Yatra 2 takes a misguided route

Cast: Mammootty, Jiiva, Ketaki Narayan, Suzanne Bernert, Mahesh Manjrekar, Ashrita Vemuganti Nandur

Direction: Mahi V Raghav

Ratings: 2/5

The much-hyped biopic of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy exposes the Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi and other Delhi leaders who wanted to undermine the popularity of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy after the sudden death of his father and late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and making him fall in line with veiled threats. But a determined Jagan Mohan Reddy chalks out his path and launches his political party by decimating the Congress in Andhra Pradesh through his padayatras and gaining people’s support.

However, it may not serve the purpose of YSRCP at this point since the key antagonists in this biopic are Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party, albeit with altered names and it takes the sheen out of this effort. Given that the Congress party and its leaders are irrelevant in the present political space in State and Central politics.

The makers relegated their party’s real-life political opponent and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (names altered) to the last few reels and nothing much for the party cadre to cheer about barring a few potshots. Probably, director Mahi V Raghav who made the heart-touching film ‘Yatra’ with Mammotty and depicted him as a people-friendly CM hasn’t come out of his hangover and keeps using his scenes along with Jiva during padayatras and dilutes it a bit. Tamil actor Jiva couldn’t carry the larger-than-life but came up with a subtle performance and impressed us by reminding Y S Jagan on a few occasions with appropriate gestures and dialogue delivery.

The film starts with Y S Rajasekhar Reddy addressing the gathering and introducing his son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy as Parliament candidate from Cuddapah. Jagan is happy to be the doting son and he always admires his father's people-friendly deeds and keeps a low profile. But his life takes an ugly turn when YS Rajasekhar Reddy’ dies in a copter accident and 150 MLAs of ‘The Progress party’ sign up to make him the Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh. But a few Delhi leaders manipulated things and informed Madam(Sonia Gandhi) that he announced himself as CM. Prompting her to appoint a new Chief Minister Rosaiah and Jagan is left stranded.

When he decides to take a ‘consoling yatra’ for 600-odd people who lost their lives in utter shock after YSR’s death, he is threatened with serious consequences. With grit and determination, Jagan launches a new party. Check out in theatres to know what kind of hiccups he faced thereafter.

Malayalam superstar Mammootty scores high in his brief but significant role and yet again breathes life into the role of late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy with a composed and restrained performance. Tamil actor Jiva who was seen in dubbed movies like ‘Rangam’, couldn’t impress much since he tries to just mock Y S Jagan without delving deep into the real-life and inspiring character and come up with a convincing performance.

Santhosh Narayan's background scores high over his songs. Susane Bernet looks as stiff as Sonia Gandhi but manages to look similar. Sachin Kandekar, Subalekha Sudhakar, and even Mahesh Manjrekar, a good actor, couldn’t salvage a poorly etched role of N Chandrababu Naidu barring a few dialogues.

Director Mahi V Raghav has just followed the real-life incident and happenings being a biopic and should be praised for an honest attempt. He also depicts the trials and tribulations of Y S Jagan and his mother after YSR’s death realistically but isn’t able to keep the audience glued to their seats. The slowed-paced narrative adds to the audience's woes. His earlier film “Yatra’ had terrifically established the emotional connection between a leader and people but this film lacks such ‘connectivity’ barring a few moments and punchlines.