Sri Ramadasu

Saw this movie many years ago and love the songs. The movie captures the essence of a devotee, his relationship with the Lord. I think that is the sum essence of all of life.

In one of the songs, the devotee Ramadaasu complains about the money he spent for the various ornaments to decorate the Lord. Lord out of His mercy lovingly allows such emotions amongst His devotees. I therefore believe that nobody should mess with devotees as it would draw the Ire of Lord, whose love for His devotees knows no bounds.

Punchline of the movie is Sri Rama Naamaamrutham, the divine nectar of the name Sri Rama. The movie is about a great devotee "Kancherla Gopanna", popularly known as Ramadasu. K.Raghavendra rao once again came up with a good devotional movie, Keeravani is the key element, his music is excellent, he should be applauded for such a great performance. Nagarjuna's performance is an asset for the movie. The movie is full of devotional elements, director narrated the story in a decent way and the emotions rise as the movie progresses, reaching the peak at the climax. Ikshvakula thilaka, ye theeruga, Dasarathi songs are excellent and intense with fervor... troubles faced by Shri Ramadasu were pictured well, movie is excellent and Nagarjuna is lucky to get such a role.

Another feather in the cap of Raghavendra Rao. Wish Annamayya is made now. The graphics and audio are superb. A well made film. The comedy track with Sunil especially the way the dialogues were delivered by his character and the dialogues in the cart between him and his parents are slightly cheap - could have been made better. Overall the film is great. The picturisation of the song "Antha Ramamayam" is fantastic. Especially the grandeur in which the descent of Rama (Vishnu)to earth is depicted is marvellous. Credit goes to Keeravani for the excellent music. Photography by Gopal Reddy is superb. A blown-up print of the film was shown on IMAX screen in Hyderabad - first ever telugu film to hit the IMAX screen.

Gopanna (Nagarjuna) is a happy-go-lucky guy and marries his childhood love Kamala (Sneha). He secures the job of Tahasildar for Husnabad on the recommendation of his maternal uncles Akkanna and Madanna. He gets inspired by the devotion shown by Dammakka towards Lord Rama and the way she protects the idols of Rama, Seeta and Lakshmana. He becomes a great devotee of Lord Rama over night. He vows that he would stay in open place just like statue of Lord Rama till a temple is constructed. He collects 6 lakhs of coins through donations and constructs Rama temple in Bhadrachalam with the guidance of his guru Kabir Das (ANR). A few ill-minded people misinform emperor Taanisha (Nasseer) that Gopanna misused emperor's money to construct temple. Meanwhile, Kabir Das confers Gopanna the title of Sri Ramadasu on the insistence of Lord Rama. The rest of the story is all about how Tanisha realizes his mistake and sets Sri Ramadasu free.

Artists Performance Nagarjuna: Nagarjuna is perhaps the most luckiest hero among his contemporaries for getting such roles like Annamayya and Sri Ramadasu. He did extremely well in the title role. His histrionics in the last reel where 'Dasaradhi' song comes are extraordinary. Nobody knows how Sri Ramadasu looks like and whenever we think about Sri Ramadasu in the future, the image of Nagarjuna becomes the visual aid.

Others: ANR acted in the vital role of Kabir Das. He brought believability to this character that is considered as guru to Ramadasu. Sneha is fabulous a devoted wife of Ramadasu. Sujatha donned one of the most important roles in this film as Dammakka. She injects devotion into the soul of Gopanna with her deeds. Suman is good as Lord Rama. Nasseer is appropriate in the role of Tanisha. Veda is fair as Seeta. Nagababu is pretty good in the role of Ravana. Among the comedians Sunil and Brahmanandam are impressive.

Technical Departments: Screenplay - Direction: K Raghavendra Rao has the uncanny ability of striking back whenever everybody writes him off. K Raghavendra Rao proved again why he is called a legendry commercial director with this film. He narrated the entire film in a simple way by giving more importance to the emotions than the grandeur. He made sure that the emotions graph goes up as the film progresses by capturing the attention of audiences. He used pretty good commercial elements in the last half an hour of the film. The thread of parrot is nicely woven into the story.

Music: Songs and rerecording by MM Keeravani is the biggest asset of Sri Ramadasu. We have 19 songs in this film and all songs are neatly blended into the storyline. Backgrund music is terrific. Keeravani's background music for Sri Ramadasu is another fine example for how good music increases the emotional depth of the film. The last three songs (Yento Ruchira, Ishvakulaku and Dasarathi) take the film into different level.

Other departments: Cinematography by S Gopal Reddy is very good. Script by JK Bharavi is a plus point. The dialogues are very meaningful and appropriate. Especially the one - 'Sreeramudiki nuvvu gudi kattinchavu. Ninnu Sreeramudu gundello vunchukunnadu'. The powerful dialogues written for Nagarjuna in Tanisha court in second half got great response. Editing by Srikar Prasad is fine. Artwork by Bhaskara Raju is good. Producer Konda Krisham Raju should be appreciated for coming forward to make such a different film.

Analysis: The first half of the film is decent. The emotional graph starts growing up from 'Antha Ramamayam' song and goes to the peak by the film reaches climax. Second half of the film is very good. The plus points of this film are Nagarjuna's histrionics, Keeravani's music, K Raghavendra Rao's direction of JK Bharavi's script. Sri Ramadasu film comes as fresh breeze when we are bombarded with routine and formula flicks. I recommend this devotional flick to everybody.

I watched this movie with great expectations. Probably thats why I am not giving 10 out of 10. First and foremost the credit goes to the Hero, Nagarjuna. He really outperformed everyone. He acted with much ease (probably Annamayya would have given enough experience and comfort level) from the beginning to the end. Sneha suits the female lead character well. There isn't anything about the rest.

Coming to the story line, Ramadasu is a great devotee of Lord Rama, and he forgotten his duties as a Tahasildar ( District officer) and used the taxes to construct Lord Rama's temple. He was tortured in for 12 years before Lord Rama himself came and pay the money to the King and released Ramadas from cell. This itself a great story and the director should have shown the life of Ramadas, and the way he became a great devotee, and how he forgot his responsibilities and used the money in great belief instead of opting for cheap comedy, and the regular masala stuff. This really irks me and thats one of the reason I don't want to give this movie an upper hand to Annamayya. Anyway its a great relief for regular viewer of Telugu pictures as he's been going to the theater to watch the same routing 16 years hero fall in love with 14 year gal or hero loves villain's sister/daughter etc stuff. There are some goofs which're real shocks. 1. When Ramadas was in jail, one can clearly see the "Tatto" on his right shoulder. I don't think so that the "Tatto" was "in" those days. 2. History says Ramadasu was in jail for 12 years. In the movie I think they'vent considered this part.