Kranthi Madhav’s Onamalu (2012) Movie Review

Cast: Rajendra Prasad, Kalyani, Chalapati Rao, Giri Babu, Shiva Parvathi, Raghu Babu, Kondavalasa, Dr. Ravi Prakash
Music Director: Koti
Story – screenplay – direction: Kranthi Madhav
Watched at Sandya 70mm, Hyderabad

Synopsis: Narayana Rao (Rajendra Prasad) is a retired village school teacher stays with his son in USA. Narayana Rao wanted to go to his village in India. But his son and his family in USA were too busy to take him to India.

He leaves a message to his son and returns to India without informing him. Narayana who has been living in his memories of village for the past few years goes to his village. But everything is changed. The people are not same anymore in the village.

Performance and Presentation:

Rajendra Prasad masters his character as Masteru Narayana, carried the whole film on his shoulders. Chalapathi Rao and Giri Babu had given decent performances. Female lead Kalyani is supportive; she gained a lot of weight. Even Natakeeriti feels the weight, when he lifts her in a song.  Siva Parvathy is good in her character. Kondavalasa and Gala Chokka person characters were not fully developed. Rest of the cast is fine in their roles. Onamalu is a nostalgia movie, with a decent story-line. Screenplay provided by Kranthi Madhav is touchy-feely.

Scenes I Liked:

• Pledge Scenes
• Friendly Village nature
• Climax episode

Direction by Kranthi Madhav is a bit surplus. Taking of the film is old-hat. He used nice locations, backdrop and situations, but he failed a bit in narrating the film in gripping manner. Too many morals at a time in the second half make audience dull. Example a scene where Rajendra Prasad makes a Mineral Water supplier realize that selling Water in villages is incorrect, and funny thing is he realizes that and even stops alcohol. Dialogues are good in parts.

Music by Koti is very good. The background music is also good. Srivennala’s lyrics are extraordinary. Kranthi canning of songs is good too. Cinematography by Hari Anmolu is neat. Digital color grading is striking. Gowtam Raju’s Editing could have been better. Sunshine production values are fine.

Survi Verdict: First half of the film is a bit slow,but refreshes memories. Second half has good moments with emotional appeal, but too many morals and lags deflect audience a bit. The plus points of the film are Rajendra Prasad, Music, Dialogues and Direction. On the flip side, second half should have been handled in a more compact manner, Narration is not so gripping and Taking is a bit Old Fashioned. On The Whole, Kranthi Madhav must be appreciated for this brave attempt to make a film on Village atmosphere and Lost Traditions in heart touching way.

Bottom Line: E generation lo Machiga unna Cinemalu, Manchi chesthuna Manushulanu – Ekkava seppu undaneevaru. Thwarapadandi…