Pundareeka (Balakrishna) is an irresponsible youngman, who always try to enjoy his life without bothering about his family, who were staunch devotees of Lord Krishna. Though his parents want to get him married as it would make him learn responsibility, he refuses to do so and runs away from home. He enjoys several girls after leaving home and returns after a couple of weeks. Again, he comes to know about the arrival of a prostitute Amritha (Tabu) in the neighbouring village. He develops fascination towards her and keeps spending nights with her. At this juncture, Lord Krishna appears in the dream of a girl called Lakshmi (Sneha) of the neighbouring village that Pundareeka would be her husband. So Lakshmi decides to marry him at any cost. She stays opposite Pundareeka’s home and with her prayers to Lord Krishna and with his help she gets married to Pundareeka. Even after marriage, Pundareeka doesn’t mend his ways and gifts away all the ornaments of his wife to Amritha. Again, Lakshmi prays the Lord, and Lord Krishna comes to her rescue and unites Pundareeka with Lakshmi. When the couple was enjoying a happy married life, Amritha’s mother (Y Vijaya), who eyed Pundareeka’s property, invites him and drugs him. In the drugs effect, he gives off his entire property to Amritha and in the same way, he necks out the entire family from house. Unfortunately, Pundareeka too thrown away from home. What would Pundareeka do after being kicked out of house? Did Pundareeka realises his mistakes? Did he meet his parents? Under what circumstances he meets his parents? How Lord Krishna showered his blessings on Pundareeka? Answers to all these questions form part of the climax.
Though Balakrishna was roped in as hero, he failed to look as a young man. Especially during the close-up shots, he appeared older. There was no charm in his face. Had the film been done some 10-15 years ago, (during the time where he played hero in Bhairava Dweepam) it would be a different case. It is worth mentioning here that Panduranga Manatyam was shot with the late NT Rama Rao, when he was in a prime age. He appeared very handsome, both as a wayward youth and also as a devotee. The glow was conspicuously missing in Balakrishna’s face. Tabu appeared sexy in the film. In almost all the scenes in the film, she appeared very romantic. Sneha once again played in a homely character and she did justice to her role. Other artistes including Viswanath, Balayya, Sivaparvati, Sana, Prasadbabu and Sameer are at their usual best. Mohanbabu, who played the role of a sage, gave a special appearance on the screen in a couple of scenes. Comedy is totally missing in the film and the scenes involving Brahmanandam, and Sunil failed to evoke laughter. Their roles were totally wasted in the flick.
Though Bharavi gave excellent stories and dialogues for films like ‘Manjunatha, Annamayya and Sri Ramadasu’, he miserably failed in scripting a gripping subject for ‘Pandurangadu’. Knowing fully well that the audiences would take comparisons with the earlier classic film ‘Panduranga Mahatyam’, he failed to take any precautions. He changed the entire story and gave more preference to highlight the romantic part in the film instead of devotional part. Moreover, the dialogues were also in poor taste. Screenplay penned by Raghavendra Rao also failed to reflect his seniority. Some scenes appeared quite staggered. The stretched climax also turned boring. Music by MM Keeravani is the only solace for the movie. The Lord Krishna get up and the scenes involving him in that character with his wives (Archana, Suhasini and others) is more like a stage play than a regular film. Camera work by Jayaram is adequate, while the editing is okay.
The shoddy play of director and writer is quite visible in running the movie. Especially, change of the film and the climax which was stretched unnecessarily tested the patience of the audiences. But for a 25 minutes film in the climax, the film is not worth watching. Once again, Balakrishna is facing yet another disappointment despite a prestigious subject and excellent director. Absence of comedy also had its impact on the success of the film.
Cast & Crew:
Cast: Balakrishna, Sneha, Tabu, K Viswanath, Mohanbabu (special appearance), Balayya, Prasad Babu, Sameer, Sunil, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Ali, Anant, LB Sriram, Jr Relangi, Brahmanandam, Jenny, Siva Parvati, Sana, Archana (Veda), Suhasini, Meghana Naidu, Y Vijaya, Apoorva, Sireesha, Bhargavi, Neethu, Baby Kavya and others
Story & Dialogues: JK Bharavi
Camera: Jayaram
Editing: Srikara Prasad
Music: MM Keevarani
Producer: K Krishnamohana Rao
Screenplay and Direction: K Raghavendra Rao
Banner: RK Associates
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Tags: Ali, Anant, Apoorva, Archana (Veda), Baby Kavya, Balakrishna, Balayya, Bhargavi, Brahmanandam, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Jayaram, Jenny, JK Bharavi, Jr Relangi, K Krishnamohana Rao, K Viswanath, K. Raghavendra Rao, LB Sriram, Meghana Naidu, MM Keevarani, Mohanbabu (special appearance), Neethu, Pandurangadu, Pandurangadu - Telugu Movie Review, Pandurangadu Movie Review, Pandurangadu Review, Pandurangadu Telugu Movie, prasad babu, Sameer, Sana, Sireesha, Siva Parvati, Sneha, Srikara Prasad, Suhasini, Sunil, Tabu, y. vijaya | Filed in Tollywood
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1 Response
dont want to waste time in telling about balakrishna ’s movie
Posted on August 12th, 2008 at 12:49 am
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