The curious case of mindless cinema indulgence! Badrinath - Allu Arjun & Tamanaah

This isn't exactly a review, rather just some quick thoughts about the movie. 


The thought of this post has been playing on my mind for the past few days since I watched the movie on dvd. The thing about watching any movie day's after its release is that you're already subject to the hearsay on the film's verdict. After the film being declared a colossal failure & almost every review pulling its fangs on the movie, I had absolutely nil expectations. Now this, my years of movie appreciation wisdom has taught me it is sometimes a good thing; as then you have less fear of being let down, which was exactly the case with Badrinath. The movie is so bad that its actually good fun and here I can shamelessly admit enjoyed the total masala fun with the enthusiasm of a 2-year old in a candy store.



Firstly, the movie isn't so much about mythology than it is about a forbidden love story. It's a classic romance tale against the backdrop of Badrinath temple and was a folly of the 'eager to please' bunch of PR who jumped overboard in publicizing the historical aspect of the film a little more than was warranted. And no, it has no similarities to Magadheera except the common urge for constant references to Chiranjeevi garu.

Secondly, I have read couple reviews complaining about Allu Arjun's non-ability to act (some referred to his body language as wooden). I wish the reviewers would take a minute to understand the characterization of Badri, which requires him to portray the strongest sense of detachment. As a spiritual practitioner, God's disciple and temple protector, who has been advised by his guru to adopt the lifestyle of 'Brahmacharya', his biggest strength is his focus, which comes from being in complete control of one's emotion. Hence for Badri, he cannot display anger when he is slashing throats or cannot express love even if the emotion runs through him. (p:s: for more lessons on Bunny's acting skills, please rent a copy of Aarya-2)

The story or whatever less there is of it has way too many p(l)otholes, where the major action is to make this a posh vehicle for the hero and righteously justify his titles of stylish star, dancing star et al. When he is not leaping across mountains, playing savior or swooshing swords, he accompanies Tamannaah on her dream musical fantasies, flashy dance sequences, costumes and more! The film has been severely criticized for lack of taut screenplay and emotional connect, while faulting the focus on grander production values. But what bums me out is - isn't that the exact reason why we love these South Indian cinema outings? Isn't this one of the biggest reasons for Bollywood rushing towards grabbing the remake rights of popular regional films? I for one confess that it is this very OTT nature of wholesome entertainment that keeps me hooked to South Indian films. If the story is comprehensible, its an added bonus, but unlike Bollywood which treats its subjects with a western-clone sophistication, its the realism of South Indian formulaic movies that bring out the true flavors of cinema. 

Having said that, I could totally do away with the comedy sub-plot and the one man's sword race against five minutes terrorist action sequence which was an assault even to my otherwise immune entertainment senses. Guess the director got a little greedy with Peter Hein's impressive action work. But all in all Badrinath makes for a good mass entertainer. It's quite enjoyable with some need for fast forward here and there.