Swagatham Review

Whenever the audiences think of Jagapathi Babu, they expect two heroines and the film would be a good family drama. True to their expectations, the director portrayed beautiful family relations and the changes in the lifestyles on the screen. Especially, the director has tried his best to explain the kind of environment that should be for a strong bond between wife and husband. Aditya Ram Movies had earlier produced two films with Jagapathi Babu like Sandade Sandadi and Khushi Khushigaa. Again, director Dasarath of Santosham-fame has prepared a good story, in fact a tailor-made story for Jagapati Babu, with equal ratio of comedy, sentiment and human values. Another speciality is that the film is the 75th movie for Jagapathi Babu.

Sailaja (Anushka) loves his nephew Chiku (sister's son) very much and at the same time hates her brother-in-law Srikanth (Arjun). She believes that Sri's rash driving took away her sister's life. Sailu maintains a boutique and she needs to repay some loan amount, which she can not as it does not run well. She works in an event management company run by Ram Pasumarthy (Benarjee) for part-time. Ram promises her that she would give her $100,000 (Rs 50 lakhs) to come out of debt burden provided he gets a Japanese contract. She decides to try her best. But Sailu's nephew wants to spend his time with his father, which Sailu does not like. At this juncture, KK (Jagapathi Babu) enters the scene and opens another boutique just opposite her shop. This irks Sailu. Somehow, he tries to impress her. First, Sailu thinks that he is trying to impress her with a motive to love her or marry her. But, she finds that KK has a daughter too. So, she develops a soft corner towards him. When the officials are about to close her shop, Sri helps her by sending Nageswara Rao (MS Narayana). On learning this, Sailu outrightly rejects the deal and gives back the check to Sri. Then, KK reveals the real story that her sister has died not in accident done by Sri, but by herself driving the car. Even Sri married another woman within three months, because the girl lost both her legs due to the accident made by Sailu's sister and that girl withdrew all the complaints and ensured acquittal of Sri. After listening to all this, Sailu repents and unites Chiku with Sri. At this juncture, she loses her heart to KK and proposes him. But to her surprise, KK is not a widower and his wife Vidya (Bhoomika) is battling with life with acute leukemia. However, Vidya expresses her last wish to Sri through a letter that she wants Sailu to marry KK. However, the director has ended the film with a question mark as to whether KK accepts her hand or not.

PLUS: The director has given a good feeling to the audiences all through the film. Performance by all the three lead artists is excellent. Jagapathi Babu is perfect in the character and his body language and histrionics are very apt. Bhoomika, as a woman, who is going to face the death, has performed excellently. While Anushka, has done a good job as an impatient girl. Comedy in the form of satires on Telugu dubbing films are another highlight. Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam has done a neat job. All other artists including Benarjee, Saratbabu, Prabhakar have done justice to their roles. Comedy by Venumadhav, Sunil, Kondavalasa and Jhansi is enough.

MINUS: Music by RP Patnaik is a let down. None of the tunes are catchy. However, a couple of songs tuned in melody are good and their choreography is good. Manasa… Mounamaa… song is full of romantic touch and the family audiences may not expect such songs in Jagapathi Babu's film. Camera work by Rameshbabu is not up to the mark.

REMARKS: As a whole, the film is true to the expectations from Jagapathi Babu. It is just a film from Jagapathi Babu. The screenplay by Gopi-Mohan is horrendous and the film is very slow in narration. The audiences feel impatience while watching the movie because of the slow narration. However, if they really involve in the film, they could enjoy the feeling in it. A complete family entertainer and may not suit the taste of the youth or mass audiences.

Cast: Jagapathi Babu, Bhoomika, Anushka, Arjun, Saratbabu, Prabhakar, Raja Ravindra, Venumadhav, Sunil, Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao, Melkote, Benarjee, Jayaprakash Reddy, LB Sriram, Ali, Sudha, Jhansi, and others.

Credits: Camera – Rameshbabu, Screenplay – Gopi-Mohan, Music – RP Patnaik, Cinematography – Rameshbabu, Story, dialogues and direction – Dasarath, Producer – Adityaram

Banner: Adityaram Movies,

Released on: January 25, 2008