadu? Did Bhavani and Narasimha unite and become friends again? Answers to all these questions form part of the climax.

PERFORMANCE:

Kalyanram did his best in the film. He is at his usual best in action scenes and yet to improve his skills in showing more ease in dances. Despite facing the camera for many films earlier, he still needs to improve his body language and the dialogue modulation. He should leave the rigid stance in sentiment scenes. Moreover, Kalyanram made a vain bid to deliver a little comedy, which is not his forte. Hansika could fill the glamour slot but could not perform well in other scenes. She is not even able to give good lip movement to sync the dialogues. Mukhesh Rushi, Jayaprakash Reddy and Asish Vidyarthi did stereotype roles and they are at their usual best though the audiences felt bored after watching them portraying the same kind of roles in many films earlier. Raghubabu and Ali tried to tickle the funny bones of audiences to some extent and succeeded in parts. Brahmanandam’s role is a big let down and was not etched properly.

TECHNICAL:

Behind the camera, everything worked against the interests of the film and the failure of the film is mostly because of the technical department. The story is very old fashioned and there is nothing good to offer. The dialogues lacked any punch and the comedy track written for the film is also in bad taste but not penned in a proper manner to really entertain the audiences. Literary values in songs is almost on the wane and only one song was good to listen and watch. Music by Thamas is another big let down. None of the tunes in the film are catchy and he failed to give good tunes to almost all the songs. Even re-recording is also below average. Camera work by Sivendra is normal and has nothing great to talk about, so as the editing by Gauthamraju. Due to the poor taste in editing the entire first half turned boring completely. Action by Vijay is average. Last and the least is the direction. The immaturity of the director could be seen in every frame of the film right from the beginning till the end. He could not narrate any of the scene or sequence with an appeal and none of the characters could be etched well. In fact, the selection of the story for a debutant in itself is in bad taste which ultimately resulted in a failure.

ANALYSIS:

When a director is making his debut, he should be in a position to pen a story on his own. So that he could have a firm grip on the subject. Moreover, if he personally handles the story, screenplay and direction, he could rearrange any scene, if he believes that it could give a turnaround and make the film a hit. Handling a story written by someone needs shrewdness in handling the subject as the director has to gain grip on it. Moreover, treading a path which was already laid by someone, i.e., taking an old subject and trying to narrate in a different manner is also a skilful job. The director failed in all these aspects. Despite good production values, the producer and the hero of the film had to taste defeat because of poor storyline and immature narration.  

Cast: Nandamuri Kalyanram, Hansika Motwani, Mukhesh Rushi, Jayaprakash Reddy, Asish Vidyarthi, Benarjee, Chalapati Rao, Ali, Brahmanandam, Raghubabu, Venumadhav, Duvvasi Mohan, Sudha, Hema and others.

Credits: Story and dialogues – BVS Ravi, Lyrics – Sirivennela Sitaramasastry, Ramajogaiah Sastry, Cinematography – Dasarathi Sivendra, Editing – Gauthamraju, Music – S Thamas, Action – Vijay, Art – Rajiv Nayar, Presents – Nandamuri Sourya Ram, Producer – Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, Screenplay and direction – Naren Kondepati.  

Banner: NTR Arts