Simha - Movie Review

Director Boyapati Sreenu, who had given two action films with a sentiment touch like Tulasi and Bhadra has once again tried his hand on action-packed drama with Balakrishna as hero. No doubt, the Simha is better than the recent duds of Balayya, and at the same time the film has nothing new in the subject but a complete beaten track. The director has made use of all the cinematic liberties in running the story with the hero and in the flashback his father, hacking as many as some 400 to 500 people either with a punch / sword or a hunting sickle.

Srimannarayana (Balakrishna) is a professor in a college. He doesn"t allow injustice before his eyes. Janaki (Sneha Ullal) joins the college. Once some goons try to abduct her but Srimannarayana saves her. She falls in love with him in no time. Incidentally, Janaki is none other than his sister-in-law and on one occasion, Srimannarayana comes to know from his granny (KR Vijaya) that he belongs to the Bobbili clan.

His father Dr Narasimha (Balakrishna) is a saviour of poor. He could perform surgery to save life and he could also hack people if they do wrong. Unfortunately, two sons of a local mafia leader Veerakesavudu (Aditya Menon) die in the hands of Dr Narasimha for their excesses and in revenge Veerakesavudu kills both Dr Narasimha and his wife Savitri (Nayanatara). Before his death, Veerakesavudu tastes the punch of Dr Narasimha and goes into comma. Will he gain his consciousness ? Will Srimannarayana goes to village? Will he marry Janaki? What happens next will form the interesting part of the movie.

PERFORMANCE:
Balakrishna, after a long time, has given energetic performance . He played dual roles as father and son. He excelled in both the roles. However, ageing is clearly visible during close-up shots. However, director ensured to elevate both the characters with equal ease. Sneha Ullal is okay for looks but she still needs to improve her acting skills. Especially, she should be more cautious on her lip sync. Namitha played another glamorous role in the film. But she appeared quite bulky despite showing her oomph. She is yet to realise the fact that she has to shed the fat. KR Vijaya was the perfect choice for the grandmother"s role and she lived in the character and did complete justice to her role. Aditya Menon and Malayalam artiste Saikumar showed good screen presence. Rahman is okay as Balakrishna"s brother-in-law. Nayanatara, though had a very small role in the film, is okay in her character. Comedy by Krishna Bhagawan, Ali, Venumadhav is just average and literally they failed to tickle the funny bones.

TECHNICAL:
Chakri has composed melodious tunes to all the songs, though they remind us of 80s and 90s Songs. Choreography of all the songs is okay and Balakrishna tried to prove that he could compete with Junior NTR in dances by trying some innovate steps. Action by Ram-Lakshman and Stun Siva is fine. Especially the chase scenes, the scenes that relate to hero bashing the villains and the gory killings were perfectly shot. Background score by Chinna is good and elevated the mood in many scenes. Camera by Arthur Wilson is good while art by AS Prakash is laudable. Editing by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao should have a little more sharp. Though the first half is okay, it appeared a little stretched. However, the action scenes in the second half made the audiences ignore the stretching of scenes to some extent. Director Boyapati Sreenu, who penned the screenplay and dialogues for the film besides providing story, had perfect grip on the entire subject, though the narration appeared old fashioned.

REMARKS:
It appears that two scenes were lifted from the blockbuster Magadheera, where the hero kills 100 soldiers single-handedly. Even in this film, the hero kills many goons as the heroine wishes that she wants to see everyone dead before her death in the flashback scene and it repeats in the climax scene as well. The film also have some punching dialogues. The film is a nice watch for those who love Balakrishna and his fans.

Cast: Balakrishna, Nayanatara, Namitha, Sneha Ullal, Saikumar (Malayalam artiste), Hemant, Rahman, Sravan, GV, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Brahmanandam, Ali, Krishna Bhagawan, Venumadhav, LB Sriram, Aditya Menon, Vinod, Ananda Bharati, KR Vijaya, Sairabanu, Jhansi, Sana, Kinnera and others.

Credits: Music – Chakri, Background score – Chinna, Camera – Arthur Wilson, Editing – Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao, Art – A S Prakash, Choreography – Prem Rakshit, Action – Ram Laxman, Stun Siva, Executive Producer – B Mahendrababu, Presents - Paruchuri Sivarama Prasad, Producer – Paruchuri Kireeti, Story, dialogues, screenplay and direction – Boyapati Sreenu.

Banner: United Movies