Movie: Brahmotsavam
Genre: Drama/Family
Budget: 75 crore
Box office: est. 63.70 crore
Verdict: Disaster.
It's a blockbuster for me. If doesn't did well at box office. Because of weak storyline.
Synopsis: Addala garu, we get it... the world has a lot of good people. But why are all of them in your film?
Movie Review: With Brahmotsavam, Srikanth Addala has tried to deliver a Sooraj Barjatya experience to the Telugu cinema goer. Think very large, very happy families, living in palatial homes, doling out lengthy dialogues on family values. If that's not syrupy enough, there's ample use of pretty people smiling all the time; their prettiness further amplified with all those glossy filters. You saw glimpses of it in Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu. And Brahmotsavam takes this indulgence to the next level - it's about values, values, values and oh, more values. So much so, you can't help but root for the hero's first love, Kasi (Kajal) who dumps him, unable to cope with his saccharine sweet forever-happy family. So much so, it makes us want to ask, Addala garu, we get it. The world has a lot of good people. But why are all of them in your film?
The film starts off by introducing all the "manchi" people in this huge, and "manchi", family. But till the end, there's no explanation why they're all so good. So far, so good. But there's a problem. The director doesn't know what he wants to really convey with all these good people.
One moment, we are thinking the hero (Mahesh Babu), distraught after his father's untimely death, will take on the mantle and keep the family together. The next moment, he's on a whirlwind tour of India, girlfriend (Samantha) in tow, in search of his roots. But wait, she's not even his girlfriend, yet. But that's the least of our problems.
The hero goes around meeting extended family (we never know why), and keeps hopping from Nagpur to Solapur to Haridwar to Kasi and finally, Bangalore. And then he comes back home. Just like that. Nothing really happens, except that somewhere along the way, hero realises he loves heroine. And they kiss.
Mahesh Babu's performance in the pre-interval sequence is the best part of the film. That one shot where he paces up and down, with pain, confusion and despair on his face, all at once, gives you a peek into what Mahesh can do as an actor. Sadly, you don't get to see enough of that. For much of the film, he is just hanging around, smiling and looking pretty. Honestly, we've seen so much of this fawning over Mahesh's fabled good looks that it's boring now, especially when you go as far as to make a little kid ask him if he'll marry her. Rao Ramesh, as usual, gives a stellar act, but what's the use? Everyone else does what's expected.
Moral of the colourful story: A montage of beautiful visuals (Rathnavelu's brilliance), lots of happy people, and frequent song and dance routines may be the perfect ingredients for a 'brahmotsavam', but the end result needn't necessarily be a good film.
In-depth Analysis
Our overall critic's rating is not an average of the sub scores below.
Direction:
2.5/5
Screenplay:
3.0/5
Visual appeal:
4.0/5
Fear Factor:
0.0.
