Yuddham Sharanam movie review: Yudham, Sharanam, spare us, please

Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Lavanya Tripathi, Revathi, Rao Ramesh, Murali Sharma, Ravi Varma, Priyadarshi and others
Director: Krishna Marimuthu

 

Naga Chaitanya has teamed up with new director Krishna Manimuthu for the film Yudham Sharanam. The film has been much anticipated because it was produced by Sai Korrapati of Eega fame, and because someone like S.S. Rajamouli spoke about it. Arjun (Naga Chaitanya) lives happily with his parents (Rao Ramesh and Revathi) and sisters. Both parents are into a lot of charity. Anjali (Lavanya), a family friend, also lives with them. A state minister (Vinod Kumar) is involved in a big land scam and to divert attention from it, he plans a terror attack. Nayak (Srikanth), a hardcore criminal, is the man chosen to execute the minister’s plan and plant bombs in the city.

Arjun’s parents accidentally see something related to the terror attack, and soon they disappear. Arjun goes in search of his parents and discovers some shocking facts. What happened to his parents and how Arjun takes revenge on the villains and saves other members of his family is the crux of the film. Krishna Marimuthu has probably relied on the skills of screenplay writer David Nathan, whose Gentleman was a hit. As in that film, here, too, David Nathan emphasises the crime element, but it is not executed properly or excitingly enough by the director. The first half of the film is interesting with beautiful scenes involving Naga Chaitanya, Rao Ramesh and Revathy. The family bond and their happy moments are shown in a rather lyrical way and the romantic track between the lead pair comes along nicely. Things are fine till this point. But when the criminal conspiracy enters the picture, everything goes downhill. Nathan’s screenplay is confused, with too many twists and flashbacks, which makes the audience puzzled.

A scene that stands out is the one in which a drone supplies medical aid to a patient. Arjun, who is passionate about robotics, builds the drone. It comes in handy to provide medical help to a patient who gets stranded in a traffic jam. Naga Chaitanya plays both sides to his character well: the happy son of loving parents, and later, an angry man ready to take revenge on the villains. Lavanya Tripathi looks good, but she has only a limited role. We see Srikanth in a negative role for the first time and it is a big plus point for him. In this role, he appears to be a completely different person — in terms of voice, looks and style. Murali Sharma and Ravi Varma play their role as police perfectly. The two actors who stand out in this film are Rao Ramesh and Revathi. Rao Ramesh is the pillar of the film and performs with ease. Abburi Ravi’s dialogues are impressive only in parts. The music is also average with no notable songs. Cinematography by Niketh Bommi is a big asset to the film. Yudham Sharanam is the usual revenge drama with a mediocre screenplay. It seems like Naga Chaitanya did this film for his friend, director Krishna Marimithu, but the director has been unable to make good use of the popular actor.