Bharateeyudu 2 Movie Review

The 1996 blockbuster Bharateeyudu is brought back by the same duo Shankar and Kamal Haasan, but with a sequel Bharateeyudu 2. The trailer hinted at the man himself coming back to set things right once again in his style. The movie also has actors like Siddharth, Rakul Preet Singh, Bobby Simha, and Priya Bhavani Shankar in crucial roles. The movie was released today in theaters. Let us see if it recreates the magic created by the original almost three decades back. Here is the review from the US premieres.

What Is It About?

A group of youngsters Chitra Aravindan (Siddharth) and his friends fight against corruption by creating video content on social media. The corruption goes beyond tolerance and they start a trend on social media asking the famous Bharateeyudu aka Senapathy (Kamal Haasan) to come back. Senapathy who was in exile, comes back with a plan. What does Senapathy do? What happens when he comes back? Bharateeyudu 2 answers these questions.

Performances

Kamal Haasan tried his best to recreate his iconic Senapathy character and he did his part really well. The terrific actor saves a lot of pale scenes with his presence. However, the lack of a strong plot could not be filled in by just Senapathy.

Siddharth gets a lengthy supporting role and his role looked artificial all along. Priya Bhavani Shankar and others did fine. Samuthirakani and Bobby Simha did well in their respective roles.

Sj Suryah appeared in a minuscule role and he might be taking over in the third part.

Rakul Preet Singh’s appearance is more of a guest role. She did fine in the limited role.

Technicalities

Shankar’s cinema is known for grandeur and Indian 2 is not an exception. The grand visuals in the Calendar song and in other scenes are extraordinary. The production values are good. The cinematography is fine.

The songs are a setback for Bhaarateyudu 2. Anirudh’s background music could not make any impact. His magic with Kamal Haasan’s Vikram background music could not be felt anywhere in Bharateeyudu 2. The screenplay is old and uneven.

Thumbs Up

Kamal Haasan
Visuals and grandeur

Thumbs Down

Plot
Lack of Emotion
Second half
BGM and Songs

Analysis

Once upon a time, each movie in Shankar’s direction was a sensation and Bharateeyudu was one among them. When the same director has been delivering unimpactful films consecutively, he picked up the Bharateeyudu sequel. To make a sequel to such a sensational film is a challenging decision and Shankar could not deliver this time.

Though Bharateeyudu is remembered as an angry old man’s war against corruption and his marma kala, it is beyond that. Bharateeyudu is a blend of emotions, sacrifice, and of course a message. The sequel is lacking it all, except for the grandeur and a series of scenes in Shankar’s template.

The Bharateeyudu 2 is all about bringing the ‘Senapathy’ back to India, as the country needs him to put down the more prevalent corruption. The first half has a few entertaining elements like Senapathy’s entry and a few sub-stories during the establishment. The director was stuck with Marma Kala and the variety of punishments more than the actual cause and the fight. The story slowly loses its pace and attention even after Senapathy arrives.

One of the biggest assets Bharateeyudu had and the sequel did not is the background music and songs. Anirudh could not make an impressive score or songs for Bharateeyudu 2. The looks and the voice of Kamal Haasan are inconsistent and odd many times.

The outdated screenplay and corruption cases are repeated in the sequel too. Bharateeyudu 2 goes aimless and chaos in the latter half. Artificial emotions and dragged drama pull the graph further down. Senapathy’s character is left just as an action hero with the lengthy unicycle chase and unnecessary action scene towards in the end. The reason for the consequences faced by Senapathy is senseless.

Overall, Bharateeyudu 2 lacks the strong story and emotion that the original had. Above all, the character of Senapathy is not written well in the sequel and is shown as a mere stuntman for the most part. The comeback of Senapathy sounded curious in the beginning, but his actual visit could not keep it up. Yet again, Bharateeyudu 2 leaves us cliffhanging in the end giving a peek of Bharateeyudu 3 with a trailer.

Bottomline: Boring Comeback

Rating: 2/5