Chenna Kesava Reddy Review

Chenna Kesava Reddy, as its name clearly suggests, sculpts its name beside its pompous NBK forerunners Narasimha Naidu and Samarasimha Reddy in the faction-movies register. As you would expect, CKR too emerges with infamous binary-logic. That is, the movie will either give you the kick of your life or make you unhappy with its hackneyed theme, depending on whether or not you are fond of NBK-factionist-theme movies.

For the faction-movie aficionados: V V Vinayak's production is another rousing, grisly, action-packed movie that takes moviemaking back to the bloodthirsty lands of Southern Andhra. It is a film with money to burn (keeping in mind the amazing chase shots) and a scale worthy of its golden factionist predecessors. While not as fluid as the work done for say Narasimha Naidu, it's an impressive achievement that will leave you marveling at the glory of the action/chase scenes, when you are not marveling at the glory that is Balakrishna (as a factionist).

Starting out with a literal 'rowdy inspector' (Inspector Bharat: Balakrishna), the film takes off with some good action scenes and the trademark coolness of Balayya. But events seem somewhat uninvolving, lackluster even, as the plot meanders slowly along, with some boring sub-plots and uninspired dialogue. Preeti (Shreya) provides some eye candy, but very little else.

45 minutes later... CKR (the father of Bharat) enters the screen fighting goons in Tihar Jail. He is then released from there, and is on his way to Rayalaseema to reclaim his position and seek revenge, along with his wife Tabu. This is when the action roars off, with the last half-hour being one huge action wallop, with an enormous amount of stunts and explosions, leaving you wanting a breather. Then you are greeted with the "bad guy and good guy shoot up" ending, which is exciting, if somewhat brutal. In short, been there, done that. Does Inspector Bharat aid CKR in avenging his enemies and take up his position in Rayalaseema or not is what forms the climax.

We guess that after seeing Balakrishna as a factionist, one can't possibly imagine anyone else in that role. He embodies a factionist's role like no one else would/could; he is an uncharacteristic find that pulls off the job of breathing life into factionist roles in spades. Wait, I take that back. He does not just breathe life into factionist roles, he makes them jump off the screen and pull the audience into the story. Unsurprisingly, his role as an Inspector (Bharat) is a turnoff when weighed against his commended factionist role (CKR). As expected, all the other roles are of limited scope, though they're well executed.

Vinayak's famed filmmaking is far from subtle, with heroic CKR (the father) frequently slow-motion walking through the enemies, replete with the mighty undercurrent to signal his presence. Vinayak's use of the camera, even during the so- called slow parts of the film, is quite creative, and sometimes rather beautiful. Fans of the director's previous blockbuster (Aadi) will not be disappointed; and newcomers will be delighted. The editing and camera angles are mesmerizing, and almost every shot seems to have been composed with every possible thought.

The mighty and impressive undercurrent provided by Mani Sharma is more or less on par with that of Narasimha Naidu (watch it in a decent theater with good sound system). However, the background score for the songs accompanied by vaguely boorish lyrics is a letdown. But given the situation, the songs sound apt (we guess one wouldn't expect a mass character to sing class songs with soft and poetic lyrics, anyway).

Does CKR's script have flaws in it? Oh yes, it does. For example, the introduction of Hippy Lahari (L B Sriram) and the song following his introduction are a total waste of time. Then there is this two-year old kid of CKR's lineage who draws a bread knife at the enemy! Thanks to the slack script and open endings, the whole of the first 45 minutes of the movie fails to make any solid impact.

Finale: Well, if you are big on Balakrishna or on Vinayak or on factionism or on some pretty cool and visually stunning action scenes, this is the ticket for you!