Banner: Sri Sai Ganesh Productions Pvt. Ltd.
Starring: Venkatesh, Anushka, Richa Gangopadhyaya, Shraddha Das, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Sarath Babu, Prabha, Ananth Nag, Brahmanandam, Dhramavarapu, Poonam Kaur and others
Music: Guru Kiran
Cinematographer: Shyam K Naidu
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Dialogue: Paruchuri Brothers
Art: Chinna
Producer: Bellamkonda Suresh
Story, Screenplay, Direction: P. Vasu
Art: Chinna
Fights: Vijay
Release date: 16 December 2010
It’s been 25 years since Victory Venkatesh entered the acting arena. Nagavalli is his first movie in the Silver Jubilee year. Therefore, Nagavalli is much anticipated. Moreover, it is released as a sequel to Chandramukhi which adds to a lot of expectations.
Story
A rich man (Sarath Babu) lives in a palatial mansion in a village with his five daughters. His elder daughter Gayatri (Kamlinee Mukherjee), who is a dancer, wins a priced 100 year old portrait of Chandramukhi who is supposed to have worked as a dancer in the durbar of a king. Things start going wrong in the house for the five young women soon after the portrait is brought home.
The elder one dies in an accident, the prospective grooms who were supposed to marry the younger daughters keep rejecting them. Horrified by the bad omens, the rich man invites a psychic to find out what is going wrong. The psychic suggests a psychiatrist Vijay (Venkatesh). Venkatesh stays in rich man’s house to study the case and realizes that things are going bad after Gayatri got Chandramukhi portrait to rich man’s house.
Turns out that the house has become haunted by the spirit of Chandramukhi aka Nagavalli (Anushka). One of the girls in that house (Richa, Shraddha, and Kamalinee) is possessed by Chadramukhi’s spirit and Vijay has to know who it is and find a solution to it.
There is Chandramukhi’s story in a separate flashback sequence where a cruel king Raja Naga Bhairava Rajasekhara (Venkatesh duel role) falls in love with Chandramukhi who is already in love with someone. Although King Naga Bhairava will not touch a woman unless she’s willing but at the same time he cannot take it if any other person admires her. So he brings Chandramukhi to his palace, chops of the arm of the man who sketches her portrait, burns the dancer and beheads her paramour.
The dancer vows to gather his dust in a year’s time and enters the soul of one of the three daughters’ in Sarath Babu’s family. The rest of the story is about how Chandramukhi avenges her death and how Vijay solves all the problems.
Analysis:
Nagavalli has been hyped as the sequel to Chandramukhi, which was a huge hit in Tamil and Telugu. Director Vasu has his priorities right in scripting and addressing the story to his viewers, he makes sure everything is just right - the cast, crew, the taking, the performances and the finale but perhaps due to the repeated viewings of the first part, or the ability of the audiences to deduce and connect the suspense elements in the sequel, the element of thrill goes for a toss.
The director introduced Venkatesh’s character in this film as an assistant to Rajinikanth’s character in Chandramukhi film. The story and screenplay of Nagavalli is remarkably comparable to Chandramukhi. Even the dialogue and song concepts too remind you of it. First half of the film is passable with few unfunny comedy scenes and uninspiring songs. In the first hour the film works only in parts. Second half gains momentum as the story starts to unravel.
In the first part, the director concentrated on Chandramukhi alone while developing her role from the beginning. Here the focus on the lady in whose body Chandramukhi is tapped isn’t given much importance and you can’t expect the audience to sympathize or empathize with her in the last fifteen minutes all of a sudden. The introduction song of Venkatesh could have been done away with; it didn’t add value to the story.
Nevertheless, the flashback part of Nagavalli is told in a complicated way unlike in Chandramukhi film. There is a twist in the tale towards the climax about who is the possessed girl. Barring these two changes everything in Nagavalli is just a rehash of Chandramukhi film with a different star cast.
However, the climax looked out of the place with Venkatesh (with a weird makeup) and Anushka fighting amidst a tornado effect (absolutely not required).The film ends on a predictable note and audiences leave the theatres wondering if this is a sequel to Chandramukhi or a remake of it!
Performances
Venkatesh is fine in the psychiatrist role and dons two roles and three different get-ups in this movie. He tried his best to look cruel as the King. You can see Venkatesh trying Rajnikant’s body language in a few scenes. He is good as a decent looking psychiatrist, he is nice as a king with negative streaks and but he isn’t right for the surprise character that comes towards the end of the movie. The make-up and styling for that character is far away from our nativity. It is more like an aged Japanese warrior we see in films He is fifty already and it is clearly visible on his face. Even his dances lacked those energy levels of the past. Venkatesh has no heroine and duets in this film and that is a welcome change. Still, Venkatesh should be appreciated for doing this film
Though there are six heroines in the film, there is not much footage for any heroine in this movie. Anushka lacks the majestic appeal that helped her to carry of a powerful role in Arundhati. The age factor has started affecting Anushka too! Her classical dances are a pain to watch. Kamanilee Mukherjee is exceptionally good. Richa Gangopadhyay plays a vital role and she does justice. Shraddha Das plays a full length character and she is very good and different from what we have seen in her earlier movies. Poonam Kuar and Sujitha play insignificant roles Brahmanandam’s comedy act hardly tickles you. Dharmavarapu’s role is a pale imitation of Vadivelu’s in Chandramukhi. Avinash is very good as psychic. Ananth Nag, Sarath Babu, Prabha, Sana and Raksha are believable.
Technical Departments:
P. Vasu’s taking style and screenplay is stuck in the eighties. The first and last songs in this film are an example of how much outdated the director is. P. Vasu tried to repeat Chandramukhi’s magic with Nagavalli but sadly couldn’t. The script has too many holes and the climax sequences are a let down. The last half an hour of Chandramukhi worked big time due to the scariness and tight screenplay. Nagavalli lacks all those nail biting and edge of the seat moments.
Paruchuri’ s dialogues hardly leaves a mark. Guru Kiran’s music is average. Background score is fine though. Shyam K Nadu did his best within his limitations. Cinematography by Shyam K Naidu is good. Art work by Chinna is not bad. Editing is neat. Styling by Rama Rajamouli is good if you excuse out-of-nativity styling for surprise character donned by Venkatesh. Producer Bellamkonda Suresh mounted the movie on a rich scale. Despite having a star of Venkatesh’s caliber, the film is made with a limited budget and it is evident on the screen.
Highlights:
Venkatesh in negative role
Scenes with Richa, Anushka
Story is Good
Screenplay also fine
Art Direction really Good
Sound Effects is Super
Music Extradinory
Draw Backs:
Stunt scenes with old Venkatesh in 2nd half are silly
Make up of 130 year old Venkatesh is not convincing
Final : Rating - 3.50/5
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