Kathanayakudu Review

STARRING : Rajnikanth, Jagapathi Babu, Meena, Nayanatara, Sunil

MUSIC : G V Prakash
DIRECTOR : Vasu

RELEASE DATE : 1st August 2008

Good

The film Kathanayakudu is a remake of the hit Malayalam film Katha Parayambol. While the title has been chosen keeping the star status of Rajnikanth and his crowd pulling capacity, the film is essentially about Jagapathi Babu and revolves around his life and his family.

Story:

Superstar Ashok Kumar (Rajnikanth) comes to a small village, Circilla, along with the film unit to shoot a film there. He stays in a guest house there for about one month as part of the shooting.

Balakrishna (Jagapathi Babu) is a poor barber who struggles to eke out a living with his dilapidated saloon and an old creaky chair. He has a wife Sridevi (Meena) and three children. He is so poor that he is unable to even pay the school fees for his children.

Balakrishna longs to buy a new revolving chair and modernize his saloon but no one in the village is ready to lend him the money.

Balakrishna’s life changes after the arrivl of Ashok Kumar into the village. The villagers come to know that Balakrishna is a childhood friend of AshokKumar. Evwryone starts treating Balakrishna with new respect in the hope of meeting the superstar.

But Balakrishna is not sure if his childhood friend still remembers him. He does make an attempt to meet Ashok Kumar despite prodding by his family members and the villagers. Balakrishna does not want to take advantage of the stardom of his friend and his riches.

Ashok Kumar wraps up shooting and is about to leave the village when he I invited by the school principal Geetha, to be the chief guest for the school anniversary.

Balakrishna’s children also doubt if their father is really a friend of Ashok Kumar. This hurts him immensely but he suffers in silence.

When his wife Sridevi asks him to take her to the school so that she can at least catch a glimpse of the hero, Balakrishna agrees and takes her to the school. There, they stand in the back row amidst a huge gathering.

When Ashok Kumar is asked to make a speech, he recollects his childhood days and tells that it was due to the help and sacrifice made by his childhood friend Balakrishna that he has become such a big superstar today. Ashok Kumar’s emotional speech moves everyone and Balakrishna is happy that his childhood friend still remembers him.

The superstar then turns up at his friend’s house and the two long lost friends are finally united.

Performance:

The film’s big draw is undoubtedly superstar Rajnikanth. He does his job of a superstar with ease. Some of the trademark Rajnikanth mannerism are missing but the director has more than made up for them by giving Rajnikanth some good action scenes and also a couple of duets.

Nayanatara adds glamour to the film. She also gets to dance in the rain wearing a very short skirt.

The film is actually Jagapathi Babu’s. He does a wonderful job and his performance is really impressive and is definitely the highlight of the film.

Meena gives him admirable support as a dutiful and loving wife. However Meena’s dress (well cut blouses and neat hand printed starched and ironed cotton sarees) and her makeup do not gel with her status as the poor wife of a poor barber.

Sunil has a lengthy role and he manages to raise some laughs. Dharmavarapu once gain plays the familiar role of a wannabe producer.

Geetha makes an appearance after a long time and she plays the role of the school principal and she does a neat job. Prabhu plays the role of a inspector.

Rajnikanth’s daughter Soundary makes a fleeting appearance in the film. She is shown discussing something with director P Vasu. Mamatha Mohandas appears briefly as a assistant director. Khushboo, Sneha and others make a guest appearance.

In the song “Superstar… superstar…” NT Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Kannada Rajkumar, MGR, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Mahesh Babu, JR. NTR and others are shown.

The film runs slowly in the first half and all the action is in the second half.

The music is okay but the village set looks very artificial. It is supposed to be a village but it looks more like set from a cowboy film in Hollywood.

The film is worth watching for its simple but effective storyline and the brilliant performance of Jagapathi Babu. Rajnikanth is an undisputed superstar but as far as the film goes, it is Jagpathi Babu who is the real star.