Jai Lava Kusa Review: Jr.NTR Impresses, Sadly the Film Doesn’t

Sethumadhavan 

I have always wondered as to why commercial Telugu filmmakers have so much of love for Kolkata in recent times. So many films have been based partly at least in the eastern metro city that it has almost become difficult to distinguish one from the other. Of course it is another matter that you will never find anyone speaking Bengali in these films, one would be pardoned if he/she were to assume that there are so many Telugu speaking individuals in Kolkata. Now if you are saying that it is the creative freedom of the writers and directors to make the characters speak in Telugu and not in Bengali to make it easy for the Telugu audience, fair enough I guess. But I would now say that Kolkata and Vizag have some serious competition in the form of a destination that could perhaps be suitable for many Telugu filmmakers, the coastal city of Berhampur in Odisha.

If you are wondering whether I have gone bonkers then I won’t blame you, after all this is supposed to be a review of K.S.Ravindra aka Bobby’s Jai Lava Kusa. But let me assure you that after watching the film there is a high chance that you would be in a daze of sorts wondering what to talk about apart from the only trump card that the film has, the presence and the performance of the leading man Jr.NTR. This is a film that has been in the news for a while and people have been eagerly awaiting it, all thanks to the triple role being essayed by NTR, the first time in his career. The craze for the film has been quite feverish in the run up to the release; this is despite the fact that the director’s previous film, Sardaar Gabbar Singh was a damp squib. A little into the first half of the film I found myself relaxing a bit, the aspect of sibling rivalry seemed to be dealt with in an interesting fashion to start with. Also the kid playing the 3 roles of Jai, Lava and Kusa was impressive. But as they say, never judge a book by its cover and that’s what I thought of later once the movie ended.

The film revolves around Jai, Lava and Kusa (who else but Jr.NTR), triplets living with their uncle (Posani Krishna Murali), a theatre artiste who exposes the kids as well to the stage. While all the 3 kids are good performers Jai has a stammer and thus he is always side-lined by his uncle, while Lava and Kusa receive meatier roles on stage and a lot of care and attention.  Feeling hurt and neglected, Jai goes on to commit a dangerous act which ends up separating the 3 of them in an unexpected manner. Jai ends up as a mafia leader, a self-styled Ravana of sorts, while Lava becomes a bank manager and Kusa goes on to be a small time thief. In a quirk of fate the brothers are brought together, but not in the form of an emotional family reunion. Jai has his brothers kidnapped and brought to his turf (Berhampur) with an agenda. So what exactly is the agenda, how do the brothers handle the same,whether they go on to unite eventually or not are what we find out from the rest of the film.

Credit to K.S.Ravindra and his co-writers, Kona Venkat and K.Chakravarthyfor having come up with an interesting premise and exploring the angle of sibling rivalry pretty well at the start. The writing in the first half seems to have taken care of keeping the pace lively mostly. Also enough care has been taken to make sure that all the 3 characters of Jai, Lava and Kusa are kept as unique and interesting as possible for Jr.NTR to portray. The interval block is a high point of sorts; it certainly makes you look forward to the second half with a lot of hope. Sadly the momentum goes for a toss post the interval as the proceedings turn out to be dull and run of the mill. In fact things get so tiring that even an otherwise sizzling item number by Tamannaah (Swing Zara) doesn’t reallymake you excited.

It is easy to understand why K.S.Ravindra has focused so much on his hero, especially when he has the good fortune of having someone like the livewire Jr.NTR. But that alone doesn’t help when the other elements aren’t really given enough focus and attention.  The music by Devi Sri Prasad is strictly average, there is no comedy in the film as such and even the romance aspect in the film has been given a poor treatment. Both the leading ladies, Raashi Khanna and Nivetha Thomas have nothing much to do. Of the supporting cast apart from Sai Kumar and Posani Krishna Murali the others get no scope at all. Eventually the film is all about Jr.NTR who has literally given it his all, carrying out all 3 roles in great style. In particular he is very impressive as Jai, making sure that the stammer and expressive eyes are put to good use.

Jr.NTR is the only saving grace of the film, reminding you perhaps of a cricket match where the best batsman in the team alone shines, the rest of the team actually disappointing.

Bottomline:

Jai Lava Kusa is a film which in all likelihood will leave you disappointed, what could have been an interesting entertainer ends up only as something partly engaging thanks to the spirited performance from Jr.NTR.

Rating: 2/5