Godfather movie review: Chiranjeevi-starrer is all about victory of good over evil

It has all the ingredients that the audience would want to expect and lap up with glee. A gluttonous appetite for the grotesque stands satiated.

Hyderabad: Let us move away from Lucifer. We need to see Telugu cinema as a completely different module in compare to Malayalam cinema. The twain may meet in content, not in style. That is a huge difference to the connoisseur and in the comfort zone of the money bags.

On the death of the Chief Minister, there are multiple claimants to the coveted office. Heading the pack is Jay (Satyadev Kancharna) who is married to the daughter of the late Chief Minister, Priya (Nayantara). There is also the typical ambitious politician Narayan Varma (Murali Sharma). However, the dramatic element is the entry of Brahma (Chiranjeevi) who is the child of the deceased Chief Minister bought out of wedlock.

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In place or commemorative of the festival of Dasara, the film is about the victory of success over evil. It has all the ingredients that the audience would want to expect and lap up with glee. A gluttonous appetite for the grotesque stands satiated.

The script (Mohan Raja) moves from an international space of drug and diamond smuggling to the microcosm of the political vacuum created on the death of the ailing Chief Minister who incidentally dies in the hospital of a political rival. While we have Shiyaji Shinde as a caricature of the leader from the opposition the entire political drama is about the palace intrigue.

The seeming heir is the schematic Narayan Varma who initially involves Jai who surely has his eyes glued on the seat. It is not long before the later wins the game of political chair grabbing. It is battle lines drawn and seemingly intelligent games of one up man ship.

The mayhem and destruction that follows is full of melodrama and scripted around the style and strength of the main star in the movie. How well he carries it out is the crux of the film and surely its degree of acceptance. His fans would swallow it all. The challenge is with those who have moved on or are willing to distinguish the star from the role and the performance.

Credit must go to director Mohan Raja for not being over awed by the star. There is a very subdued performance from Chiranjeevi. For his fans who would love to see him shake his foot, they are made to wait for the item song as the epilogue. Through the film, notwithstanding the larger-than-life character that the script gives him, he is not melodramatic and ensures that he is within and not larger than the script.

In an attempt to look stern, Nayantara ends up with a monotonous performance. Her attires are well thought of and add character to her persona. Satyadev Kancharna as the main villain is away from evil mannerisms and plays the scheming son-in-law with an eye on his sister-in-law (Tanya Ravichandran) with maturity.

The clash between the claimants for the throne is not overdone and make for interesting watching. This is an interesting coming of age film for Chiranjeevi. Hopefully from here there will be more of him to see.