Waltair Veerayya

Waltair Veerayya review:

The latest Chiranjeevi masala entertainer brought back fond memories of his two successful Hindi ventures - Pratibandh (1990) and Aaj Ka Goonda Raaj (1992). The claps and whistles in the single screen I visited were still intact for the ageless megastar who shines in the titular role of a dubious fisherman with a tragic past..

Indeed, at sixty seven years, Chiru still looks convincing beating his brawny opponents to pulp as well as romancing a girl half his age (Shruti Haasan). The megastar pulls it off and how!!

Admittedly, the plot and execution is rooted in the '90s and might feel largely over the top for 2023. But its still fun to watch and most importantly, packs in all the ingredients you crave for in a commercial movie. There is action, there is emotion, there is bromance, there is a love angle and there is an item song. Yup, Urvashi Rautela pops up to shake a hip with megastar Chiru while Shruti Haasan gets some high octane action sequences apart from the routine song and dance.

The icing on the cake comes immediately post interval when the title reads Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja and the star makes a spectacular entry carrying a small goat. By the way, that goat shows more emotions than what our very own Arjun Kapoor displayed in his latest flop called Kuttey!!

Ravi and Chiru's scenes are the movie's highlight and the penultimate one will give goosebumps to their fans. Special mention of the action scene just before the interval with the megastar atop an elephant. That was truly a 'taalimaar' moment!!

All in all, Waltair Veerayya is worth your ticket price. Provided you have an appetite for the masala entertainers of yore. Mega and Mass fans obviously cannot miss it!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Bobby Kolli being a fan himself of Megastar Chiranjeevi has delivered a thorough fan service with Waltair Veerayya. The writing takes multiple hits badly as most of the efforts has gone into presenting Megastar in his beloved avatar and as expectedly he aces it be it with comedy or intense drama. Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja lends able support in second half but the writing comes to an haphazard halt once his portion end.

Walter Veerayya is another revenge story told with all the masala ingredients required for a Sankranti commercial potboiler. There is no room for logic but enough of it to fill it with baddies fronted by Prakash Raj. The third act completely failed and headed for a routine end. It is Megastar who carries the film on his shoulders raising to the occasion, giving enough meta references and the scenes between Chiru - Ravi Teja are truly hilarious.

Strictly for fans to witness an in-form Megastar.

Positives.

1. Chiru sir and Ravanna.

Chiru sir was great as Veerayya. It almost felt like I was vintage Chiru be honest. He was very lively, likable, and after a point, sympathetic and gets us to emotionally connect with his character. Along with Chiru sir, Ravanna was also great and got us to connect with him in the minimal time he had. The scenes between them weren't written well, but it was still engaging due to their performances. The only bad thing in their performances though is their slang. Veerayya's Vizag slang and Vikram's Telengana slang were unnecessary and the director shouldn't have added it into the movie.

2. DSP BGM.

Though the songs were forgettable, I have to go it to DSP anna. Even though some BGMs were mediocre. Without his BGM, some scenes wouldn't have been that memorable. Especially the pre-climax scene.

3. Interval Bang.

For people who haven't seen it, see the movie at least for that scene. It's the peak of the movie, and everything was great in that scene be it the direction, cinematography, especially DSP anna's BGM.

4. Basic Story.

The basic story of the character Veerayya was good albeit it's routine. It had the potential to become a classic commercial movie. It had space for good comedy, good action scenes, good emotional scenes, good scenes with Sruthi Hassan, etc. Etc., but unfortunately the reason with movie ends up being only decent and not great is only because of one person and that person is...

Negatives

1. Bobby.

Yes, Bobby himself. Note that I said Bobby and not story, screenplay, dialogues, direction. It's all because he was the one who did everything with everything to make a great movie and handled it like an amateur. Even though I liked the basic story, he could've done many things to make it less predictable and more entertaining. Even though he didn't write the screenplay by himself (he had help from Kona Venkat and K. Chakravathy Reddy), he had a hand in it and could've somehow convinced his aides and vice versa to make the screenplay way better. Seriously, there too many unneccessary points in the script of the movie which should've been removed such as some side characters like poor Vennela Kishore, Pradeep Rawat and Anish Kuruvilla and some unnecessary reactions and songs and replaced them with more scenes that try to get us to emotionally connect with the gang and Shruti Hassan. It would've made things more fun. Along with that, even though I liked how he introduced some more emotional depth and flaws to Veerayya in the second half, it was completely predictable and would've been better if he took care of it. Along with that, he should've written the pre-climax and climax scene of the movie way better. The only reason why the pre-climax is better than the climax is the BGM and the climax is too 80s-level melodramatic and the screenplay could've been way better in this parts. It was so mediocre that Neekemo and the scene before it comes out of nowhere and should've been edited out. Coming to the direction, he should've used many things in this movie way better. For example, DSP. The songs are mediocre and as a Chiru fan, he should've at least made DSP give a good album--especially since Chiru-DSP is a famous combo known for great albums like Shankar Dada MBBS, Shankar Dada Zindabad, and Andarivaadu--,but what we got was completely mediocre, except the title track which I loved. But nevertheless, along with DSP, he should've used his other technicians to make the movie look better from a CGI and cinematography POV, and along with that, he should've directed the movie how the scenes demanded. It would've made the movie an actual good movie.

Overall, I think that this movie had the potential to become a classic in Chiru sir's career, but was spoiled due to Bobby.

Used to watch and like Chiru's movies a lot, but this one predictably disappointed. It is definitely a Chiru's desperate attempt to come back to silver screen (God Father is far better than this, if you compare). With Sruthi hassan, Chiru is looking so pale acting hero with no-chemistry and silly forceful unnecessary scenes.

And movie story line is really silly and sometimes boring and funny dialogues (with reminding you of dialogues and scenes from Kodanda Rami reddy, Dasari narayana rao movies, very predictable sometime silly scenes and dialogues sometimes).

And Ravi Teja's dialogues in Telangana accent really makes worse. He should have practiced the accent better and more, but his forceful (sometimes mixed with his regular style) is funny and not appealing.

Another time-waste attempt like Bheemli Nayak.

Hats off to chiranjevi for giving major screen space to Ravi Teja who's entry in 2nd half lifts the whole film undoubtedly a sankranti winner , also one can witness vintage chiru's 90's swag simple yet charming dance moves & style also his performance in 2nd half was top notch in emotional quotient too... Mass Maharaj's entry is defined the movie with success badge and his performance was simply superb without whom this achievement was impossible..... Despite DSP's repeated tunes couple of foot tapping numbers is a feast for every mega star fans.... The poor VFX is a major drawback of the film to the given budget... Overall it's just a timepass flick to passout with nothing new to offer and director just intended to play a safe game.