Kathanayakudu

Cast: Jagapathi Babu, Meena, Rajnikant, Nayanatara, Prabhu (guest), Mamta Mohandass, Geeta, Master Amar, Baby Shafna, Baby Ravath, Sunil, Ali, Brahmanandam (guest), M.S. Narayana, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Nizhalgal Ravi, Tanikella Bharani, etc.
Story: Srinivasan
Dialogues: Marudhuri Raja
Music: G.V. Prakash Kumar
Art: Thota Tarani
Editing: Saravana
Camera: Aravind Krishna
Action: Dalapathi Dinesh
Choreography: Raghava Lawrence, Brunda, D.K.S. Babu, Ashok Raj
Producer: C. Aswini Dutt, G.P. Vijay Kumar
Direction: P. Vasu
Date of Theatrical Release: August 01, 2008
Summary:
Kathanayakudu is the story of two friends
in the lines of Krishna and Kuchela found as a part of the mythological epic of Bhagavatam.
What's it all about?
Balakrishna (Jagapathi Babu) is a barber by profession, who has his own principles and self-esteem. It's tough for him to make ends meet in his family of wife Sreedevi (Meena) and three children Sobha, Geetha, and Ashok Kumar, or to upgrade his old hair
saloon in the village of Sirisilla. Meanwhile, a super star of the filmdom Ashok Kumar (Rajnikant), heroine Nayanatara (Nayanatara) and their unit (Mamta Mohandass, Nizhalgal Ravi, Vijaykumar, P. Vasu, etc.) come for a shooting in this village backdrop. Word spreads that Ashok Kumar and Balakrishna were childhood friends, and soon this new friend-of-a-celebrity status brings in pleasant offers to Balakrishna from the villagers. Did Balakrishna even meet Ashok Kumar amidst his heavy security personnel (Prabhu et al.)? Did the super star recognize his old friend?
Performances
Cast:
Rajnikant appears in his real-life role, albeit with a different name. His role is essentially limited to portray the glitter and craze that surrounds showbiz personalities, and he looks great and stylish in all the different getups. However, there are scenes specific to Rajnikant's original style and lifestyle. The climax speech offers a touching performance by the super star! Jagapathi Babu lives in the role of a modest individual that is not tempted to lose his values even in dire conditions. His silent performance towards the climax speaks more than any dialogue can! Meena repeats her role from the Malayalam original Katha Parayumbol, as the wife of the barber. She looks good and gives a good performance too. Nayanatara appears in her real life role, as heroine Nayanatara herself. Her role is essentially limited to the shooting part in the village - and thus has a duet with Rajnikant - but there's a solo number outside the film's shooting, intelligently inserted.
Mamta Mohandass comes as a part of the film crew, in a very insignificant role that you'd miss watching if you look away from the screen for a few seconds each time. Prabhu, the main hero in the director-super star's previous super hit combo Chandramukhi appears as the head of the security team that protects the super star in the film. Sunil takes the major share of comedy, albeit a bit loud sometimes. Dharmavarapu, Duvvasi Mohan, Narsing Yadav, M.S. Narayana, and Kondavalasa Lakshman Rao form a team of aspiring moviemakers in Sirisilla village and provide some comedic relief. The rest of the crew fits in with nothing much to talk about.
Technical Departments:
The story is clearly inspired by the anecdote in Hindu mythology but is based on the evergreen bonds of friendship, and the original story is sourced from Katha Parayumbol (Malayalam - 2007); even the names of the male leads were directly adopted with a Telugu touch. (Balan becomes Balakrishna and Ashok Raj becomes Ashok Kumar.) The original storywriter Srinivasan, who also played the barber's role in Malayalam, is credited for this version. P. Vasu should be commended for his skill of elevating the short role of Mammootty in the original to a life-size image of Rajnikant, filling the gaps with his styles and for dedicating a scene to answer questions as Rajnikant himself (sans the name)!
Narration is slow, Music by A.R. Rahman's nephew G.V. Prakash Kumar is okay for songs but lacks freshness, while the re-recording is also just okay. Lyrics are okay. Anantha Sriram's lyrics on the movie world Cinema cinema... is simple yet impressive. Choreography is rich in general; the picturization of raa raa raa raa raamayya-annaa... is a bit over the edge. Camerawork is decent, particularly in the songs chal chal chalilE... and vacchE vacchE vaana.... Dialogues by Marudhuri Raja in the Telugu version are okay with some comedy as necessary. Dubbing, supervised by Shashank Vennelakanti, and provided by S.P.B. (Rajnikant) and Savitha Reddy (Nayanatara) is commendable, but lip sync misses for most other characters.
Notable Scenes/Dialogues:
* "konna vaaLLu SaaSwatam kaadu... unna bhoomE SaaSwatam!" (Rajnikant)
* "Cigarette peTTe dorakagaanE aggipeTTe pOyinaTTundi naa paristhiti!" (Sunil)
* "akkaDi nunchi choostE chinna wall-laa undi. ikkaDikocchi choostE China wall-laa undi!" (Sunil)
* "ninnu adRshTam peeka meeda kaalEsi tokkEsindi!" (Sunil)
* Rajni's dialogues in the scene where the school Committee invites him to their silver jubilee event. Particularly, his dialogues about Kamal Hasan, difference between manaSSaanti (mental peace) and santOsham (happiness) in the context of his frequent visits to Himalayas, about his entry into politics, etc.
* "unna ooru kanna goppa ooru lEdani naaku telusu. kaanee, nee kannaa naaku sonta vaaLLevarU lEru!" (Rajnikant)
Points to note:
* It is not Rajnikant's film as the title suggests. The real Kathanayakudu is Jagapathi Babu. Rajni appears hardly 40 minutes (in and out).
* Sirisilla is the chosen name of the village where the story happens. This village in Karimnagar district of Telangana region is spoken to be in Andhra Pradesh-Tamilnadu border, while still saying that there's a problem with naxals here!
* The film that's being shot in the village is titled Kucheludu according to a poster that's seen in the first scene that the crew lands. Later, there's a mention of Narasimha - Part 2 and Chandramukhi - Part 2, while the song shot on Rajnikant and Nayanatara as a part of that film has sets like that of ancient Egypt culminating in the waters of Kerala! What film was being shot anyway?! Or, should one assume that several films were shot with the same cast and crew in the same schedule? If the song was shown to be taken with cuts, like in reality, it'd have been a bit more natural. (Remember poonagavE pooladi... song in Iddaru?)
* Except for Rajnikant's stylish presence and presentation, coupled with Jagapathi Babu and the rest of the crew, how different was the film's treatment when one gets reminded of a thematically similar movie of recent past - Tarun's Nava Vasantham? (The original Tamil movie for this film, Punnagai Desam, was released in 2002.) In fact, what was shown as a climax of that film is most of this film, dragged around.
Bottom Line:
While the movie can bring craze in the name of Rajnikant, the content is wafer-thin, moves in a slow pace, and lacks in the departments of comedy and music that could have held audiences' interests better. The film may be saved by the craze of Rajnikant, and even that garnered by Jagapathi Babu recently. Go with an open mind to see Rajnikant showing his styles naturally, and to see Jagapathi Babu's moving performance, and you'd possibly not be disappointed. Go with great expectations based on the director-star's hit combination Chandramukhi and you would surely be disappointed!