Boring rayudu 2.5/5

March 24, 2017

Movie Review: Katamarayudu

2.5/5

2:29 | Action | 2017-03-24

CAST

Pawan Kalyan, Shruti Haasan, Rao Ramesh, Siva Balaji, Ajay, Ali and Others

Director - Kishore Kumar Pardasani
Producer - Sharath Marrar
Banner - North Star Entertainments
Music - Anup Rubens

Pawan Kalyan's last movie Sardaar Gabbar Singh was a disappointment. Almost a year after it Pawan's next film Katamarayudu has hit the screens. It is a remake of Tamil hit Veeram starring Ajith Kumar. Directed by Gopala Gopala fame Kishore Kumar Pardasani, the film is a regular mass entertainer where the protagonist plays a larger than the life character.

What is it about?

Katamarayudu (Pawan Kalyan) hates women for reasons best known to him. He has four brothers and three of them are already in love. But they hide it from Katamarayudu as he doesn't like it. They want to make their brother fall in love so that they could happily marry their girlfriends. Avanti (Shruti) a classical dancer and singer impresses Katamarayudu. Slowly Katamarayudu gets attracted to her, but she couldn't accept him as he resort to violence for the sake of people. Katamarayudu goes to her house to convince Avanthi and her parents, but comes to know that their family is in danger because of Bhanu (Tarun Arora).

Performances:

Pawan Kalyan looks different from usual in Rayudu getup. His styling suits the character and his energetic portrayal of the character keeps us engaged. His performance in scenes with Shruti Haasan is the highlight of the film. Shruti Haasan is fine as the female lead. Siva Balaji, Ajay, Kamal Kamaraju and Chaitanya Krishna played the brothers characters and Ajay is impressive among them. Ali is okay and Rao Ramesh impresses with his getup, accent and hook line 'Kaani kaani kaani'. Villain characterization is pretty weak and Tarun Arora couldn't do much about it.

Technicalities:

Kishore Kumar Pardasani is a decent director who can present the content on hand in an effective way. Katamarayudu is pretty ordinary on the script front and director is not so efficient in making commercial potboilers. He did his best to keep things on track with whatever that is available on paper, but sadly that wasn't enough to make it a watchable film.

Music by Anup Rubens is a big failure. Bad sound track and weak background score hampered the prospects of the film. Action choreography is good. Only the action episodes stand highlight in it. Cinematography is good and editing is adequate. Production values are just about alright.

Thumbs Up:

Pawan Kalyan

Action Episodes

Thumbs Down:

Script

Music

Lack of good comedy

Outdated narration

Analysis:

A big ticket star studded film should be exciting and give enough viewing pleasure from the word go. When the film is entertaining with heroism elevating scenes and good comedy, audience doesn't bother much about the novelty that the story offers. Katamarayudu failed miserably in terms of providing excitement and entertainment. One would expect powerful elevation scenes going by the title and hero's characterization. But the director never focuses on showing the powerful side of the protagonist.

Except for flexing muscles at every given opportunity there isn't one scene that pumps the adrenaline. Romance between Pawan and Shruti looks forced and dated. There is no proper reason for Katamarayudu to fall for Avanthi. Every scene in the movie looks like it is straight out of a nineties rural mass entertainer. Despite the lack of originality, first half of the film moves at a smooth pace without bothering much. Fight before the interval has come out well if you can excuse the badly done VFX.

Post interval, it is all downhill as the movie treads the beaten to death path of hero turning savior for the family in trouble. Pre climax and climax sequences are pretty bad and give us a feeling that the makers were in a rush to conclude things. Apart from Pawan Kalyan's screen presence and his timing in few scenes, there is not much to take home in the film. Katamarayudu has little to offer for other sections of audience except for Pawan fans. Pawan's star power will ensure openings, but it will need a miracle to go the distance at the box office.

Verdict: Boring Rayudu.