Shriya Saran's Music School directed by Biyyala Papa Rao is attracting the attention of all. The film's trailer and teaser got a good response and the makers are releasing the film on 12 May 2023. The film's OTT rights are yet to be finalized and the streaming will be done after the completion of the theatrical run. Let us find out how Music School entertained movie lovers.
Music School all highlights the pressures in the Indian educational system and how parents, teachers, and society pressurize children with regard to studies robbing them of their dreams to pursue their hobbies be it music or sports, and how two music and drama teachers struggle to bring a change.
Mary D Cruz (Shriya Saran) joins as a music teacher in an institute where students show no interest in arts. Whether Mary will be successful in getting more students admitted to this course and whether she will increase the interest levels among children and what difficulties she faces from the students and parents and how she overcomes them, from an integral part of her daily routine.
How, Manoj Kumar (Sharman Joshi), Vikram (Prakash Raj), Albert (Shaan), Samyuktha (Gracy Goswami), and Rinchen (Ozu Barua) are connected to the developments from the rest of the story?
Shriya Sharan tried her best to carry the film on her shoulders. But it became a daunting task as her character is not properly eked out. Sharman Joshi is ok in his role and Shaan in his debut worked hard.
Prakash Raj and Srikanth Iyengar played roles tailor-made for them but it did not offer much for them to elevate the scenes. Ozu Barua, Gracy Goswami, and others performed according to their roles.
Music School story penned by Biyyala Paparao tried to highlight the pressures faced by the students from all directions, parents, teachers, and society. With his story, he tried to send a message to everyone that children should be allowed to pursue their own interests. Though the idea is good and the film is made with good intent, the story turned out to be routine. Instead of highlighting the main problem, Biyyala Papa Rao deviated many times to elevate the romantic scenes much to the displeasure of all.
Many such films came earlier and those films also drew inspiration from the Hollywood classic Sound of Music. One such film is Rao Gari Illu. Viewers felt that the makers tried to reprise and recreate the same magic but with routine screenplay and direction, their plans failed completely.
Every ten to fifteen minutes songs come out from nowhere, viewers look impatiently towards the exit doors. Shriya instead of teaching music in the school will always be seen singing and dancing with the children everywhere except the corridors of the school. This itself robbed the essence of the movie.
Manan Sagar's editing left a lot to be desired. He seems to be extremely considerate and genial and must have gotten carried away with the theme that he forgot to use the editing scissors. This dragged the film right from the start and ended up giving immense torture to the movie lovers.
Kiran Deohans' cinematography is ok. He captured the visuals in an attractive and impressive manner adding value to the film. Ilayaraja and Yuvan Shankar Raja scored music. There are around 11 songs in the film and though most of the songs are situational, all looked artificial and ended up testing the patience of the viewers.
The makers even used the ever-green classic songs like Do Re Me, I Am Sixteen, and others but they lacked the emotional connection. The makers seemed to have tried to cash on to the craze of Hollywood classic Sound of Music and the hit songs in them. But the attempt boomeranged on them as Indian and Hollywood sensitivities differed completely and even the situations also.
Ilaiyaraaja's background score is just ok. Dialogues are average and routine. Production values of Yamini Movies are good.
Altogether, Music School couldn't make anyone fool. Shriya Sharan's presence and singer Shaan's debut with a music-based film Music School directed by Biyyala Papa Rao appealed to all. But there ended the interest levels as Biyyala Papa Rao thought that just including numerous songs by roping in maestro Ilayaraja will be enough to mesmerize movie lovers and score a hit.
In the process, he ignored the story which turned out to be routine, and from then on screenplay turned silly and the direction went for a toss. Considering all these points, Cinejosh goes with a 1.5 Rating for Music School.