Nani Gentleman Review, What’s Behind: Natural Star Nani is on high with ‘Bhale Bhale Magadivoy’ and ‘Krishna Gadi Veera Prema Gadha’ turning into hits. He teamed up with mentor Indraganti Mohana Krishna for this film. Promotions hinted on a promising thriller in the offing. Surabhi and Niveda Thomas played heroines while Mani Sharma composed the music. Let’s see, what this Gentleman has to do with the story.
Nani Gentleman Story: Aishwarya (Surabhi) and Catherine (Niveda Thomas) traveling in same flight share their love stories. Catherine, a VFX architect is in love with smart guy Gautham (Nani) while Aishwarya, daughter of a rich businessman falls for Jai (Nani), a young entrepreneur. Soon after landing in Hyderabad, Catherine is shell shocked to hear the death news of Gautham and amazed to see Jai, exact replica of Gautham. As something smells foul in the game, Catherine associated by detective Nithya (Sree Mukhi) goes on cracking the case. Who is dead actually, whether it is Jai or Gautham? Who are associated with this murder? Rest, you have nothing more.
Nani Gentleman Artists and Technicians: David Nathan storyline neither had a span nor any solid thrilling element. Indraganti’s unfamiliarity in dealing with taut thrillers was visible in his weak additional story inputs and feeble screenplay. Direction wise, Indraganti was cute and smart in treating the two romantic threads. He wasn’t agile when dealing the second half where the actual twists have to unveil. It applies the same for his dialogue writing too. Except a couple of lines written on Avasarala Srinivas, rest is exasperating. PG Vinda cinematography is a customary work with unnecessary build up shots. Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh hasn’t got any exemplariness. Leaving Kalyan Koduri from the core team, Indraganti justified his selection of Mani Sharma as music director because it’s the RR left an impact on narration. Production values from Sivalenka Krishna Prasad are good.
On to performances, Nani got a character with two shades. He was at his regular best in romancing the heroines throwing momentary comic punches and easy-to-go body language. However, Nani failed to show the distinctive differentiation in two roles. Except spectacles for one character, almost both looked the same thus killing the thrill on very first step. Niveda Thomas is an open performer. She is quite fresh, expressive and beautiful. Surabhi hasn’t got much to do. Avasarala Srinivas can never be an artist to fit in this genre. Sree Mukhi role is a big loophole in scripting. Vennela Kishore, Sathya Rajesh made us smile in a forcibly inserted comic thread. Tanikella, Anand, Rohini, Pragathi, Rama Prabha and others were just ok.
Nani Gentleman Rating Analysis: First of all, Indraganti hasn’t got enough clarity on the genre he is dealing at. Is it a thriller or romantic film? Its’ hard to assume a thriller narrated in Indraganti’s trademark poetic format. So, his natural flair cannot blend into this sort of subject. A thriller should mandatorily pack a fair sized punch to make everything look good and convincing. The back story needed to kill Nani was silliest of all. When the basic foundation is weak, how can he build a firm narrative on it? The final suspense revelation whiplashed was laid down with long scenes which looked baffling and unconvincing.
First half moves on a breezy note with love tracks proving a time pass. Nani charms in both the tracks while Niveda steals our interest in first track. On to Surabhi’s romantic thread, Indraganti’s thinking appeared outdated. Towards the interval block, we are exposed to few question marks, just acceptable. Into second half, the narration pace falls down drastically. Indraganti was clearly falling short of substance to open his best point. The over stretched fun episodes on Vennela Kishore followed by unnecessary pub song are just meant to fill the time. Niveda Thomas characterization is logically buried with plenty of blunders. Though, cinematic liberties are acceptable to an extent in thrillers but not like Indraganti. Then climax ushers up in a hurry as Nani begins to unfasten the links. Rest is the methodical ending.
All in all, ‘Gentleman’ is just an average flick with disproportionate, immature and imbalanced narrative. It falls somewhere via-media in romantic-family-emotional-drama and thriller wherein basic, fundamental principles have gone missing inviting a 2.5 star rating. Commercially, we need to wait for the final verdict from audience.
Nani Gentleman Cinejosh Verdict: Fade Out Thriller.
Nani Gentleman Cinejosh Rating: 2.5/5.0
Reviewed by Srivaas