Soggade Chinni Naiyna:
Telugu cinema is built around the adage that the stars glitter – always. He is
cult, he is the cultivated persona with as much character as the huge cut-out
created for his Friday welcome. The film the star creates is as synthetic as
the décor and as noisy as the atmosphere of the fans – drums, dufflee and all.
Elsewhere, somewhere, characters build actors and actors fans. Here we have
stars who have fans and the later are fixated about “the hero” who by default
would imply his one who can do anything. There is simply nothing he cannot do.
Strangely at a time when a casual comment by a matinee idol on a talk show
invited all-round disapproval, stars here carry no particular social
responsibility or accountability. In the name of entertainment, they get away
with the ludest of jokes, crudest anatomical references, pelvic gyrations on
your face and paradoxically build on their star image. In this ‘creative
backdrop’ the film maker is far from tunes to the calls of good cinema.
Instead, he gives the viewer large doses of his addictive preferences.
The title can reflect either our respect for the past or a pointer that we are
caught up in a time wrap refusing to move out. It is anybody’s guess as to
which of the two reflects in Soggade Chinni Nayana – a title borrowed from a
popular number starring ANR.
Nagarjuna returns with a double role of Bagaru Raju and Dr Ram Mohan. Dr Ram
Mohan and his wife Sita (Lavanya Tripathi) return to India to meet Satya (Ramya
Krishna), the grand old lady of the typical large family comprising hordes of
people including Uncle (Chalapathy Rao), Jhansi, her husband (Vennela Kishore),
etc. The gorgeous Satya is in command of things. Her husband Bangaru Raju
returns from heaven and is often in conversation with Satya. The Ram – Sita
wedding is on the rocks and the Bangaru Raju – Satya couple are engaged in some
crude form to keep the marriage going.
The bad guys have Sampath Raj, etc., who are engaged in the family dispute with
the Bangaru Raju wing. There are stereotypes like an old temple, paddy fields
and family groups, girls in distress mode throwing themselves at the hero, the
hero in boisterous moments dancing to over choreographed songs, etc. There is
also Atmanandam (Brahmanandam) who is making money by hoodwinking people with
the belief that he can call departed souls and talk to them.
It is pell-mell out there. Chaos rules. Crass humour rules the roost. There is
neither consistency nor credibility. The crew is in sync with the expected
tastes. As is the cast. The likes of Lavanya Tripathi, Sonal Chouhan, Hamsa Nandini
are non-starters. The likes of Nasser and Posani make an art out of hamming.
Brahmanandam fights hard to garner form. In the midst of all this Nagarjuna
with his energy and the cultivated star status tries had to keep things going.
The lone bright spot is Ramya Krishna – all grace, charm and vigour.
This rural do-gooder operating with the western doc juxtapositioned to focus on
contrasting styles is a non-starter. At a time when the box office offers a
rich fare, one would choose Kalyan Krishna’s old wine only if you are running
short of bottles.
Rating: 2 stars
+: Ramya Krishna, wardrobe and chokers.
-: Gender crudity.
L. Ravichander