Baava Review

  

Baava Rating : 3/5

Director : Rambabu

Music Director : Chakri

Producer : M L Kumar Chowdary

Starring : Siddharth, Pranitha, Rajendra Prasad, Brahmanandam, Ali, Ahuti Prasad, Raghu Babu, Nassar and others

Siddharth is one amongst the very few actors who has worked with new directors in more than half the number of his movies. He introduces another debutant director Rambabu for Baava. He teams up with Rajendra Prasad to come up with what seems like a village comedy. Lets takes a look.
What’s it about: Veerababu (Siddharth) is a happy go lucky and mischievous village lad of Venkatapuram. While the entire village runs after him, his father (Rajendra Prasad)and mother adore him completely. The small family is happy together, though Rajendra Prasad seems to crave for a big family. Veerababu falls for Varalakshmi (Pranitha), who belongs to a rich and big family of an an adjacent village. Veera woos her incessantly. It is only after realizing that Veerababu is her childhood friend that Varalakshmi accepts his love. With pressure from her father to get married to the son of a neighboring village head, Vara forces Veerababu to do something. They end up getting married. When Veerababu takes her to his home, his father responds negatively. The reason is that Vara is the daughter of Veerababu’s maternal uncle! Why Veerababu’s mother never visits her relatives’ home, what happens after Veera’s father sends Varalakshmi back to home forms the rest of the story.
What is Good: Siddharth eases into the role of a village guy, quite unlike his old lover boy movies! He even managed the East Godavari accent well to an extent, but his expressions, his mischievous smiles are amazing. He crooned a small tragic number to the end of the film and also did his best playing the younger version of Rajendra Prasad in the flashback. This was taken from the screenplay technique used in Hindi film Love Aaja Kal, which is now being remade by Pawan Kalyan. But his final act toward the pre-climax is proves the talent he has.
He is complemented well by to actors – Rajendra Prasad and Pranitha. Rajendra Prasad brings all his experience to the fore. There are ordinary scenes and then there are good one, and Rajendra Prasad excels in each one of them. Pranitha looks good, and acted better compared to her first film. Sindhu Tolani makes an appreciable appearance in the flashback.
The spoof on Varudu by Brahmanandam and Ali is extremely funny. The songs have been done more or less neatly, with pannendella vayasu shot decently! Emotional scenes are good too, though they sometimes go overboard. The screenplay for the front line of the story is done well, and hence the first half breezes through. It is the second half that has major problems.
What is bad: The film falls into its own trap, thanks to limitations in the story itself. The story is pretty old fashioned, and hence the parallel line becomes very important. However, the parallel story line is this - a wall is erected between Rama and Sita because the temple falls in the border of two villages! It obviously fails to make the required emotional connect. Because the climax depends on this incredulous story, it becomes unbearable to see the climax. The dialogues in few emotional scenes remind of TV serials. Overall Baava is no different from many village films we've seen.
Technical Departments: : Director Rambabu makes an impression in few emotional scenes, though he fails to elevate his protagonist as a true hero. The best part is that he captures the village environment on screen and has managed to convince Telugu people that Siddharth can pull off playing 'mass-oriented' roles too. Introducing the heroine and her family as they dance to the hit number Ringa Ringa, and a tragic scene in which Siddharth shines are the only imaginative scenes in the movie.
Cinematography and editing are done well. The looks of Pranitha and Siddharth were given good care. But the biggest weak points of the film are its second half where the story falls flat, and screenplay can’t help but go the way it went.
Final Point: Siddharth’s fans will love this film and few might go to ogle at Pranitha. Family audiences, especially women, might like this second half. However, it will be interesting to see how the A center audiences will respond to the film!