Hyper Review

'Hyper' is escapist fare and messaging rolled into one.  The latter is all the more 'hyper' because it's integral to two characters - father and son.  The idea of a gutsy, father-loving son taking it upon himself to prevent the father fall from grace, is very good.  But the ideas around this base idea shouldn't have been escapist fare-kinda stuff.  Ram may not have the "range" to destroy the empire of a Minister through guts and guts alone (NTR-style).  So, he resorts to the tricks of 'Shakuni' in the second half.  (By the way, Ram's character invokes Kautilya's four 'upayas' - Sama, Dana, Behda and Danda, but in the second half, he deploys the kind of kid stuff we saw in Karthi's 'Shakuni').

Surya (Ram), the son of an upright, sinless public servant (Sathyaraj as Narayana Murthy), loves his father to the extreme.  Even the son's sweetheart (Raashi Khanna as Bhanumathi) is the good father's pick.  As he stares at a happy, fulfilled retirement in a month's time, Narayana Murthy falls in to trouble when he braves the Minister Rajappa's (Rao Ramesh) intimidation and holds ground on approving a dangerous project.  Surya's friendship with a small-time but largely good-hearted rowdy-sheeter Ganja (Murali Sharma) leads him into a direct confrontation with Rajappa, whose majestic ego Surya hurts mindfully.

Being glib is not necessarily silly these days.  If you said this or that is illogical to a friend, he/she might well give a nice lecture, arguing that's how a director has to think to deliver entertainment.  (Even 'Inkokkadu' has had many takers).  Thus, trivializing it by having the media go on a rampage in defeating the villain ought to be thought of as intelligent and fun.  Don't even ask why a media which ignored Narayana Murthy's plight for many days suddenly behaves as if it's on steroids overnight, telecasting footage from a CCTV of a Minister's house!  As for the villain, he is ever-ready to commit hara-kiri by provoking government employees.  To paraphrase Paulo Coelho, when the hero has to win, all the relevant characters conspire to behave irrationally.

Amidst all this, Abburi Ravi's dialogues come as a consolation.  When Rao Ramesh speaks, you know he has a mind.  Thank god.

Director Santosh Srinivas does a good job of getting the characterizations right.  He is helped in that by the acting talent of Rao Ramesh, Sathyaraj and Ram.  Before Rajappa says why he is punishing Surya's family (because his ego has been hurt), he talks a bit about his rise and rise from being a trivial thug whenever someone did 'nakhras' in front of him.  Before you know, the casual-looking father Narayana Murthy metamorphoses into a conscientious public servant Narayana Murthy speaking truth to power.  Same is the case with Ram, especially the interval bang transformation.

The screenplay has its set of flaws.  The tempo goes missing in the second half till the hospital scene where Rajappa prophecies about the father's fall from grace.  One also feels there was no need to artificially introduce the middle class 'pourusham' element when the conflict point itself had enough 'dammu'.

Ram is at his usual best.  Much as his background is that of a city-bred in the movie, his character has a mass-y flavour as the undercurrent.  If the B and C centre audience feel he has done total justice, Ram is going to emerge the biggest winner.  Rao Ramesh is intense, menacing and mean.  His dialogue-delivery and slang are not boring, much as he is repetitious.  His scenes with Ram are a big plus.  Sathyaraj does away with the boredom of a 'Brahmotsavam'.  Murali Sharma shines by playing a well-etched character.

Raashi Khanna is a let down and in the role of a shy, 'andi'-saying girl transforming into a temptress, she looks affected.  The romantic track loses steam for the same reason.

Ghibran's music works in case of two numbers, whereas Mani Sharma's BGM has its share of jarring notes (yes, surprising as it may seem).  Sameer Reddy's cinematography passes muster.

Verdict:  'Hyper' is a formulaic film that follows the template of a few movies seen in recent past.  The conflict point gives way to some non-serious ideas involving the media (the usual suspect). Thankfully, Ram and Rao Ramesh don't lose balance and emote appropriately (actually, they are allowed to emote appropriately).