NTR Mahanayakudu Movie Review & Rating {3/5}

Rating: 3/5 
Movie Name: NTR Mahanayakudu
Language: Telugu
Release Date: 22 February 2019
Cast: Nandamuri Balakrishna,Vidya Balan,Aamani
Director: Krish Jagarlamudi
Producers: Nandamuri Balakrishna,Sai Korrapati
Music: M. M. Keeravani
Cinematography: Gnana Shekar V.S
Genre: Biopic
Run Time: 189 minutes

Nandamuri Balakrishna is able to realise his dream of making a biopic on his father, Legend NTR, to depict NTR's relationship with Basavatarakam, his mother. But the first part of the story, NTR Kathanayakudu couldn't please audiences and Krish, the director with same team came up with the second part, NTR Mahanayakudu. Let's see how the movie is ... 

Story::

After starting his party, Telugu Desam Party, NTR (Balakrishna) starts going out for campaigning and wins the voter mandate while Nadendla Bhaskar Rao (Sachin Khadekar) keeps telling him that he doesn't know about administration. 

Nadendla seezes the moment when Nara Chandrababu Naidu (Rana), enters into the party as an important leader, and conspires with Ministers to rebel against NTR and tries to defame him as not an able leader and administrator. How NTR manages to escape this conspiracy and wins over them? Watch the movie to know the details...

Performances::

Nandamuri Balakrishna owned the movie again as NTR. He did make it all count as a performer rather than getting indulgent. He made sure that he doesn't lose the balance, this time around and sticked to the story most. His performance is praise-worthy. 

Rana Daggubati even though looked a bit odd in the starting scenes, he did get into the skin of CBN and his performance is good. Bharat Reddy, Poonam Kaur, Manjima Mohan are good. 

Vidya Balan is the other crucial part of the film. She gave the movie, its soul. She is too good. Kalyanram did his job well. Sachin Khadekar and other actors also proved their worth. 

Technicalities::

Gnanasekhar VS made use of the sets and the budget really well. His visuals made sure that we are in that bygone era with all the limitations. 

Arram Ramakrishna as an editor saw that the movie ends at a right pace and doesn't overstay and drag like the first one. He seems to have got the license to chop off unwanted stuff. 

Keeravani MM as a music director is able to give better Back Ground Score and also, one good song. His songs lack the emotional depth that we normally expect. 

Krish and Sai Madhav Burra did a decent job in being able to keep the movie at a pace as writers. Sai Madhav's Dialogues did help Krish to give more details in less time without having to give time to establish everything at a length.  

Krish as a director tried to correct his mistakes but he still couldn't deliver a solid punch in the film. He tried his best to make us all evident of the efforts the actors and other crew involved put-in. Movie could have been more precise and crisp had he did not try to waste much of the opportunity to showcase NTR's unknown life well in the first part. Overall, he did manage to give a better compact film than first part. 

Positives::

NBK's staunch presence and performance

Vidya Balan, Rana and Kalyanram support 

Sachin Khadekar's performance as Nadendla 

Keeravani Back Ground Score 

Krish's ability in landing climax 

Negatives::

Second half goes nowhere 

Songs aren't as good as one would imagine 

Few lags in-between. 

Analysis::

NTR Kathanayakudu even though had good story beats and elements, it couldn't connect well with the audiences as much as it expected to. But NTR Mahanayakudu corrected all the mistakes like slow pacing, lack of emotional depth with good scenes and could extract good performances from Balakrishna and Vidya Balan.  

Even Rana as Nara Chandrababu Naidu played an useful hand in supporting the film. As far as first August government collapse and change is concerned, NTR had to fight Nadendla Bhaskara Rao and Indira Gandhi might. He did become National Front Convenor for being able to stand against her. Krish depicted the emotional bond between NTR and Basavatharakam while telling this political story in 2 hours. A better and crisp part than the first one! 

ALSO READ: NTR Mahanayakudu movie review: Live audience response from premieres