PANDURANGADU movie review

Pandurangadu is a Telugu film, starring Balakrishna, Sneha, Tabu and others , directed by K Raghavendra Rao. Produced by ---, and music composed by M M Keeravani. This film released on Summer 2008.

Punchline: Pandurangadu's redemption
Genre: Devotional
Type: Remake (Panduranga Mahatyam)
Banner: RK Film Associates

Cast: Bala Krishna, Mohan Babu, Tabu, Sneha, Suhasini, Archana, Viswanath, Balayya, LB Sreeram, Dharmavarapu, Sunil, Ali, Brahmanandam, Meghana Naidu, Anant, Y Vijaya

Music: MM Keeravani
Dialogues: JK Bharavi
Cinematography: Jayaram
Editing: Srikar Prasad
Art: Bhaskara Raju
Producer: K Krishnamohana Rao
Screenplay & Direction: K Raghavendra Rao
Release date: 30 May 2008

Story:

Kundarika ( Balakrishna ) is a follower of Lord Krishna but for the wrong reasons. He does all the mischievous things that Lord Krishna did in his reign. Once when his family members ask him to marry he leaves his village and runs away. After his family members perform a yagnam he comes back to his village. In the neighboring village Lakshmi ( Sneha ) is a big devotee of Lord Krishna. One night Lord Krishna appears in her dreams and asks her to marry Kundarika. So Lakshmi's father approaches Bala Krishna but he refuses. Later after some persuasion from Lakshmim, Kundarika accepts the marriage.

In the mean time Amrutha ( Tabu ) a dancer comes to their village. Kundarika is mesmerized by her beauty and goes into a relationship with her. He offers all the gold in the house to her. But after the marriage he stops visiting Amrutha. Knowing this Amrutha's mother calls Kundarika for a meal and serves poison to him and grabs all his wealth. The rest of the movie is how Kundarika turns to Lord Krishna's devotee and get backs to his family....


Highlights:
Nandamuri Balakrishna's action in the movie is the top notch. He managed the dual roles of Lord Krishna and Kundarika very well. He adjusted from the woman's man role to devotee role very well. Balakrishna as Lord Krishna made the audience think of Sr.NTR . Sneha's acting has done a good job as wife of Balakrishna. K.Vishwanth as always stealed the show with his acting. Mohan Babu's guest role is brief but brilliant. Raghavendra Rao's direction showed in the songs. Also he succeeded in showing the movie differently when compared to his previous movies. The taking second half of the film is simply awesome. Second Half of the movie dominates. Kiravani's tunes added to the movie.

Story - screenplay - direction:
This film is a remake of NTR’s classic Panduranga Mahatyam. The story is about the redemption of a flirt and of an irresponsible son. The writer of the film had lot of limitations because of the original. The characterization and exposing of Tabu character is gone beyond the limits though her character is supposed to be that of a prostitute. Direction by K Raghavendra Rao is adequate. But he could not get the emotions work in this film the way he has done for Annamayya and Sri Ramadasu (that is probably because all Telugus are fond of those historic characters). Screenplay of the film should have been better.
Other departments:
The music scored by MM Keeravani is good. Cinematography by Jayaram is neat. Dialogues by JK Bharavi are nice. He used rhyme (prasa) to get a couple of good one-lines like pelli kala vachindi (kala refers to dream, but not glow) and ‘meeru aadu (aada) vaaru. Memu aadinchu vaaramu’. Editing is alright.
Sidelights:
L.B. Sri Ram as Narada did not fit the role. Bharavi's story is not as effective as his previous ones. The graphic work in the movie is too weak to handle. The story is the first half seems a little bit dragged. There is no much comedy in the movie. The comedy scenes involving Sunil, Ali and Dharmavaram Subramanyam pertained to a few giggles in the audience. Raghavendra Rao's selection of character artists for Lord Krishna's wives did not please the audience.


Verdict: Movie is a 100% hit and works out very well at the box office.
Rating : 7/10

And Balakrishna fan's will be well satisfied.
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