Bharat Ane Nenu - Movie Review

With his last two movies being sheer disasters, Mahesh Babu desperately needs a hit. Sadly, he chose 'Bharat Ane Nenu', directed by Korata Siva to re-surge in the number game. I know it would be foolish on my part to expect logic and reality in a mainstream telugu movie starring a superstar, but Bharat Ane Nenu does not even have anything new or novel to offer. It is everything that we have already seen in a regular political drama.

Bharat Ram (played by Mahesh Babu) becomes the Chief Minister of united Andhra upon the untimely death of the incumbent Chief Minister, Raghavrao (played by Sarath Kumar), Bharat's father. As expected, the rest of the story is about how Bharat brings about a change in the system, all by himself. There are some inconsequential sub-plots, one of which involves his love story with Vasumathi (played by Kiara Advani). Not just the trailer, but the movie itself seems a lot similar to the 2010 Sekhar Kammula directorial, 'Leader'. I could also draw parallels with the 1999-Tamil hit Mudhalvan (dubbed into Telugu as Oke Okkadu), which was also the story of one man against the corrupt world. And hence, there is no novelty or an element of surprise here. You exactly know where the ship is being steered to. 

Another major issue with Bharat Ane Nenu is that it seems neither real nor believable. The stereotypical populist measures that Mr. Justin Trudeau of Andhra Pradesh (he looks extremely good) takes in the movie look so half baked that even a novice in Politics will find them artificial. While Leader had a protagonist with grey shades and Oke Okkadu had Arjun being CM for a day, their antics seemed believable, even if contrived. Bharat Ane Nenu seems to be inspired by both these movies, with a sprinkling of dialogues that appeal only to the masses and MB fans. The writer seems to have received a brief to make a demi-god out of Mahesh Babu and create frenzy with whistle-worthy mass dialogues. Also, the poorly choreographed fight scenes are so unintentionally funny!

As the righteous man out to change the system, Mahesh Babu looks dashingly handsome - he seems to be defying age! In spite of his single expression, monotonous portrayal of the political scion awkwardly forced into Politics, Mahesh Babu does not look out of place. Wish he emoted more and not stick to his saint-like smile in every frame. Talking of emotions, Kiara Advani (who gets the debutante tag in every film of hers!) has beautifully expressive eyes but gets to play the typical two-songs-three-scenes Telugu heroine. Prakash Raj, as always, is dependable as the baddie. The satirical take on assembly proceedings and newsroom debates evoke quite a few laughs, especially the histrionics of Posani Krishna. 

I wonder what made Mahesh Babu agree for a movie on a theme already tried years ago. It gives weight to the rumors of an impending plunge by this chocolate boy into Politics. (Just saying, elections are an year away!!). Since Bharat Ane Nenu has nothing new to offer, watch it if you like movies that appeal to the masses or if you are a Mahesh Babu fan or in case you haven't seen 'Leader' already.

My Rating: 1.5/5

P.S: I have not mentioned the painful length of the movie since this seems to be common in all Telugu movies these days.