Prathinidhi 2 Review

When the official trailer of Prathinidhi 2 hit YouTube, it became clear that it was anything but a spiritual successor to Prathinidhi. The trailer revealed a lot, thereby indicating that it was in no way related to the original, despite being a sequel. A political thriller being released right on the cusp of the general elections already has tailwinds going for it. This one, however, manages to create its own deadweight.

Freelance journalist Chetan (Nara Rohith) is a righteous guy and a vigilante. A US-returned journalist (Udaya Bhanu) establishes a news channel called NNC, prioritizing results over returns, and appoints Chetan as its CEO.

Bold and intelligent Chetan exposes corruption and reveals corrupt politicians, gaining popularity among the masses. During a by-election in Andhra Pradesh, following Chetan's impassioned monologue on voting, disillusioned people expose both ruling party and opposition candidates through voting. Subsequently, the residence of Chief Minister Prajapathi (Sachin Khedekar) is bombed, supposedly killing him. However, when Prajapathi's foreign-returned son is on the verge of being sworn in as the new CM, Prajapathi resurfaces.

Right from the beginning, this movie seems targeted at the upcoming general and Assembly elections (2024) in Andhra Pradesh. There's ample bashing of the YSRCP. However, that may not bother many. What's troubling is that the filmmakers might have rushed to meet the deadline just before the elections to influence voters, resulting in a lazy piece of art. The laziness is evident in every aspect - the concept, the plot, the execution of key sequences, you name it. Devagupthapu's direction lacks, well, direction. Up until the interval, it's a political movie with tons of social messages, exposés and fearless journalism; post-interval, it transforms into an investigative movie that's as low-end as the CID TV series.

The disconnect between the two halves is pronounced for all the bad reasons. Consider this: A journalist preaches in one show about exercising voting rights. The result? A remarkable 98% voter turnout, with 96% choosing NOTA. You can't but help wonder which parallel universe the director lives in (Murthy Devagupthapu makes his debut as the writer-director of this movie). Additionally, bombing a CM's residence is not a piece of cake as portrayed in the movie. The same can be said about the CM's escape and sudden reappearance.

The movie blatantly copies sequences from many other films, and the copying is lazy too. For example, the sequences related to CM Prajapathi before the bombing of his residence and the ensuing chaos have been lifted from the Malayalam movie Lucifer. What's amusing in this copy-paste is that the actor playing the CM in both movies is the same - Sachin Khedekar. Furthermore, Chetan's interview with a minister is a mindless copy of the iconic interview shown in Nayak (the 2001 Hindi movie starring Anil Kapoor).

In the first half, the film raises many issues such as the mining scam, inflation, stone-pelting and money laundering. However, it just touches on them and moves on. Nothing lands as it should have. The dialogues also feel artificial and preachy.

However, while the movie is bad, the performances by the cast are not part of the reason. Nara Rohith is back after a prolonged absence of six years from Tollywood, and delivers a solid performance. He shines in many scenes, though dancing and fighting are not really his thing. Praveen, playing his sidekick, is off-putting. Among others, Jisshu Sengupta and Sachin Khedekar do their bit perfectly. Sengupta's portrayal as a CBI Special Officer appears quite natural. Those who watch Bengali movies know Sengupta doesn't disappoint - some of his performances, such as the one in the movie Noukadubi, are a class apart. Unfortunately, the screenplay here doesn't elevate him enough to let him make a mark. The same can be said of Khedekar. Uday Bhanu's screen-time is limited to a few minutes, and she doesn't get a chance to make her presence felt.

Technically, too, Prathinidhi 2 is a bad movie. The music is sloppy, especially the background score. The songs are neither hummable nor dance-floor material. The choreography is bad in both the dances and the fights. If you have an eagle's eye, you can sometimes see punches pass by the characters without touching them.

After such a colossal waste of talent and time, the last straw is when, just before the end-credits roll, a member of the crew appears on the screen and explicitly announces, "We are planning Prathinidhi 3," in a matter-of-fact style. That's some chutzpah.