Lion - Movie Review

Film: Lion
Cast: Balakrishna, Trisha, Radhika Apte, Indraja, Prakash Raj, Chandramohan, Jayasudha
Music: Manisharma
Cinematography: V Prasad
Editing: Gowtham Raju
Fights: Ram-Laxman
Presented by: J Ramanjaneyulu
Produced by: Rudrapati Ramana Rao
Directed by: Satyadev
Release date: May 14, 2015

Balakrishna's 98th film is 'Lion'. After the stupendous success of 'Legend' last year, he has come up with another mass masala movie. Though 'Lion' is designed by new director Satyadev to suit the tastes of Balakrishna's massive fans, the film fails to create even half the impact that Legend generated.

'Lion' is mix of several Hollywood action thrillers. Basic plot is taken from Liam Neeson starrer 2011 movie, Unknown. And the scenes in the movie are copied from various Hollywood hits like Bourne Identity, Walking Tall etc. Despite taking in best episodes of several hit movies from Hollywood, the new director has failed to narrate this flick engrossingly. Balakrishna's fiery performance, some punch dialogues and the glamour of two heroines are positive aspects of the movie.

The movie is about a sincere CBI officer. Bose (Balakrishna) is appointed as investigative officer for Ex-chief minister’s murder. Bose gets to know the real cause of the murder. Present Chief Minister (Prakash Raj) hatches a plan to prevent Bose from investigating the case further. Bose gets injured severely and goes into coma for months. When he recovers from coma, he comes to know that he has another identity. Rest of the drama follows unearthing of what happened to him.

It is a cakewalk for Balakrishna to don two different characters or getups. Balakrishna's performance, dialogues and scenes of his confrontation with Prakash Raj are best part. Trisha has limited role and her romance with Balakrishna is not convincing. Radhika Apte is okay. Prakash Raj has done justice to his role. There are host of actors but they hardly make any impact.

Manisharma's songs are nothing to talk about but his background score is decent. Cinematography is one of the better aspects of the movie. Excessive action sequences are not clap worthy. Dialogue is aimed at mass audiences and fans of Balakrishna and they are good. But the new director Satyadev's directorial skills leave a lot to be desired. After a fairly interesting first half, his screenplay lacks fizz post interval and turns out to be a big bore.

Overall, the film is a typical clichéd mass flick with nothing new to rave about.