Petta Review: Over the last few years, we've seen Rajinikanth experiment with various types of genres. The superstar has done sci-fi films (Robot series) , a motion capture animation film (Kochadaiyaan), a commercial film that turned formula into a parody (Lingaa), and dark films that brought out the actor in him (Kabali and Kaala). But Karthik Subbaraj's Petta unleashes the entertainer in Rajinikanth that made him the superstar in the first place. And that's why the film works.
Petta's basic plot is the reinvention of Rajinikanth's biggest hit, Baasha. Karthik Subbaraj, however, keeps several variations and twists while using the Baasha template as the basic premise to avoid the risk of turning it into a predictable fare. Kaali (Rajinikanth) joins a college as its new warden and immediately has his task cut out. He soon goes about fixing things in his own playful style. He helps out a young couple in love (Megha Akash and Sanath), finds a love interest of his own in a student's mother (Simran) and puts Rowdy boys, headed by Michael (Bobby Simha) in their place. However, this isn't just a rosy, college fare as there is much more to it than meets the eye. Soon, Kaali comes head to head with Singhar Singh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a politician in Uttar Pradesh, and his son, Jithu (Vijay Sethupathi).
Make no mistake, Petta is a crowd-pleasing film all the way and it seems like it has been made just for the fans. In fact, it feels as if the director is ticking off a wish list of fans in the movie at various places that shows the comic side of the superstar, punch dialogues, action and of course, his inimitable style. The casting of Simran and Trisha also is curious as they are two actresses whom everyone felt had missed doing a film with Rajinikanth.
At times, watching Petta does seem like revisiting a collection of Rajinikanth's greatest hits, but nobody would complaint about that. Yes, the film does have it's issues. It drags on for a bit too long and the college sequences, especially, are an overkill. The antagonist's characters could've been written in a better way and the songs are unnecessary and jar the narrative. But Petta gives us the Thailavar that we love - in spades. It seems like Rajinikanth had fun playing the role and he shows us exactly why he is the superstar. Petta succeeds where Lingaa failed – it sticks to the formula, but it also makes it feel fresh.
Critic's Rating: 3.5/5
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Vinaya Vidheya Rama Story: Ram is one among the five orphaned boys in Visakhapatnam, adopted by a doctor who ensures them a roof to live under, with dignity. Ram goes to any extent to protect his family and he's a handful for the baddie to handle in a time of crisis. How does Ram protect his family when they need him the most?
Vinaya Vidheya Rama Review: Commercial potboilers are never expected to be believable, because the joy in watching them is their larger than life nature. And there's a certain pattern to ensuring that high for a viewer. Boyapati Srinu as a filmmaker has time and again excelled at building a perfect emotional context to his action sequences in films starring top stars. However, in the process of doing that, he's repeated himself way often and the tipping point comes in Vinaya Vidheya Rama, where Boyapati becomes a pale shadow of himself as a storyteller. The problem with Vinaya Vidheya Rama isn't the deja vu factor but the fact that the filmmaker takes the audiences and cinematic liberties for granted.
Starring a confident and a fit Ram Charan in the lead role, the premise of Vinaya Vidheya Rama is as old as the hills. Five orphans, the youngest of them being Ram (Ram Charan), are raised by a doctor in Visakhapatnam. Ram is so fond of his extended family that he gives up his schooling to take deserving care of them. Even as he grows up, Ram is quite content in not doing a job and continues his violent ways, protecting his brothers and often rubbing the wrong side of the baddies. As his elder brother Bhuvan Kumar is appointed as an election officer and flies to Bihar for duty, Ram and his family are at the receiving end of Raja bhai, a brooding don. Who's Raja bhai and how Ram rescues his family from this crisis? These are the answers you're bound to find in the second hour of Vinaya Vidheya Rama.
There's never a moment in this actioner where you feel for the characters. But for an efficient performance by Ram Charan who tries hard to give an emotional context to his outbursts and his killing spree, nothing works in favour of Vinaya Vidheya Rama. Ram's brothers are portrayed as a meek lot who have no job but to sing praises of their youngest sibling. Prashanth returns to the silver screen with a cringeworthy part as the eldest of the siblings in the family, a government officer who's always waiting to unleash a barrage of punchlines at the wrong-doers every alternate sequence.
Equally audacious is Raja bhai as the antagonist, played by Vivek Oberoi, who makes his victims wear bangles, anklets, asking them to dance in the streets for his sadistic joy. The girls in the film, Sneha, Kiara Advani among many in a typical patriarchal setup have to always look upto the men for hope. Sneha gets ample screen space but it's a clear case of the actor merely filling up the frames than doing much. There's no respite with the thumping background score and the soulless music either. Though logic isn't something you'd expect in a film of this nature, the entire thread of Prashanth sending an untraceable location over Whatsapp to Ram Charan is laughable. And this is only one among many. Vinaya Vidheya Rama is a misfire on most counts.
Critic's Rating: 2.5/5
Vinaya Vidheya Rama Review: Commercial potboilers are never expected to be believable, because the joy in watching them is their larger than life nature. And there's a certain pattern to ensuring that high for a viewer. Boyapati Srinu as a filmmaker has time and again excelled at building a perfect emotional context to his action sequences in films starring top stars. However, in the process of doing that, he's repeated himself way often and the tipping point comes in Vinaya Vidheya Rama, where Boyapati becomes a pale shadow of himself as a storyteller. The problem with Vinaya Vidheya Rama isn't the deja vu factor but the fact that the filmmaker takes the audiences and cinematic liberties for granted.
Starring a confident and a fit Ram Charan in the lead role, the premise of Vinaya Vidheya Rama is as old as the hills. Five orphans, the youngest of them being Ram (Ram Charan), are raised by a doctor in Visakhapatnam. Ram is so fond of his extended family that he gives up his schooling to take deserving care of them. Even as he grows up, Ram is quite content in not doing a job and continues his violent ways, protecting his brothers and often rubbing the wrong side of the baddies. As his elder brother Bhuvan Kumar is appointed as an election officer and flies to Bihar for duty, Ram and his family are at the receiving end of Raja bhai, a brooding don. Who's Raja bhai and how Ram rescues his family from this crisis? These are the answers you're bound to find in the second hour of Vinaya Vidheya Rama.
There's never a moment in this actioner where you feel for the characters. But for an efficient performance by Ram Charan who tries hard to give an emotional context to his outbursts and his killing spree, nothing works in favour of Vinaya Vidheya Rama. Ram's brothers are portrayed as a meek lot who have no job but to sing praises of their youngest sibling. Prashanth returns to the silver screen with a cringeworthy part as the eldest of the siblings in the family, a government officer who's always waiting to unleash a barrage of punchlines at the wrong-doers every alternate sequence.
Equally audacious is Raja bhai as the antagonist, played by Vivek Oberoi, who makes his victims wear bangles, anklets, asking them to dance in the streets for his sadistic joy. The girls in the film, Sneha, Kiara Advani among many in a typical patriarchal setup have to always look upto the men for hope. Sneha gets ample screen space but it's a clear case of the actor merely filling up the frames than doing much. There's no respite with the thumping background score and the soulless music either. Though logic isn't something you'd expect in a film of this nature, the entire thread of Prashanth sending an untraceable location over Whatsapp to Ram Charan is laughable. And this is only one among many. Vinaya Vidheya Rama is a misfire on most counts.
Critic's Rating: 2.5/5
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