Sri Satyanarayana Swamy Review

Thursday, April 12, 2007
Excellent portrayal of details about Satnarayana Swamy
The vratam of Lord Satyanarayana Swamy is well known among the Hindus in general and Telugus in particular. Especially, the vratam is generally performed after every auspicious occasion, like marriage, house-warming and other such household functions. At the same time, Telugus have a habit of keeping the vratam in the Karthika Masam. However, everyone does it like a ritual and nobody knows what exactly is the reason behind doing it. Nagesh Naradasi has done a great job in explaining the reason behind the Lord's incarnation, and the prominence of the Satyanarayana vratam. The director especially needs appreciation for selecting the right artistes for the right characters.

In order to put the people on the earth on a righteous path, Lord Vishnu decides to come to earth. However, this time, he doesn't want to come alone; instead he takes with him his other counterparts like Brahma and Maheswara as Satyadeva. The seeds for the incarnation were sown long ago during the Treta Yuga, when Bhadra and Ratnakara did penance. Pleased with the penance, Lord Vishnu, in Rama Avatar, agreed to settle on Bhadragiri (Bhadra turns into a mountain). At the same time, Rama also agreed to settle on Ratnagiri (Ratnakara in the shape of another mountain) as Satya Deva. To fulfil his vow, All the three top gods called Trimurthulu, turned into one and became Satya Deva, while the three Goddesses (Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati) turned into Satyavati. After a long wait, Ratnakara got his boon as Satyadeva settled on him. Inuganti Venkata Rama Raja Bahaddur (Krishna) was a devotee of Lord Siva and once he challenged his purohit who is a Vaishnavite, as to who is great - Siva or Vishnu. He learns that both are one. In his dream Lord Vishnu appeared and told him to build a temple for him at Ratnagiri. Lord Siva appeared in the dream of the purohit and told him that he has been incarnated at Ratnagiri. Both searched for the idol and with the help of Nerellamma (Sivaparvati) found the idol. One Siddhi, who could see Bhagawan in every one prepared the yantra for the temple and the idols got consecrated. Lord Rama came all the way from Bhadradri with his consort Sita to perform the first vratam at Ratnagiri under the guidance of Narada (Rajkumar). Satyadeva instructed Narada to ensure every one performed the vratam. In order to tell about the greatness of the vratam, Narada pleaded with Brahma to create different people who were suffering from Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Matsarya, the evil minds. With Narada and Satyadeva got the vratam performed by the people who were suffering from these evils, and everyone came to know about the greatness of Lord Satyadeva. The histories of those people who came out of evil are now being narrated as six separate stories during the Satyanarayana vratam.

Plus Points:

Suman has portrayed about 10 different characters as Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Rama, Satyadeva, Sadhu, Swamy and other,s and excelled in each of the characters. Krishna as Inuganti Venkata Rama Raja Bahaddur, Bhanuchandar as Tungadhwaja Maharaja, Ravali as his wife Bhuvana, Vijayarangaraju as a tribal king, Ranganath as Ratnakara, have also done justice to their respective roles. The entire first half of the film is a highlight of the movie. Tunes by Vandemataram Srinivas are full of devotion and are quite melodious. Even the lyrics have been scripted with good meaning and high literary values. Camera work by Vijay C Kumar is also worth mentioning.

Minus Points:

Dialogues by Sai Madhav are not up to the mark. They were penned in a routine way and do not give the audiences a feeling that they are watching a mythological film. The make- up of Suman is also not fair. There was no need to give such a high blue shade to the body. The director has ignored a minute point of putting two additional hands to Lord Satyadeva, even as the poem that is recited in the backdrop says the Lord was incarnated with four hands and with Sankhu, Chakra, Gada, and Padmam. However, it can be ignored as the Lord appears on the hill with only two hands. In Annavaram, there is a huge Lingakaram and one has to trek three floors to watch each part of it. However, there is no mention about it in the film.

Remarks:

Despite minor lapses here and there, the film is worth watching. Especially, the narration on how and why the Lord had incarnated on the Ratnagiri has been shown well. Pinky Sarkar as Lakshmi has failed to emote well. Only the heroine is the wrong choice among the cast. Congratulations to producer CS Rao for his guts in bringing out a devotional film, as its commercial success may not have been certain. But, Sri Satyanarayana Swamy, which came after Sri Ramadasu, definitely enthrals the audiences.

Cast: Suman, Krishna, Bhanchander, Krishna Bhagawan, Karthik, Ranganath, Sudhakar, Rajkumar, Subbaraya Sharma, Vijayaranga Raju, Kavitha, Sivaparvathi, Ravali, Pinky Sarkar and others.

Credits:
Story assistance, Dialogues - Sai Madhav,
Cinematography - Vijay C Kumar,
Editing - Venu Peddu,
Music - Vandemataram Srinivas,
Presents - Mutyala Ramdas,
Producer - CS Rao,
Screenplay, direction - Nagesh Naradasi.

Banner: Karthik Films

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