Trivikram Srinivas’s S/O Satyamurthy (2015) Movie Review

 Movie Review: S/O Satyamurthy
Star Cast: Allu Arjun, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Nithya Menon, Adah Sharma, Upendra, Rajendra Prasad, Sampath Raj and Chaitanya Krishna
Music Director: Devi Sri Prasad
Director: Trivikram Srinivas
Censor Certificate: U
Runtime: 161 Minutes
Watched at Bhramaramba 70mm, Kukatpally.

Theatrical trailer and promising songs have already made it hit amongst the youths. So, a great opening of S/O Satyamurthy this year isn’t a surprise.

Trivikram Srinivas’s directorial venture, after Attarintiki Daredhi, is a story of love, ethics and family values. Satyamurthy (Prakash Raaj) has two sons Viraj Anand (Allu Arjun) who relishes his life in abroad and the other son (Vennela Kishore) settles down with his family.  Satyamurthy banks his life on ethics and moral values to live life to the fullest. Suddenly, Satyamurthy dies due to immense business losses and leaves behind heavy liabilities.  That’s when Viraj Anand takes the driving seat, clear the huge debts and sets everything right. And there comes much needed twist in the tale and family face a few uncomfortable truths during their stay over there, which sets the premise of the film.

This brings us to star of the show. Allu Arjun is top-drawer. Every time he is up on the screen, you don’t want him to leave. His mannerisms, dance movements, high octane energy everything is tailor made for the actor.  He should have restricted himself from over usage of Manchu-ism in every other sequence, which was not so apprehensive.  Of the ladies, Sneha is better, precisely because her role s a tidbit more interesting than the other female fiddles.  Adah Sharma looks ravishing in song sequences.  Nithya Menon and Samantha Ruth Prabhu fit in perfectly in their limited characters.  This a huge cast without doubt, and there is Upendra, Rajendra Prasad, Pavitra Lokesh, Sindhu Tolani, Vishnuvardhan and Ajay play the key characters and done their parts quite well.  M S Narayana, Brahmanandam and Vennela Kishore almost seen in every important sequence and yet at times at times a smile or two does flash across your face.

“S/O Satyamurthy” does not boast of a new story. The content seems to be a ready mix of several films, but the presentation is really boring and dragged to the core. Though the film drags in the first half, post interval it’s moves a bit faster and there are many attractive characters Sneha – Upendra – Rajendra Prasad who try to make it an interesting watch. The inclusion of comedy artists has also not helped the film. That is mainly because the sequences written for the artists lack credibleness. Even Vennela Kishore’s hallucination does not evoke laughs. Certainly the film is far from entertaining.

The director has been able to extract neat performances from all the artistes and the music complements the film’s tone. But just an half an hour after the offset, the director tries to add a lot of unnecessary factors and overstresses some sentimental sequences which drag the film and spoil the narration with unwanted sequences rather focusing on morals and ethics of a father. The result is that the film which promises a lot in the beginning ends up as another dragging film with a pliant narration. There are too many parts, which are full of illogical elements and forced emotions. The climax is not only unconvincing but even tedious.

The music of the film is fine. Super Machi, Seethakalam and Jaruko Jaruko work well on the screen. Devi Sri Prasad been very lucky for Allu Arjun once again after Aarya , Bunny, Aarya 2 and Julayi.  All in all, the groovy n soothing music makes the music lot more fun to watch and to listen to. Background Score of the film is loud; some times it gives a sense of déjà vu of DSP’s previous tracks. Dialogues by Trivikram Srinivas are good in parts. Esp. dialogues like; “Gnanam ante adheraa chusinollu cheppaleru..  Chudanollaki theliyadhu”, “Kathhi ettithe kothey koyagalam…  Kathlthi dinchi chudu kottha raatha raayagalam”, “Bharyanu gelavalante cup lu pagala gottadam kadhu aa godani baddalukottandi” stay with us for a while. The picturesque locals limning villages, foreign localities and grandeur of Kokapet set were nicely captured by cinematographer Prasad Murella.  Fight sequences were over the top. Editing by Praveen Pudi could have been lot better. Choreography of the songs is mediocre. Production Values of Haarika & Hassine Creations are all right.

The recent trend in Tollywood Industry is to produce films, which are based on some popular films by retrograding the story lines and making few changes from the original films. Their huge budget, will be able to assemble a huge cast, but bring inn the narration and story that lacks the freshness. Similarly post his unsuccessful Khaleja with Mahesh Babu director Trivikram Srinivas has stopped working with innovative stuffs and started presenting a rosy picture with Julayi and reached the heights of his career with family drama Attarintiki Daredi. Even S/O Satyamurthy is one such film. It’s a story of a father who raised his son with ethics, morals and family values. Trivikram tries his best to explain how a father plays a significant role in shaping up their son’s career.  But the way Trivikram presented the points leaves a lot to be desired at a runtime of 162 minutes.

Survi Review: 1.5/5

Theatrical Trailer: