MUMBAI: To say that South cinema has well and truly dug its tenterhooks into the larger cinematic canvas across the country would be stating the obvious and then some. And one of the forerunners responsible for this cultural crossover is Jr NTR aka Tarak aka Young Tiger aka Man of Masses — the final moniker being as justifiable as it's enviable. Of course, it all began with Baahubali, but make no mistake, NTR has had an indelible impact in the crossover ploughing its way across the demographic, and we're not merely relegating our rhetoric to RRR, as these seeds were cultivated long before long before with the Hindi dubbed versions of Telugu movies like Jai Lava Kusa, Temper, and Janatha Garage.
Jr NTR now returns with the hitmaker of the latter of those aforementioned films, Koratala Siva, for the Director's first pan-India endeavor, and boy does the duo fire on all cylinders. The energy of Tarak coupled with a sprawling plot, spread across timelines, and characterizing the ocean and adjoining coast, make this a rambunctious romp on the big screen not to be missed.
What's best balanced by Koratala Siva is the clear demarcation in the duality of NTR's characters while also ensuring that the rest of the cast, especially Saif Ali Khan and Prakash Raj lend gravitas to the plot. Janhavi Kapoor is predictably under-utilized, but that's the case with most Tamil and Telugu masala movies. The action choreography, production design, R. Rathnavelu's camerawork also combine to further levitate the narrative.
Admittedly, Siva's script doesn't match his direction, but those who've been privy to his erstwhile work would well know that this is an issue plaguing most of his films. He's much more efficacious behind the camera than he's on paper, and he proves it here again — anyway, if you've to choose between both skills, direction would always be preferred due to its higher essence on the eventual output. Another drawback here is again something plaguing most star-driven South vehicles, the editing, with A. Sreekar Prasad's cuts going way above and beyond the desired limit.
4/5 stars
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