Hare Ram Review

Kalyanram had a peculiar career right from the beginning. His first two films Abhimanyu and Tolichoopulone were flops. Then he launched his own banner 'NTR Arts', named after his grandfather, thespian of the Telugu cinema, N T Ramarao and the film Athanokkade with debutant director Surender Reddy, which proved to be a blockbuster. Again, two of his films Asadhyudu and Lakshmi Kalyanam bumped at the Box Office. To revive his past glory, he produced a film Hare Ram under his own banner again and the film began with a near hit talk. He chose Swarna Subbarao as the director, who had earlier directed Balakrishna for Vijayendra Varma, which was a flop. Learning a lesson from the flop, Swarna Subba Rao, changed his name as Harshavardhan to direct Hare Ram. With a gripping movement of the story, the film was targeted to appease the mass audiences and his effort turned fruitful.

Harikrishna (Kalyanram) and Ramakrishna (Kalyanram) are twin brothers. Both have different mentalities. While Hari is intelligent, Ram is a normal boy. However, Ram had a tendency that he could not digest the idea when someone call him normal or useless fellow. At the same time, he can not tolerate if somebody praises others in front of him. As his father calls Hari intelligent, Ram tries to attack Hari and their father with a knife. This separates Hari and Ram, with Hari staying with his father (Chandramohan) and Ram with his mother (Sita). Hari with his intelligence becomes an IPS Officer. After the death of his father, Hari stays with his paternal uncle (Chalapati Rao), who is also an IPS officer. As this juncture, a journalist and a scientist get killed under mysterious circumstances. The scientist is the brother of a minister, who brings pressure on the police department. Anjali (Priyamani), a CBI officer, teases Hari and acts that she is in love with him. She pretends that she is suffering from murder phobia. At one stage, Hari confesses that he is the killer and gets arrested. But the minister suspects that Hari has confessed the crime only to save his brother. Then Anjali takes Hari to a lie test, where he admits that he only has done to save his brother. However, his paternal uncle realises that Hari has taken an antidote before going for a lie test. Upon questioning Hari reveals that his brother Ram, who changes his mindset with the intervention of a camerawoman Sandhya (Sindhu Tulani) of a television channel, who gets killed in the hands of a fellow journalist and the goons of the minister for unravelling a secret. In fact, the scientist and brother of the minister invents a deadly virus and also its antidote and plans to earn money by spreading the virus first and the antidote later. Irked over the killing of his girl friend, Ram attacks the scientist, who injects the deadly virus to Ram. To prevent its spread, Ram tries to commit suicide and incidentally the vehicle is being driven by Hari. On the request of Ram, Hari kills him to prevent spread of virus and at the same time, takes revenge for the death of his brother and his girl friend. But, he conceals the secret with his mother and acts as Ram with her and Hari with others. In the climax, Hari kills the minister and make everyone believe that Ram also died in the incident. The film ends on a happy note.

PLUS: It is Kalyanram all the way in the entire film. For the first time he has played dual roles in a film in his career and he has shown good variation in both the characters. He maintained difference while playing two roles with different shades as a police and also as a criminal. He has shown good ease in dances and the action scenes are also choreographed in a stylish manner. Priyamani has given her best both as a glamour doll and utilised the opportunity whenever that comes to exhibit her performance capabilities. Comedy by Brahmanandam and Raghubabu is good to watch, while Venumadhav and Ali have also tried the best to keep the audiences in good humour.

MINUS: The entire first half of the film goes on at a good pace and the director has maintained the tempo with a gripping suspense. However, he has lost the grip in the second half, especially immediately after the interval. But, he is able to take back the reins in the climax. Some scenes in the film appear cinematic but the director is able to please the mass audiences with masala and action scenes. The director has ignored to establish the love between Kalyanram and Sindhu Tulani properly. Camera work by Ramprasad and editing by Gauthamraju are just okay. Music by Mickey J Meyer is good in parts.

REMARKS: As the director is of the opinion to elevate the sagging image of the hero, he has prepared a story that was aimed at pleasing the masses. Moreover, the story has the similarities of Manmadha with Simbu as hero, which has been rehashed and kept in a new format. The film has got all kinds of commercial elements that could attract the masses and it would be a hit in 'B' and 'C' centres and average grosser in cities.

Cast: Kalyanram, Priyamani, Sindhu Tulani, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Ashokkumar, Chalapati Rao, Chandramohan, Brahmanandam, Ali, Venumadhav, Raghubabu, Rajiv Kanakala, Nutan Prasad, Prabhakar, Sita, Sudha, Apoorva and others

Credits: Music – Mickey J Meyer, Lyrics – Sitaramasastry, Camera – C Ramprasad, Editing – Gauthamraju, Art – Vivek, Action – Selva and Ram-Lakshman, Producer – Kalyanram, Story, screenplay and direction – Harshavardhan.

Banner: NTR Arts

Released on: July 18, 2008