Jai Simha - Movie Review

What’s it about!

At a hospital bed, Gowri (Nayanathara) wakes up to find her newborn baby is missing. Story cuts to reveal, a guy is leaving with a new born baby in search of quite places. The guy is Narasimha (Balakrishna) who is running away from his past life and finally settles in Kumbakonam in Tamilnadu where he gets a job as driver in a Temple daramkartha’s house. However, he also lands in trouble with a local leader and later with the town’s ACP. In an another incident, he comes face to face with Gowri, who is now wife of ACP. Rest of the movie is all about his love story with Gowri some years ago in Vizag, and why he had to break up with her to marry another woman and how their fates are now inter-linked.
 
Analysis
 
“Jai Simha”, Nandamuri Balakrishna’s 102nd film, tells the story of a Vizag based mechanic who has a past life that still haunts him. The film is directed by K S Ravikumar of hits like “Muthu”, “Narasimha”, “Bhamane Sathyabhamane”, “Sneham Kosam” and “Dasavatharam”. His recent film was Rajinikanth starrer “Linga”. The story is too clichéd. The screenplay technique – a hero leading peaceful life hiding his past ought to reveal his true identity when the persons from the past life catch up again.
 
The film begins in regular masala movie manner with hero-elevating fights, comedy and songs. But the comedy is stale. Brahmanandam has lost his mojo long back as comedian and still the director has made the comedian to do the same comedy that he stopped playing a decade ago.
 
Some punch dialogues that are aimed to please his fans are okay but rest of the dialogues are over the top. Only towards the interval bang it sustains some interest. From there, the movie goes the downhill.
 
There are three romantic tracks – one with Natasha (she dreams, not he), the other with Nayanathara that eventually ends abruptly, then another with Haripriya which is crucial to the story. None of these romantic tracks are interesting enough. Even the so-called sentiment scenes and hero sacrificing many things for his first love Nayanathara is told in beaten to death manner.
 
Much of the time we don’t know where the film is heading. Many twists and turns are there but once the main plot point is revealed it turns out to be silly.
 
The whole point of the movie turns out that protagonist sacrificing his love, his sons and other things for the good of his first girlfriend.
 
Of the technicians, music director and cameraman’s work gets noticed. Music director Chirantan Bhatt has given rather different songs for a masala movie. He has given two melodies – “Anaganaga Andala Lokam” and “Priyam Jagame Anandamayam” which are good. “Amma Kutti” song is the only typical mass number. Cinematography by C Ram Prasad serves the purpose in action sequences.
 
Action stunts and dialogues are in old style. As a director, K S Ravikumar has shown his mark in later portion of the movie but his narrative drive is old-style.
 
Bottom-line: Balakrishna’s ‘Jai Simha’ is a typical mass-masala movie with old-style narrative and clichéd sequences. Some episodes in the first half hold interest though. This is strictly for Balayya’s fans and lovers of old-style masala movies.