Movie: Waltair Veerayya
Genre: Action Drama
Cast: Chiranjeevi, Ravi Teja, Shruti Hassan, Catherine Tresa, Bobby Sinha and Others.
Director: Bobby Kolli
Produced By: Naveen Yerneni, Y Ravi Shankar
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematography: Arthur A. Wilson
Runtime: 160 Minutes (2hrs 40mins)
Story
RAW team arrests Solomon Ceaser (Bobby Simha), a notorious drug dealer. They keep him in a police station and Solomon escapes by killing everyone in the police station. Seethapathi (Rajendra Prasad), the CI of the police station decides to bring him back and decides to take help of Waltair Veerayya (Chiranjeevi), a fisherman. Seethapati with Veerayya and his gang land in Malaysia to kidnap Solomon. Veerayya plans to kidnap Solomon and on the day of the kidnap, when he is about to catch Solomon, he sees Nithya (Catherine Tresa) with her daughter. He is shocked to see them and he misses Solomon. Who is Nithya? What is Veerayya's backstory? This forms the rest of the story.
Artiste Performances
Chiranjeevi as Waltair Veerayya is awesome and delivers a splendid performance. He performs at his best and we can see him in his vintage comedy timing and body language. His energy, dialogue delivery, mannerisms, dance moves, and dressing style will remind us of the old days of Chiranjeevi and it is a treat to watch him on screen.
Ravi Teja is awesome as Vikram Sagar. He brings energy to the second half and plays the role with ease and gives a fantastic performance. His scenes with Chiranjeevi are some of the major highlights of the movie.
Shruti Hassan gets limited screen time yet an important role. She is beautiful and does a great job. Catherine Tresa too does well.
Bobby Simha looks tough and gives a good performance. Prakash raj too delivers fine performance.
Rajendra Prasad brings in some emotional connect in the initial portions and makes an impact. Vennela Kishore, Shakalaka Shankar, Srinivas Reddy and Pradeep Rawat evoke few laughs. The rest of the cast are OK.
Plus Points
Chiranjeevi's performance
Scenes between Ravi Teja and Chiranjeevi
Waltair Veerayya entrance
Entertainment
Interval Block
Songs and BGM
Emotional quotient
Visuals
Production Values
Drawbacks (Which I Felt)
Weak story line
Uneven Pacing
Predictability
Flat narration at times
Analysis
From the Megastar title card itself, Bobby made sure to entertain the audience by presenting Chiranjeevi in his vintage Avatar.
Waltair Veerayya's entrance scene is powerful, stylishly shot, and whistle worthy followed by Boss Party which is a fan feast. Even the build-up for this scene is wonderful. The elevation to Veerayya's entrance, BGM by DSP, everything is rightly set up and perfectly executed.
From here, proceedings get entertaining with Chiranjeevi doing an excellent job with his comedy timing. A few references from his past blockbusters have worked out well. As there is not much story to tell in the first half, the director engages the audience with entertainment. Chiranjeevi's slang, and mannerisms will remind of his earlier films' energy, comedy timing, and will surely be a treat for everyone.
Elevations and mass moments worked big time in favor of the movie. Bobby did a fabulous job in elevating Veerayya and Vikram's characters and adding sequences that are perfect fan service.
'Nuvvu Sridevi Aithe Nenu Chiranjeevi' song is picturized beautifully. From the Pre-interval point, proceedings get interesting with the story opening up. A couple of twists are revealed superbly leading to an awesome Interval block. This is one of the major highlights of the movie.
The second half shows the flashback of Waltair Veerayya and establishes the main conflict point. Vikram Sagar's character is introduced with a fan-pleasing fight scene.
Poonakalu Loading song comes it and it's a celebration on screen. Watching Chiranjeevi and Ravi Teja dancing together on screen is a treat.
After this, the movie falls flat and proceedings turn predictable. But, the entertainment keeps the show going. Ravi Teja and Chiranjeevi make the second half work with their screen presence and performance.
The police station sequence seen at the end of the trailer is mass-appealing and whistle-worthy. A few scenes between Veerayya and Vikram are hilarious. Chiranjeevi also mouths a few famous Meme lines which worked out very well and are hilarious.
Drama and emotions are excellently brought into the story. The sentiment angle is presented convincingly about how Veerayya's problem has affected the relationship between him and Vikram. The car scene between Veerayya and Vikram before the pre-climax will definitely leave the audience in tears. Both Chiranjeevi and Ravi Teja gave one of their best emotional performances in this scene.
Once the flashback ends, proceedings get racy. A terrific chase sequence comes. After a heavy action sequence and yet another fan-pleasing courtroom scene, the movie ends on an emotional note.
Production values are lavish. Camerawork by Arthur is great. Editing could have been better. Dialogues are good. The elevation and mass dialogues mouthed by Chiranjeevi and Ravi Teja are impressive. Action scenes are terrifically choreographed.
Songs and BGM are another plus to the movie. The songs are well done on screen. Especially Boss party and Poonakalu Loading, which are "Fan"tastic. BGM from DSP is incredible. Especially during the entry scene and Interval block. It is one of the best from him in recent times.
Director Bobby has totally succeeded in bringing back the energetic Megastar and entertaining the audience by presenting Chiranjeevi in his vintage avatar. Bearing a few flaws in pacing, story, and narration, Bobby has made sure to give an entertaining flick.
(MY) Final Word
Bobby tried to portray Megastar in his vintage avatar he completely succeeds in that. With a simple storyline, he tried to engage the audience by packing the movie with entertainment, fan moments, and superb performances from Chiranjeevi and Ravi Teja. As there is not much story to tell, there are a few dull moments in the second half and the narration falls flat at times. But, all the flaws are overshadowed by Megastar and Mass Maharaja's energy, combo scenes, and performances. On a whole Waltair Veerayya ends up as an enjoyable Mega-Mass entertainer.
Bottom-line: Waltair Veerayya - Poonakalu for mass audience and fans, Entertaining watch for the rest!
Note: This is my take on the movie. That is why I am not rating the movie. I respect each and every movie. Making people read my review and influencing them to form an impression of a movie before watching the movie is never my intention. I am a Movie lover too. This is just to express my view on the movie. 😊
Review by a Movie Lover