Bhalevaadivi Baasu Review

'Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown'.
- The Bard

In the Indian versions of the tinsel town, two rituals frequently keep happening to actors who have their acid tests on Fridays. The coronation ceremony or the funeral. Which one it will be depends on how deftly the actors manage to give the layman and the scribe their chunks of dreams and art respectively.

In one of the very recent coronation ceremonies, a stalwart with the gene of celestialness was crowned after he gave the biggest hit of Telugu cinema till date called Narasimha Naidu. And that's where the uneasiness, as the Bard had aptly put it, may have started. This uneasiness shows blatantly in his latest attempt at satiating his subjects' need to dream and worship their star.

Bhalevaadavi, Baasu! How could that uneasiness (in the scribes' jargon, it means irresponsible complacence) in you replace the power in your earlier roles and make way to this kitsch in the absolute sense of the term? How could you let that uneasiness affect your intellect and, more unpardonably, challenge the viewers' possession of it too? You forgot one minor thing. Your subjects will not always be so pardoning.

So you play a forest officer with a sidekick to boot, whose sole aim in life is to poach the poachers headed by Banerjee (Prakash Raj), who is, as is the case with Prakash Raj's earlier roles, a nut. He keeps on saying that he is a genius but very dangerous. You also have the job of prancing around with two nymphomaniacs; a village belle (Anjala Jhaveri) and a senior forest officer (Shilpa Shetty). The entire cast's double entendres, including yours, make even Dada Khondke turn in his grave.

In the second half, we also have a twist. You are not the forest officer but are actually a thief who replaces the real one after he has been killed by the poachers. You also have to go through the senti of his sister's marriage and the mother's pains. In hindsight, believe us, we were feeling the pains too.

Some more sobs, prancing and double entendres later, you bash up the goons and all is well.

An earnest advice from an equally earnest admirer of yours, Mr. Balakrishna. Please make your roles a little worthy of the adulation you have received earlier. And please realize the fact that the crown changes heads at the drop of a hat. Become a legend with grace, do not fade away to oblivion with a whimper.

By the way, when last heard, an upstart called Pavan Kalyan was already on his way to being crowned.