Narappa Movie Review & Rating {2.75/5}
Story: Narappa (Venkatesh) is forced to flee into the forest with his younger son, Sinappa, after Sinappa murders an upper-caste landlord to avenge his older brother’s death. And now Narappa must make more sacrifices and navigate a deeply unjust justice system to give his son a chance at the future. The film is the remake of the Tamil hit film Asuran.
Performances: Venkatesh is the backbone of the film. He carried the entire movie on his shoulders. The original version's lead hero Dhanush won a National Award for his performance in the movie. Even Venky gave an honest performance which is no less than Dhanush. It can be easily termed as one of his best roles. The ease at which he performed emotional scenes and action sequences is praise-worthy. Priyamani and Karthik Ratnam stole the show with their scintillating performances. Both of them were looked apt in their characters and have put their soul into the roles. Child actor Rakhi, who played Venky's younger son also gave a noteworthy performance. The rest of the actors like Rajeev Kanakala, Rao Ramesh, and Nasser have performed their roles quite well.
Technical Aspects: Narappa is a faithful remake of Asuran not only story-wise but also in many of the technical aspects as well. The shots are exact replicas of their counterparts in the original. The cinematography by Sam K Naidu is decent. Mani Sharma's songs are very good. The makers used the same background score from the original version and it worked well. The production values were decent, but not up to the standards of Suresh Productions. The editing was perfect. Coming to the direction, Sreekanth Addala tried not to lose the flavor of the original version by making too many changes. The only big change he made is to portray the film's core issue as a conflict between rich and poor whereas it is about castes in the original. Though that was a major change, it didn't take away the soul of Narappa.
Verdict: Ever since it was announced, there were many speculations about Narappa. Many people wondered how makers will adapt a serious caste-based film like Asuran and will Venkatesh ace the role like Dhanush. But after watching the film, one would definitely agree that both Venkatesh and the team have succeeded in keeping the soul intact and delivered a faithful remake of the original. People who watched Asuran may not be satisfied much but they can watch it for Venkatesh. For the ones who didn't watch the original, Narappa will be a good treat for sure.
