Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy Review
Star Cast : Chiranjeevi, Nayanthara, Tamannaah, Sudeep, Amitabh Bachchan, Vijay Sethupathi, Jagapathi Babu
Director : Surender Reddy
First things first! Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy truly belongs to the majestic screen presence of Mega Star Chiranjeevi who once again delivers a powerful performance as Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy, the fearless warrior.
The Tamil version marketed by Super Good Films begins with the voice-over of Kamal Haasan who hints that the freedom movement of India has many forgotten heroes including Marudhanayagam and one such fighter is Narasimha Reddy. Right from his adolescence, Narasimha is smart and wants to fight against the British. He grows up under the tutelage of Guru Gasayi Venkanna (Amitabh Bachchan) and turns into a skilled warrior. He meets a dancer, Lakshmi (Tamannaah) and falls in love with her, but he doesn't know that he was married (child marriage) to Siddhama (Nayanthara), when he was very young. However, both were seperated due to doshas.
As Narasimha follows the country's tradition and Vedas, he bids good bye to Lakshmi and encourages her to spread the freedom movement through her songs and dance. Narasimha also understands the true love of Siddhama and leads a peaceful life with her. But soon he wages war against the British along with the locals, Sudeep, Jagapathi Babu and Vijay Sethupathi from Tamil Nadu. The rest of the film is all about the war, betrayal and battle scenes.
Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy's biggest strength is Chiranjeevi, his powerful body language and dialogue delivery (Tamil voice by Arvind Swamy) have given life to the unsung hero. The Megastar single-handedly owns the film and takes it to the winning post. Director Surender Reddy has beautifully portrayed the women characters, and it is nice to see both the ladies in the film having good roles. Nayanthara looks resplendent and convincingly regal as Siddhamma. Her emotional scenes with Chiranjeevi is impressive.
Tamannaah as Lakshmi, the dancer and freedom fighter is very good and she has a wonderful scene in the second half which has been shot beautifully. As the film is all about Narasimha Reddy who occupies each and every frame, other male actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Sudeep, and Vijay Sethupathi (who has the worst role and minimal screen space) are wasted. Jagapathi Babu has a decent role.
On the downside, the film is tad too long, there are many over the top unbelievable action sequences and the dialogues are melodramatic and jingoistic in several scenes. The climax scene is a bit hard to digest as it takes advantage of all cinematic liberties to showcase the film as a commercial potboiler. Amit Trivedi's songs are fantastic and Julius Packiam's score is also equally good. Rathnavelu has authentically captured the ancient India and war sequences look epic on the big screen.
Overall, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy is an engaging watch except for the long climax. Chiranjeevi keeps you invested in the film even when it plods on for over 171 minutes.
