‘Athadu’ and ‘Khaleja’ might not be huge commercial hits but they have a special place in every Telugu movie lover’s heart. That is the magic created by the combo of Mahesh and Trivikram. It is normal to have huge expectations when they are teaming up for the third time. Unlike before, Mahesh & Trivikram promised a complete commercial entertainer with ‘Guntur Karam’. Let us see how the movie turned out.
Story:
Venkata Ramana (Mahesh) loses mother’s love and affection since childhood due to certain circumstances. While his father (Jayram) goes to jail, his mother (Ramya Krishnan) marries another person and moves away from him. Ramana grows up in Guntur with his father’s side of relatives and looks after the Mirchi business. His mother becomes a minister and Ramana receives a call from her. His grandfather asks him to sign a document that says that he does not want any part of her properties and money. Will Ramana sign it? Why did his mother leave him? What does his grandfather want from him? Will the mother and son unite at the end? Answers to these questions form the rest of the story.
Analysis:
As said before ‘Athadu’ and ‘Khaleja’ are not blockbusters. In fact, ‘Khaleja’ is a flop at the box office. But both the movies attained cult status. Trivikram always brings the best out of Mahesh Babu and the star hero always does 100% justice to Trivikram’s dialogues and direction. These two films had superb storylines and wonderful content. But it looks like the theatrical result of those two films hurt Mahesh & Trivikram a lot because they delivered a regular commercial entertainer this time. People wondered why the combo which delivered ‘Athadu’ and ‘Khaleja’ are releasing posters with beedi all the time and using lyrics like ‘Kurchi Madathapetti’. They will get an answer after watching the movie as it is what this subject needed. It is a routine subject which had such low-quality elements. If we ignore the previous two films and keep your expectations very low, you might enjoy ‘Guntur Karam’ to an extent but nothing more than that.
When you try something big and it doesn’t work out, you don’t feel like experimenting and pick the safe option instead of taking risks. But the safe option makes your life boring and uninteresting after a point. It is what happened with ‘Guntur Karam’. Mahesh and Trivikram did not want to try something unique this time and took the commercial route. It is a time pass film which you can watch and enjoy with a lot of snacks by your side but you will forget it as soon as you step out of the theatres. Trivikram mixed all his previous hit films and brought out ‘Guntur Karam’ which offers nothing new. The visuals, properties, characters, dialogues and everything looks like we have seen them before which explains a lot.
‘Guntur Karam’ is a paisa vasool film till the first half ends. But Trivikram disappoints in the second half where he needed to get into the story. The mother and son bonding is not established well. It appears a bit boring and we cringe whenever Sreeleela appears in the second half as it takes the movie away from the story. The same flashback is narrated from the perspective of three characters. It is quite brilliant on paper but Trivikram failed to bring it on screen in the same manner. Two action set pieces with Babji and Das are forced into the screenplay even though they are well-designed. There are a lot of deviations in the movie which spoils the flow. We lose interest in the main story and the climax is quite plain and simple. Though it is not wrong, fans might expect a bit more. At the end, people will feel that it is not a movie that Trivikram should be making with a big star like Mahesh Babu. There are not many standout scenes in the second half. Mahesh factor and a few fun scenes paired with a few commercial aspects makes ‘Guntur Karam’ a time pass flick but it definitely falls below the expectations.
Performances:
In the past few films, Mahesh Babu has chosen very subdued roles that require him to act in a subtle manner. While they were good for a while, fans started to vexed with the same characters again and again. They wanted to see him in energetic and entertaining roles. Mahesh is an introvert who doesn’t talk much in public but he is the complete opposite in ‘Guntur Karam’. He delivered what the fans expected of him. Right from the moment he appeared on screen to the very end, Mahesh entertained the audience non-stop. His looks, screen presence, dialogue delivery and dances will impress not just his fans but everyone. He is the life and soul of ‘Guntur Karam’ and he is the biggest reason if at all the film collects huge money.
It is Prakash Raj who stands out after Mahesh. He showed his versatility once again. His look and acting are quite different from the regular roles we got accustomed to these days. Ramya Krishnan does not get much screen time but emotes well through her eyes in every given scene. Her character leaves a lot to be desired. Rao Ramesh shows his caliber in the single scene he was given a chance. Jagapathi Babu gets a silly role while Rahul Ravindran is wasted. Vennela Kishore is decent as the sidekick while Eeswari Rao did well. Jayaram, and Raghubabu were decent and actors like Ajay, and Ajay Ghosh were good as well.
Trivikram faces a complaint that his heroines are dumb and outright silly always. It looks like he doesn’t care about it as he once again gave spineless characters to both leading ladies. Sreeleela looks beautiful and dances like a dream but all she does is pine over the hero and follow him. Meenakshi Choudary is not given any chance to perform. One wonders why she okayed such a poor role with zero significance.
Technicians:
Thaman severely disappoints this time. His songs are strictly okay and we saw how much he got criticized for ‘Kurchi Madthapetti’ song. Though the masses might enjoy it, the placement of it is quite absurd. His background score is decent though we expect more from him. The combination of Trivikram and Thaman which gave ‘Aravinda Sametha’ and ‘Ala Vaikunthapuramlo’ fails to match the expectations this time. Manoj Paramahamsa’s camerawork is quite good. His tracking shots are great to watch and his work during a few scenes is amazing as well. The production values are top-notch. Most of the shooting is done indoors and production designing is good as two house sets and a market set are done well.
Trivikram failed to reach the standards he set for himself. His witty dialogues and writing of a few scenes show his prowess but we can clearly see him getting monotonous. He is played way too safe when it comes to the story as he is mostly rehashing his own films like ‘Ala Vaikunthapuramlo’, ‘Attarintiki Daredi’ and ‘A Aa’. He failed to evoke emotions and he forced a lot of scenes into the movie which are quite unnecessary. His standards are dropping film after film and it’s high time he recognises it. His mark is evidently missing in ‘Guntur Karam’.
Verdict: ‘Guntur Karam’ – Mahesh Mass… Trivikram Miss