Maharshi Director: Vamsi Paidipally Cast: Mahesh Babu, Allari Naresh, Prakash Raj In one brilliantly conceived sequence of cultural conversion, Mahesh Babu playing the NRI tycoon Rishi Kumar, follows a wizened farmer into the paddy fields to literally get his feet dirty in the fields. It takes a whole universe of guts to shoulder one's responsibilities as an empowered citizen of India, as Mahesh Babu has done in this film. If you stay quiet you are accused of pacifism. If you speak up you're an exhibitionist. Mahesh Babu who is a formidable icon in Telugu cinema, won't remain quiet any more. Breaking free of his innate political reservations he speaks out in favour of farmers of our impoverished country in a voice that never strains to be heard. On the surface Maharshi is yet another star-vehicle for Telugu cinema's most revered contemporary superstar. To be sure, almost every frame of Maharshi is dedicated to eulogizing its leading man as he plunges into the role of a social crusader. The part sits easily on Mahesh Babu. He doesn't shy away from comfortably occupying the moral high-ground that the narrative allots him. Seldom does a cinematic hero looks so comfortable with his arrogance. Mahesh Babu Aplays a man who thinks the world of himself. He scoffs at his father (Prakash Raj, in a moving cameo), taunts his best friend Ravi (Allari Naresh who can't decide whether he wants to spare isolation) who hero-worships him and drives away his girlfriend (Pooja Hegde, inconsequential) because...well, she doesn't fit into his ambitions. The first-half with its quaint college is heartwarming without trying to be excessively cute. Director Vamsi Paidipally knows how to tap into Mahesh Babu's youthful image . The early scenes in the IIT campus are well executed. But it's in the second reformatory half that the protagonist Rishi Kumar, and his story come into their own. The village sequences create a sense of imminence and generosity for the cause of the farmers. The restorative image of a film that wants to heal the wounded selfworth of farmers is never squandered for effect.Every time Mahesh Babu speaks on the issue of bankrupt farmers we see not the star but the star's conscience spilling into the frames irrigating the driest corner with tears that long to be shed. Indeed, Mahesh Babu's transformative performance from arrogant conceit to conscientious farmer is arguably his best to date. He waltzes across the arching plot not missing a single step as he negotiates his character's offensive conceit. The only time he is persuaded to slow down his vehicle of social reform it is to break into a joyful jig and song with his romantic interest Pooja Hegde who looks like she walked into the wrong film. There are some powerful veteran actors in the film. But they are purposely hazy in their appeal, the sole exception being Allari Naresh who loves his best friend Mahesh Babu to death . That makes two of them. Commandingly, Mahesh Babu never hides his character's arrogance, Somewhere he knows thatA the sneer won't last. Good karma will. Maharshi exudes a sense of comfort and happiness in the midst of the wreckage and targeting. Rating: 4/5 Review by Subhash K. Jha Follow @News18Movies for more<doc-sep>Rating: 3/5 Movie Name: Maharshi Language: Telugu Release Date: 9 May 2019 Cast: Mahesh Babu, Pooja Hegde, Allari Naresh, Meenakshi Dixit Director: Vamsi Paidipally Producer: Dil Raju, Ashwini Dutt, PVP Music: Devi Sri Prasad Cinematography: K. U. Mohanan Genre: Drama/Thriller Run Time: 176 minutes Super Star Mahesh Babu, Pooja Hegde, Allari Naresh, and others played critical roles in the film Maharshi. Directed by Vamsi Paidipally, the film is jointly produced by Dil Raju, Ashwini Dutt, and PVP. The movie's trailer hiked the expectations on it to a new level. The film released today amidst huge buzz. Check out the film's review here. Story: Rishi Kumar (Mahesh Babu) is a guy with bigger dreams. He successfully cracks a job at an MNC and becomes the CEO of the same company. Later, he realises that his friend Ravi (Allari Naresh) needs his help. Ravi changes Rishi's thinking. What did Rishi do then? How did he reach his goals? What happens in the end? Forms the story of the movie. Performances: Mahesh Babu is definitely the show stealer of the film. His energetic performance is undoubtedly one of the major plus points of the movie. Whether it is a college student or a CEO or a farmer, Mahesh Babu has gone under the skin of the character and has delivered his career-best performance in this movie. Pooja Hegde looked absolutely stunning in this film, and her chemistry with Mahesh Babu is an eye feast to watch. Allari Naresh breathes life into his character. He has delivered a memorable performance in this movie and will leave an impact on the audience. Jayasudha and Prakash Raj acted as husband and wife again in this film and needless to mention that they have acted naturally. Rao Ramesh delivered an honest performance. Ananya did an excellent job in essaying her role. Vennela Kishore and Mukesh Rishi performed well. Meenakshi Dixit is a perfect pick for her character. The rest of the actors including Hemanth, Jhansi, Sameer, etc. made their presence felt. Technical Aspects: Production values by Dil Raju, Ashwini Dutt, and PVP are luxurious. As all the three are star producers, we can say that they have not compromised at all in terms of quality and delivered the best output. Music by Devi Sri Prasad is just average. A couple of songs are good, and his BGM is worth appreciating. Cinematography by K U Mohanan is beautiful. He has produced some sleek visuals for the film. Editing by Praveen KL is clean and neat. Also Read: Mahesh Babu's Maharshi Twitter Review! Verdict: The solid story can be considered as one of the major driving factors behind the film. Vamsi Paidipally has