(Dheeraj Appaji)
As an average “Godari” man myself, the moment the title “Godari Gattupaina” was announced, I decided that I had to watch this film. After attending the pre-release event held at Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad, I strongly felt that this movie had every chance of becoming a successful entertainer. More importantly, it gave me the feeling that after a long time, we were about to get a clean, feel-good family entertainer.
That’s exactly why I, who rarely attends media shows “along with my better half,” took my wife to the Allu Arjun Theatre in Ameerpet to watch this film.
First of all, I must talk about debut heroine Nidhi Pradeep, who turned out to be one of the biggest positives of the film. This girl definitely has a bright future ahead. She portrayed the various shades of her character beautifully. Even though she is not a Telugu girl, she carried herself with remarkable Telugu grace and charm.
Similarly, Reenu, who played the hero’s sister-in-law, portrayed the innocence and talkative nature associated with Godavari girls in a very natural way. No doubt, she too has a promising future.
Though this may not be the ideal comeback role for Laila, every time she appeared on screen, she brought a pleasant feeling with her presence. However, I felt the director missed an opportunity to create stronger emotional scenes involving the husband-wife track of Jagapathi Babu and Laila, as well as the mother-daughter relationship between Laila and Nidhi Pradeep.
For audiences who have become used to watching Jagapathi Babu in villainous roles over the past few years, seeing him as a simple lower-middle-class father feels refreshing. Despite being unable to attend the film’s pre-release event due to busy schedules, Rajeev Kanakala and Devi Prasad did complete justice to their respective roles.
Coming to director Subhash Chandra, who made his directorial debut after making over a hundred short films — there is absolutely no doubt that he will get a second opportunity in cinema. But somewhere, it felt like this youngster converted a “golden chance” into just a “silver chance.”
On the other hand, producer Abhinav Rao, who made his debut with this film, deserves genuine appreciation. Knowing that he studied filmmaking before stepping into production gave me even more confidence in this young producer. Through this film made under the Red Puppets banner, it feels like he has successfully completed his internship in filmmaking. With the kind of taste and passion he seems to possess, we can definitely expect more good films from him in the future. In fact, Tollywood may very well roll out the “red carpet” for this talented young producer who entered the industry with a banner called Red Puppet.
Sumanth Prabhas, who became popular with Mem Famous, sincerely tried his best to do justice to the role of auto driver Raju. Particularly, one can clearly see the effort he put into getting the Godavari dialect right.
However, the director failed to sustain the massive elevation given to Jagapathi Babu’s character. Watching that heavily built-up character get beaten up by a mere youngster, only for the hero to come and save him, completely kills the impact created until then.
Likewise, the character played by Nellore Sudarshan, who instantly falls in love with every girl he comes across, was not designed convincingly. His character falling for the heroine loved by the hero, then repeatedly claiming he sacrificed his love for friendship, and eventually developing feelings for the hero’s sister too — all this comes across as awkward rather than funny.
The director could also have handled the heroine’s confusion in love with greater maturity. More importantly, despite carrying a beautiful title like “Godavari Gattupaina,” the film does not fully capture the soul and emotional essence of the Godavari region.
That said, if we keep aside people like me who tend to analyze films deeply and search for flaws, “Godari Gattupaina” is definitely a clean family entertainer that regular movie lovers can happily watch and enjoy once.
The best example for that is this: while I liked the film only in parts, my wife absolutely loved it!
My Rating: 70/100 ⭐
