There are scenes where the Megastar doesn’t bother with dialogues but simply reacts with his eyes and in these silences reside echoes of his acting experience.
Published Oct 10, 2022 | 1:35 PM ⚊ Updated May 20, 2023 | 4:36 PM
Megastar Chiranjeevi in "Godfather". (Konidelapro/Twitter)
For the last three decades of my life, it has been a family tradition of sorts to watch films during festivals. It is a quintessential Telugu experience and usually involved a Chiranjeevi movie during my early childhood. If there has been a man who has had the biggest hand in shaping the current Telugu film industry, it is Chiranjeevi!
But something went wrong; his last couple of movies weren’t really up to the mark. When he tried his hand at a historical with Sye Raa, he failed to look the part (Narasimhara Reddy) and, rather, succeeded in looking like Jesus Christ.
Then came the supremely incoherent Acharya which was accompanied by declarations that Chiranjeevi is done and he needs to retire. No wonder people were quite sceptical about this latest film — Godfather, a remake of the Malayalam movie Lucifer which they had already seen.
The story was known and the big twist at the end was an open secret. Hence, even before its release, Godfather was written off as a dud.
In fact, I really wanted to avoid the movie, but then the family tradition prevailed. And to my surprise, I found that this was one of the best films released in recent times. Even though I knew the story of Lucifer, I was hooked to my seat all through Godfather.
Megastar @KChiruTweets‘s domination at the Box Office ?
HUMONGOUS BLOCKBUSTER #GodFather crosses 100 CR gross and going strong❤️?
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–https://t.co/qO2RT7dqmM#BlockbusterGodfather@BeingSalmanKhan @jayam_mohanraja #Nayanthara @MusicThaman @ActorSatyaDev pic.twitter.com/40GWlz24Lk— Konidela Pro Company (@KonidelaPro) October 9, 2022
The movie is certainly a one-man show: Chiranjeevi all the way and this was the role that needed the maturity of his experience and the phenomenal screen presence that he carries. Meanwhile, the cast and the crew threw their weight behind the man and brought out a great film.
Chiranjeevi made the right choice with Godfather. (KonidelaPro/Twitter)
We all know the plot: Brahma Teja Reddy is the secret son of the chief minister, who passes away. He battles to keep his father’s ideals alive and protect his family from evil Jaidev.
Now, this is a plot which has been narrated in a million movies, but what sets the story apart is the characterisation of Brahma as a man who lives in the grey shades. He is not always a do-gooder, he does not think much before resorting to violence, he claims that one needs “power” to do good and one can resort to extreme means to obtain such power.
Chiranjeevi nails these grey shades with ease, there are scenes where he doesn’t bother with dialogues but simply reacts with his eyes, and in these silences reside echoes of his acting experience.
Director Mohan Raja did a great job in adapting the script to Telugu. Yes, there are changes and he succeeded in hitting it straight with the character motivations.
His choice of casting Satyadev as the antagonist pays off. Satyadev is menacing as Jaidev and gives one of the best performances of his life.
The interval scene between him and Chiranjeevi in a jail cell is simply superb. The director also gives us a brilliant introduction moment for Chiranjeevi, which was missing in Acharya. The theatre erupted with joy and that set the tone for the movie.
Salman Khan does Salman Khan; he can sleepwalk through the scenes that he has been asked to do. But what really comes through is the chemistry between Chiranjeevi and Salman during the little time they share screen space (except for the song).
Nayanthara plays the sister of Satyadev and the role is barely a challenge for her.
The cinematography by Nirav Shah is of top quality as he retains certain elements from the original in terms of colours, but ensures that he can showcase the characters as per Telugu sensibilities.
Thaman scores well for the important scenes, but except for Najabhaja and the title track, the other songs are forgettable.
What the movie brings us is a “mature” political thriller and Chiranjeevi delivers one of his best performances, matching his persona. What I missed in Godfather was the megastar’s scintillating dance though, because this pretty much dictated my childhood.
Now Mohan Raja does place a song at the end for fan service, but he puts Chiranjeevi right next to Salman Khan! This is an absolute mismatch; it feels like Chiranjeevi has been forced to lower his talent to match the steps that Salman usually does (there are basically five dance moves, mostly pelvic thrusts, which are a part of Salman Khan’s dancing dictionary). This song dipped the film for me.
But I must say, Godfather is an amazing comeback for Chiranjeevi.
(The views expressed are personal.)
