Movie: Jai Simha
Rating: 2.25/5
Banner: CK Entertainments Pvt Ltd
Cast: Nandamuri Balakrishna, Nayanathara, Natasha Doshi, Haripriya, Brahmanandam, Prakash Raj, Ashutosh Rana, Murali Mohan, Jayaprakash Reddy, Prabhakar, Shiva Parvathi and others.
Story, dialogues: M Ratnam
Music: Chirantan Bhatt
Cinematography: C Ram Prasad
Editing: Praveen Antony
Art: Narayana Reddy
Action: Anbariv, Ram-Laxman, Venkat
Producer: C Kalyan
Direction: KS Ravi Kumar
Release date: Jan 12, 2018
Last Sankranthi, Nandamuri Balakrishna scored a huge hit with his 100th film “Gauthamiputra Satakarni”.
As he brings another masala movie for this Sankranthi season and since Pawan Kalyan’s “Agnyaathavaasi” bombed, the expectations on the movie have soared.
Despite not-so-good trailers, Sankranthi is considered lucky for Balayya. Does the film have the strength to impress the audiences? Will he score another hit? Let’s find out.
Story:
Narasimha (Nandamuri Balakrishna) along with his new born baby moves to Kumbakonam to lead a peaceful life, from Vizag. He gets a driver’s job in a rich man’s (Murali Mohan) house.
Local gang leader Kaniyappan’s (Kalakeya Prabhakar) brother gets hurt in an accident done by the daughter (Natasha) of Narasimha’s owner, but he takes the blame on him. And suddenly he sees Gowri (Nayanathara) with her husband at a temple.
Then story moves to flashback: Narasimha and Gowri are childhood friends in Vizag and love each other. They wanted to get married but Gowri’s father (Prakash Raj) raises objections as Narasimha frequently indulges in fights.
One day, Gowri runs away from her home to get married to Narasimha only to find that he just got married to his co-worker Manga (Haripriya). Why did Narasimha take this decision?
Artistes’ Performances:
Nandamuri Balakrishna has donned two different shades of the same character. Balakrishna has given his regular style of performance, nothing much to write about, there is no novelty factor. His maturity is seen in sentiment scenes in the second half though.
Nayanathara in brief role is effective. She has pulled it off well. Hari Priya as a lady mechanic and Balakrishna’s wife is okay.
New heroine Natasha Doshi doesn’t impress much. Prakash Raj as Nayanathara’s father shines. Brahmanandam’s comedy is outdated.
Murali Mohan is okay. Kalakeya Prabhakar and Ashutosh Rana have played their roles in a bland way.
Technical Excellence:
The film is mass movie and the cinematography, artwork and action stunts are all massy. C Ram Prasad captures the sequences in Kumbakonam and Vizag well but his work is quite routine in most parts.
Music director Chiranthan Bhatt has given different music for a mass movie. Of the songs, “Priyam Jagame Anandam” is good. M Rathnam’s writing is overloaded with over the top dialogues. Editing is okay.
Highlights:
Pre-interval sequences
Drawback:
Bland second half
Old story
Outdated screenplay
Clichéd direction
Over the top masala scenes
Analysis:
Though Tamil director K S Ravi Kumar has given many hits in the past, his narrative style has lost its relevance for today’s generation. His recent movies which were duds at the box-office are the best examples to prove this point.
The out-of-form director has chosen a script that is as old as his “Muthu” (Rajinikanth starrer). Not only is the story old, the screenplay is also outdated.
There are many twists in this story but they are forced ones and the overdose of sentiment and thyagam (sacrifice) are packaged in a way that makes us wonder whether the makers are still stuck in the '70s and ' 80s.
Sample this: Balakrishna doesn’t have guts to approach Nayanathara’s father to seek her hand, he always approaches Nayanathara’s father but talks something else with him and runs away. And he finally sacrifices Nayanathara’s love because her father wanted her to get married to a decent guy. Even after she gets married to another guy, he lands in a situation to sacrifice another thing for her. Such sacrifices seem silly.
When one thought that such stories are over and done with, writer M Rathnam dishes out this and K S Ravikumar takes it up to make it. Ravikumar’s mediocre direction has further made the movie unwatchable in the second half.
Not much is expected from formulaic mass movies but today’s directors are at least packaging the routine stories in entertaining and classy way with high technical values. But K S Ravikumar has resorted to old school of narration.
The comedy track on Brahmanandam is just rehashed version of Vadivelu in “Chandramukhi”.
Though the first half is somewhat okay, the second half of the movie turns out to be a boring fare.
Balakrishna’s energetic steps in couple of songs, Nayanathara’s screen presence in some sequences and pre-interval scenes are the only saving grace of this old-fashioned masala movie.
Overall, “Jai Simha” is as predictable as any mass movie, as old fashioned as the movie’s archaic storyline, and the narration is as clichéd as K S Ravikumar’s recent movies.
Some episodes may appeal to Balakrishna’s fans and audiences in B and C centers, but it doesn’t work with the regular movie-going viewers.
Bottomline: Done to death