Om Namo Venkatatesaya Review: Devotional Journey Addressing a Not So Well Known Tale

Sethumadhavan

K.Raghavendra Rao is a veteran Telugu filmmaker who has been prolific over the last four decades, having made 100 plus films so far. Of late he has been focusing mostly on devotional films, with Nagarjuna being his regular collaborator in that space. The duo have worked together on devotional films like Annamaya (1997), Sri Ramadasu (2006) and Shirdi Sai (2012) in the past and have now combined once again to come up with Om Namo Venkatesaya, a biography on the life and times of Hathiram Bhavaji, a saint and an ardent devotee of Lord Venkateswara. With not much known about the story of the saint, apart from the legendary tale of his game of dice with Lord Balaji and his subsequent tryst with destiny, it was quite intriguing to see K.Raghavendra Rao deciding to make a film on this legend. And in this endeavour he has been aided by his frequent co-writer, J.K.Bharavi as they have gone about trying to combine a bit of fiction and mythology to come up with the film.

Ram (Nagarjuna) is a spiritually inclined individual who comes to Tirumala from North India in search of God, becoming a disciple of a guru (Sai Kumar) who guides him in his quest for God. Ram goes on to undertake a severe penance in his endeavour to meet Lord Venkateswara. The Lord gets impressed and does pay him a visit in the form of a small boy, but Ram fails to recognise the Lord in the guise of the boy. On realizing his folly Ram rushes to the Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala and decides to remain there all his life in the service of God. He comes across Krishnamma (Anushka), another ardent devotee of Lord Balaji. Ram is dismayed to find that the sacred temple and the surroundings are being misused for his own benefit by Govindarajulu (Rao Ramesh), the king’s representative. How does Ram go on to handle the situation and become the legendary Hathiram Bhavaji in the process is what the rest of the film is all about.

The most popular tale about Hathiram Bhavaji is about his getting to play a game of dice with the Lord himself, leading to Lord Balaji losing his jewels that he stakes in the game. Much later the temple priests notice the jewels in the idol of the lord to be missing, and they end up finding the same in Ram’s ashram. The king listens to Ram’s account of what happened and orders him to be punished, giving him a tough chance to prove his innocence as well. How Ram goes on to clear his name in the process and get the name Hathiram is what goes on to follow. But this whole sequence is something that we get to see only well into the second half of the film. Till then K.Raghavendra Rao tries to keep us engaged by getting us to know the history of Tirumala, Lord Balaji and the importance of the place and the rituals associated. This is attempted by an abundant use of songs from Ram and Krishnamma, in the process enlightening other devotees as well.

The angle of Govindarajulu and his henchmen (Vennela Kishore, Raghu Babu) appears a little silly, while a couple of romantic songs (one featuring Nagarjuna and Pragya Jaiswal, the other featuring Jagapathi Babu and Anushka) seem to look quite out of place in the film. But M.M.Keeravani’s music works overall and the devotional songs certainly fit the mood and tempo of the film. The film also has decent production values and the period look is reasonably convincing. Out of the supporting cast Brahmanandam, Vennela Kishore, Prudhviraj and Raghu Babu have nothing much to do, while Sai Kumar as Ram’s guru, Rao Ramesh as the scheming Govindarajulu, Vimala Raman as Padmavati Devi, Ashmitha as Bhudevi and Sampath Raj as the king get noticed. Jagapathi Babu and Pragya Jaiswal’s cameos make no impact, especially the former while Saurabh Raj Jain looks charming as Lord Venkateswara.

Anushka is very effective playing Krishnamma, a fictional character modelled on the lines of Andal and except for her dream song with Jagapathi Babu she is a symbol of grace and composure in the film. Nagarjuna is once again the main reason why the attempt by K.Raghavendra Rao works by and large, he is extremely impactful and it is a treat to see him enact the title role with such control, charm and elegance. The film would work if you are into devotional films, you could also get to know some history about Tirumala, Lord Balaji and Hathiram Bhavaji in the process.

Bottomline:

K.Raghavendra Rao and Nagarjuna Rao have combined once again to come up with a devotional film. Thankfully the film is devoid of unwanted flab and oomph factor largely, making it a clean old fashioned devotional film. Om Namo Venkatesaya is definitely watchable if you are into devotional films and/or a fan of Nagarjuna.

Rating: 3/5