Film: Namo Venkatesha
Cast: Venkatesh, Trisha, Brahmanandam, Akash, Mukesh Rishi, Jayaprakash Reddy, Telangana Shakuntala, Chandramohan, Sudha, Surekha Vani, Master Bharat and others.
Story: Gopimohan
Screenplay: Chintapalli Ramana
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Lyrics: Rama Jogaiah Sastry
Cinematography: Prasad Murella
Editing: M R Varma
Art: A S Prakash
Action: Vijay
Banner: 14 Reels Entertainment
Produced by: Ram Achanta, Gopichand Achanta, Anil Sunkara
Screenplay and directed by: Sreenu Vytla
Release date: Jan 14, 2010
What's it about!
Venkata Ramana (Venkatesh), a ventriloquist by profession, postpones his marriage waiting for his 'dream girl'. Despite age catching on, he purses his dream. On a trip to Paris to perform his art for a Telugu association, he meets the event organizer Paris Prasad (Brahmanandam) and falls in love at first sight with Prasad's relative Pooja (Trisha). Paris Prasad asks Pooja to pretend to love Venkata Ramana so that they can derive entertainment from it. But Venkata Ramana loves her seriously thinking her reciprocal attitude. On the other hand, in Rayalaseema in Andhra Pradesh, Pooja's family fixes alliance with her bava and forces her to get married to that rowdy. Post interval the film further goes several turns.
Analysis
Sreenu Vytla has become synonymous with entertaining films after a series of hits like Dhee, Ready, King, etc. Venkatesh, on the other hand, is known for his brand of comedy. So it is natural expect to get nonstop laughs when these two come together. Although, the director has tried to evoke laughter from Venky and Brahmanandam, the comedy is not that effective. You get to see the usual stock scenes of an Sreenu Vytla's film - of hero beating others in drunken state, a huge star cast, a comedian is getting fooled by the hero every time and some action. All is there but the entertainment is not that effective. It is just okay. Writing is the main villain. Script (Gopimohan) and screenplay (Sreenu Vytla) are on beaten track. Preposterous scenes and comedy that is done to death are biggest drawback. Faction element in second half is not gelled right with the main story.
Performances
Venkatesh does the role with ease as he has done such roles several times. Like always, he is at his best in comedy scenes. He plays the role of Pellikani Prasad at another time with a different twist and characterization
. Trisha is apt for her role and also looks glamorous. Brahmanandam's comedy is repetitive. Dharmavarapu and Kasi Vishwanath track is hilarious. There is huge ensemble cast but none of them stand.
On the technical aspects, director
Sreenu Vytla's direction is okay but his screenplay lacks fizz. The film starts off with Sreenu Vytla's voice-over and makes lofty statement but the script doesn't have the essence of his so-called 'vision'. Dialogues by
Ramana are good, though. Production values and cinematography are rich. Especially cameraman
Prasad has captured Iceland and other locales in Europe so well; they are eye feast.
Devi Sri Prasad's music is routine.
Bottom-line!
Namo Venkatesha
is regular Sreenu Vytla's brand of movie with a bit of comedy, romance and action. More emphasis is made on Venky - Brahmanandam's comedy. That is the best part and the rest is ordinary.
Rating: 3/5
Reviewed by JP
