Krishnagadi Veera Prema Gaadha movie review: Love & terror in the season of Valentine

Cast: Nani, Mehreen, Sampath, Brahmaji, Murali Sharma, Prudhvi and Satyam Rajesh
Director: Hanu Raghavapudi
 

After delivered the surprise blockbuster Bhale Bhale Mogadivoy, actor Nani has created his own space at the box office. His new release Krishnagadi Veera Prema Gaadha was thus eagerly anticipated.

Mehereen, another actress from the North, makes her debut in Telugu with this film, which is directed by Hanu Raghavapudi of Andaala Rakshasi fame. 14 Reels Entertainment, which had produced big-budget films like 1 Nenokkadine and Aagadu is back with this small film after a short gap.

Krishna (Nani) is a Balakrishna fan in Hindupur and is in love with Mahalakshmi (Mehreen). But he is a timid man and can’t admit his love to Mahalakshmi’s family as they are factionists. There is also another faction trying to kill Mahalakshmi’s family.

Mahalakshmi’s uncle, ACP Srikanth (Sampath), sends his three children to Hindupur from Hyderabad for holidays. At the same time, an international terrorist lands in Hyderabad and is arrested by the police for rash driving. The cops do not know who he is.

One day, Mahalakshmi’s family is attacked by the rival faction when she is not at home. Mahalakshmi’s brother saves the kids in the attack and he seeks Krishna’s help to hand them over to the ACP in Hyderabad. In return, he promises Krishna that he can marry his sister Mahalakshmi.

Krishna agrees, but while transporting them, a few gangs try to kidnap the kids. From here on there are many twists and turns and how Krishna saves the kids and wins his love is the crux of the story.

Director Raghavapudi has taken three years to come up with his second film. Though his first film Andala Rakshasi was critically acclaimed, it did not do very well commercially. Keeping this in mind, the director this time has chosen an entertaining subject with more commercial elements.

While it is supposed to be a love story, the director has very cleverly interlinked three other angles — two faction groups in Hindupur, an international terrorist, a police officer in Hyderabad, are all linked to the love story.

Though there are a few unnecessary scenes here and there, overall the director has succeeded in entertaining the audience. He shows the protagonist as a fan of Balakrishna, but it is mentioned only in the beginning and is not established further.

Nani once again proves that he is a good actor. He does comedy scenes with ease and one can say that he is now a bankable star. Mehreen, too, has done an excellent job as the female lead and doesn’t look like a debutante at all.
Sampath has an interesting role and he has done a good job. Brahmaji is hilarious in the police station scene and he evokes a few laughs. Satyam Rajesh, Prudhvi, Prabhas Srinu and Murali Sharma too have provided laughs. The three children have also acted very well.

Vishal Chandrasekhar has provided the music. The background score is great and the songs too are nice, especially Krishna Kanth’s lyrics.
The visuals are very good and debutant cinematographer Yuvaraj has done a good job. He has captured the locations at Hindupur very well as most of the story has been shot in natural locations.

There are a few loopholes in the film and the second half drags a bit. The marriage song is a bit of a drag and the chase scene between the gangs and the kids are also not up to the mark. The first half is complete entertainment and the second half is a bit slow. With good visuals, nice performances and a few hilarious moments, Krishnagadi Veera Prema Gaadha is a good one-time-watch film.