Gangotri Review

Procedure:

1. Take young girl, drench her in rose-petalled water. Make sure she doesn't die of suffocation. Once she walks out, drape her with seasonal fruits mentioned above. Set aside.
2. Take a young boy, give him a flute or any other musical instrument that will . make him look romantic and girl fall for him. Avoid bongo drums or complicated stuff for obvious reasons. Set aside.
3. Take angry father who loves daughter so much he smothers her with his affection. Mix him with young couple. Let them simmer for two hours.
4. Let the whole concoction cool for 30 minutes. Garnish movie with dry clothes, melodious music and awesome locales. Serve chilled in ethnic Andhra container.

For the 100th time in his life, Raghavender Rao dishes out his trademark fare, on this Ugadi. His centurial movie Gangotri is like the Ugadi pacchadi, something we've tasted for years now and still don't mind gulping down once a year. The core of Gangotri is average, but it flows along breezily because of Keeravani's melodious music and beautiful lyrical wordplay by Chandra Bose.

Gangotri (Aditi) is the daughter of a paranoid Dad (Prakash Raj) who cossets her with his affection. He can't let anybody come between him and beti dearest, not even some weird planetary combos in her natal chart that indicate she may face a watery death before she turns 16. The only remedy is to take her to Gangotri, the birthplace of the Ganges, on every birthday.

Meanwhile, this girlie falls for her childhood buddy-cum-Man-Friday Simhadri (Arjun). Even as you think they make custom-made models for a Fevicol ad, Dad gets a whiff of their so-called budding romance. He mistakes the young friend's late night rendezvous as plans of elopement, and nips the whole thing in the bud, even threatening to kill the boy to protect his daughter.

Simhadri, after having faithfully served Gangotri's family for years now and having lost his parents doing the same, decides to teach the old guy a lesson. The only way he can meet Gangotri is at Gangotri on her birthday. So he chalks out an elaborate plan, and yes, does succeed in getting his sweetheart.

Gangotri has shades of every movie we remember in recent times. Two kids singing duets like in Manasanta Nuvve, homage to the Indian Railways akin to the Railubandi number, the village backdrop like in Jayam etc...

It's strange how Gangotri and