Varun (Vijay Devarakonda), a chief minister's happy-go-lucky son inherits that august position, in time honoured Indian political tradition, when the dad Vinothan (Nasser), grounded by corruption cases, resigns. Varun is a fun loving chap, but the guy works in London, as if to hint that he is apart and did not inherit dad's traits. He also got a tender heart which he serves as a side dish on special occasions. He wants to celebrate his birthday in an orphanage. How lovely! There starts a one man army to transform the state in one fell swoop, doing nice things to people. We have seen this before, Leader (2010), Bharat ane nenu (2018), and this is yet another muddled romantic vision of bringing just democracy to people with dictatorial powers and near unlimited money supply. These one man dictatorial shows existed in real life too, in the past century. The story repeats, first as a tragedy, next as farcical Telugu films.
This film spans additional threads in the vogue. Secret accounts of political leaders in Panama stashing thousands of crores; an odious Swamiji befriending Vinothan, with power on the latter's political influence, and Lord of the Rings' Sauron like eye on his material affluence. Varun starts investigating all this and dispatches one of his game designer colleagues to hack Panama accounts. Apparently, game companies that operate on tight budgets and often go to wall, have funds for such an enterprise. Never mind. Kicking away the context to foreign countries is a device used to take liberties with the plot. Satyaraj as Mahendra continues his Bhishma kind of kindly demeanour from Bahubali, radiating even more benevolence and advises Varun as if the latter were a philosopher king. Nasser takes up where he left off in Bahubali too, sounding more menacing than ever, plotting against his own son at some point. Then we come to know of some twists that entwine the lives of Varun, Vinothan and Mahendra.
There are two lead women who are mercifully spared usual song and dance ensemble with the hero. However Varun's characterization is pretty weak. On the one hand he is a playboy clubber, to please some section of the audience, next he is foreign returned, with supposedly thoughtful sophisticated concerns on corruption, to please another section, and then forgetting the sophistication, morphs into "rowdy CM" which excites "mass". His CM position does not prevent him from irresponsibly getting drunk, shown to be funny, cool, glamorous and trendy.
Ko.Ku (Kodavatiganti Kutumbarao) remarks somewhere that one should not write stories set in an environment the writer is not familiar with. "Yes, minister (1980-88)" the British political satire and its sequels fall in this category, with comical interpretation of dour British political developments. So is the case with 'House of cards (2013-18)', rather outlandish sinister interpretation of politics on the other side of the Atlantic. Both are nevertheless credited with closely mirroring the reality, passing KoKu's test. Films like NOTA do not inspire such confidence. These are absurd interpretations of not so well informed writers, with politicians reduced to cartoons. These are not political, but just another excuse to show heroics of the lead guy under the guise of "alternate politics" - a strange non existing beast. Late British politician Tony Benn, before standing down as MP, famously said he was quitting parliament because he wanted to focus on politics. Giving up power for empowering people. There has been a spate of Telugu films where the protagonist assumes dictatorial powers to empower people. Spot the difference!
Interesting in plot, weak in execution, unrealistic and unconvincing main lead.
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