prepared a new script for the film. He has not only took a beautiful story but also laced with equal amounts of comedy, romance, emotions, and some sentiments as well. Notably, some of the emotional scenes are handled exceptionally well, and we can give the entire credit to Vamsi Paidipally for his exciting narration. The movie starts on a lighter note. The first half is filled with some comedy scenes. The college sequences came out well and are extremely fun to watch. The friendship between Mahesh, Naresh, and Pooja is showcased beautifully. The interval twist is refreshing. The second half becomes more serious, and the emotional scenes are heartwarming. Mahesh Babu's effortless performance made his role extremely relatable. The press meet scene is the highlight in this movie, and Mahesh Babu's outstanding performance is an eye feast to watch for the audience. The climax, especially, the scenes about farmers are the heart of the movie. To conclude, 'Maharshi' can be considered as a memorable milestone movie in Mahesh Babu's career. Disclaimer : This Review is An Opinion of One Person. Please Do Not Judge The Movie Based On This Review. Watch Movie in Theatre<doc-sep>The best part of Maharshi is that it gives us a lot of solid moments to root for the protagonist and that is what matters in the end. Mahesh Babu, Allari Naresh and Pooja Hegde starrer Maharshi sounds almost like a clarion call that one must never forget their roots, no matter how successful they are in their lives. And in doing so, it focuses on the very idea of India, which despite tilting towards a capitalistic economy is still a socialist country. It emphasises on the need for working towards the greater good of the society rather than focusing on personal success. At its core, Maharshi is a well-intentioned drama and has some beautifully written sequences; however, it holds back on a lot of things it wants to say for so long that it makes you feel restless at times. It’s treated like a biopic of a fictional character, who goes back to his roots to mend some fences and in the process, his life undergoes a major transformation. And the film too gets better as its lead character progresses towards realising his true sense of purpose. The film has Mahesh Babu playing Rishi, who’s extremely ambitious in life. His father (played by Prakash Raj) is a simple man, who struggles to make ends meet. The duo hardly talk and Rishi kind of develops a grudge against his father for being a failure. His ambition in life is to not be like his father. When he goes to college, he befriends Ravi (Allari Naresh) and Pooja (Pooja Hegde); however, he moves on in life to pursue his ambition to become successful and rich. Much later, he gets promoted as the CEO of one of the leading tech companies in the world, and one day, when he meets his college friends, his life changes dramatically when he finds out what had happened to his close friends from college. The rest of the story is about how his journey back home changes Rishi as a person. First things first; Maharshi flourishes when it hits the emotional chords. The best scene in the film has Mahesh Babu reading a letter written by his father. The way Mahesh Babu emotes in that particular sequence is more than enough to show his acting prowess, and how much emotion Maharshi packs within its three hour long narrative. Then, there’s another beautiful segment set in a village where an old man talks about how nature takes care of us once we step into the soil. It’s a wonderful metaphor for the protagonist’s journey too since he feels alive when he gets his hands dirty. The mud under his feet and the scorching sun above him give him a lot more joy than the skyscrapers of Manhattan. It’s this progression of a man who starts from being too self-centred to a reformer that works quite well in Maharshi. Yet, the film’s narrative is riddled with quite a few issues. In the initial portions of the film, Rishi comes across as someone who’s too egotistical, albeit smart and intelligent. He wants to run as fast as he can in his life because the world remembers only names of champions like Usain Bolt. He pushes away people from his life because he thinks that they might be a burden for him later on. There’s hardly anything likeable about him as a person, even though you can’t help but admire his relentless pursuit to be the best. The film shows us a glimpse of all these traits in Rishi and makes it really hard for us to root for him. It’s only much later that we begin to understand the exact reason why Rishi has been running as far away as he can from his home and people who knew him. In the absence of an emotional high, especially in the first half, there’s very little to cling on to before the film changes gears. Except for Allari Naresh, Rao Ramesh and Kamal Kamaraju, the rest of the supporting cast doesn’t get enough to work with. The romantic track between Mahesh Babu and Pooja Hegde too isn’t well-etched to root for their relationship. Thankfully, things change dramatically once Rishi comes back to mend fences with Ravi and Pooja. Right from the moment Mahesh Babu decides to revisit his past, the film finds its rhythm and it also focuses on several key issues plaguing the country side, especially in terms of their right to live a dignified life. The concept of home, success and the importance of farming is handled quite well. Even though the film moves on predictable lines, the writing is good in the second half of the film and it makes its point loud and clear. The film owes a lot to Mahesh Babu’s conviction to pull off his role and he makes you believe in his characterisation so much that it doesn’t feel like fiction. His flamboyance in the college sequences and the maturity with which he pulled off the village segments is noteworthy. Allari Naresh shines in his role, although he gets sidelined towards the latter portions of the film. Pooja Hegde gets lost in the proceedings, and others like Vennela Kishore and Jagapathi Babu hardly have any role. KU Mohanan’s cinematography is a huge asset and he is instrumental in making Maharshi larger-than-life through his frames. Devi Sri Prasad makes his mark in some of the emotional sequences with his background score. It’s quite clear that Vamshi Paidipally has invested a lot of time in building the life of Maharshi, and perhaps, he feels quite attached to the issues that he tries to address through the film. One of the most memorable lines in the film goes something like this - “There are no full stops in success, only commas.” There are no full stops in Maharshi either, but there are a tad too many commas.