Remake of the kannada movie Jogi, does yogi deliver the goods? Find out
When hit maker V.V.Vinayak helms a film, what would one expect? Nothing but a masala entertainer with all commercial elements in the right mix. But sadly his latest Yogi, a remake which is entirely faithful to the original source material ? the sentimental blockbuster from Kannada, is a bit of a let down.
Vinayak tries to package the old wine in a sophisticated bottle! The plot is too outdated, more far-fetched than the regressive Ekta Kapoor soaps. But if the audiences are able to digest the sentimental climax, then the film can turn into a winner.
Shantamma (Sharada) delivers a child in her late thirties. She names him Eeshwara Prasad (Prabhas) and her world is her son. She raises him affectionately and they lead a happy life in the village. Eeshwara does nothing except dancing at village functions.
After his father’s death, Prasad decides to go to Hyderabad to get a job. He accidentally lands in a fight with a mafia leader (Rajan P Dev) and kills him. Prasad now becomes Yogi, the new don of the city. On a parallel line, Shantamma comes to the city looking for her son without having any address!
A journalism student (Nayantara) gives Shantamma shelter and promises to find her son. After days of waiting for his son to come, Shantamma dies at a temple and a few beggars take her body to the graveyard. Yogi who is passing by, gives them money for giving a decent cremation. He later realizes that the body was of his beloved mother!
Essentially Yogi is a mother-son sob-story with commercial dressings that focuses more on action. Prabhas has already done a similar role in Chatrapathi and he is just average. Senior actress Sarada is a miscast as Prabhas mother. Nayanthara glows and looks great especially in songs but is not given enough opportunity to make her presence felt.
Despite hotchpotch of scenes, loose screenplay, the film gets real momentum post interval scenes that holds the interest towards the climax which is worked out well. But the boorish first half and excess violence puts you off. Comedy by Venu Madhavand his Aparichitudu act and music by Ramana Gogula are good.
Director Vinayak’s screenplay lacks punch but he makes up it with technical gimmicks. Sameer Reddy’s camera work and Gowtham Raju’s editing skills have come to his advantage. Vinayak’s films have always work with the mass audiences. So Yogi too may do the trick for him.
Source:siffy.com