Badrinath Movie Review

Behind the Movie Badrinath: The magnificent combination of Allu Arjun, VV Vinayak, Tamanna, Keeravani and Geetha Arts is enough to keep our expectations sky high on this film released on par with standards and budget of ‘Magadheera.’ Let us see, how safe and how great is this?

In the Movie Badrinath: To save Hindu temples all over India from brutal communal attacks (like what happened in Akshar Dham), the Hindu religious heads decide to get ready with a warrior group. Each of these warriors (Kshetra Palaka) will be given the duty to save one temple in India. These warriors are trained by age old Sadhu and Martial Arts expert Bheeshma Narayan (Prakashraj), head of the seat in Taksha Shila. One such soldier and topper in the batch is Badri (Allu Arjun), who gets the responsibility to protect sacred temple of Badrinath.

One fine day Alaka Nanda (Tamanna), an atheist arrives in Badrinath with grand father to perform last rites for her dead father and mother. Although Badri and Alaka Nanda initially have a face off, very soon she falls in love with him and starts to believe in god. On the other side Bheeshma Narayan wants Badri to be his successor to crown the top seat of Taksha Shila and basic requirement for that is Badri must stay as a Bachelor throughout his life. On other end, there is a small flashback to Alaka Nanda who is chased by villain uncle (Kelly Dorjee) and dracula aunt (Ashwini Kalsekar) to get her marriage done with their son. 

How Badri saves Alaka Nanda from goons and reacts to her love? Did Bheeshma Narayan allow his disciple Badri to marry Alaka Nanda? form rest of the story.

Values of the Movie Badrinath: Story provided by Chinni Krishna is pretty simple with no twists and turns. Only new point is the backdrop of Badrinath. Screen Play by Chinni and VV Vinayak is disappointing work as there are numerous oversized loop holes including with blunders in characterization of lead casting. Direction wise VV Vinayak tried his best to elevate the movie but weak content (or no content) did not help him. Music by Keeravani is good work for two songs while background is a copy work of his earlier movies although gripping. Cinematography by Ravi Varman well captured the aesthetic settings erected by Ananda Sai. Editing by Goutham Raju was okay. Action Master Peter Heins was superb with high dose of bloodshed in entire movie. Production values of Geetha Arts are top notch and every frame is delightful to watch.       

Performance wise more than Allu Arjun’s acting talent we have seen more of his action (fights) talent. From first scene till last scene, Bunny is shown just as a Martial Arts expert. There are hardly two to three scenes where he can showcase the real emotions. Tamanna looked gorgeous with a characterization struggling between God and Love. She is one of the major assets for film. Prakash Raj in a white bearded look was at his regular best. Kellu Dorjee’s villainy is normal while aghast eyes of Ashwini Kalsekar are well captured. Comedy wise, we have Batting Baba (Brahmanandam), Chutki (MS Narayana), Krishna Bhagawan and the pilgrim from Peta (Dharmavarapu) repeated the comedy portion of ‘Indra.’ Raghu Babu as side kick to villain is regularly watched in Vinayak’s films. Among others Sayaji Shinde, Sudha, Kovai Sarala, Tanikella etc are brief.

Out of the Movie Badrinath: Except the well choreographed action sequences and production values in the form of marvelous settings, everything else is disappointment. Emotional depth and strength of characters are so weak that we never get involved into the movie at any given time. No doubt, movie has taken off on a grand note but intensity wanes off quickly once the love affair takes the drivers seat. 

Conflict weaved by Chinni Krishna between Love, Guru Bhakthi and Daiva Bhakti is great but the key he used to unlock is very weak and unconvincing. This is the major drawback for movie. One more pathetic face of the film is that, hero was never in love with heroine till last five minutes of the film. Badri and Bheeshma Narayan’s powerful characters are made spineless with weak climax. An unpardonable mistake from Vinayak and Chinni.

Story by Chinni was similar in shades with ‘Shakti’ of Junior NTR that is to save the temples here and Shakti Peethas there. Except Allu Arjun’s macho body and thread enabled fights in air causing heavy bloodshed, Vinayak did not have anything more to do. Blame it on poor story selection of Allu Aravind this time as every story cannot be a ‘Magadheera’ even if you pour any amount of budget. 

First half went considerably well compared to second half. Perfect plotting for Kshetra Palakas, Tamanna’s beauty, wonderfully choreographed first song (Omkareshwari), entry of villains along with an interesting contentious trap will give the interval bang. Director’s helplessness is clearly visible in second half. Unnecessary violence, misplacement of songs further affected the second half. Thanks to the short climax that made audience set free from theatres.

Commercially ‘Badrinath’ may not be a fruitful product for Geetha Arts. There is no hope for film to survive more than four to five weeks. Allu Arjun’s failure run to be continued as Tamanna and Vinayak could not save him from the clutches of Chinni Krishna. Overall, this is just a below average to disaster film in offering.

Cinejosh Verdict of the Movie Badrinath: Allu Arjun’s ‘Shakti.’

                                                                                Reviewed by Srivaas