Review: ‘Ramayya Vasthavayya’, a mix of Jr. NTR’s old films!

Jr. NTR’s latest flick is strictly for his fans. The star does not disappoint his fans as long as he dances like a dream, emotes with ease (especially the comic scene) with the granny and does his part in the violent action-scenes. More than anything, he looks at his best in his career. He tries carrying this hero-centric film all the way. But with such a lazy script, there is not much he can do.

After making a successful remake with ‘Gabbar Singh’, Harish Shankar comes with this. Coming with an original story could be a daunting effort after such a huge successful remake, this being just his 4th film as director. Under the burden of such expectations, It looks like he took the easier path of mush-mashing previous revenge flicks in Telugu, especially NTR’s own! After showing such a promising dialogue writing in Gabbar Singh, Harish’s attempts here fall flat. Ramayya Vasthavayya offers nothing new. In fact its hard not to yawn through most of the first half which reminds us of movies made 10 years ago, which tried hard elevating the hero’s character (with a ‘friend’ who doubles as hero’s ‘bike driver’) even while the hero keeps teasing the heroine. The movie relies on some ‘twists’ to differentiate itself from the million revenge movies it apes but when they do come, they are too little and too late. And then the second half shows no attempt at anything but violence. The makers of the film should have given the script some of the extensive attention they gave to parading every branded luxury car to convey the ‘rich’ look.

To the director’s and the cast’s credit, they did a decent job in whatever precious little part they had in the movie, where each frame is centered around the hero. The comedy made by hero’s friend character imitating Superstar Krishna and Shoban Babu drew the rare and big laughter from the viewers. The 3 ladies – (Samantha, Sruthi Haasan and Hamsa Nandini ) looked gorgeous but obviously were not really the focus in a frame unless the camera lustily zoomed on their assets and their behinds. Ravi Shankar played the role of pervert soul to the hilt, in the limited ‘villain role’ he has. The movie has a glossy look in every frame. Music is mediocre and background is forgettable. Over all, the movie is hardly passable for viewers seeking just entertainment.