Godfather Movie Review

A section of audience felt that Upendra's recent superhit movie Katariveera Surasundarangi was weak in the story part and it was also criticised by some critics for the same reason. But his latest movie Godfather is exactly opposite to it, as it has a brilliant story with no room for glamour and other masala elements.

Godfather is a remake of Tamil superhit film Varalaru starring Ajith Kumar in triple roles. The Telugu remake was planned a few years ago and it was offered to Upendra, who turned down the offer assuming that it was difficult to bring back the life to the characters played by Ajith in the Tamil version.

But K Manju, who had acquired the Kannada remake rights, convinced Uppi that he could do the roles. As a result, Godfather is before you and Upendra has almost succeeded in impressing the audience.

The first half of Godfather is good and fast-paced. Shiv Sagar with his son Vijay (both performed by Upendra) will be leading a happy life. Born with a silver spoon, Vijay loves to party all the time and has less time to take up the responsibility of his father's business. But the wheelchair-bound father makes him to change his mind and sends his son to Bhamapur to look after some project. Here, he meets Divya (Soundarya).

In the blink of an eye, they fall for each other and decide to tie the knot. However, there is a twist in the story and Upendra will be shown in the negative shade. Hence, the marriage breaks up. The follow up scenes remind us of Uppi's recent movie Aarakshaka. Nonetheless, the two stories are entirely different and soon the audience will realise it. The second half is fully engaging and there is a flashback that introduces us to Shiv Sagar's past. The rest of the tale should be seen on-screen.

It has been quite a long time since the Kannada audience witnessed a good story-based movie and Godfather belongs to that category. There is not a single dull moment in the film, though the viewers get clues about the proceedings at parts. The movie has wonderful screenplay by KS Ravikumar, the director and writer of Varalaaru.

Upendra leaves good impressions with his three different characters. Especially, the role of Bharatanatyam dancer with feminine qualities is excellent. The way he walks, talks and reacts are praiseworthy. The other two characters are okay and the negative role reminds us of his psychopath role in Aarakshaka. However, his body language does not compliment his young-man avatar. Soundarya, the daughter of yesteryear actress Jayamala, has done a decent job in her limited role and she looks promising. Catherine is okay and Bhumika Chawla is seen in a special song.

AR Rahman's three songs 'Sarigama Sangama...', 'Nannede shruthiyalli...' and 'Neene ee kanna...' are impressive and PC Sriram's cinematography is good. The drawback of the movie is that the climax seems to be shot in a hurry and it is disappointing to see the blunder in the story after having a good time watching the movie.

Verdict: Godfather is a well-made family entertainer that has a good story, which is rare in recent times. Upendra's character of the Bharatanatyam dancer will remain as the biggest highlight of the movie.

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5.