Nagavalli Review

Nagavalli a sequel to super hit Chandramukhi starring Victory Venkatesh and directed by P.Vasu released this weekend promising us lots of thrill and loads of glamour as delivered by the Rajnikanth starrer…Lets check out how far the movie met with the expectations….

Plot: Chandramukhi’s portrait which caused the havoc in the first part this time reaches a mansion in Tirupathi. The master (SarathBabu) of the house has three daughters namely Gayathri, Geetha and Gowri… Things go wrong from the day the portrait is brought to house. A Psychiatrist Vijay is called for, to identify who among the three girls were affected by Chandramukhi’s spirit!!

Actors:

Venkatesh celebrates his 25 years in the Tollywood with this film…And it is in fact a daring move by our Venki to step in the shoes of Superstar. Venkatesh has donned two characters of a Psychiatrist and King and there’s a surprise get up as 130 year old man (the King himself). The First role is an ease to our victory star….and he is perfect. Sometimes imitates Rajni saying “Chumma” and pays respects...So humble he is! As a King, It’s a different one…A great treat to his fans. And as an old man…Oh its surprise taken to next level. But the role was made laugh riot at the climax with it being too far from reality where in Venki just Runs and dances faster than the thunderbolt!!

And the heroines lit the screen with loads of glamour…

Kamilini Mukherjee as elder daughter Gayathri has got a chance of showcasing her dancing skills…She is great as a dancer and a mentally handicapped one. Great going “Godavari” girl!!

SraddhaDas as Geetha is a total surprise…She is cool as mysterious and arrogant girl. Wish she chooses this kind of meatier roles in future…

Richa Gangopadhyay (Leader fame) as Gowri too has got a milestone and she was brilliant…Long way to go Richa…Big Kudos!

And we have our Sweety Anushka donning Nagavalli, a royal dancer in the past. She looks stunningly great thanks to the costumes by Rama Rajamouli. But she disappoints us while dancing. An avid classical dancer is needed for this role! And don’t ever ask about the boy who played her love interest. Anushka is more like his aunt rather than lover. Vineeth in Chandramukhi is so nice in such role!!

Avinash who is seen as Tantrik in Chandramukhi continued the good work here…

Brahmanandam is not only wasted but sucks for big time…blame the director and beware he might be hero in 3rd part. Dharmavarapu is ok…check out the hilarious bathroom scene. SarathBabu, Prabha, Raksha etc were adequate

Call it Remake of Chandramukhi rather than a Sequel…!!

Chandramukhi has roots from Manichitrathazu for which Sobhana received national award for her superb performance. So in a way the Original has a strong base and it worked great with Soundarya and Jyothika fantastically in Kannada and Telugu respectively. But this one Nagavalli is just cooked by Vasu keeping side the Original. It just goes in similar pattern, screenplay and style. Had been Chandramukhi remade then by Venkatesh, It would have been the same.

First half introduces us to all the mysterious characters of the house…And then we have repetitive events of day and night where in, during the day the girls in the house try to woo our Venky…and in the Night Venki runs around to find the spirit of Chandramukhi…And our Brahmi tortures us in between!!

Second half is little better where in things move little faster. There was some good debate between science and myth and way the things get unfolded is interesting. And the Flashback episode is just fine. Pre-climax where Chandramukhi is revealed is the best part. But the Climax again is big laugh game for different reasons.

Good and Bad….

Good things are Venkatesh in 3 different roles…Not sure everyone appreciates all three…but he should be appreciated for trying different! Then the girls won’t disappoint you…nice to watch them move stylishly here and there as in fashion parade advertising for Kalamandir and at times performing!! Graphic’s are good enough but could have been lot better… coz they look artificial many times. Art is good.

Bad things …No novelty and flashback episode should have been richer .Forget to tell horrible songs! More than the Chandramukhi, Music director Gurukiran and the director Vasu threaten us for planning such sickening songs. And Climax though bad is fun for us to walk out smiling!!

Final Say…

Well all said…Nagavalli is not brilliant but at least serves as an average thriller…Venkatesh fans will have a great treat. It’s been six years we saw Chandramukhi…So no offense in trying this if you seek time pass…

Rating:

2.75/5 …Nagavalli might make producers safe for good campaign and the craze for the franchise