Devotional all the way

Telugu cinema seems to be on a discovery mode of late. Unearthing little-known legendary figures who had been icons during their eras, the current crop of directors are busy showcasing them for people of modern times. Krish started it with ‘Gautamiputra Satakarni’, a historical extravaganza.

Now it is veteran K Raghavendra Rao’s turn with his ‘Om Namo Venkatesaya,’ highlighting about the experiences of an extremely faithful Hathi Ram Baba, a worshipper of Lord Venkatesa and depicting his life and death as a two-hour and more film.

For the macho hero Nagarjuna who has straddled genres with ease, going spiritual too has been a relatively easy game, having notched many successes in this sector. Rao, who has specialised in such movies over decades, comes into his own, cleverly interpolating commercial elements like dreamy duets and borderline raunchy songs into the proceedings, otherwise strictly godly in nature, by and large!

Having had to work with very less archival material, the story confines itself to a linear format as a mythological fantasy, by and large. With a raja- praja narration, replete with exploitation and suppression by the powers-that-be and a mild but successful rebellion by Hathi Ram against it, the director does not go deep into anything be it devotional fables or palace intrigues.

He even shoots down the prospects of a romantic association between his protagonist and two leading ladies Pragya Jaiswal at one end and a heavy Anushka Shetty on the other by keeping the relationship with the latter, merely devotional. With religious serials a continuing hit on small screen and many mythological episodes enjoying re-runs all over the Indian satellite TV channels, the familiarisation factor with this particular format is quite high, even among the youth of today.

This may have been a reason for it to return to the big screen in the local cine industry, which has churned films in this area quite regularly, over the years. Performance wise, Nagarjuna, as the extremely loyal Ram, stays head and shoulders above the others, as the film revolves around him, even as Anushka, maintains her own as a devotee ‘married’ to the Lord.

Other elements like the music of MM Keeravani and the revival of SPB songs in his typically ebullient style complete the effect part for this film, which is strictly for lovers of devotionals. Tirumala, of course, is shown in its majestic splendour, in a dazzling manner.

Film Name : Om Namo Venkatesaya

Cast : Nagarjuna, Anushka Shetty, Pragya Jaiswal and Jagapathi Babu
Direction : K Raghavendra Rao
Genre : Drama
Likes : Scenic Tirumala with its lush splendour
Dislikes : Little known folklore

By K Naresh Kumar