Mahesh Babu Slays It In Sarkaru Vaari Paata

Sarkaru Vaari Paata

Starring Mahesh Babu and Keerthy Suresh

Written & Directed by  Parasuram

Rating: ****

I purposely waited for all  the storms to die down before reviewing this fabulous entertainer. A one-stop showcase for Mahesh Babu fans where, perhaps for the first time,he has let himself  go completely . Mahesh Babu, still  so boyish, suffuses the frames with his trademark charms.

There is  an underlying message, and a hardhitting one at that, on bank loans and  how the small loan victims are hounded while the  big sharks who drive  banks to  bankruptcy go on with their lives unheedful of legal repercussions.

Mahesh Babu’s Mahi, a thriving financial agent in the US, decides to return home to Vizag to teach a powerful loan defaulter  a lesson.It is  gratifying to see Mahesh Babu take  on the burdens  of the  middleclass without losing his  zest for lightweight entertainment. The serious content never bogs  down the blithe spirit of the narration.

This  a very goodlooking film. Cinematographer R Madhi shoots his leading man in  soft-focus lenses.Clearly  the camera is in love with Mahesh Babu and so is  the cameraman.

The  rest of the cast in adequate  but unremarkable. Leading lady Keerthy Suresh, so exceptionally raw and emotive just a week earlier in the Tamil  Saani Kaayidham, is  saddled here with the role of  a stupid spoilt privileged brat who spends all  her time in the US gambling in casinos, drinking with her no-good friends(her  gal pals  look like they never got  rapped  on their knuckles while growing up) and emotionally manipulating  the hero. This may sound like  an exciting complex role, but is just the  opposite: a cardboard cut-out character whose only function is to  serve as  the  purpose of mandatory over-madeup leading lady.

Having said this, it must be reiterated  that  Sarkaru Vaari Paata aims  to be a fun take on the  issue of  bank loans. This, writer-director Parashuram  succeeds in  doing  thanks mainly to Mahesh Babu’s  proclivity to project  sincerity  and integrity underlined by  a sense of  ongoing mischief even when confronted with  a snarky villain(Samuthirakani) who, we are told, “controls” much of Vizag but is unable  to rein-in the hero’s rectification drive .This  includes a gripping action piece  of the hero  hand-delivering a bank notice to the  archvillain after  overcoming many layers  of gauntlets to reach  the villain’s fortress.

 There  is a  constant effort to generate interest  in the goings-on. Most of it works. The logistics  of getting even don’t  always make sense. But  just the pleasure of watching Mahesh Babu take on the  goons so  effortlessly makes Sarkaru Vaari Paata  a treat for his fans.