This weekend saw Venkat Prabhu's "The Goat" being released which is undoubtedly one of the most awaited releases of the year. As I have been a fan of Venkat's movies, I was eager to check it out especially since he was an expert when it came to blending in humour with action. Apart from this, I had also watched Vivek Athreya's "Saripodhaa Sanivaaram" as I was told good things about it. So did both the action entertainers manage to keep me engaged???
The Goat: "Expected much more from Venkat!!!"
With Vijay having announced that he would be drawing curtains on his acting career owing to his foray into politics, the expectations that surrounded the release of his penultimate flick was much higher than usual. From the trailer itself it was evident that Vijay was in a dual role & the question was whether the story & screenplay that Venkat had penned in the company of Gunasekaran, Manivannan, Chandru & Balasubramaniyam was credible enough to warrant such a decision.
The movie unfolds in Kenya where the Special Anti Terrorism Squad led by Gandhi (Vijay) were hot on the heels of Rajiv Menon (Mohan), their former chief who was charged with treason. Their mission concluded with the retrieval of uranium, that Rajiv unlawfully possessed & his possible death in the bomb blast that was set off. This was followed by another mission to Bangkok where Gandhi decided to take his family as well as part of holiday but it was a trip that changed their lives forever.
Without mincing words, I would have to admit that forget being the greatest, it is undoubtedly one of the weakest movie in Venkat's filmography. The first half was quite decent as it does have its moments with both humour and action both ticking the right boxes. However, after both the father & son come face to face, instead of having an inspired storyline, it is relegated to a very predictable plot despite a couple of twists. Except for one of the twist, none of the rest managed to arouse my curiosity. Obviously there are sequences where Venkat does a hat tilt to many popular pop culture references, but even as a fan boy worship, it failed to reach those levels. Another major let down of the technical aspects in general which to be frank was quite mediocre at times be it the tribute sequence in the beginning, the climax portions etc., to name a few. Though the visuals were decent, the music department on the whole be it the BGM or the songs from Yuvan Shankar Raja was extremely average and lacked the ability to enhance the impact of the scenes.
Despite the drawbacks in the making, I felt that Vijay did a a fine job as the protagonist especially the elder version though his dialogue delivery could have been better while the younger version at times lacked the consistency. Kudos to Ayaz Khan for a fine performance in bringing out the apt body language for the younger Vijay. Both Prashanth & Prabhu Deva did a decent job while Jayaram, Sneha & Ajmal supported well in the limited screen time that they had. Mohan was a pathetic choice as the antagonist since the character was neither written well nor adequately performed.
Verdict: Undoubtedly, one of the weakest in Venkat's filmography!!!
Rating: 2/5
Saripodhaa Sanivaaram: "Quite an interesting storyline & treatment!!!"
It's been quite a while since I had watched a Telugu movie & when Vivek Athreya latest release hit the screens about a fortnight back, I didnt give it much of a thought. However, later on when I started to hear good things about it & noticed that the star cast had Nani & S.J Suryah, I thought to give it a try & would have to admit that it did interest me.
As I haven't watched any of Vivek's earliest movies, I am not versed with his writing or film making craft. In this flick, he has penned about the protagonist, Surya (Nani) who used to vent out his anger for literally any petty issue. Eventually, his mother advises him of a method to vent his anger to matters that are truly relevant & to do so on one day of the week which happened to be Saturday. The latest matter that came to his attention was the atrocities that CI Dayanand (S.J Suryah) was inflicting on the people of Sokulapalem. So what was the reason behind all this & how was it going to be resolved???
On the whole, it comes across as a typical action masala entertainer but it has quite an interesting storyline with a liberal sprinkling of humour. At the same time, it touches upon some social messages in a subtle manner. The backstories of both Nani & SJ's characters are established properly, before their conflict take centre stage. Obviously, he tries to pack in a lot towards the end & some of that could have been trimmed off. On the technical side, Jakes Bejoy has done a praise worthy job while Murali G's choice of colour tone and visuals were impressive as well.
Whenever I have watched Nani's movies, I have always him to be quite authentic to the character that he portrayed & the same applies here as well. As for S J Suryah, he is a dynamite on screen especially when it comes to exposing eccentricities & his distinctive dialogue delivery is a delight at many instances. Abhirami was impressive while Sai Kumar, Priyanka Mohan & Aditi Balan did their parts aptly.
Verdict: Despite the long run time, it still manages to keep us invested in the flick. In short, give it a try!!!
Rating: 2.5/5
Regards...Ben
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