Bangari Balaraju Review

'Bangari Balaraju', starring debutant hero Raghav and Karonya Kathrin in the lead, hit the screens this Thursday.  Here is our review of the entertainer.

Story:

The story is set in Kurnool district.  Balaraju (Raghav) is a studious, sincere guy who loves his mother (Meena Kumari) a lot.  During a Holi celebration, a colourful stranger Bangari (Karonya Kathrin) plants a kiss on him playfully and disappears from the scene.

It's love at first kiss for the hero, who now deploys his friends (Kirak RP, Jabardasth Bobby and others) to trace the whereabouts of the girl.  Now, the girl is the pampered daughter of Jagga Rayudu, a feared and unscrupulous feudal lord.  

The story moves towards a familiar trajectory.  The rest of the film is about whether the hero manages to win the girl against all odds.  In this his mother has an intellignet role to play.  

Analysis:

'Bangari Balaraju' is that film where villagers revel in Holi and Kabbadi, friends go to any extent to help the hero in winning his lover, mother is the holiest and villain is the dirtiest.  To be sure, this film has two pro-mother songs (one of them has those Kamal Haasan steps from 'Swathi Muthyam').  And, yes, what is a Telugu village without someone or the other reveling in remembering Pawan Kalyan (the heroine faithfully imitates Power Star's 'Attarintiki Daredi' act).

In a throwback to a bygone era, writer-director Kotendra Duyyala conceives a hero who will wallow in self-pity if you ask him to romance a girl.  He is an IAS aspirant and the film, blasphemously, doesn't show him topping the civil services examination.  He is constantly at the receiving end of a super-naughty and occasionally abusive Bangari, who calls herself a 'Maga rayudu' with a golden heart.  

By and by, honour makes an entry in the story.  Jagga Rayudu is a caste-obsessed and status-conscious feudal head of the villages in Kurnool district and he doesn't approve of his daughter Bangari's love. One murder attempt and the whole population is up in arms against him.  Wah!  

Since the hero is too busy singing paeans for his mother, a trigger-happy roguish yet socially-conscientious cop ('Dookudu' Shravan) is deployed by the director to take care of change.  And the cop, dutifully and almost parodically, delivers a speech that you would trust only Pawan Kalyan to deliver to his devoted sainiks.

A friend is almost killed and, immediately, the heroine is shown indulging in a song that pays tribute to, among others, rasgullas.  Amidst the hero preparing for exams and the heroine preparing for the next dream song, there comes a special song featuring alleged bombshell Radhika Patel.  

There are a couple of fights and the area in which they take place is so restricted that even college drama rehearsals are held in larger areas in real life.  A stand on honour is due and it comes in the climax as a lip service.

The hero's mother is an ideal school teacher who says that she knows how to teach her son not to overstep his boundaries because she has always taught to school children what are India's boundaries (in a scene, the holy mother literally identifies Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.  Thanks for the geography tutorial, though).  

The focus on the hero's sidekicks is too often in the first half.  The priest's character is so caricaturish.  

For a debutant, Raghav has done a decent enough job.  He needs to improvize on some aspects.  Karonya Kathrin, the Telugu girl, passes muster.  Others fit the bill.

Music by the Chinni Krishna-Chitti Babu duo is good, audio-wise.  The cinematography is impressive, given the budget.

Verdict:

'Bangari Balaraju' is a formula-driven love story that takes a stand on the notion of honour in the 21st Century.  The comedy should have been better.  The performances are okayish.