Gaayam - 2 Review....

It is..
A film that reminds us why RGV is such an icon (in comparison).


The plot..
The film starts in Bangkok where Ram (Jagapathi Babu) and his family’s well settled life is established for a painful and boring 30 minutes or so. Then it cuts to Hyderabad and the characters of Varma’s Gaayam re-enter, the violent politician Guru Narayan (Kota Srinivas Rao) and the famous lawyer (Tanikala Bharani). Guru Narayan’s son, an impulsive and brainless character played by the late Kota Prasad is an add on the baddies gang.


A small bang bang incident in Ram’s Bangkok coffee shop puts him on the news and Guru Narayan’s stirred up about whether Durga is actually dead. The lawyer and the son leave for Bangkok and events lead up to Ram/Durga coming back to Hyderabad to settle his old score.

Acting..
Jagapathi’s character didn’t have the emotional depth to put forth a performance like in the prequel; he’s done what he can with what was given to him. Kota Srinivas Rao as usual pulls off a brilliant comical performance (just another day at work for the master). His son definitely couldn’t match up to the super dad.  What was good? The film did have its moments.  Scenes involving Ram going back to being Durga and some of the scenes in the second half which mark Durga’s come back were entertaining and probably were the quickest sequences in the film.  The scenes where a few frames from the old Gaayam were shown were so arousing. A film from Varma’s glory days, has to be that way right?

What went wrong?
In comparative terms:
RGV didn’t make this film.
RGV and Mani Ratnam didn’t write the screenplay for this film.
Rasool Ellore is not the cinematographer of this film.
And there are no Revathi and Sirivenella in the cast of this film.

Talking otherwise, the film was not expecting any brains from the audience and was trying to tell too much too slowly. The songs and the montages were clichéd and dull, the only good sound again is the theme from ‘Gaayam 1993’.



Verdict
Don’t compare it with the prequel and it is quite an entertainer. Could have done better, but, at least it’s this good.