What's Behind
Victory Venkatesh scored many blockbusters starring in the remakes of hit films from other languages. His latest film Narappa, a remake of Tamil hit Asuran starring Dhanush is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Venkatesh and Narappa producers decided to skip the theatrical release and dared to release the film on OTT. Narappa's teaser and trailer generated interest among movie lovers and let us see what magic Venkatesh created as Narappa.
Story Review
A small farmer from a remote village Ramasagaram in Anantapur district, Narappa (Venkatesh) lives happily with his wife Sundaramma (Priyamani) and three children, Munikanna (Karthik Ratnam), Sinabba(Rakhi), and Bujjamma. However, his life turns upside down, and Narappa finds himself in a dangerous situation to save his family.
To find out what forced Narappa and his family runs for their lives and what connection Pandusamy(Naren) has and what role Bsaavyya (Rajiv Kanakala), Brother in law of Narappa played, watch Narappa on Amazon Prime Video.
Artists, Technicians Review
Director Srikanth Addala stayed true to the story. He stuck to the original and did not deviate from the story, screenplay, and direction. He highlighted the emotions from the original in a similar and in more powerful manner. The film starts off on an interesting note but the pace dips in the flash-back episodes. Dialogues are powerful and made a good impact. He made subtle changes to suit the Telugu nativity.
Shyam K Naidu with his cinematography showed the rustic village atmosphere on screen in a beautiful and realistic manner. He captured the locations using the camera angles to perfection. Action scenes are well shot. Manisharma came with good tunes to highlight the atmosphere accordingly. The songs are well shot in a realistic manner and highlighted the emotions in the right way. Background music elevated the scenes taking movie lovers into the story. Editing of Marthand K Venkatesh is good. He could have however done away with the few drags in the film for better impact.
Venkatesh who is experienced slipped into the role effortlessly. He lived into the role and came with powerful expressions and emotions to make a strong impact. He showed his acting prowess showing variations in body language as a lover, caring husband, and a doting father who goes all out to save his family at any cost. Venkatesh was however not upto the mark in the flashback episodes in the second half. He looked aged opposite Ammu Abhirami,his love interest in the flashback episode. Venkatesh who has been doing soft roles of late did a powerful role and it is a treat to all his fans. Venkatesh however should have added his own style bringing in his mannerisms.
Priyamani as the wife of Venkatesh impressed with rightful expressions and emoted well. She as a village belle complimented Venkatesh and showcased her feelings as a caring wife and loving mother who was worried about their wellbeing. Rao Ramesh is good as a lawyer trying to save Venkatesh fighting for the cause of the lower caste. Nassar also played his role well but one felt but was miscast.
Karthik Ratnam acted well as an angry young man who couldn't tolerate any insult to his parents. Rajiv Kanakala performed well as Venkatesh's brother-in-law. Karthik Ratnam as Venkatesh's elder son performed the role of an aggressive youngster to perfection. Other cast performed according to their roles.
Advantages
Venkatesh, Priyamani
Cinematography
Screenplay, Direction
BGM
Disadvantages
Flashback episodes
Editing
Scene to Scene rehash
Rating Analysis
When the Asuran remake was announced, many wondered whether Venkatesh can match Dhanush's power-packed performance. After watching Narappa, one can say that Venkatesh worked hard to do full justice to the role. The same is the case with the other cast. However many are left to wonder whether the remake was necessary at all as almost all the scenes, dialogues and even costumes are copy-paste from the original. Een during the editing same cuts are used and the same background music is used. This makes people question what was the need for either Manisharma or Marthand K Venkatesh to be in the project. The makers however played safe by diluting the caste angle in most of the dialogues in the first half by talking about the rich and the poor. However, they are caught napping in the flashback episodes when caste dialogues crept in. Surely comparisons arise and the original star cast gets two or three points more. None can match Dhanush's performance. Those who haven't seen the original film Asuran, like Narappa. Considering all these factors, CJ goes with a 2.75 rating for Narappa.