"Story of a lover turned Jockey"

Story:

Mukesh Rishi's club loses a prestigious race which forces their club committee to give an ultimatum to him. Either resign as President of the club or call back his son Jagapathi Babu who is a famous jockey but left his home as Mukesh Rishi did not accept his love marriage. Jaggu is now living far away with his son Siddhu. Mukesh Rishi doesn't have a choice but to bring back his son. Mukesh succeeds in separating Jagapathi from his son.

Siddhu (Sai Dharam Tej) is creative head at a news paper/channel. He hates the words race and horses and avoids them in his news coverage. During a page 3 coverage, he falls for Sitara (Rakul Preet Singh) on his first interaction. But Sitara rejects him as she has a goal in her life to compete in athletics and doesn't want any disturbance in the form of love.

Sitara's dad (Suresh) wants her daughter to get married to a famous jockey Anoop, who can handle their horses and their club. In a series of twists and turns Sitara introduces Siddhu as his lover to her parents. Enraged by her decision, Suresh challenges him to win a race over Anoop.

Rest of the story is to find out why Sithara introduced Siddhu as his lover, will Jaggu recognize his son and how Siddhu wins the race and gets his lady love.

Performances:

Supreme Hero Sai Dharam Tej has a new look in this movie. He continued his energetic performance in this movie too. He performed well in emotional scenes and danced well. Not sure if he learned horse riding just for this movie but was convincing in the role of jockey. He is becoming another dependable star for small budgeted commercial movies. Rakul Preet did her best in her limited role as an athlete and love interest of hero. Jagapathi Babu excelled well with his subtle performance. 30 Years industry Prithiviraj did another routine spoof... this time as 'Singam' Sujatha. Thakur Anoop Singh is good as villain. In other prominent roles, Vennela Kishore appeared as a side kick to hero, Mukesh Rishi as Jaggu's dad, Ali as Peter Heins, a jockey trainer. Director Gopichand Malineni, Sonia Agarwal and Kalyani did cameo. Anchor Anasuya did an item song. Not sure why did she chose to take up an item song.

Behind The Screen:

Winner has good story, nice commercial twists but went wrong in execution. I would blame director Gopichand Malineni for this. Many scenes looked so routine, predictable and looked like a drag. Disappointed with dialogs by Abburi Ravi, he could have done a better job. Thaman's music is as usual with 2 good songs. "O Sithara... Sithara...." and "Picchonne Ayipoyane..." are good. He rehashed a chorus bit from "Guruvaram March Okati" Song from "Dhookudu" for "Picchonne Ayipoyane...". BGM is good. Photography, Choreography are good. Bhayva Creations production values are good.

Commercial Analysis:

Director Gopichand missed a good opportunity with such a good star cast. Barring few scenes his execution and predictable scenes reminds us of early 90's movie. In commercial movies there may be scenes that look superficial but it all lies in director's execution to convince audience. Many scenes looked so silly and questions Director's credibility and form. Prithviraj's role could have been handled better but routine dialogs and mannerisms irritates the audience. So is Ali's role. This movie may work out at B & C centers. Overall a below average product and all the blame goes to director Gopichand.

Rating: 2.75/5

- Raghu Chitturi