Do you remember the young raw Jagapathi Babu playing the local don in perhaps what has been his best role till date? Does Urmila Mantondar shaking her leg with Uthej in that unforgettable ‘Nizam Pori’ song come to your mind? Can you recall Kota Srinivas Rao delivering a superb performance as ‘Guru Narayana’ with his Telangana dialect and his unique mannerisms? None of the Telugu movie fans can ever forget these scenes from the 1993 Ram Gopal Varma directed flick Gaayam.
This review can perhaps go on dissecting and analyzing the 1993 hit for the sequel Gaayam-2 is heavily based on the first part of the movie. So much so that you even have scenes from that movie being replayed in the sequel and there are many scenes (like the ‘Khandistham’ dialogue by Kota) which are slightly altered. Making sequels for hit movies is not an easy task since the expectations are already high and the sequel is always compared with the first part. The director of Gaayam -2 is so inspired by the original that he has nothing new to offer in his latest flick.
Gaayam-2 has Ram (Jagapathi Babu) leading a peaceful life in Bangkok as a hotel owner along with his wife (Vimala Raman) and kid. However things change when a lawyer (Tanikela Bharani) and Shankar Narayana (late Kota Prasad) from India arrive in Bangkok and are after Ram suspecting him to be their rival Durga. The duo keep disturbing Ram and his family till Ram loses his patience and reveals that he is Durga.
Meanwhile, Guru Narayana (Kota Srinivas Rao), Shankar Narayana’s father is busy making efforts to be the next Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He is shocked when he comes to know that his dreaded rival is still alive. He plans an attack on Durga’s family and Durga’s child gets seriously injured in that attack. An enraged Durga now decides to take revenge on his enemies and comes back to India. How he manages to eliminate all the Guru Narayana and his entire gang one after another forms the rest of the story.
Jagapathi Babu offers a good performance as a subdued Ram in the first half and the angry Durga looking to seek revenge in the second half. Vimala Raman does justice to her role as Ram’s wife. Kota Srinivas is as good as he was in the first part but then the audience are now used to seeing him in these kinds of roles. Music by Illayaraja is average with just the song ‘Endukamma Prema Prema’ standing out.
Director Praveen Sri’s Gaayam-2 is not a bad movie. But it isn’t a great one either. It has its moments and perhaps the best scene of the movie is when Guru Narayana and Durga sit beside each other after Guru Narayana’s son is killed. Guru Narayana keeps threatening Durga that he will not leave him. Suddenly Durga holds his hand indicating that he will not be leave him either. The political situation is also very interestingly portrayed in the second half of the movie with Guru Narayana aspiring for the CM’s chair.
However the movie lacks the feel and momentum which were the hallmarks of Gaayam. The movie has far too many similarities with the first part and perhaps you would be better off watching the 1993 release again.
By Raghu Chaitanya
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