N.T.R Kathanayakudu Review - A Boringly Built-up Biopic

Suhansid Srikanth

Biopics are always a tight walk over a double headed sword. It has the possibility to disturb the image of personality amidst masses. The people it addresses may be still living. The facts can just be factual from one side and can be easily brushed aside a biased take. Especially when it deals with the life of a person as larger than life as N.T.RamaRao whose career spans over half century across the Telugu Film Industry as an actor and politician. And it is even more a riskier take if it is to be played by his one son, Nandamuri Balakrishna.

Given how appealing and interesting the incidents he came across and phenomenon NTR himself is.. the film is a boringly done biopic that lack lustrously chains chunks of dramatic sequences in an even more dramatic way. Every emotion is heightened to melodrama with a heavily underlining background score.

The film itself is already a very religious approach on the man. It introduces NTR to us in a scene where he resigns just because there is bribery in his office. One after the other, the sequences talk about how the man always looked after the people around him. There are some moments that ring the chord.. like when NTR comes to the set as Lord Krishna, a role that turned him into a messiah among masses. It is this intensity we want to witness throughout the film.

And after a point.. it turns out into very wikipediash. The casting is bizarre given the stalwarts the subject deals with. Like how do you explain Rakul Preet playing SriDevi? Performance of Vidya Balan as NTR's wife is the only take away. She just fits the role. She plays it with such conviction and coherence.

Balakrishna's performance is highly one dimensional. And it kills any shade of grey attached to the character. And obviously since he is playing his father.. he piously want to portray this man as an epitome of honesty, straight forwardness and decorum. Hence unlike Mahanati, we hardly see a dilemma or human touch in the character.

Gnana Shekar's cinematography is epicesque. So is the music and score by Keeravani. They are the only factors that keeps reminding the greatness of this life this man has lived and the legacy he has left behind.

Bottomline:

In an effort to be clean and careful, N.T.R Kathayanakudu is a heavily one-note film that's just about the rise and praise about the man!

Rating : 2/5