Om Namo Venkatesaya (2017): India is a diverse country with number of Gods which in turn created number of religions and groups.Mythology and devotional stories of India are famous all over the world.There are very few directors who can bring those larger than life stories onto screen. K.Raghavendra rao is one of the rare ones who is expert in making devotional movies without missing any commercial elements.His Annamayya and Sri Ramadasu are considered classics and fans of both Nagarjuna and Raghavendra Rao always expect a devotional movie from them.But their last combo Shiridi Sai failed to impress critics and fans alike.Now they are back with bio-pic of Hathiram Baba,a devotee of Lord Venkateshwara, who is said to have created rules and regulations on Tirumala Hills.
Plot:
Right from his childhood days, Ram(Nagarjuna) takes upon a journey to make contact with the eternal powers of the god. He joins the ashram of Padmananda Swamy(Sai Kumar) in Tirumala and gets enlightened about Lord Venkateswara and his spiritual powers. To seek more divinity, he reaches the main temple in Tirumala and starts praying for the lord.There he meets another devotee Krishnamma (Anushka) who helps him for changing Tirumala into a much devotional place.God answers his prayers as lord Venkateswara himself appears before him and acknowledges his sincerity. During the same time, there are many other criminal factors that Ram needs to face in the temple town. What are those problems? What kind of relation does Ram share with lord Venkateswara? How did he become Hathi Ram Baba?
Plus Points:
1)Performances: This is one of Nag's best performances to date and the way he plays the emotional devotee of Lord Venkateswara will mesmerize you completely. Be it his longing to meet the lord to his facial expressions, Nag takes you on an emotional journey. But the major surprise is Saurabh Jain as the Lord Venkateshwara Swamy has worked perfectly. He is superb in the role.Saurabh Jain as the Lord Venkateshwara Swamy has worked perfectly. He is superb in the role. The way the young actor brings divinity to his character is superb and his chemistry with Nag throughout the film is just amazing.Anushka gets a good role and does decently well in her character.
2)Scenes between Hathiram and Lord Venkateshwara: The scenes between Hathi Ram and Lord Venkateshwara are spellbinding.Their chemistry is really superb and the Game of Dice (Pachikalu) are well shown.Especially the light-hearted devotion mixed with good humor added a good feel to the scenes.
3)Background score: Keeravani had given good background score which elevated the movie in most of the scenes.
4)Direction: This can be only achieved by one and only K.Raghavendra Rao.No words......
Minus Points:
1)Lot of unnecessary scenes: Especially the flashback episode of Jagapathi Babu and Anushka is boring and has nothing to do with the movie.The comedy track of Brahmanandham and loud Villain role by Rao Ramesh is irritating.
2)Average songs: Except Akhilanda Koti,all the other songs are just average.If the music could have been good,movie would be more emotionally touching.
3)Lack of emotion in climax: Annamayya and Ramadasu have emotional climax episodes which played key role bit here it is missing.
So,Om Namo Venkatesya is another rare film for devotees and award winning performance of Nagarjuna and terrific direction by Raghavendra Rao does not disappoint.
My rating 6.75/10
