When you remake a successful movie in one language to another care has to be taken to localize or add contextual flavor to it.
For instance, Nayakudu's original Runaway was about the travails of a young man whose plans of going to Dubai runs awry and hence he ends up with a bootlegging gang.
This is a story that has some relevance in Kerala where these things really happen and the audiences were able to connect.
But what happens when such a story is retold in Andhra? It fails to ring a bell and falls flat as Nayakudu has.
The story, that resonated in Kerala, has little appeal here, and in the event, Nayakudu sinks like a ball of iron in water. If anything, the story appears corny here,
Raju (Rajasekhar) sets out to Dubai to help his debt-ridden family. But he is conned and ends up with a 'spirit' smuggling gang. He becomes a part of it that he changes his name Sambha Siva. But he makes his family believe that he is in the Gulf.
Trouble starts when his younger brother (Riaz Khan) becomes a police and sets out on the pursuit of the spirit gang.
The end is about how Raja Sekhar comes clean and also cleans up the system with the help of his brother.
With an inorganic story, there is very little to recommend in Nayakudu.
Rajasekhar is efficient and energetic. But his work goes waste simply because his role, in terms of characterization, is very old.
The freshness that the audience may look for is missing. Namitha has no role to speak of, except look dutifully beautiful. Her body structure, which varies from scene to scene, looks bizarre. Others like Nasser, Rami Reddy just amble through.
Koti's music doesn't rise above the ordinary. It simply merges with overall mediocrity of the film. Ramana Raju's camera work alone passes muster.
Director Kodi Ramakrishna looks like a student who forgot to carry his geometry box to his maths exam: He looks ill prepared to tackle the subject at hand and is in a quandary how to proceed.
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