Veera Simha Reddy Review: Boring routine faction drama

Following the grand success of Akhanda, Nandamuri Balakrishna teamed up with director Gopichand Malineni for an out-and-out mass action entertainer, in the form of Veera Simha Reddy. The film features Shruti Haasan as the leading lady, and has been released today, on the occasion of the Sankranthi festival. Let’s see how the film has turned out to be..

Story:

Jai and his mother(Meenakshi) live in Turkey. Meenakshi runs a restaurant and Jai own a car dealership. He falls in love with Sandhya (Shruthi Hassan) who lives in Istanbul. After Sandhya’s father insists to meet Jai’s parents to settle the wedding, Jai’s father Veera Simha Reddy comes to Turkey, which is when Jay meets his father for the first time. Things take a drastic turn around when Veera Simha Reddy comes to Turkey, as his past follows him there. What is that past and what happens forms the rest of the story.

On-Screen Performances:

Balakrishna, as always, is in his element as Veera Simha Reddy. He perfectly embodies the raw and rustic nature of Veera Simha Reddy, a role that is tailor-made for the actor who has been seen in similar roles several times before. He is good in the over-the-top action scenes as well, and his dialogues are a treat to his audience.

Shruti Haasan is ok in the movie and dances well in the songs, but doesn’t have anything much to do storywise. Certain forced comedy scenes through her character don’t work well.

Honey Rose, who made her Tollywood debut with the film is the surprising factor of the film, as she is very good in her role. As a mother and as VSR’s love interest , she has done well in the film, and has also contributed well in the glamour department.

Varalaxmi Sarathkumar is perfect in her role, and her emotion is perfectly shown throughout the film. Her scenes with Balakrishna particularly stand out.

The rest of the supporting cast, like Murali Sharma and Naveen Chandra, are good enough in their roles and do the needful as per the script.

Off-Screen Talents:

Director Gopichand Malineni has come up with  couple of twists in the film, and while they’re good, they are also not novel for the audience. The screenplay lags quite a bit throughout the movie. However, the director failed to incorporate any entertaining/comedy moments into the screenplay. The film feels too long and boring after a certain point. The only saving grace of the film would be Varalaxmi’s emotion track, which “might” appeal to a section of the audience. On the whole, the director seems to have just recycled stories that have already been seen before.

A few songs composed by Thaman are good, but the background music composed by the music director is not extraordinary as one would expect, and is just okay, especially when compared to the kind of background music he provided for Akhanda.

The production values of the film are okay, and the camera work is good. The editing could have been a lot better, with the film’s runtime having been made much crisper.

Plus Points:

• VSR’s getup
• Few drama parts in second half
• Couple of songs

Minus Points:

• Age old concept
• Lack of entertainment
• Runtime of the movie
• Entire first half

Verdict: Veera Simha Reddy is a movie that will cater mostly to Balayya’s die-hard fans, for its over the top action sequences. Otherwise, the film is just a routine faction drama that has loud music, action sequences and a routine story, which may not appeal to the general audience.

Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2/5