Janta Garage

First of all, I want to say I like the storytelling style of Koratala Siva and I like his previous films. Mirchi was a good action movie (starring Prabhas) and Srimanthudu was also not a bad movie. The last one is not great but above the average. After these two commercially successful movies he came to us with Janatha Garage. This is one of the most anticipated movies in this year in Telugu cinema. Junior NTR has a good record in this year. His previous release "Nannaku Prematho" was a critically acclaimed movie and also a hit in Telugu box office. So for this movie we were so excited and were eagerly waiting for this.

As one of the most anticipated movies, I am not telling this is a bad movie. The first half is a little bit slower and needed more catchy scenes. Slow paced tone of the first half may be will bore you. But Junior NTR's powerful screen presence and very eminent dialogues bend you with the story. After the interval, you will experience the full pace and the suspense which will drive you to the end. I am not revealing the story but there is a hidden story which will unlock in the second half. Engaging but not new. Common suspense and thrill with the story and sometimes it is predictable.

Performance wise Junior NTR is the heart of this film and Mohanlal also has done a good job. But excellent acting and screen presence of NTR shadowed all other's performance. The direction of the movie is very average and nothing new. Music is average and not up to the mark. Script and screenplay are choppy and sometimes predictable and needed more shape of the story. Editing is not so good and for this sometimes the scenes continuation missed the clarification and it is like the scenes are jumped and overlapped.

Maybe it will be a record breaking opening at the box office and I assume this will be one of the biggest hits in this year but it could have been better and would be a gem if the director should be concentrated those things which I mentioned above.

I loved this movie thoroughly. Fantastic story. Excellent acting.

Jr. NTR delivered a commanding and restrained performance, deviating from his typical action-hero image. He portrays a nature-loving environmental activist with depth and emotional gravitas. His screen presence, particularly in intense and emotional scenes, received widespread praise. He balanced the action sequences with more subtle emotional moments, showing versatility. Mohanlal, the Malayalam cinema legend, brought an air of dignity and power to his role as the head of the Janatha Garage. His understated performance elevated the film, and his natural acting style added authenticity to his character. His combination of quiet authority and fatherly warmth made him a standout. The chemistry between Mohanlal and Jr. NTR was a highlight. Nithya Menen, though in a limited role, delivered a solid performance. Her portrayal of a strong, independent woman added depth to the film. Despite not having a very lengthy screen presence, she brought freshness and grace to the narrative. Samantha's role was primarily as the romantic interest, and while she did her best with the part, it didn't allow her to showcase her full acting range. Nevertheless, she shared good on-screen chemistry with Jr. NTR and delivered in the emotional scenes. Jr. NTR's matured portrayal and Mohanlal's towering presence were the film's backbone. Nithya Menen and Samantha did well with their respective roles, though the narrative leaned heavily on the male characters. While the supporting cast played their parts convincingly, it was the lead actors that truly shone.

Janatha Garage (2016): Since Temper,NTR has changed his way of story selection and choosing only those scripts which has good emotional depth.In Temper he gave terrific performance as a corrupt police officer and in Nanaku Prematho he gave his most subtle performance ever.Now with Janatha Garage he teamed up with national winning actor Mohanlal. Koratala Shiva,who is famous for his message oriented commercial films(Mirchi,Srimanthudu) directed this prestigious project.How is it??

Plot: Satyam (Mohanlal) establishes an auto garage in Hyderabad in early 1980's. Soon he becomes a leader to their locality. All people in the neighborhood approach him for help and he also "repairs" (bashes up) men who do wrong to the people.In the present day, Anand (NTR), an environmental researcher, studying and living in Mumbai frequently lands in problems for his cases against powerful people who pollute the nature. He also knows how to teach them a lesson by bashing them.On a study exchange program, Anand comes down to Hyderabad and he closes down the illegal quarry of Satyam's son Raghava (Unni). Impressed with Anand's aggressive and righteous nature, Satyam asks him to take over his garage. Why? What is his motive?

Plus Points:

1)Performances: Major plus point of Janatha Garage is the mind blowing performances of NTR and Mohanlal.Their screen presence simply mesmerizes us with such brilliant acting.NTR showed brilliant maturity in this movie especially the scene in GHMC. Mohanlal really leaves a mark in TFI with his performance and surely wins hearts of Telugu people.Devayani as Mohanlal's wife gave good performance.

2)Few scenes in both halves: Janatha Garage is not perfect as it has some clichéd scenes but few scenes are brilliant.Especially the Interval and GHMC scene in second half are remarkable.

3)Dialogues: Dialogues are very good which has good depth in it.NTR style of delivery to those dialogues helped a lot to get connected to them.

Minus Points:

1)Cliched scenes: Janatha Garage has lot of routine scenes.Movie has highly predictable screenplay most of the time.Villains are so poor and there is no emotional quotient is the scenes.

2)Editing: Editing is so poor that it gives a feel that there is sudden jump between scenes.

3)Music: DSP gave average music for this movie.Songs are not good enough but lyrics are brilliant.BGM gives us deja vu feel.

So Janatha Garage has brilliant performances from NTR and Mohanlal,few brilliant emotional scenes but needs few more repairs to make it perfect.

My rating 6.75/10

Janatha Garage is a movie which boldly lacks key entertainment elements that are comedy and good dialogues.However, the movie still pleases somewhat with a realistic emotion. The movie cannot even be tolerated for the second time but if you watch the movie not expecting comedy and good dialogues, you are likely to appreciate the direction of Koratala Siva and acting prowess of Mohanlal and NTR.

The movie bears the story of helping the society which seems to be a common theme in the movies of Koratala Shiva. The story seems very familiar and cliché but few elements in the storyline seem new and realistic only due to the realistic direction and acting.

Negatives:

No attention on details ( for example on showing Bomb blasts, Rajeev Kanakala's reason for denial), ridiculously boring dialogues, lack of sense of humor for any character.

Positives:

Humility NTR has depicted in contrast to his previous movies, complete acting team,direction.