Starring: Nagarjuna Akkineni, Anushka Shetty, Pragya Jaiswal, Saurabh Raj Jain, Jagapathi Babu, Vimala Raman, Ashmitha, Sai Kumar, Brahmanandam, Aditya Menon, Rao Ramesh, Raghu Babu, Prithvi Raj and others
Cinematographer: S. Gopal Reddy
Music: M. M. Keeravani
Editor: Gautham Raju
Story & Dialogues: J. K. Bharavi
Production company: AMR Sai Krupa Entertainments
Producer: A. Mahesh Reddy
Screenplay & Direction: K. Raghavendra Rao
Om Namo Venkatesaya Tag Line: Nag Shines As Devotee Again
Om Namo Venkatesaya Plot:
Rama (Nagarjuna) is a child who craves to witness God. With the teachings of his Guru (Sai Kumar), Rama develops his interest in meeting God. After attaining a young age, his parents fixes Rama's marriage with Bhavani (Pragya Jaiswal). But Rama shows no interest in marriage and leaves home in search of God. Rama lands in Tirumala, but he was not allowed into the temple by the officers (Rao Ramesh, Raghu Babu) and others. Slowly, Rama gains fame which was taken to the notice of the King. After understanding the goodness of Rama, King handovers the temple responsibility to Rama after which Tirumala starts developing. There comes a situation where Rama has to prove he is a real devotee of Lord Venkateswara. What is that situation? Will Lord Venkateswara showers his love on the devotee? How did Rama become Hathi Ram Baba? The answers to these questions reveal the entire plot of the film Om Namo Venkatesaya.
Performances:
Akkineni Nagarjuna brought his best for the movie and lived in the role of Hathi Ram Baba. Nagarjuna is very natural as Lord Venkateswara devotee. Particularly in the climax, Nagarjuna impressed big time and proved us why he alone can pull off such roles.
Saurabh Raj Jain is superb as Lord Venkateswara. Saurabh's screen presence is incredible. Hema Chandra's dubbing for Saurabh Jain is perfect.
Anushka Shetty plays a significant role in the film as Krishnamma. Her screen presence and the way she carried herself on screen is attractive.
Pragya Jaiswal has a limited role in the movie, and she's beautiful. She appears in a song that comes in the first half.
Rao Ramesh plays the negative role in the movie. His natural cunning act impresses.
Sandeep Raj, Vennela Kishore, Sai Kumar, Jagapathi Babu, Vimala Raman, Ashmitha, and others are seen in limited roles and made their presence felt.
Om Namo Venkatesaya Analysis:
Devotional films are like off-beat movies. Not everyone dares to attempt them because there is always a doubt whether to what extent the people will receive such films. But Nagarjuna Akkineni has set a mark for himself regarding being a part of devotional films. When it comes to playing a Devotee, there's no one out there like Akkineni Nagarjuna, and he proved it yet again with Om Namo Venkatesaya after successfully registering a unique mark with the roles of Annamayya and Sri Rama Dasu. The way Nagarjuna gets into the role of a devotee is something that happens when he strongly has a connect with God.
So, the film was touted to be a biographical-devotional drama that was based on Hathi Ram Baba, who is a devotee of Lord Venkateswara Swamy. As shown in the movie, Hathi Ram was very much interested in meeting and talking to God from the childhood itself. The makers never discussed the place and region to which Hathi Ram belongs to. Had they presented that point too, it could have been more engaging. There is no reason shown for Hathi Ram's unconditional craving to meet God. The film starts off with an exciting episode of Sai Kumar teaching Vedas, Upanishads to children. Hathi Ram joins them and turns as a lovable disciple to him. The relationship between the teacher and student was shown nicely.
Raghavendra Rao made sure that his mark of presenting heroines won't be missing in the movie. The song involving Nagarjuna and Pragya Jaiswal has come out very well. Raghavendra Rao, in his style, made use of some flowers and fruits and made his 'mark' felt. Keeping this part aside, the rest of the film ultimately moves forward with a good devotional feel. The major drawback is that the movie runs at a slow pace. There isn't a proper story in the film, and the director just tried to showcase the situations Hathi Ram went through. As a result, the screenplay appears to be weak. The writing could have been much better to have a better emotional feel.
The characters were designed well in the movie. Nagarjuna's role was established very well. Anushka who played Krishnamma is also good. The Krishnamma connect also presented well. Explaining 'Varaha Swamy Darshanam' through a song, Explaining what Agni Teerdham is about, Revealing the back story for 'Nithya Kalyanam' for Lord Venkateswara and Birth of 'Navaneetha Harathi' are the major highlights of the movie which worked well. All these things were shown well in the film. To be precise, the film is all about this than depicting the life of Hathi Ram. The story behind Lord Venkateswara being called 'Balaji' and devotee Rama being called 'Hathi Ram Babaji' was narrated in an engaging manner.
The scenes between Nagarjuna and Saurabh Jain are too good. The innocence between the God and the devotee was presented nicely too. The conversations took place between Nagarjuna as devotee and Saurabh Raj Jain as Lord Venkateswara shaped up in a lively manner. Om Namo Venkatesaya movie is another gripping devotional drama from the magical combination of Nagarjuna and Raghavendra Rao. When compared to Annamayya and Sri Rama Dasu, Om Namo Venkatesaya is dull on emotional and writing side. But it is Nagarjuna who involves us in the film and takes us along with him in this devotional ride.
Merits:
- Story
- Dialogues
- Cinematography
- Music
De-Merits:
- Screenplay
- Slow Narration
Music:
The music scored by MM Keeravani is pleasant. All the songs are good and take us on a devotional ride. The background score of the film is also good. Keeravani did a finer job in his department.
Others:
The film is based on the life of Hathi Ram Baba. The artwork is fantastic in the film. It looks like the art director is in perfect sync with the cinematographer. Every frame looks colourful and attractive. S Gopal Reddy does a fantastic job as a cinematographer in the film. The Editing by Gowtham Raju is good. Some portions in the first half could have been trimmed to make the film racy. The dialogues of the film are good. The graphics and VFX works could have been much better in the movie. There are several repeated shots. The picturization of all the songs is beautiful.
Om Namo Venkatesaya Verdict By iQlik:
Om Namo Venkatesaya is a biographical-devotional drama which is highlighted by a brilliant performance from Akkineni Nagarjuna. The film is dull on writing side but Nagarjuna all the way carries the film on his shoulders to keep us connected with the movie's flow. Except for few ups and downs in the screenplay, the film is a decent watch. All you need a little bit of patience to be involved in this devotional journey.
For Fans: Will be a Memorable film!
For MovieGoers: Impressive devotional ride. Go with low expectations.
ALSO READ: Qlik Here To Rate Om Namo Venkatesaya
