Mr Bachchan Movie Review

Mr Bachchan Movie Review

Telugu360 Rating: 2/5

Harish Shankar is one director who adapted several remakes successfully in the past. He directed those to suit the taste of the Telugu audience. Taking Hindi film Raid, Harish Shankar made Mr Bachchan featuring Ravi Teja and Bhagyashri Borse in the lead roles. Mr Bachchan released with paid premieres last night and here is the review of the film:

Story:

Mr Bachchan is set in the 1970s during the time of Sholay release. Anand (Ravi Teja) is a kid and he stays with his father (Thanikella Bharani) and mother (Gauthami). Being an ardent fan of the film, his father renames Anand as Mr Bachchan. Bachchan too loves Hindi films and he is also a singer. He turns an Income Tax officer by profession and is an honest official. He gets suspended for raiding a bigwig.Mr Bachchan returns back to his village and spends time with his friends and he gets to his profession of singing songs. He spots Jikki (Bhaghayshri Borse) and falls in love instantly. When he convinces his family and before getting married, he gets a call to join back in the Department. The rest of Mr Bachchan is all about Muthyam Jaggayya (Jagapathi Babu) and the hurdles faced during the raid of Jaggayya.

Analysis:

Raid is a complete serious film that lacks entertainment and family drama. Harish Shankar tried to make Mr Bachchan more entertaining and he made several changes for the first half. The entire story is shifted to the second half and the first half banks on entertainment and the love story between Ravi Teja and Bhagyashri. The film is passable at times and is boring for the most of the time. Ravi Teja’s introduction is well established. The vintage songs of Kumar Sanu and others are decent enough and passable. Raid shows the bonding between a husband and his wife. While in Mr Bachchan, Harish Shankar showcased a love story between the lead pair. Satya is thoroughly entertaining and his role was well penned. Satya carried the entertainment with his timing and expressions in the first half.

The real story of Mr Bachchan unfolds in the second half of the film. The film takes off a completely serious tone and this doesn’t appeal to the audience. All the episodes are badly narrated and they lack an impact. The original essence and the emotion goes missing in the second half of Mr Bachchan. Bachchan behaves like a Superman and the antagonist’s role does not match his momentum. Jagapathi Babu, the lead antagonist was shown as powerful in the first half but he is helpless throughout the second half. The entire second half of Mr Bachchan fails to match up to the expectations of the audience and it falls flat. Except for the songs, the second half of Mr Bachchan offers nothing and interesting.

Performances:

Ravi Teja looks energetic in the role of Mr Bachchan. His looks and presence are matched to that in the 70s premise of the film. He was good in the action episodes and the songs. Bhagyashri Borse is beautiful and she is well presented on screen. She was flawless in the songs and her dance moves are quite good. She tried hard to dub for her role but her dubbing missed the needed Telugu flow. Jagapathi Babu is presented as a powerful goon in the first half and his screen presence was good. But in the second half, he did not make any impact. Satya and his comic timing are the only relief for the audience and he did his part well. Sachin Khedekar, Thanikella Bharani, Gauthami and others have limited roles and they did their parts well. Siddhu Jonnalagadda and Devi Sri Prasad surprised the audience with their cameos.

Harish Shankar is undoubtedly one of the best writers of Telugu cinema. But he failed badly with Mr Bachchan as a writer during the work of the second half of the film. Some of the comic episodes are abrupt and will not appeal to everyone. He also created a role ‘Guruji’ to troll a top director. Chammak Chandra’s role in the second half will irritate the audience. Annapurna’s vintage track too fails badly. On the whole, Harish Shankar fails as a writer and director with Mr Bachchan.

There are references to a lot of vintage Hindi songs and these are not known for this generation of the Telugu audience. Mickey J Meyer is an asset for Mr Bachchan. His catchy tunes are well presented on screen and he also delivered a powerful background score. Ayanaka Bose’s camera work too has to be mentioned in special. Ujwal’s editing work is also decent. Some of the dialogues in Mr Bachchan will be remembered.

Verdict: Harish Shankar wanted to remake a serious film in an entertaining manner and he failed badly with the output. The first half of Mr Bachchan is passable but the second half of Mr Bachchan is a complete misfire. This ‘Raid’ remake is a huge disappointment.

Telugu360 Rating: 2/5

Director:Harish Shankar
Cinematography: Ayananka Bose
Music: Mickey J. Meyer
Producer: Vivek Kuchibhotla
T.G. Vishwa Prasad
Production: People Media Factory