Yatra-2 is a Telugu-language political biopic that features the current Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy’s life incidents. It is written and directed by Mahi V Raghav. The film stars Mammootty & Jiiva in lead roles while Ketaki Narayan, Suzanne Bernert, Subhalekha Sudhakar, Mahesh Manjrekar, Ashrita Vemuganti Nanduri, Sachin Khedekar & others are seen in important roles. The music is composed by Santhosh Narayanan and the film is produced by Three Autumn Leaves & V Celluloid banners.
Story:
The film is a sequel to Yatra (2019); while the first film was based on the life of the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, the late YS.Rajasekhara Reddy (played by Mammootty), the sequel will tell the story of YS.Jagan Mohan Reddy (Jiiva), the current Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from the period of his father’s death to the time he became the CM.
What about on-screen performances?
Jiiva is the complete show stealer of the film. He gets into the shoes of YS.Jagan Mohan Reddy perfectly and gets his body language bang on in all the scenes. His settled act in a few key scenes lifts the film big time, and he is too good in all the emotional scenes.
Mammootty gives out a commendable performance as the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy. All his scenes with Jiiva are quite emotional and they share a decent bond.
Mahesh Manjrekar is pretty decent playing Chandrababu Naidu while Subhalekha Sudhakar is neat and does what he does in all the political films he was a part of.
Suzanne Bernert looks the part and does well as Sonia Gandhi.
Ketaki Narayan as Jagan’s wife and Ashrita Vemuganti as Jagan’s mother are okay in their limited roles.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Mahi V Raghav is very conveniently written to highlight the lead character. The plot is filled with scenes that are well known to the audiences and all the proceedings look very unrealistic.
The screenplay too is not up to the mark. The complete first half is slow and boring while the second half is partly engaging. The intense drama that was needed in a biopic like this is never showcased on screen through the characters but all we get are elevations through dialogues from various side actors. In fact, a few elevation lines from the opposition party people on the lead character are overly done and look silly too.
Director Mahi V Raghav does a neat job with his presentation. He stays true to show only the positive side of the lead character and caters well to his target audiences. But had he taken a little more care in adding the required drama along with the emotional quotient into the narrative the film would have been a memorable biopic.
The dialogues are very powerful as most of the elevation scenes work only because of these well-written lines.
The songs by Santhosh Narayanan are impactless as none of them enhance the narrative. But it is his background score that lifts the film in important junctures. His score goes well with the genre of the film.
The cinematography by Madhie is top-notch. All the scenes with the huge public gatherings are showcased beautifully and the framing is perfect.
Shravan Katikaneni’s edit required more sharpness as a few scenes look overly stretched.
The production values by Three Autumn Leaves & V Celluloid are grand.
What’s Hot?
* Jiiva’s Performance
* Mammootty’s Performance
* Well Written Dialogues
* Good Second Half
* Cinematography & Background Score
* Assembly Scenes Between Jagan & CBN
What’s Not?
* Unrealistic Proceedings
* Dragged Out Narrative
* Less Emotional Connect
* Poor Songs
* Too Many Unnecesary Elevations
* Boring First Half
Verdict: Overall, Yatra-2 is an underwhelming biopic that never tells a convincing story. It more or less looks like a propaganda film that is only targeted at one section of the audience. If you are that audience, you can give it a try!!
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2.25/5