BADRINATH MOVIE REVIEW

provided by ur"s GowThaM
Music: M M Keeravani
Cinematographer: S Ravi
Varman
Story: Chinni Krishna
Editor: Gautham Raju
Screenplay, direction: V V
Vinayak
Producer: Allu Aravind
Release date: 10/06/2011
Allu Arjun is back and this time
he has teamed up with the mass
masala movie maker V V Vinayak
with a different concept. Let us
see how this is.
Story:
The age old ritual of ‘Kshetra
Palakudu’ is revived among the
Hindu saints and gurus. They
approach the veteran Bheeshma
Narayana (Prakash Raj) and he
decides to mould one child to be
the protector of Badrinath.
This is Badri (Allu Arjun) and as
fate would have it, he is chosen
to be the protector of the
Badrinath shrine. The story takes
a turn with the arrival of
Alakananda (Tamannah) an
atheist due to her reasons. Few
sequences revive her faith in the
god and also trigger love in her
for Badri.
However, Bheeshma wants Badri
to take over as his successor and
the condition is that he must
remain a ‘Brahmachari’ for the
rest of his life. On the other hand,
there is the evil Sarkar (Kelly
Dorjee) along with his wife
(Ashwini) who want to get
Alakananda married to their son
so that they can grab her
property. What happens after
that forms the rest of the story.
Performances:
Allu Arjun looks perfect in
physique, riveting in dance
performance, apt in emotional
scenes. He did his best to do
justice but then his character
should have been etched with
more conviction.
Tamannah is a visual feast and
she has given a literal
Abhishekam with her milky white
oomphfactor. Her screen
presence is significant and she
delivered well during emotional
sequences.
Prakash Raj did his bit as
required. However, his role was
not as powerful as it was hyped.
His face was hidden in white
beard and hair. Only eyes and
nose are visible. Worst make up.
Kelly Dorjee was spineless as a
villain, all that hungama about his
profile looks hollow. Ashwini (the
police cop in Rakta Charitra who
gets her revolver licked by Bukka
Reddy) is a talented actress but
she got stiff in few scenes.
Brahmanandam was okay,
Krishna Bhagawan gave his
regular satires, Dharmavarapu
was regular, the lad doing
Ashwini’s son’s role was dull.
Venu Madhav came and went.
Highlights:
Visual grandeur
Tamannah’s glamour feast
Bunny’s sincere efforts in action
and dance
Pace of the film
Drawbacks:
Significant directorial flaws
Weak climax
Non-situational songs
Weak comedy
Average cinematography
Abrupt censoring
Analysis:
The film came in with various
publicity stints such as
The costliest film ever made in
Tollywood
Allu Arjun’s Indian Samurai role
and his training in Vietnam
Chinni Krishna’s statement that
this screenplay has never been
seen before
Well, coming to the point. There
is hardly any impact to say that
the film was made at a budget of
Rs 40 crores. If that is true then it
mustbe said that the director
didn’t utilize it in the right way.
Given the buzz about Bunny’s
training, the action and fight
sequences should have been
mind blowing but they were
regular Peter Heinz product
which we have seen before. As
far as screenplay goes, guess
Chinni Krishna meant it literally,
nothing great about the
screenplay. When subjects like
Hindu shrines and customs are
spoken, basic fundamentals must
be followed.
Here is something for Vinayak-
If Allu Arjun is the protector of a
holy temple, he should at least
have a thilakam on his forehead
Tamannah lights the oil lamps
with match sticks. That is
unacceptable and grave mistake
as per Hindu tradition. The
custom requires it to be lit with
incense sticks and not match
sticks.
In the ‘Vasudhara’ scene, there is
a temple deity and everyone is
walking coolly with slippers,
shoes, long boots etc
Allu Arjun gets upanayanam
performed by Prakash Raj and he
also drops a ‘jandhyam’ on his
body. But that ‘jandhyam’ is
never seen again in the film. Is
that the value Allu Arjun’s
character gives for religion and
piousness?!
In the last fight, Allu Arjun jumps
out from temple barefoot but by
the time he lands at villains he
has shoes.
If Brad Pitt kills the opponent by
piercing a sword on the shoulder
in‘Troy’, our Allu Arjun pierces
and kills merely with two fingers.
Why is this silly copying?
If Ram Charan killed 100 soldiers
in ‘Magadheera’, our Bunny killed
100+ here with no emotion
packed. What’s this comparison?
That way, Vinayak has missed
attention to detail and conviction
in many scenes. The first half
goes about in a mild manner and
he shows his mettle before the
interval bang with the idol fight.
However, things gets a little
quirky during the second half
and it gets very predictable.
Overall, the film will work
strongly in the opening day due
to Allu Arjun and Tamannah
following along with the publicity
hype but tobe frank, the film has
nothing extraordinary to be
spoken about.
It is a weak story line with
Computer Graphics hungama. No
grip in emotions
Hero never connects with
heroine’s love till the end. Then
how the circle can be completed?
The stubborn sage Prakash Raj
gets convinced with three lines
from Tamannah.
Hero saves heroine by the word
from his guru but not out of love.
Is villain Kelly Dorjee good or
bad? The confusion is glued to
that character.
Why the hero chops hundreds of
heads and bodies? No emotion
or sentiment packed in that as
hero has no love towards
heroine.
On a whole Badrinath ends up as
much ado about nothing.
Bottomline: Nothing exciting