14. Veera Simha Reddy; movie review

 

VEERA SIMHA REDDY

Cert 15

169 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence, sexual violence, suicide scene

Oh, they were leaping like salmon from the seats of screen one at Coventry Odeon on Thursday afternoon.

The crowd were whooping and hollering at every move of their hero, Nandamuri Balakrishna, who was barely off-screen throughout Veera Simha Reddy.

This is because he plays two roles - a son and his dad.

"Hold on a minute," I hear you exclaim. "How can this be?"

Well, they have applied a dab of grey hair dye and simply left it to the imagination.

They have done this unconvincingly in reverse with the lead female cast, Honey Rose and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar. Somehow the former plays NBK's mum when she is 25 years younger than him!!

And then there is the simple match-making of NBK's junior version and Shruti Hassan's character which is plain weird, especially because her dad is played by Murali Sharma - who is 12 years younger than him in real life.

This happens so much in Indian cinema but clearly, most of the audience doesn't seem bothered by age-gap and dodgy wigs (do NBK and Mohanlal use the same hairpiece?).

The distraction is a pity because Veera Simha Reddy has a well-executed, exciting storyline and some vibrant song and dance routines.

The action begins in Turkey where the younger and older versions of NBK meet for the first time because the former wants to be married and, consequently, his mother (Honey Rose) reveals the identity of his father.

Anyway, he comes over from India where he is seen as something of a deity among the local people for being a benevolent leader who gives short shrift to criminals.

The movie then plays out the back story of why he has been estranged from his 'wife' and what led to him being so revered.

Duniya Vijay plays the fearsome villain who wants the older man dead and has been trying to kill him for 30 years.

The plot weaves between past and present and has some really smart twists.

But I couldn't help thinking Gopichand Malineni's movie would have been so much better if the cast had been age appropriate.

Reasons to watch: Surprising thriller

Reasons to avoid: The age-gap issue

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? Several screenings of Veera Simha Reddy were cancelled in the USA because of over-exuberant behaviour by cinema-goers.

The final word. Gopichand Malineni: "I believed I had it in me to make an out-and-out mass film. The first hour of Veera Simha Reddy is dedicated to the fanboy in me and the latter half, to the director in me." OTT play

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