Once again it was proved on the screen that only directors like VV Vinayak and Rajamouli, who had the capacity of penning a gripping story and perfect screenplay could match the image of NT Rama Rao and the sentiment that his film with a debutant director by NTR would be a hit (Rajamouli – Student No.1 and Aadi VV Vinayak) was also proved wrong for the second time, with the first one being ‘Naa Alludu’ directed by debutant Vara Mullapudi. Though two hits to his credit, director Meher Ramesh failed to repeat his Kannada magic on Telugu screen, which ultimately left ‘Kantri’ an average flick.
Kranti (NT Rama Rao) is the grandson of a landlord (Mukhesh Rushi). His mother and father get killed by their friend Pothu Raju (Prakash Raj) just for the sake of money, which they planned to invest in a sugar factory for the benefit of the villagers. However, Kranti and his grandfather escape from the murder attack. After growing up, Kranti decides to take revenge against Pothu Raju, who turned a powerful mafia don called PR, who operates the entire mafia network in India from Bangkok. Kranti somehow gets entry into their gang by helping the PR gang in India run by Seshu (Asish Vidyarthi). He wins the confidence of PR and goes to Bangkok to help the latter to settle scores with his rival gang led by Murali Sharma. At this juncture, Kranti loses his heart to Varalakshmi (Hansika). After returning to India, Kranti demands Rs 10 lakh for the medical needs of a physically challenged of the orphanage and Seshu refuses to give the money. Then Kranti parts ways with the gang and joins hands with Dasu (Sayaji Shinde), a rival of PR. He takes an advance of Rs 1 crore to kill PR. On learning this, PR reaches India. During their meeting in India, Kranti makes PR to believe that he is his son. This makes PR to develop a soft corner towards Kranti, which the latter makes better use of it and hatches a nice plan and separates PR and Seshu, who partnered the business for 20 years. How Kranti took revenge against PR for the killing of his father is the climax.
NTR gave a brilliant performance all through the film. He looked further slim and appeared very flexible both in action scenes and also in dance sequences. Moreover, NTR showed good comedy timing in the first half. The director chose the cartoon image of NTR during the love episodes between the hero and heroine and it appeared novel. Hansika’s role was limited to glamour doll and she failed to put up good performance in any scene. It is not an exaggeration that the heavy make-up spoiled her glamour to some extent. NTR-Hansika love track in 1st half is inspired by “Just My Luck” a romantic comedy which has Lindsay Lohan in the lead. Prakash Raj is okay in his role. Despite four villains like Asish Vidyardhi, Sayaji Shinde, Murali Sharma and Prakash Raj, the director failed to extract any performance from them and all of them did comedy villain sans any seriousness. At the same time, comedy track by Sunil, Krishna Bhagawan and Ali failed to evoke any laughter from the audiences.
Music by Manisharma is good to listen. However, the choreography by Prem Rakshit was good in a couple of songs and others are not very impressive though appeared average due to the ease shown by NTR. Camera work by Sameer Reddy is just okay and he did not do any experiments in shooting the film. Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh is poor. He should have shown little more interest in cutting the unnecessary scenes. It is a surprise why the director kept the scene involving Brahmanandam and how it escaped from an experienced editor like Marthand. It was the director who is totally responsible for the poor narration of the film. The director also took the responsibility of providing story, screenplay and dialogues. He failed to do justice to any of the department. There is no novelty in the story and the unnecessary twists made the story further bored. The screenplay is also haphazard. There should not be any gap between the scenes filled with comedy, especially for the films from heroes like NTR. It should go in a particular tempo. He has influences of his guru (Puri) – as the mafia backdrop and certain episodes are similar to Pokiri, but not interesting like that film.
Hardcore fans of NTR could feel that the film is above average. But for regular audiences, the film is a little boring. The director’s inefficiency in establishing the love between the hero and heroine is very visible. Though the first half is somewhat convincing, the second half tested the patience of audiences. Going by the talk at the theatre, the film is just an average flick.
Cast & Crew:
Cast: NT Rama Rao, Hansika, Tanisha, Prakash Raj, Asish Vidyarthi, Mukhesh Rushi, Sayaji Shinde, Murali Sharma, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Brahmaji, Raghubabu, Subbaraju, Satyam Rajesh, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Benarjee, Krishna Bhagawan, MS Narayana, Jayaprakash Reddy, Ahuti Prasad, Brahmanandam, Sunil, GV, Narsing Yadav, Ali, Srinivasa Reddy, Hema, Master Bharat Kumar, and others.
Music: Manisharma
Cinematography: Sameer Reddy
Action: Stun Shiva
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Producer: C Aswinidutt
Story, Dialogues, Screenplay & Ddirection: Meher Ramesh
Banner: Vyjayanti Movies
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Tags: Ahuti Prasad, Ali, Asish Vidyarthi, Benarjee, Brahmaji, Brahmanandam, C Aswinidutt, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, GV, Hansika, Hema, Jayaprakash Reddy, kantri, Kantri - Telugu Movie Review, Kantri Movie Review, Kantri Review, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Krishna Bhagawan, Manisharma, Master Bharat Kumar, Meher Ramesh, MS Narayana, Mukhesh Rushi, Murali Sharma, Narsing Yadav, NT Rama Rao, Prakash Raj, Raghubabu, Sameer Reddy, Satyam Rajesh, Sayaji Shinde, Srinivasa Reddy, Stun Shiva, Subbaraju, Sunil, Tanisha | Filed in Tollywood
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