Impressed with his last film NVNN, Sundeep Kishan has now come up with a commercial comedy film Tenali Ramakrishna BA BL. Paired opposite is gorgeous Hansika who almost faded from Tollywood while G Nageswara Reddy whose last few films flopped helmed the project. Will this first time combo of hero, heroine and director amaze audience?
Son of a broker, a small timer lawyer Tenali Ramakrishna BA BL (Sundeep) starts settling pending cases out of the court when he does not find any cases. He adores lawyer Rukmini (Hansika), daughter of famous criminal lawyer (Murali Sharma). Rukmini too falls for Tenali. Meanwhile Tenali takes up a murder case to fight against all odds and against Rukmini’s father. Who is the murder accused Varalakshmi Devi (Varaakshmi Sarath Kumar) in the case? What’s her enmity with local rowdy-sheeter Simhadri Naidu (Ayyappa Sharma)? Who is the real culprit in the murder case? What’s the motive behind?
Plain story, conventional thoughts with outdated and predictable screenplay, G Nageswara Reddy disappointed yet another time. When there’s high necessity of new genre ideas, he simply took safe route, besides taking cinematic liberty. Of late, Bollywood mesmerized us with several fascinating courtroom films and if you expect such drama you will be disappointed to core. Giving high priority to not-so-funny episodes, drama much needed in these kinds of films is neglected. For commercial viability, songs and fights are included. Due to good budget spent on the project, visuals looked grand. Sai Sriram’s cinematography is colorful and Sai Karthik tried hard to bring life to the scenes. Songs, however, are mediocre.
Onto performances, Sundeep Kishan looked apt for the role and rightly exercised his comic chops as a lawyer. In order to prove himself as a commercial hero, he even enacted some decent stunts. But, all his efforts went in vain because of Nageswar Reddy’s poor writing. Hansika Motwani isnt charming and was pretty ordinary on performance front as well. Varalakshmi was good and Ayyappa Sharma made no impact. Murali Sharma was usual. The comedy batch- Vennela Kishore was not so funny, Raghu Babu was okay, Sapthagiri was wasted and Prabhas Seenu was better among the lot.
Few Comedy Scenes
Sundeep Kishan
Outdated Story
Second Half
Uninteresting Narration
Predictability
Songs Placement
Entertainment has no boundaries and of course it cant be restrained for just humor. Its all about engaging audience. It would have been better for director, had he honestly narrated second half as murder mystery rather than courtroom comedy. Forcibly included comedy scenes have killed our interest.
After an intriguing start with a murder at the popular Kondareddy Buruju, two rivals in the town Varalakshmi and Ayyappa are introduced as most influential personalities. In a complete diversion to this setup, since Sundeep’s entry as a small time lawyer, the comedy worked out well initially. But then, the repeated scenes between Sundeep and Hansika’s family in the name of comedy are a bore stuff. The romantic track was also flat. Thota Episode followed by interval sequence are monotonous.
Things turn worse in second half with tedious narration, uninteresting episodes and routineness all through. Satya Krishna’s athi in the court is weak. The revelation of real culprit in the murder case is fine. Then, Sundeep Kishan’s age old style of dealing the case will make us wait for the end card. The climax is also customary with Sundeep winning the case and police arresting the criminal.
All in all, Tenali Ramakrishna BA BL is an ordinary film with very few laughable episodes. Dishonest attempt from Reddy made this a silly watch. Alone Sundeep Kishan was good in his role and every other thing went wrong. CJ goes with 2.25 stars and the film may not sparkle at box office.