Release date : July 20, 2021
Rating : 3.25/5
Starring : Venkatesh, Priyamani, Karthik Rathnam
Director : Srikanth Addala
Produced by : Kalaippuli S. Thanu; D. Suresh Babu
Music Director : Mani Sharma
Narappa is one of the biggest movies to be out on the OTT space. Starring Venkatesh and Priyamani in lead roles, this film is out now on Amazon Prime. Let’s see how it is.
Story
Narappa(Venkatesh) leads a peaceful life with his wife(Priyamani), daughter, and two sons in a small village in Ananthapur. The village head, Pandusamy plans to capture Narappa’s land and this does not go well with his elder son Munkanna(Karthik Rathnam) who locks horns with Panduswamy. Calamity strikes and Narappa faces a huge loss. In an unexpected manner, even as Narappa stays calm, his younger son, Sinnappa takes a violent route for revenge, leading to dangerous consequences. Was Narappa be able to protect his family and lands forms Narappa’s story?
Plus Points
The film has a solid backdrop and has set so well in the Telugu nativity. The locations, production values, and shots executed give this film a solid feel. More than anything, Srikanth Addala does well with his taking and does not experiment much. He keeps the emotion intact from the original and showcases Venkatesh in a solid manner.
Coming to Venkatesh, you can say that it is one of his career-best performances to date. Venkatesh shocks you with his aggression and emotional outbursts in the film. Generally, we are used to seeing Venky in fun roles but. He plays the double role and is also good as the aggressive son. Watch out for Venky and Priyamani’s performance in his son’s death scene.
The national award-winning actress, Priyamani plays her supporting role perfectly. She is the apt choice for the role and Priyamani brings a lot of depth to the whole setup with her emotional outbursts. The dialogues and the Anantapur accent are also used well in the film. More than anything, the strong emotions are what make Narappa click majorly in the first half.
Rajeev Kanakala gets an amazing role after a long time and he ably supports Venkatesh throughout the film. With each passing day, Karthik Rathnam is getting superb roles and his role as Munikanna is amazing and the young actor does exceptionally well. The child actor who played Sinnappa was also terrific.
Minus Points
After the emotional and gritty first happiness, the pace of the film drops big time. The film is taken into a flashback mode and this slows down the proceedings. The problems which the lower class people suffer from the higher class are shown mostly in this flashback and it does not create much impact.
A lot of time is taken for this flashback and Venkatesh’s small love track involving Ammu Abhirami also does not help the proceedings. The film is quite predictable and all those who have seen the original will get disappointed during the second half as the intensity misses a bit though the film is ended well.
Technical Aspects
Production values of the film are top-notch. The intensity and raw look are created superbly by the camerawork. Dialogues are good and so was the costume design. The screenplay was decent and nicely elevates the emotions and tragedy in the first half. Mani Sharam’s music is decent but his BGM was solid and elevates even the smallest of the scenes.
Coming to the director Srikanth Addala, he makes a good comeback with Narappa. He is quite strong with family emotions and showcases them in a good manner in Narappa as well. His hold on the screenplay was amazing and did not let the guard down for the most part. The best part is that he showcased Venkatesh in a solid manner. Had he made the second half also quite gripping, things would have been even better.
Verdict
On the whole, Narappa is a well-made family drama that has some solid action and emotions. The storyline is a bit predictable and things get slow in the post-interval parts. Those who have watched the original will surely draw comparisons, but the engaging narration and Venkatesh’s standout act clear all the glitches and make this film a breezy watch this weekend.
