Godfather was a bold choice for the undisputed Mega Star of Telugu Cinema, Chiranjeevi. He is the pioneer of sorts of the quintessential ‘Masala Movies’ in Telugu cinema that has swayed the audiences for the last four decades. His dances, his dare devil action scenes, his heroic elevations, his flair for comedy and so on is like a 9 course meal for the audiences. Each minute gesture by him would send the audiences into raptures and would be lapped up by the viewers with enviable delight. Now with GodFather, Chiranjeevi offers a very new Avatar of himself.
Chiranjeevi’s transformation from a Mass Star, the Badshah of mass songs, dances and comedy, into an intense, engaging and passive-aggressive role is a delight to experience in GodFather. His swag is intact though while his restraint and sincerity in his new look is fabulous. Chiranjeevi essaying the character of the all powerful Brahma is quite a discovery for the North Audiences as much as the South Audiences. The Mega Star playing ‘Brahma’ lends immense gravitas to the character and goes on to prove that when the moment arrives to depict the drama, Chiranjeevi is clearly a pro and the unanimous winner.
GodFather is a rare movie which does not include a romantic interest, but with Chiranjeevi’s magnetic presence and his ‘swag’ more than makes up for the usual elements.
Nayanthara, makes a brief appearance in the movie’s first half but she has a terrific presence post-intermission and her casting adds weight to the film’s appeal. There are some moments in the second half which show why she is called the Lady Super Star in South Cinema.
The confrontations between various characters and the drama surrounding them are very gripping in the first half and gets one more and more engaged as the story keeps moving on. The director chooses to keep things grounded, not going overboard and more than delivers a riveting story. Post intermission, we see a glimpse of Salman Khan's electrifying presence where one can see ‘Bhai’ and ‘Bade Bhai’ set the screen on fire! The interval scene in GodFather is pure magic and the magnificent display of what we call Star Power truly gives the audience an adrenaline rush.
It is not every day that they get to witness two of the biggest stars in Indian cinema who are known for their phenomenal mass appeal, come together on the silver screen! In the recent press meet hosted in Mumbai, Salman Khan in fact said that while everyone wants to shift towards Hollywood, he on the other hand would like to shift to South Cinema! When stars join forces and offer such a visual treat, we can look at box office revenues of thousands of crores. While he may have said part of this in jest, this is truly a statement to ponder over. GodFather is that film that shows the possibilities of such a phenomenon and it truly paved the way to new age Indian cinema where mega South and Bollywood super stars collaborate to enthral the audience!
In the GodFather Meta Verse, Brahma played by Chiranjeevi is the invisible force behind the chief minister PKR family. While Masoom Khan played by ‘Bhai’ Salman Khan is the invisible force behind Brahma. While off screen, Ram Charan is the invisible force behind the Godfather Project. He was the one who persuaded his father to do this project and his conviction has clearly paid off.
SS Thaman provides music the for GodFather and it is his first full-fledged work for Megastar Chiranjeevi. Thaman makes up for the absence of many songs with his scintillating background score. Technically the movie is slick and the DOP Nirav Shah who was Christopher Nolan’s choice when he shot Tenet in India, gives classy visuals. Marthand K Venkatesh’s editing is perfect as is the performances by other actors. The narrative has many known faces like Sunil, Brahmaji, Samuthirakani, Anasuya etc. who all deliver very well in their respective roles.
In a nutshell It is a fully ‘paisa vasool’ watch.
The day 1 numbers of Mega Star Chiranjeevi’s film GodFather are here! After taking over the US and South box office markets, the movie breaks the North India film markets and rakes in 2.25 crores in North India which makes it one of the top 5 pan India film openers of the year! World wide, GodFather has earned 38 crores. The phenomenal mass appeal of Chiranjeevi and Salman Khan has surely done wonders and one can only see the film rising to the top in the coming days !
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