Naa Peru Surya - Movie Review

What's it about!

Surya (Allu Arjun) is a temperamental soldier in the Indian army. Colonel (Boman Irani) decides to suspend him from army after Surya's anger issues bring bad image to the regiment. But Surya's dream is to fight on the border. After much persuasion, the Colonel agrees to keep him in the army if he gets the certificate from psychology professor Ramakrishna Raju (Arjun Sarja) that he has cooled down now. Ramakrishna Raju is none other than Surya's father who threw him out at the age of 10 when he was frequently landing in trouble. The professor gives him 21-days challenge to remain calm. Will he control his anger even when a bad guy named Challa (Sharat Kumar) indulges in injustices in the city?

Analysis

Of late, Telugu film directors are trying to narrate stories with a message. Writer turned director Vakkantham Vamsi's debut directorial 'Naa Peru Surya' also treads the same path as it narrates about an idealistic soldier who can't control his anger. However, the film ends with a message that we should protect our youngsters or they would move to terrorism due to the injustices meted out to them.

The film has two distinct halves.

It begins establishing Surya's anger issues that cause near job-lose and his interactions with his father played by Arjun Sarja. The first half of the movie delves on Allu Arjun's character establishment, Allu Arjun-Arjun's father-son issues, and romantic part. The second half focuses on local goon, his attempt to grab a land and Allu Arjun trying to control his anger and ends with the above said message.

In both the halves there are fine moments but it frequently falls into boring sequences.

From start to finish, Allu Arjun appears in almost all the scenes making it his show all the way. He has come up with absolutely convincing and good performance. However, this has also become an issue. Since it is centered on Allu Arjun, all other characters remain passive. The major flaw is other than Allu Arjun's character, all the actors are having cardboard characterizations. Arjun, Sharat Kumar, Nadiya, Boman Irani…..all their roles are poorly written.

 
Writer and director Vakkantham Vamsi seems to have been inspired by two films - Denzel Washington's 'Antwone Fisher' (2002) and Nana Patekar directed 1991 Hindi film 'Prahaar: The Final Attack'. The psychologist and soldier scenes in the first half are taken from 'Antwone Fisher'. The only difference here is that the hero doesn't have violent history like the Hollywood protagonist has. The episodes involving Sharat Kumar, Sai Kumar and other portions in the second half resemble Nana Patekar's 'Prahaar'.

Director Vakkantham Vamsi has got the right mix but his narration leaves much to be desired. The movie moves at snail pace and comes to the point very slowly. The entire romantic track in the first half is edited clumsily. Vakkantham has picked up right subject to deal with but he has not told them effectively.

What works in the movie are Allu Arjun's performance, the military backdrop, and the father-son sequence. Also cinematography and rich production values are plus point.

Appearance-wise, Allu Arjun completely sinks into the character of a temperamental army soldier. He has put in lot of hard work to get the body language and the look of an army man. His high-voltage performance is the driving force of this drama. This is a performance-oriented film. Arjun Sarja as Allu Arjun's father is terrific to the point. He suits well in the role of Bunny's professor father and the father-son sequences are shot well. The characterization of Sharat Kumar is clichéd and hollow but the actor has made his presence felt. Vikram Lagadapati in an all important role has shined. He is superb in the climax part.

Anu Emmanuel looks beautiful. Boman Irani as colonel, Nadiya as Bunny's mother and Rao Ramesh both have played cameo appearances. Their characterizations lack depth.

The technical values handled by noted technicians are top-notch. Rajeevi Ravi, the cameraman and director noted for films like 'Gangs of Wasseypur' and 'Kammati Paadam', has brought different aesthetics to commercial filmmaking. This is perhaps his first extravagantly shot movie. Bollywood composers Vishal-Sekhar have given different tunes to a Telugu movie. Of the songs, 'Lover Also Fighter Also' and 'Beautiful Love' are impressive.

Fights are typically massy and remind us of 'Sarrainodu'.

Vakkantham has shown his mark in bringing out best performance from Bunny and his dialogues are good. But he has faltered with screenplay and narration.
 
Bottom-line: 'Naa Peru Surya' has Allu Arjun's best performance and has strong message. The film with mix of patriotism and commercial action drama reminds us of old Hindi and Hollywood movies. It is Allu Arjun's show all the way in this movie that has uneven narration, underwritten characters.