SS Rajamouli is notable for his action oriented flicks with powerful subjects, but there has been no director in the history of Telugu cinema whose films have been as consistently successful as his. He directed a few tele-serials under the guidance of his guru K Raghavendra Rao, before he got introduced as a director to the silver screen through ‘Student No 1’ in 2002. After directing a film like ‘Magadheera’ that matched the Hollywood style of movie making, he diversified and tried his hand at a different genre this time. Yes! For the first time he ventured into a comedy territory with ‘Maryada Ramanna’.
‘Maryada Ramanna’ is about Rayalaseema behaviour which is a combination of aggression and hospitality. The story goes like this. Hero Ramu’s (Sunil) father happens to cross with the villain Ramineedu’s (Nagineedu) younger brother and in the process the Ramineedu’s brother dies. Naturally he woes to revenge this and attempts in many ways. The movie actually begins with a comical touch where Ramu lands up in Ramineedu’s house as a guest and Ramineedu in his natural hospitality takes good care of Ramu without any clue that he belongs to the family he has been gunning for. Later Ramineedu gets to know of Ramu’s roots but the Rayalaseema nature stops him and he continues with his sincere hospitality with a plan to attack him as soon as he steps out of the house. Meanwhile Ramu’s past acquaintance with the heroine Archana (Saloni) on a train journey blossoms into an emotional relationship and gets into trouble when she, as the sister of Ramineedu gets to know the feud between the families. What happens beyond this is something to be seen on the wide screen and enjoy.
Let’s also understand another family connection in this movie. It is the domination of Rajamouli and his family members. Firstly, in the script department it used to be his father Vijendra Prasad who owned the script-writing and this is now further strengthened by his cousin Kaanchi who is the script writer for this movie. Secondly, the music department which still happens to be in the clutches of Keeravani in all movies of Rajamouli. But can there be any complaints about it as we already see the film’s music making it audible in the industry. Then it comes to the costume department which is dominated by Rajamouli’s wife Rama. With direction also in his hand it is totally a Rajamouli’s show in the movie. In other departments, the camera is handled by Chota K Naidu, while stunts are handled by Peter Hynes.
With ‘Andala Ramudu’ having given him a place he needed as a hero, a Ram Gopal Verma already announcing a movie as a hero and yet another film signed by Sanvi Productions, Sunil is already in cloud nine. If this movie ‘Maryada Ramanna’ clicks there is no looking back for Sunil. In an industry there have been many occasions with comedians turning heroes like Ali, Venu Madhav, Brahmanandam, etc. Now it has to be seen how Sunil fares in this new avatar.
The Mumbai beauty Saloni, whose Bollywood dreams still at large is yet to make an impression in Tollywood. We have to now hope how she fares well in the hands of Rajamouli and cameraman Chota K Naidu.
For producers Devineni Prasad and Shobhu Yarlagadda of Arka Media Works banner also, this is an important venture after 'Vedam'.
Having successfully given eight different kinds of movies to the audience, it’s now Rajamouli’s time to present a comedy centered film. On one side it was ‘Magadheera’ which created all types of records and became super duper hit at box office. Now he has migrated from one such powerful story to a simple comedy flick. We have to wait and watch whether this experiment also will receive the attention of Telugu audience. July 23rd will make it clear.
