Srinu Vaitla’s Baadshah (2013) Movie Review

Cast: NTR, Kajal Agarwal, Navadeep, Siddharth (guest appearance), Suhasini, Chandramohan, Brahmanandam, M S Narayana, Nasser, Pradeep Rawat, Kelly Dorji, Pragati, Aashish Vidyardhi, Mukesh Rishi, Tanikella Bharani, Vennela Kishore, Naga Babu, Sayaji Shinde, Jayaprakash Reddy, Ajay, Shafi, Tagubothu Ramesh and others

Screenplay & Direction: Srinu Vaitla

Delayed my review on Baadshah, As I was sad to hear that Roger Ebert has died today. A True Inspiration.

Roger Ebert, thank you for your wisdom. You’ve taught me a lot. You have been a huge inspiration to me. Thank you for sharing your love for the movies. Thank You Roger.

Coming to Baadshah Now,

Rama Rao (NTR) enters Janaki (Kajal Aggarwal) heart in Italy after catching her attention as a person broken in love and about to commit suicide. Some goons attack and while Janaki thinks that they are trying to attack her, director Revenge Nageswara Rao (M.S.Narayana) thinks they are looking for him. What they don’t know is they are looking to eliminate Rama Rao (NTR) who is the dreaded don Baadshah. What is the secret behind Baadshah, how he became don, what are his real objectives should be watched on silver screen.

Jr. NTR played the role with ease. His comedy timing is pretty good. His steps in Sairo Sairo with MJ mark and Moments in Welcome Kankam are good. Kajal Aggarwal is impressive with her comedic act in the first half. She doesn’t have the same importance in the second half. Mukesh Rushi and Suhasini does not have a big role to play. Bramanandam is good and he provided some entertainment value with Dookudu touch. Esp. Bhrami Chatrapathi Lines and Walking in Slo-Mo with Dabangg BGM are just Hilarious. Bhrami saying don’t fire the fire If u fire the fire, the fire fires u…I am FIRE… I am the FIRE! Is more like a counter to Balakrishna’s Trouble dialogue in Srimannarayana. Navdeep did OK as a bad Cop. ChandraMohan did the role of a confusing person similar to Dookudu. One more extended role from Dookudu is MS Narayana as Director Revenge Nageswara Rao (A Satire on RGV) his intro is too good. Esp. his lines comparing director to DONGA and Narrating a Story of a Hero and 5 Heroines are funny. Mahesh Babu voice over comes in crucial occasions. Nicole is sizzling in My name is Kanakam. Rest of the characters are supportive.

With a wafer thin storyline and shaky script with some entertaining scenes (Bhrami & Ms Narayana), Sreenu Vaitla manages to stitch together a rather meek entertainer that lacks much fizz. The story is a rehash of some of the hits like Dookudu, Pokiri, God Father 2 and so on. There are many similarities between Dookudu and Baadshah.

Dialogues by Gopi Mohan dominated the film. You can find very good one liners. You can pick lots of best dialogues in this film. But unfortunately, the situations are not substantial enough. Here are few onliners from Baadshah;

I Andrew, Jayanan Vincent, R. D. Rajasekhar, K. V. Guhan visuals are good and Thaman SS’s music perhaps suits the mood. Choreography also fine in all songs. Art work by A S Prakash is good. Production values are grand.

Baadshah is evidently a botch up version of the mainstream recipes, which have long been regarded as the necessary ingredients for a HIT. But the problem is that this one comes with a same template of an industry hit. Baadshah will be appealing in parts for those viewers who are there for just fun. For the rest, here is one movie with lots of style but no substance at all. Decide the category to which you belong, before heading for this one.

This one is perhaps tailor made for hardcore Junior NTR fans only!

Theatrical Trailer: