Nota Review - One man’s political party that could have had some support from his partisans

Akash

Arjun Reddy and Geetha Govindam fame ‘Rowdy’ Vijay Deverakonda’s Tamil debut, which happens to be a political thriller titled NOTA is here and it is directed by Anand Shankar. When we watch a political thriller, two things to look out for are the suspense elements and the grip of the plot that is offered to us. Has the flick lived up to the hype and expectation that it created?

NOTA starts off with the introduction of the title character Varun played by Vijay Deverakonda, who is a carefree youngster and an aspiring game designer. Actor Vijay Deverakonda has worked hard on his language and pronunciation and he seems to have all the capabilities to pull off this sort of a mass filled character. He seems to carry forward his resonating screen presence from his previous hits.

The very first few minutes give us an insight into what we are going to witness for the next couple of hours and the basic premise. The first half has the likeable transformation of Varun’s character from the happy go lucky youngster to a responsible politician. Though the reason behind this transformation is quite justifiable, the fact that an unworried and fun loving person turns into a responsible Chief Minister within a couple of days is something that is hard to believe.

Major part of the first half deals with his own struggle to take up this responsibility and also introduces us to various other characters played by Nasser, Sathyaraj, MS Bhaskar and others. All the senior actors have done well with their emotions and this could be considered as a major plus. There are a few high points in the first half but some of them seem to be force fitted for the protagonist to solve and this could have been niched out more interestingly. The intention though is on the dart right from the start.

Many of the vital events and scenes seem staged even though the situations thus created are understandable and not absurd. Hence the breaking point that the title character Varun faces is predictable. A flashback portion reveals some of the essential details and this has been well etched out by Anand Shankar and team.

NOTA has a lot of references from the current political scenario that we have heard of and known about in our state. This decision to tease the audiences with these political references from various parties and squeeze out similar scenes is commendable.

Even though most of the smaller characters in the latter half have been cast keeping in mind the fact that NOTA is a Tamil- Telugu bilingual film, the nativity does seem to be an issue here and there. Also, a lot of new characters are being introduced through the course of the film and none of them have a firm hold in our minds.

Technically, the film’s cinematography is quite apt and some of the movement shots by Santhana Krishnan are worthy of a mention. Music by Sam CS is the biggest bonus and the bgm score adds value throughout the film.

Vijay Deverakonda has tried his best to entertain us from the start and watching him play the young CM is probably the best takeaway. However, this could have been backed up by stronger dialogues, intense scenes and a crisp ending with more focus on the core plot. If these departments had cast their votes right, NOTA could have been an intriguing political thriller and a capable winner. Nevertheless, Vijay Devarakonda’s Tamil debut is just about an average, passable entertainer.

Bottomline 

‘Rowdy’ Vijay Devarakonda’s one man show is the saving grace of this otherwise ordinary political popcorn flick.

Rating: 2.25/5