Srimannarayana : Been There Seen That

Regardless of the profession Balayya portrays in his films, he does only what he does best that is to kick butt and mouth rousing dialogues. So this season he is back again to kick some serious butt in the role of a journalist in Srimannarayana.

Srimannarayana is pretty much the standard issue Balayya movie with all the ingredients that went into his movies in his illustrious career. It has two heroines and a mandatory song with the two of them kissing him, a horde of villains who can never harm the man, an irrelevant comedy track and double entendre parading as comedy. However the good news is that the makers have gone easy on those pretentious sentiment scenes and the bad news is that there is nothing in the film that Balayya hasn’t done or we haven’t seen before.

The plot is a sorry excuse for a revenge drama where the hero gets to kill no less than 6 (Six. You heard it right) men donning 3 different getups along his way. The villains can do him no harm and the heroines are his for the taking and are ever ready and willing if he wants to shake a leg. With so much going for him, Balayya literally sleepwalks through his role that never demands to stretch his histrionics beyond what he has done in the assembly line roles so far. However the age is catching up quite visibly and he doesn’t cut a decent image most of the time but makes up for it with his surprising agility and a controlled performance.

Apart from Balakrishna no one gets a decent role and despite Parvati Melton being a journalist, she is no more than the bimbette we are used to see in these kind of films. The supporting cast goes through their motions and thankfully they are competent. Visually the film looks decent and a couple of songs are fun to watch but they are placed so poorly that they hamper whatever the pace the film seems to be building. The writing leaves a lot to be desired and the dialogues are there just for the reason that someone has to say something about what was going on.

In all, Srimannarayana is not at all a horrible film but just that it gives you a sense of déjà vu. Nostalgia is not such a good thing after all. You might enjoy it if you have the kind of talent it requires.