Ongole Gitta review

Release date: 01 Feb 2013

Rating : 2.5/5

Director : Bhaskar

Producer : B.V.S.N. Prasad

Music Director : G. V. Prakash Kumar, Mani Sharma

Starring : Ram, Kriti Karbanda

 

Energetic Star Ram and Kriti Kharbandha have teamed up for ‘Ongole Gitta’ and the film has been directed by ‘Bommarillu’ Bhaskar. BVSN Prasad is the producer of this film and it has released today in Andhra Pradesh. Bhaskar has attempted to make a mass entertainer this time, so let us see how he has fared.

Story :

White (Ram) – yes that really is his name, is a dynamic and arrogant Mirchi trader and he operates out of the Ongole Mirchi yard. His fearless attitude and intelligence earn him the respect and adoration of his fellow traders in the yard. The chairman of the yard is Adikesavulu (Prakash Raj), a benevolent and caring person.

White soon falls in love with Adikesavulu’s daughter Sandhya (Kriti Kharbandha) and asks Adikesavulu’s permission to marry her. As this saga unfolds, the local MLA (Ahuthi Prasad) hatches a conspiracy to shift the market yard to a new location for his own personal gains.

This move is resisted by the traders and they now look up to White and Adikesavulu to solve the problem. That is when the story takes a twist. Both White and Adikesavulu have a past and a personal agenda. Both of them are connected to the Mirchi Yard’s former chairman Narayana (Prabhu).

What is that past? What connection do Adikesavulu and White share with Narayana? That forms the story of this film.

Plus Points :

Ram delivers yet another energetic performance and he looks dashing in his white shirts. He has danced well in the last song of the movie ‘Chalu Chal le’. Kriti Kharbandha looks gorgeous in this movie and her performance is neat. She has upped her glamour quotient considerably with this film. Ram and Kriti share good chemistry on screen.

Prakash Raj delivers yet another knockout performance in this movie. As Adikesavulu, he manages to keep viewers completely entertained and he shows terrific variations in emotions. He is a major asset to the film. Veteran actor Prabhu is neat.

Raghu Babu, Ali and Kishore Das do their best to bring about some humour but they are only partially successful. The first 25 minutes of the movie is decent.

Minus Points :

What was Bhaskar thinking when he made this movie? There is utter confusion in both the script as well as the screenplay. And the film suffers from excessive Tamil nativity, especially from the interval onwards.

The emotional bond between the father and son was not established strongly enough and as a result, viewers will find it tough to connect to the story.

There really was no need to showcase Prakash Raj in the buff multiple times. That too, a full frontal nude scene. Even if Bhaskar wanted to convey some sort of vile emotion in Prakash Raj’s character through this scene, it just did not come across well.

The climax is extremely predictable and I actually heard people say “mike on chesi untadu ra” as the scene was unfolding. You will understand when you see the film.

Abhimanyu Singh has been sacrificed once again with a terribly written character. He is made to look like a joker. Ajay and Ahuthi Prasad are wasted in a poor roles. Ali’s female costumes are not tasteful.

There are too many loopholes in the plot. The way in which Narayana was betrayed and his subsequent ouster seem very superficial. Placement of songs is poor, especially for the last song.

Technical Aspects :

Cinematography is decent. Editing is not upto the mark and it should have been much sharper in the second half. Bhaskar has attempted to infuse some double meaning dialogues into the comedy scenes but that is not his forte and the end result is not satisfactory. Bhaskar falters completely in the departments of direction and screenplay. As I said earlier, what was he thinking?

Verdict :

With Ongole Gitta, one gets the feeling that Bhaskar desperately wanted to break into the ‘mass director’ mould. Sadly, the movie ends up as a below average entertainer. Ram’s energy levels, Prakash Raj’s performance and Kriti Kharbandha’s beauty are the sole redeeming factors. A poor script and a messy screenplay take a huge toll on the film.