Jai Bolo Telangana – Movie Review

Director N Shankar is known for bringing out some revolutionary films and this time, he has chosen to mould the current struggle for a separate Telangana state. In order to attract the crowds to the theatres, he has roped in artistes like Jagapatih Babu, Nagineedu, Smriti Irani, AVS and Siva Reddy. He has almost succeeded in portraying the struggle by incorporating several contemporary incidents that had occurred including the students" movement. He has also perfectly mixed a love story, as an under current in order to make the film worth watching and otherwise, the subject would have been like a documentary and completely dry. Read on for Jai Bolo Telangana review.

Story:
Jayamma (Smriti Irani) is a kind hearted woman, whose husband Bandagi Gopanna (Jagapatih Babu) has sacrificed his life for the sake of Telangana movement. Not only Gopanna, but also his grand father laid down his life in Telangana Raitanga Sayudha Poratam, and Gopanna"s father also fought the Nizam rulers and lost his life for the Telangana people. After Gopanna's death, his followers want his friend Varshit to take this struggle forward. But he refuses to do so as he doesn"t want to sacrifice his wife"s 'Thali and Pasupu-Kumkuma" at an early stage as he is in love with Sahaja. Meanwhile, he realises the ground realities. How the people of Telangana were struggling, how they are selling their gold and jewellery to educate their children, how the children of Telangana though excel in studies could not get jobs and how the people of Telangana were being cheated by the foreign agents in the name of jobs.

Though he joins the struggle for the separate Telangana state, the crooked politicians, industrialists try to suppress the movement by launching Samaikyandhra Movement in other parts of state. At this juncture, the statement of Union Home Minister P Chdambaram announcing the decision to start a process of state bifurcation comes like a breather. However, the formation of Srikrishna Committee sprinkles water on their enthusiasm. The politicians, industrialists suppress the students movement with the help of police branding them as anti-social elements. to separate the state, Jayamma launches a fast-unto-death which ultimately foiled by the police. What happens next will form the climax of the movie.

Performance:
The director has succeeded in highlighting the emotions of the people of Telangana and the audiences could identify themselves with the Telangana movement in the film. Though Jagapatih Babu is the protagonist, his role was limited to giving an inspiration to the protesters, as all the three roles he has portrayed end abruptly, of course to the bullets of the police. The director has included some commercial elements in the film like love thread keeping entertainiment factor in mind. Though, he has tried to highlight the Telangana movement, he has not able to explain clearly on how the Telangana people are cheated by the people of other regions. Through Siva Reddy"s character, he has tried to explain that even people of neighbouring Tamil Nadu are also in favour of a separate Telangana. Most important point to mention here that the director has not touched the grass root causes like why Telangana continued to remain backward and he has mainly focussed on contemporary issues. Through Jayamma"s character, he has tried to explain about KCR"s fast and other such issues.

Music by Chakri is exemplary and the speciality of the film is that KCR penned a lyric that goes like… 'Garadi Chestundru…" and Gaddar penned another lyric 'Podustunna Poddumeeda…". While KCR appears in a clipping, Gaddar also shook legs for his song on the screen. Vandemataram Srinivas has given life to the title song and there is a massive response to all the songs in the film. Editing by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao is up to the mark.

Verdict:
As a whole, Jai Bolo Telangana is meant for the people of Telangana and for them alone. Those who has sympathy towards Telangana and its backwardness would definitely appreciate the efforts of the director. The director should be complimented for successfully highlighting the present struggle for a separate state and how the students are being exploited. The film would definitely become a hit in Telangana region, but there will not be any takers for such subject in other regions like Andhra and Rayalaseema. The climax of the film was abrupt, as the director has not given any solution to the burning issue.