Koratala Siva’s Bharat Ane Nenu (2018) Movie Review

Cast: Mahesh Babu, Kiara Advani, Prakash Raj, R Sharathkumar, Aamani, Sithara, Posani Krishna Murali, Brahmaji, P Ravi Shankar and Rao Ramesh.
Music Composed by Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematography by Ravi K Chandran & S Tirru
Edited by A Sreekar Prasad
Directed by Koratala Siva

Censor Certificate: UA & Runtime: 173 Minutes.
Bharat Ane Nenu Movie Review 

Whenever a political drama is announced in Cinema, we tend to think what new can this filmmaker bring to the table. Will he be novelistic or realistic? Will he tell us what can be done or what will be done? From a Commercial potboiler, we cannot expect a realistic drama. We get some highly intellectual or silly answers that seem to pump our heart and boost our ego or play with our emotions, at that point of time, to say this is what we expect in the real world to happen while dwelling into a bucket of popcorn. Siva Koratala is the best exponent of this formula and he tries to pass of his idealistic world as real one of his films. This is a sign of a filmmaker who knows what he wants to tell in a story and how to sell it. What did he try to tell in Bharat Ane Nenu and how did he sell? Bharat Ane Nenu Movie Review.

First things first, in Indian Cinema, mainly in Telugu Cinema, the commercial formula is set. A hero is defined as either do-gooder or a flawed man who changes for his family or society. But there have been redefinitions to this set formula and many times, new filmmakers have cleverly played with these traits and challenged the set pattern. But filmmakers like SS Rajamouli, Trivikram Srinivas try to follow a novelistic approach in defining their heroes. We see such heroes in novels and fantasy stories but not in real life or realistic dramas.

Now, Koratala Siva, has added himself into that list. His hero will be full of ideals (directly a character removed from a novel and thrown into real life). Bharat Ram too comes from the idealistic world of Mythology and Novels. He is honest to the point that he will due but not let his ideals go in vain. He will not let anything bad happen to the people who trust him and he won’t stop until he achieves his goal. But what if his character is challenged? Rama, when his character is challenged, he chose to continue as King as no other alternative was available and left his wife, Seeta, whom he loves so much and trusts too. But Koratala’s Ram decides to leave the throne and search for his Seetha. (Spoiler Alert, Well, my reviews may contain many spoilers at times, please read it after watching or if you don’t mind, continue)

Why should we compare with mythological characters or what is a need to draw parallels? Many keep asking me why do you bother going into some mythological references or what is the need for talking about parallel characters from popular stories? Can’t you just say that what is good and what is bad? I thought I don’t have answer it out but as the questions are increasing, I will tell you the reason behind my style of analysis. As few people think, I am not showing off, I am neither trying to say this is the only way to see the film nor challenging the view of a viewer. All I hope for is a platform to share what you reflected after watching the movie, what you viewed, what I missed, what it made me think about and what you thought about it. This is not just a review, this is a forum where this document is a point of view of a viewer (me) and where you are free to express your point of views too. This is to encourage a discussion about filmmaking rather than just to write what the movie is about. So, that we all can re-view a movie and enjoy its merits and improve on its demerits as film enthusiasts. Hope this answers many…

Coming back to Bharat Ane Nenu, there is a deep mythological reference to the main hero character here. It is not about the obvious name parallel here. It is about how Koratala designed his hero to reflect the ideals of whom we admire as Great Administrators from history and mythology. He made Bharat Ram as straightforward as Rama and as shrewd administrator as Ashoka. He always tries to learn fast and is not afraid of criticism. He wants to implement what he believes to be the right solution. A good quality of an honest administrator. Any administrator, if he is truthful and work-minded, he will be adored by the public. Public doesn’t need a leader but they need a person whom they can bank to solve problems, not who fakes but who really tries to show them a route to find the solution.

