Living in Chennai I understand tiny bit of Telugu, mostly of words that have crept into Madras Bashai and words that are common to Tamil & Telugu. So I never had watched a feature Telugu film in Theatre till today. Today on invitation of a Telugu speaking friend, I went to see Srimanthudu (2015) starring Mahesh Babu (Telugu Superstar and Actor Krishna’s son) and Shruti Haasan. I am happy I made an excellent choice.
The story is about a youngster Harsha son of a billionaire industrialist, turns away from inheriting the business empire to taking up village welfare and fighting antisocial elements. Harsha’s struggle pits him against a Central Minister, his rowdy son, and his brother a liquor baron. Srimanthudu is the story of how Harsha defeats all of them single-handedly and in between sings duets with Charuseela (Shruti Haasan).
From the word go till the credits card in the end it’s about Mahesh Babu – the guy romances, dances, studies in college, manages business, designs village welfare projects, settles domestic issues and he does all this on his own. I lost count on the number of fight scenes, and in each Mahesh Babu as Harsha beats up over two dozen bad guys all alone. It’s surprising to me that I enjoyed this overdose of superlative action which I normally don’t. Throughout the film Mahesh Babu appears youthful and stylish, the fight scene in a wedding venue was dashing and classy, I could hear applause all around in the theatre for the stunt director. Shruti Haasan (as Charuseela, Harsha’s love interest) appearing alluring as ever, found it hard to keep up with the high energy of Mahesh Babu.
The film is a thorough masala entertainer, every frame was exploding with bright hues all around. Director Koratala Siva has successfully maintained the high tempo needed for an action film throughout and for that he owes full credit to his Music Director DSP (Devi Sri Prasad), the Background score was outstanding. The peppy tune Srimanthuda which is the title score keeps ringing in my head, kudos.
Jagapati Babu (as Ravikanth, Harsha’s father) fits well the rich businessperson role better than the flashback role of a firebrand. It was good to see yesteryears Heroine Sukanya as Harsha’s mother, she has done well her limited role. The Director has made no attempts to present any logic in the story, but then who needs logic when you come out of the screen thoroughly entertained.
Srimanthudu (2015)