For
the believer even G Seetharamaraju is a God.
Successful
devotionals in Telugu Cinema follow the standard pattern of a wastrel or a
disbelieving protagonist facing difficulties in life and transforming himself
into the way of trust in God during the process of overcoming them. This
usually works because regardless of the end result, they are stories of men
raising against the odds and getting what they wanted to achieve or what they
are destined to become. A drama, to say all the above in a word. Sai Baba films
so far have considerably lesser impact than the others for me because of this
very reason that Sai Baba is a devotional belonging to God and God by the
definition of these films has little or no conflict in his life.
Knowing
KRR and his earlier devotionals, I expected a “Life and Times of Sai Baba” out
of Shiridi Sai but unfortunately it is not the case with his latest. Indeed the
film is a series of vignettes accentuating the clairvoyance of Sai Baba with
forgettable propaganda. Brownie points however to the makers for having the
sensibility of crediting “Kadha Sankalanam” instead of the regular story and
screenplay. The transformation of the characters was so quick and easy that you
wonder whether he was really a God or if the people themselves were real. KRR’s
penchant for unfunny comedy, caricaturist characters and tacky visuals make
this a tedious watch. It is a good thing that he has shifted into this genre off
late because his old school direction suits this genre.
The
only redeeming feature of this film is the brilliant portrayal of Sai Baba by
Nagarjuna. His performance is restrained and matured and is in compliance with
the genre expectations. Apart from him no character stays with you and they are
all written like extended cameos. To their defense, they are given rather flat
and monotonous lines. How I wish they wrote better roles for the others.
Keeravani, who was a trump card in devotionals for KRR does his job again but
the relative unfamiliarity of the tunes mean that they cannot take the film a
notch higher as they did with Ramadasu and Annamayya.
As
we noted earlier, this film might not be a bad one for the believers but it
means little for the skeptic observer and does even little to whet his
curiosity.
I
would rather be accused of blasphemy. Thank You Very Much.
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