Bharat tries to show them the solutions to huge problems, they have been facing for a long time. He is strict as a parent and soft like a caring friend. He can listen to your problem and motivate you to find a solution. If there are problems, he can help you solve them as well. This is the novelistic quality leadership and not something we see every day. That’s the reason Bharat has a striking difference to Oke Okkadu Arjun and Leader Rana. There cannot be a novelty in problems they face as the problems in our society are persistent and same for ages. This might seem like I am forcing you to agree that this can only be said in a political drama. Well, in a way it is true and it isn’t true too! In today’s politics, if a person as honest as Bharat cannot just start a party and become CM. This is addressed by Shankar in Oke Okkadu 20 years ago. From then, the situations have worsened further. So, an extraordinary case scenario is a must as no youth in their right mind is willing to join politics. We all see Traffic problems but not even a single politician is accountable for jumping the signal. In such society where mindsets are fine-tuned to adjust to the situation rather than fight for the right thing, you need someone who doesn’t have such a mindset and Koratala understood that. Why people wait for someone to come and save them, as they lose hope on current accountable system heads is clearly understood by Koratala, Even by Shankar and Shekar Kammula. But their leaders are good people who are soft in approach and desperate. Here is a man who is harsh even to himself if he does a mistake. That’s how, his mother wanted him to be and that is how he will be. There are no two ways to it.

So, when such a person takes up the office, his story will be simple. He will say this is right and will ask you to follow. He doesn’t want to manipulate you to believe in it or convince you. He knows what he doesn’t know and had a clear-cut idea of how solution needs to be imposed rather than discussed. His ideology is to not run behind a dream train but to catch it before it leaves the platform. Bharat Ane Nenu concentrates on that. It fills up the story with tight packed up scenes that if we remove one scene, we feel that the story collapses. He chose to live lonely as he did not feel welcome with his new mother and he was always distant to his father. He needed to see Vasumathi and fall for her to have an emotional connection. He needed to feel love and live to really appreciate the problem of a village person and accept their love, when it is reciprocated as well. His character is well explained by Koratala within the film, with a young boy character. Hence, only he could connect with him while all others thought it can be cured medically. His thrust to follow his mother’s words and find a connection with Vasumathi are parallel too. He needs to be alive to fulfill the wish of his mother, but he doesn’t know how to feel alive and that search landed him in studying five degrees that include Hispanic studies, food science, town and country planning. See, cosmically his journey is defined beforehand. His search for purpose in life when people gave him a purpose looking at his honesty, iron will, and strong leadership skills.

Siva Koratala for the first time tried to give such detailing to his character’s journey. In Janatha Garage, even though he knows the path of his hero, he couldn’t define it strongly. He wanted to bring the mass masala portion as quickly as he can and tried to balance the fans expectations more. Here, he realized the problem area and gave his story all the necessary ingredients to grow organically than him forcing it to grow. Even his payoffs like how he connects the early start of the journey of the Father of Bharat and the start of Bharat‘s new journey with an open top jeep. He doesn’t allow Bharat to talk in pure Telugu even after 8 months 13 days of being CM. He is still more fluent in English than Telugu. Such character design has been missing in Srimanthudu and Mirchi too.

Koratala Siva, did not try to tell a story of a leader, you see every day but a leader who is necessary for today’s day and date. He gave him visual aides like Ravi K Chandran, S Tirru who could capture him on the celluloid with profanity. He represented him with an actor like Mahesh Babu, who can show honesty in his eyes and small gestures. He is the embodiment of Messiah, we need in this time, who doesn’t become a politician like Arjun in Oke Okkadu, even to do the right thing. He doesn’t encourage flawed politicians or corruption to get one right deed done. To him, if he is honest and accountable, everyone is also. So, his story is more about his Vision and the Journey, it has set him on to achieve it. This is not a masterpiece but a slow yet effective narrative of his journey to say from ‘I Don’t Know‘ to ‘I Know‘.

Theatrical Trailer: Bharat Ane Nenu Movie Review