Soggade Chinni Nayana - Movie Review

What’s it about?

Ramu (Nagarjuna) and his wife Seetha (Lavanya) who are going through marital problems due to Ramu's busy life as surgeon come down from USA to Ramu's village to tell his mother about their divorce plans. Learning this Ramu's mother Satya Bhama (Ramyakrishna), who lost her husband in accident when she was pregnant with Ramu, gets worried. She asks Seetha to give it a try again before deciding about divorce. Satya Bhama's husband Bangarraju (Nagarjuna) led life full of jest and had always been seen with women, but her son hardly touches his wife. She prays for her hubby to come down and help her in this and lo, he comes down as soul. How he changes his son to see life beyond the professional life and how he gets to know the real reason behind his killing forms the rest of the story.

Analysis:

Telugu cinema has seen plenty of movies with the storyline of protagonist getting killed in accident and later coming down to earth from Yamalokam as aatma. From Yamagola, Yamuduki Mogudu to Yamaleela, there are plenty of hit movies with similar theme. Soggade Chinni Nayana has similar theme but it is told in different way with more stress on romance and other fun parts with livewire performance by Nagarjuna.

After the success of Manam, Nagarjuna waited for long time to come up with an entertaining movie. He has picked this story as it has scope for him to do mass and class roles at a time. Soggade Chinni Nayana doesn't boast new story (in fact it has resemblance to ANR's 1978 movie Sri Rama Raksha) but the new director Kalyan Krishna has packaged the movie with subtle romance and feel good scenes.

Nagarjuna's portrayal of a village landlord Bangarraju who attract the women is major highlight. Since it is played by Nag who is known for his universal image in real life, it is believable. The film offers good fun in the first half. Nagarjuna, Ramya Krishna and Lavanya make the movie interesting. Another biggest strength of the movie is music provided by Anup Rubens. His songs and background score have perfectly gelled with the rustic storyline.

On the downside, the story runs on leisure manner and the real story comes only in later part of the movie. Many scenes are also dragged on.

Nagarjuna as Bangarraju has nailed it. His appearance, his dialogue delivery is perfect. Nagarjuna as Ramu is also convincing. Nag has shown variation in both the roles he has played. Ramya Krishna with her charismatic presence and superb chemistry with Nagarjuna and this has become a major strength. Lavanya Tripathi has not much role but she suits well to the role. Nag is perfectly suited to both senior Ramya Krishna and also younger Lavanya. He has such a perfect body.

Anushka, Anasuya and Hansa Nandini have done cameo appearances but they don't bring any added value to the storyline except providing glamour to the movie. Brahmanandam has finally generated some laughs after a long time but his episode is lengthy and doesn't work much after a point. There are plenty of actors but none of them make much impact except Nasser.

The film has rich production values with right technical support. P S Vinod of Manam and Siddharth have captured the rustic locals of Coastal Andhra and Karnataka (major part of the movie was shot near Mysore) beautifully. Anup Rubens has given another good album. "Dikka Dikka" and another romantic duet stand out. Editing should have been crispier.

One should mention the talent of director Kalyan Krishna. Though he is a newcomer and the story is not new, his handling of the storyline is what made the movie worth a watch. He has talent for handling entertainment and that is clearly visible.

Bottom-line:. Soggade Chinni Nayana is Nagarjuna’s show all the way. The movie is a good family entertainer with right commercial ingredients that works for the current festive mood. Simple movie told in entertaining manner.