Sri Rama Rajyam :Movie Review

Rating: 3.50/5.0
Banner: Sri Sai Baba Movies
Producer(s): Yalamanchili Saibabu
Director: Bapu
Music: Ilayaraja
Casting: Bala Krishna, Nayantara, ANR, KR Vijaya, Nagayya, Brahmanandam etc

Story :
The most awaited mythological film ‘Sri Rama Rajyam’ starring Bala Krishna released today. The movie is based on ‘Uttarakanda’ of great epic ‘Ramayan’ written by Valmiki Maharhi.  We have seen movie ‘Lava Kusha’ based on the same in 60s. Legendry actor late NTR and Anjali Devi portrayed the roles of Sri Rama and Sita mesmerised the audience. Now Bala Krishna and Nayantara replaced the legendry actors in this modern visual poetry.
Like in ‘Lava Kusha’, the story begins with Sri Rama Pattabhishekam and sending pregnant Sita exile on hearing the accusations of people in his kingdom.  Later we will see birth of Lava and Kusha, Ashwamedha Yagna and conflict between Rama and his sons and Pattabhishem of Lava and Kusha and Rama and finally ending his Avatar.
Performance :
Taking the inspiration from his father, Nandamuri Bala Krishna did a commendable job in the role of Lord Rama. He put his heart and soul in the role. At the same time it is unfair to compare Balakrishna with legendary NTR who lives in the mythological roles. But, if anyone comes close to NTR in portraying these kinds of roles, it will be none otherthan Bala Krishna. There is scope for improvement in Bala Krishna diction in Mythological roles.
Nayantara is perfect in the role of Sita. She is revelation in this movie. Her performance in the exile episode deserves accolades. She perfectly synced her lip movement to the dialogues even though she is alien to Telugu.
ANR performance is praiseworthy in the role of Valmiki Maharshi. Tollywood is very fortunate to have the actors like ANR. Srikanth gave neat performance in the role of Lakshmana. Vindoo Singh in Hanuman Role, K R Vijaya as Kousalya and Nagayya as Vasisshta maharhi justified their roles.Kids who acted as Lava,Kusha and young Hanuman deserves a pat on their back.

Technical:

Bapu-Ramana, if the first one is known for his artistic elegance, the latter is renowned for penning heart touching and soothing dialogues. Ramana gave a beautiful script and dialogues to compliment the artistic direction of Bapu. Bapu did his best to extract the best out of the artists’ right form the body language to dialogue delivery and modulation. The screenplay should have been better. There are couple of scenes slowed down the movie in the second half while some important scenes ended abruptly.
Music by music maestro Ilayaraja is top class. All the tunes are well composed and are pleasant. Re-recording is also very good. Art work by Ravindra is top class except the colors he used. PRK Raju excelled in cinematography showing the movie colorfully which is important for any visual poetry film. Visual effects are good. Production values are high.Sunita dubbing for Nayanatara is good.

Analysis

‘Sri Rama Rajyam’ is made with utmost care to address the mythology and heritage. The movie runs on slow pace, but you can’t complain as the script demands it. The screenplay should have been better. Had the fight between Lava Kusha verses Rama and Lakshmana gets little bit more footage, kids would have enjoyed.  
Finally, ‘Sri RamaRajyam’ is definitely watchable for its grandeur visual feast plus the performances by artists.  Cast and crew of the movie put their heart and soul to give us a near perfect film ‘Lava Kusha’.Overall, it is refreshing to watch.