<doc-sep>Maharshi movie review: Vamshi Paidipally handles an emotionally intense subject well. Maharshi movie review: Vamshi Paidipally handles an emotionally intense subject well. Maharshi movie cast: Mahesh Babu, Pooja Hegde, Allari Naresh, Jagapathi Babu, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha Maharshi movie director: Vamshi Paidipally Rishi (Mahesh Babu) is the CEO of a multi-billion dollar US-based company. He is an example of success to the outside world. What makes him so successful is conveyed through three phases of Rishi’s life. The movie begins with the complicated father-son relationship of Rishi and Sathya Narayana (Prakash Raj). Rishi considers his father a failure and vows to never become like him. His father acts as a catalyst for his thirst for success. In the second phase set in a college, he meets Pooja (Pooja Hegde) and Ravi (Allari Naresh). Ravi is the son of a farmer from a village called Ramapuram. Later, Rishi, Pooja and Ravi party ways, paving the way for the third phase. In the third phase of Maharshi, after many years, a successful Rishi visits Ramapuram village to meet his old friend Ravi. Ravi, however, is fighting corporates which are swallowing up farming lands. Rishi joins him in the fight. During his time at the village, Rishi understands the struggles of farmers and the faults in the agriculture sector. The ideas such as introducing farming as a lesson in the school curriculum, weekend farming and housing communities adopting villages for the sake of farmers really make the audience think twice about society before they leave the cinema hall. Mahesh Babu is convincing as Rishi. While Pooja Hegde’s role has nothing new to offer, Allari Naresh is the surprise package. Jagapathi Babu as the antagonist delivers the goods. Vamshi Paidipally handles an emotionally intense subject well. But, the director could have paid more attention to Maharshi’s run-time. He could have chopped two masala songs which act as speed bumps. Overall, Maharshi is a crowd pleaser.<doc-sep>
Maharshi Director: Vamshi Paidipally Cast: Mahesh Babu, Pooja Hegde, Allari Naresh, Jagapathi Babu, Rao Ramesh, Prakash Raj and Jayasudha Rating: 3/5 Mahesh Babu’s films can be generally categorised as commercial entertainers that are intended for the masses. In this process, some of his films worked big time while some sank without a trace. However, with films such as Srimanthudu and Bharat Ane Nenu, he seems to have cracked a success formula: Take a social issue and address it in the most commercially entertaining fashion possible and make it resonate with the audiences. He takes the same path in Maharshi, which follows the journey of a self-made man (Mahesh Babu as a billionaire) who rediscovers himself through farming. Vamshi Paidipally’s Maharshi has traces of Swades and AR Murugadoss’s Kaththi as it follows Rishi (Mahesh Babu), a man who is so consumed by his own success that he gets lost trying to understand its significance. In his pursuit for success and fame, he distances himself from his family, loses his best friend and the love of his life. When he realizes what he’s lost, Rishi goes on a journey of self-discovery as he returns to India to make up for his mistakes. Maharshi has nothing new to offer in terms of story. It spends a lot of time on establishing the fact that Rishi wants to succeed because he’s afraid of losing. He wants to succeed because he doesn’t want to end up being a nobody like his father. A point that could have been easily made in lesser time is needlessly stretched for close to two hours and the pay-off isn’t event worth the time invested. The film finally takes off in the last hour and it’s this stretch, which is elevated by a strong emotional core, which makes the film work. The highly emotional farming stretch is inarguably Maharshi’s biggest saving grace. If it was giving back to the society in Srimanthudu and being a responsible citizen in Bharat Ane Nenu; Mahesh Babu fights for the honour of farmers in Maharshi. The sub-plot about farming and the miserable lives of farmers hits you hard and Mahesh makes this part even more gut-wrenching with his performance. Unlike Kaththi, Maharshi doesn’t dramatize things and that’s a big relief. Vamshi redeems himself strongly with a relevant and highly emotional farming stretch which is inarguably the film’s biggest saving grace. Maharshi is a problematic film with big ideas but it tugs at heartstrings. Take out the farming sub-plot, Maharshi would’ve been a tiresome watch in which Rishi just won’t shut up with his sermons on success. Mahesh Babu, as a billionaire and a farmer is acceptable, but he somehow struggles to fit into the shoes of a college student. One can’t shake off 3 Idiots hangover in the college portion which barely works except for some scenes between Allari Naresh and Mahesh. Naresh plays Ravi, a hardworking son of a farmer with big dreams. Pooja Hegde has very little to do in a role that has absolutely no purpose. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop