Srimanthudu

If a leading star has had two box office turkeys, one would expect his next film to have all that's considered necessary for a blockbuster. While trying to get this recipe for success right, often, a director plays around with an apology of a plot.

The trailer of Srimanthudu had the glimpse of a promising story line, of a well-heeled youngster adopting a village. But the promotional campaign laid stress on the entertainment factor; the team didn't want to make the huge fan base believe they are in for a 'message- oriented' drama. Does the promise of a strong core get drowned in the Masala? Pleasantly, it doesn't. Director Koratala Siva gives the fan base enough to cheer and at the same time, has a firm grip over the plot.

Harsha (Mahesh) is the scion of his father's (Jagapati Babu) business empire. He isn't keen on taking over the reigns of the empire. Rather, he takes up a course on rural development after he meets Charusheela (Shruti Haasan), who wants to use technology to the benefit of her village.

Harsha doles out wads of notes to an elderly woman begging at the traffic signal, donates lack's of rupees to an employee for his daughter's wedding and generally, remains aloof from the ostentatious setting that surrounds him. Like the father and son in K. Balachander's excellent Rudraveena, here too, the father and son differ in their ideological outlook. The father-son clashes here are more subtle. There is a certain respect with which Harsha puts forth his points of view and bides time to, like he says, earn his respect.

Giving away money is the first step, but will Harsha risk his life when he is up against a local hoodlum, Sashi (Sampath) and a minister (Mukesh Rishi)? A liquor network, a water bottling unit eating into the drinking water source of the village, and agriculture land at the brink of being taken over for political gains, all find a place in Harsha's journey.

As the hurdles get tougher, the film glorifies Harsha as the hamlet's savior. But that's expected of a commercial entertainer.

Director Koratala Siva comes out with an unique subject and presents truly more than what he wrote. His screenplay makes you sit for around 3 hours without complaining about a single scene. As they said in the interviews every scene is connected to another and you never feel that a particular scene is wasted. Mahesh Babu is outstanding as usual and nobody can do well than him if this kind of script comes to them. Mahesh is stylish as usual and looking more glamorous too. Definitely he is going to surprise the fans and others with his stunning performance, which is his best so far. Shruti Hassan does a key role in the film, not only as a lead lady, but also forms the limb for the power packed screenplay. Jagapathi Babu and Rajendra Prasad along with other huge star cast plays every character perfectly and one cannot imagine someone else playing those characters on screen. Not even a single character got wasted and not even a single frame went useless. DeviSriPrasad comes out with a energetic performance again as said by many. Background score and songs are as usual rocking and Madhie is the man to talk about. He is the one who presented the vision of director Siva in an extraordinary way. Editing, Choreography and all other departments are flawless.

Simply - Mahesh did another film which nobody can do and Srimanthudu turns another blockbuster in his career and Srimanthudu is truly a classic in Telugu film industry. You cannot compare this kind of films with any other films and you cannot imagine these kind of films in the future. Lets hope for the best.

Movie which gives a nice message with powerpacked story and performances by artists

Its is not an easy thing after an epic and super successful movie Bahubali also last two of Mahesh Babu movies were an average and labeled as flop moves (though I do not agree that 1 Nenokkadine was a bad move). Therefore, the the odds were not that great. But here is what, Srimanthudu surpassed my expectations, richness is everywhere, cinematography, story, screen play, direction, music (could have been even better), and my favorite one, the fight scenes. Director Koritalla Siva is known for best from his previous move Mirchi, took almost three years to make his second movie and done an excellent job.

Recently it is quite common that the hero is a born rich and parents wanted to continue the family saga, however, director took in a different direction, after all rich people also starve to do something better to the society, this is exactly what this movie is about. A simple message to adopt a village.

Mahesh looked awesome (as usual), he has done an excellent job, and lived in his character, one noticeable thing that director was very careful is in Mahesh dances, did not put lot of effort in there (dances are not Mahesh department). A great deal of credit goes to hero characterization, we can feel that, this role only Mahesh can do. We all know that we may hit two or three people but definitely not 10s and 20s, however, framing of fight scenes are exceptionally good and Mahesh done excellent job in that. Not much to say about Shruti Hassan, she got a decent role and done reasonably well, she looks very skinny, I think she should seriously think about put on some weight.

