Janata Garage review: This Janata Garage' needs some repair!

Cast: Jr NTR, Mohanlal, Samantha, Nithya Menen, Ajay, Brahmaji, Unni Mukundan, Suresh and others

Director: Koratala Siva

After delivering the blockbusters Mirchi and Srimanthudu, director Koratala Siva has teamed up with Jr NTR for Janata Garage.

Satyam (Mohanlal), who runs Janata Garage, is popular in the area as he protects and helps people when they face injustice. Meanwhile business tycoon Mukesh (Sachin Khedekar) is eyeing a slum area where he wants to build a multiplex. But his plans are foiled by Satyam who rejects his proposal as it will not help the poor people living there.

Meanwhile Anand (Jr NTR), an environmental science student in Mumbai, files a case against a powerful politician for damaging the environment with his factory. Anand travels to Hyderabad for research work where he meets Satyam.

Meanwhile Satyam’s son Raghava (Unni Mukundan) has join hands with the bad guys.

What is the connection between Anand and Satyam and how they save the day forms the crux of the story.

Director Koratala Siva’s strong point is that he narrates a social subject in a commercial way. He is also a strong writer and comes up with some powerful dialogues. In Janata Garage, Koratala has taken up the subject of environmental protection. But compared to his earlier films, he has missed out on this one.
Though he has managed to highlight the subject in some scenes, as a whole, the storyline is not strong.

The film starts interestingly, showing Mohanlal starting a garage that repairs vehicles and slowly takes on the responsibility of repairing the society. And then there is Jr NTR who fights against those who spoil the environment.

But the movie becomes dull as the female leads enter. The director has come up with some good dialogues, but he hasn’t managed to show the emotions well.

Except for a few scenes, like the municipal corporation scene with Rajiv Kanakala, and a few scenes between Jr NTR and Mohanlal, the movie is slow.

The main drawback of the film is the villain’s character, which is very weak. Mohanlal and Jr NTR are the two strong powerful characters but the director has been unable to project anyone else in the same manner.

There are also a few resemblances of his earlier film Prasthanam, especially in the characters of Mohanlal, Jr NTR and Unni Mukundan.

The narration is predictable and the climax is outdated and not interesting.
Jr NTR proves that he is a good performer when he gets authentic roles.

Generally in a Jr NTR film, people expect loud dialogues and action scenes, but in this film one sees a new side of him. This is one of his best performances as an actor.

Mohanlal, of course, is a seasoned actor and one doesn’t need to talk about his performance. He is one of the pillars of the film and the scenes between him and Jr NTR are great. Rajiv Kanakala in his cameo is superb.

Meanwhile other actors like Brahmaji, Ajay, Banerjee, Devayani and others haven’t got prominent roles. The lead actresses, Samantha and Nithya Menen, have been wasted in the film. In fact, Nithya Menen has put on weight, and she is not compatible with Jr NTR. Koratala Siva usually projects his women strongly, but surprisingly the women are not important in this film.

Sachin Kedekar as the main villain is just okay. Unni Mukundan is also there in a negative role but he is weak in front of Jr NTR. Kajal’s special song is good and the choreography is neat.

The highlight of the film is cinematographer Thiru who made his debut in Telugu with the film. The visuals are beautiful and he captures some good moments of the actors and the locales. Art director A.S. Prakash has once again given his best, especially with the garage and also for the special song.
Devi Sri Prasad’s music is just average though a couple of songs are good, especially “Pranamam”.

To sum up, Janata Garage falls short of expectations. It is slower than Koratala Siva’s earlier films. The director has chosen a good subject, but he has failed to narrate the same properly. Except for a few interesting scenes, the film is predictable and outdated.