Murali Krishna CH By Express News Service Movies are a great medium to not only captures the imagination of the audience but also to educate them about prevalent issues. Some films, while telling a story, also inspire us to live a bit differently and help transform our beliefs. However, there also those that lack passion and fail in the attempt. Mahesh Babu's 25th film Maharshi, unfortunately, falls into this latter category. The story pivots around K Rishi Kumar (Mahesh Babu), a disgruntled man with little taste for slogging to support a middle-class life. He grows up with the fear of failure, but works his way up to become the CEO of a New York-based techno giant. During his journey, he realises that he's lost three important people in his life and so, he decides to follow his heart in the hope of turning over a new leaf. On the face of it, director Vamshi Paidipally had an opportunity to create a compelling drama about a go-getter, who changes his perceptions about his people, his roots, and his own goals in life. He has chosen a relevant theme and a perfect star cast too. But the perfunctory screenplay brings down the film, which tackles the problems plaguing the agricultural sector. Although some of these issues are addressed the narration is bereft of honesty. The director seems to have borrowed the narrative style from Koratala Siva and created an unusual cocktail of Swades, 3 Idiots, Kaththi and Srimanthudu. The clunky romantic track between Mahesh and Pooja Hegde feels underdeveloped (as evidenced by their first meeting, match-making scene and the scenes that follow) and the uninteresting songs only slacken the movie's pace. I don't want to give away too much, and hence can't detail how this film ditches the interesting potential of its premise and gets too idealistic, preachy and predictable in the second hour. Suffice it to say, with a running time of almost three hours, the journey of Rishi is way too long and demands much patience on our part, with little to offer as reward. Mahesh Babu plays a character that becomes more complex as the plot thickens. His agitated relationship with his father (Prakash Raj), his impulsiveness, and flawless persona until the climax makes it hard for us to empathise with this character. However, the actor performs with his usual flair in a role that barely challenges him as an actor. Allari Naresh as Rishi's roommate and well-wisher makes his presence felt with a subdued performance. Rao Ramesh, Prakash Raj and Jayasudha added gravitas to their respective roles. Jagapathi Babu is reduced to a mere caricature, but Vennela Kishore, Sai Kumar and Rajeev Kanakala leave an impression in their brief appearances. KU Mohanan's cinematography is beautiful, while Devi Sri Prasad's music and background score are ordinary. At the end of it all, despite its best intentions, Maharshi fails to drive home its point. It is disappointing that Vamshi Paidipally, who has delivered compelling dramas like Brindavanam and Oopiri, has only managed to whip up this inspid cocktail of melodrama, which will likely appeal to Mahesh Babu fans alone.<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 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<doc-sep>Read AlsoMaharshi Movie Review Mahesh Babu's 25th film Maharshi , under the direction of Vamshi Paidipally and with Pooja Hegde and Allari Naresh as his co-stars released today amidst high expectations.Rishi ( Mahesh Babu ) is the CEO of a company named Origin in the US. He has strived to be successful in life and earn money since childhood because he believes his father ( Prakash Raj ) is a failure. He wants more from life than what he's handed and strives for it. But is he content with the monetary gains and success he finds, forms the crux of the story.The first half doesn't just see Mahesh Babu in his CEO avatar, it also sees him as an MTech student in Vizag. Allari Naresh plays his best friend Ravi, son of a farmer (Tanikella Bharani), wanting to go through college so he can find success in the US too. Pooja Hegde plays Pooja, a token 'girlfriend' character who just wants to settle down in life with Rishi. Rao Ramesh plays Mahesh Babu's college professor while Vennela Kishore plays his friend Kanna.The first half of Maharshi has its high moments thanks to the college scenes bringing in some humour and punch dialogues. The equation between Rishi and his father, and Rishi and Ravi is well established too. However, the friction between Rishi and Kamal Kamaraju 's character Ajay begins to feel forced after a while, with the character seemingly existing just to be a catalyst. The character Pooja also seems to exist just to prove a point.The scenes before the interval reveal a lot more than expected. With Rishi off to India right before the interval and things getting serious, it remains to be seen how the second half will fare.<doc-sep>
A promising story is mired in the overdose of starry frills In the third act of Maharshi, an elderly farmer who until then hasn’t paused to gawk at Rishi Kumar (Mahesh Babu) like many others in his village, takes a new look at him. This Rishi is a changed man, who has understood that his billionaire stature and powerful position alone cannot solve a crisis. What happens in the last 45 minutes or so is the crux of the film and has the potential to leave viewers moved. If Mahesh’s previous film Bharat Ane Nenu discussed local governance and other ideas, this one looks at agrarian crisis and stresses on the need to respect our farmers. Also, how about getting millennials to do some #weekendfarming? Rishi is the agent of change. At the heart of Maharshi is a story that could have been leveraged to make a compelling social drama that also traces the transformative journey of an ambitious man. But there’s a huge gap between what it could have been and what it is. It takes a really long time for Maharshi to look beyond the starry aura of its lead actor and get to the crux of the story. Considerable time is spent in establishing Rishi’s jet setting lifestyle. He’s just been anointed the CEO of a big firm in New York. He travels in chartered flights, choppers are at his disposal, and he zips around in a fleet of cars. When he speaks, there are many throwaway quotes on success. His backstory unravels slowly to show what pushes him to succeed and what’s his idea of success. Maharshi Cast: Mahesh Babu, Allari Naresh and Pooja Hegde Direction: Vamshi Paidipally Rishi is portrayed as a genius but he can come across as arrogant. In college, no problem is too tough for him to solve. If he doesn’t take credit for it, it is because he believes he’s made for larger things! The monotony of watching Rishi’s supposedly flawless persona is broken when the focus shifts to his college friends Ravi (Allari Naresh) and Pooja (Pooja Hegde). In his brief role, Allari Naresh is pitch perfect as the student who is conscious of his humble moorings and the pressures that come with it. The bond between the three friends is established well and moves the story forward. However, Naresh’s role is cut short like that of many other characters. Cinematographer K U Mohanan and composer Devi Sri Prasad do their best for the narrative. Rarely does the portrayal step away from the star aura of Rishi, or rather, Mahesh Babu. It does get indulgent. Mahesh shines in the emotional moments, like when he reads his father’s letter; but these segments are too few to keep us invested in his character’s journey. And barring an occasion or two, we never feel that he’s in a spot. Jayasudha and Jagapathi Babu make an impression in their small roles but seasoned actors like Prakash Raj, Tanikella Bharani and Rao Ramesh are wasted. The story of a man in a privileged position doing his bit at the grassroot level is an oft-repeated one. If a similar idea is to be revisited, it requires more emotional gravitas and less of the starry frills. By the time we see the ‘padara padara’ song where Rishi’s crusade grows from strength to strength, it seems too little and too late. Want to see a transformative journey? Swades still remains one of the best films in that segment.