My second favorite role in this movie is Jagapati Babu, he is well suited in his father's role, did not miss Prakash Raju at all, Jagapti Babu has a great future in his second inning as a character role.

Before I conclude, many of us came from village background, I am sure this will take us to our childhood and will remind us our village days, definitely creates some thoughts on visiting our birth place.

Music department is average, just couple of songs were good, rest can be taken out and more over this movie does not require any song (may be two if someone is desperate). No usual comedy track which is a big relief.

Overall, it is well a made movie, keeps you interesting till end and best treat for Mahesh Babu fans.

Harsha (Mahesh Babu), who is the feather bedded son of multi- millionaire Ravikanth (Jagapathi Babu), is a business minded person. He's such a good Samaritan that he always wanna help the needy, over the complications caused by others. Meanwhile, he falls in love with Charuseela (Shruti Haasan) and the complications start when Charu tells a secret about his father. Harsha leaves to Devarakota to solve the issues, instead he adopts the village and starts developing it. That's when he comes across Shashi (Sampath Raj) a local goon and starts mounting upon a small problem. The path the movie takes as the director attempts to find common ground between the two types of personalities is what makes the movie that much more interesting in the end.. Star Performance

It's a one man show Mahesh Babu steals the show with his performance. In full contrast to his image, Mahesh seen as an out and out classy with some Massey shades. It is very evident that Harshavardhan character is very close to Mahesh's heart and gets into the skin of the character. And his cool dance moves deserves a special mention. Shruti Haasan is also effective in her role and sizzled with her moves in the Dhimmathirigae songs. Rajendra Prasad and Jagapathi Babu are promising in their short roles. So is the others in the shorter roles includes Sukanya, Sivaji Raja and Tejaswi Madivada who are not here in archetype characters who just talks the standard lines. Ali's presence guarantees some fun, if not too much. Vennela Kishore and Rahul Ravindran cameos that has a bearing on the story. Poorna is pretty in her traditional attire. Techinical Team

The climax is also shot without any clarity and remains another engaging episode of the movie that comes to sudden stop. Questions en ti sir.. etc are good deserves some applause.

Srimanthudu takes some time to settle and once the backdrop is set the movie moves on in a reasonably decent narrative structure. The not so watertight screenplay by Koratala Siva make it an uneven ride, but there are some very remarkably written elevation sequences. Even here few scenes remind us that this is rather a meek gallimaufry of situations from quite a few films in the past like Bageeradha, Brindavanam, Dookudu, Janani Janmabhoomi, Dil, Athadu.etc. The other major highlight of the movie is Madhie's camera that gives an fresh prospective to every shot. The way Madhie handled the long shots post the fight sequences shows his Midas touch. The tunes of the 6 songs composed by Devi Sri Prasad are fine while "Charuseela" and "Jagore Jagore" are expected to be the chart toppers. The background score provides all pep needed for this film. The movie is a little lengthier at two hours forty three minutes and towards the end loses the plot forthright. The final appears hurried and looks out of sync with the flow of the narrative. Editor Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao could have easily cut short the film by 20 odd minutes. Production Values of Mythri Movie Makers" are grand.

Director Koratala Siva's Srimanthudu has every ingredient that you ask for from a commercial entertainer. From action, romance, humour, melodrama, songs, dance moves to emotional sentiments, there is a bit of it all to make things sufficiently spicy. But only if you go for the film without much expectation, Srimanthudu may turn out to be a watchable fare at best. The film's real trump card, is Mahesh Babu who has given a tremendous performance in the lead role. But the directorial lag is evident in many scenes even though Koratala Siva just manages to make them engrossing. On the whole, Srimanthudu will surely be a treat for the actor's fans despite being tagged as a social themed film, the movie has some good emotional sequences which will touch fans hearts.