If a bowler performs well on pacy wicket, it doesn't mean he will shine on spinning tracks too. Like wise if a film does well in one part of the country, it doesn't naturally follow that it would be a hit elsewhere too.
Rajababu is a good example. This treacle-filled family drama ran to packed houses in Malayalam as Balettan. But in Telugu it comes across tired and banal kind of movie. More importantly, you are also tempted to question the wisdom of Rajasekhar in getting stuck in the remake bandwagon. None of his recent remakes has worked. It is difficult to believe that Rajababu will be any different.
The story is simple and timeworn. It is about Rajababu (Rajasekhar), the dutiful son of Parandhmayya (Vijaykumar). When about to die, the father tells the son that he has another family elsewhere and that needs help. So the hero, who keeps it all a secret, sets out to help the other family. As he keeps things under the wraps, there are lots of discomfiture in his own family. How he unites all the loose ends and makes it all into a handy strand is the story.
It is all sugarcoated and syrup. The maudlin tone of the movie grates. Rajasekhar, to be fair to him, is adequate in the role. But the over-the-top characterization lets him down. He is too good to be true. Sri Devika looks fetching. That is the only compliment that can be offered. The scene stealer is Kovai Sarala with a brilliant parody on Chandramukhi. She and Brahmanandam bring the house down with their riotous comedy. Sarada has another lachrymose role. Harika looks confident and performs her role with sincerity.
S A Rajkumar is not the most original of composers. And he dishes out some basement-bargain stuff. Camerawork is not shoddy but it is also not great.
Muppalaneni Siva seems to have been caught in a time warp and shows no grasp over any idiom of modern filmmaking. In the event, the film dawdles like a late-running passenger train. It is difficult to see a tele-serial as a movie.
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