Winner Review

Jagapathi Babu lives alone with a dyed beard and his son (Babu's son, not the beard's - that would be too interesting a story). He has a dad, Mukesh Rishi, and you know he's Babu's baap because his moustache is more fake than Babu's beard colour.

Now there's a reason why Babu lives away from his dad. That could be because he was wondering how Rishi, who's only 5 years older, could be his dad. But no, he lives away from his dad because he married Kalyani against his dad's wishes. Now, Kalyani, collecting her slim paycheque for this role, has died, leaving Babu to his dyed beard.

Mukesh Rishi's horse-racing company is tanking. He needs his son back because Jagapathi Babu was a hero until a few years back and therefore can be cast as a horse-riding father of the hero. So Rishi brings back Babu and his son. Except, he doesn't want his son. We mean, he wants his son, of course. He just doesn't want his son's son. So he convinces his son's son that his father (the son's son's father - that would be Jagapathi Babu FYI) doesn't love him anymore. Also he tells the kid that Babu is eyeing marrying Sonia Agarwal because she, too, had been a heroine until a few years back and thus would be a recognisable face even if no one would remember when they saw her last.

Anyway, Rishi's conspiracy works and his son's son runs away from the house into the title card.

Twenty years pass. And an amazing inevitable thing happens - Babu gets his grey beard back! And everyone heaves a sigh of relief and cheers on.

Another inevitable thing also happens. Someone reminds Sai Dharam Tej (or maybe he thought of it himself) that Chiranjeevi is his meternal (we got the spelling from SDT's wiki page - don't kill the messenger) uncle. And that Pawan Kalyan is also his uncle. His other uncle Naga Babu also dabbled in some films. Why, even his own cousins have starred in films. Now that means, he, too, should be starring in his own films. Not able to find a flaw in this logic, SDT comes on to the screen a couple of minutes after the title card with a lengthier title for himself which goes something like Supreme Mega Power Stylish Legend (scratch that - that's the other family, isn't it?) Epic Glorious... and some such Hero.

Soon Anasuya is instructed to speak in English and strut her stuff, which she does admirably well. So you wonder why she isn't yet cast as a heroine - after all, she looks pretty, acts pretty decently, and even speaks Telugu. And then you remember she isn't from Bombay or Delhi. Meanwhile, director Gopichand Malineni ushers in Rakul Preet Singh who IS from Delhi and struts her stuff a tad better than Anasuya does.

Aside from stuff-strutting, Singh is reminded that she has other duties to perform - which would be getting harassed by the hero and a comedian (Prudhvi, whose 30 years experience in the industry appear to land him only spoofy roles like "Singham Sujatha").

The "comedy" and the "romance" move like clockwork. When we say clockwork, we mean it - it happens mechanically and you don't pay much attention to it unless you're just trying to check if it's time yet.

Just when you check the time for like the 79th time, you are introduced to the villain who is instructed to speak Telugu and strut his stuff. The villain is a certain Thakur Anoop Singh who was recently seen in Singam III. Yup, he is the long-maned bloke who, while aboard on a plane, is pumping iron in his underwear. We mean, he is in his underwear, not the iron. Not that we know anything about iron in his underwear, you know. We categorically deny commenting anything about it.

Now, being the villain, he has additional duties like Murder. So he promptly murders people. And Telugu.

Sticking out like a sore thumb in all this mess is Chota K Naidu whose cinematography is absolutely top-notch making every frame beautiful and, thus, bearable. However, Thaman commits no such sacrilege, and provides music that is as forgettable as the film itself.

See, there's so much more of such originality and excitement in Winner and we would love to tell you all about it. Except, we don't. So, yeah, bad luck. You might have to check it out in the cinemas yourself.