Sarkaru Vaari Paata
Introduction
Bollywood has been at the receiving end of many people off late who have been criticizing them about the kind of products served to them. People have left no stone unturned in criticizing films like Satyameva Jayate 2, Heropanti 2 or the recently released film Nikamma. While Bollywood has been getting even brickbats for some of the better products too like Anek, the same level of outrage is missing for substandard films down South. Be it Acharya or Khiladi or even Beast, the audience has been mindful while criticizing these films. What my take is that we must call a spade a spade without distinguishing between any of the film industries. So basically treat a film in general irrespective of the language or the cast. With that I finished watching the new Telugu film Sarkaru Vaari Paata starring Mahesh Babu which met with a similar fate during its theatrical release. But then I wanted to watch the film and form an opinion myself. So then is Sarkaru Vaari Paata worth your time, stay tuned.
Story & Screenplay
Sarkaru Vaari Paata follows the story of a finance agent who arrives in India from USA to recover a loan after being conned by a woman. The story is a typical mass masala entertainer with a good message BUT the story is wafer thin.
The screenplay is all but a royal mess! Standing at 160 minutes, it is a drag. The thing with masala entertainers is that if they aren’t entertaining they will fizzle out pretty soon. And that is exactly the case here. The screenplay does not exude any sort of confidence right from the word go. It is over the top and lacks any remote bit of logic. And there is a thing where I constantly have issues with the portrayal of romance in films down South. They are not organic for starters and borderline toxic(especially in mass masala entertainers). To give you a perspective here, the protagonist stalks the female lead and in a separate instant even slaps here out of nowhere. This is downright wrong and if people find it funny it is all the more problematic.
The screenplay mildly has his moments where it gets its emotions right. But these are just fleeting moments in an otherwise outrageous screenplay. Even the action sequences are far from believable with a man gulping an entire glass after being hit on the head. Oh My God, What were the makers even thinking. Had this been a part of a Bollywood film, it would have been shredded to bits. The final act is preachy and mildly entertaining. But by then I had given up on this film!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are massy and that is all I can say about them. The music is average and the songs deter the flow of the drama. The BGM is loud and uninspiring. The production value is good here but is that saying much? Director Parasuram has missed the mark by a mile. Neither was he able to make this drama entertaining nor was there clarity in the messaging. The direction is convoluted and insipid.
Performances
The performances are plain average as well. Samuthirakani as Rajendranath is usually a fine actor but here he fails to create the right kind of impact. Keerthy Suresh as Kalavathi is charming and tries really hard to perform her best but her characterizatiom limits her performance. She us used just as a catalyst in the film. And Mahesh Babu as Mahesh has the same set of expressions throughout the film. If you just show me images even from his previous work, I will not be able to distinguish one of his films from the other.
Conclusion
Sarkaru Vaari Paata is over the top and downright outrageous. Steer Clear! Available on Amazon Prime.
PS : Wonder what people would have said if this was a Bollywood Film? * Trigger Moment *