Review of Andhrudu (2005) by Srinath N — 06 Apr 2017

Just like I witnessed one of Mahesh Babu's best movies last week, today I witness one of the best Gopichand movies yet. But similar to Arjun, this movie also comes with a few flaws that are easily noticeable.

First half of the film is pretty slow. It mostly does its job of providing character development, build up to the second half etc. But I disliked Gopichand's role in this film even though his performance was very good. I expected a movie whose title literally means "Telugu Guy" would have the male protagonist to be an aggressive, assertive yet sincere guy with a good morality. He plays the role of a police so such a character trait would have fit well. This was a huge missed opportunity. It would have been interesting to see how their love story would have worked out when they have such opposite personalities instead of watching the comedy fillers of Sunil & Lakshmipath. However, they decided to play it safe and have both the protagonists (Gopichand & Gowri Pandit) be the same exact characters. Both of them are soft, traditional characters which was fine as it was portrayed and executed well but also disappointing that they couldn't go all out with the characters.

Second half has Bihar backdrop. Second half is full of Bihar. Story gets very predictable from here on. Hero arrives at some point, saves the heroine, fights the villains and gets married. The second half fails to give us the same emotion in the first half that make us want to care for these characters. The second half is what damages the film the most. The action scenes are wasted effort. Sudden character change during climax, the lame motivation to unite the family, Salim Baig's performance as Sayaji Shinde's son all hurt the film tremendously.

Despite all of the above, this movie is not at all a garbage movie. The songs are so great to listen to. The song transitions neither feel forced, strange, nor awkward.The interaction between each characters feel good. Despite my disapproval for Gopichand's role in this film, he still manages to impress me through his performance. The portrayal of the female protagonist is very well done (at least better than Arjun) and she had a clear character. Sayaji Shinde as the main antagonist is so fun fun to watch. Sayaji Shinde is the main highlight of the second half and he helps carry the weight that Gopichand & Gowri Pandit had to carry in the first half.

In conclusion, this is an average story done better. The film could have been much better but they decided to play it safe. Though I have my disagreements with it, I eventually did enjoy the movie. This movie also have one of the best songs in Telugu industry. Out of all of them the one I liked a lot is the "Pranam Lo Prananga" song. Do check that song out as it's so fantastic to listen. Casual moviegoers will like this movie but critics will have a hard time liking it yet they won't hate it either. Whether you are a casual moviegoer or a critic, this is a movie that everyone should check out.