GodFather Review: Takes Care First Half, Ruins Responsibility Second Half
Rating: 2.5/5
After giving the biggest debacle of the year in Acharya, Chiranjeevi is back with another offering in the form of Godfather. As a remake of Lucifer, the expectations were already high, but Chiranjeevi took it a step further and brought in Salman Khan for Hindi markets. Despite the casting and just the aura of a Megastar movie, the buzz has been low. Let’s see how the movie turned out to be.
Plot:
PKR, the CM of Andhra Pradesh, dies and leaves the country in a power struggle; with the big players including the corrupt son in law Jaydev (Satyadev), the stubborn daughter Satya Priya (Nayanathara) and the mysterious but benevolent support system to PKR Brahma (Chiranjeevi). All three are involved in a power tussle for the CM chair of the state, and what happens forms the rest of the story.
Performances:
Chiranjeevi’s performance is a better one from Acharya, showcasing subtle intensity much more effectively in a role with tailor made body language. While some scenes in the second half could have been done better, the entire act from frame 1 is convincing with an impeccable screen presence that makes so many initial shots so much better. Also props to him for choosing a script that sticks to the plot without commercial deviations. Satyadev does pretty well in a fully negative shaded role; some parts go over the top, but overall its a very eerie performance that brings us into the story more. Nayanathara is good in a limited but expressive role, and Salman Khan is completely wasted; I know he’s only there for a cameo, but make him do some cool action at least. Murali Sharma makes the first half a lot better, Sunil shines in his role, and Samuthirakani is a bit over the top but nevertheless fits the role. The standout for me was Puri Jagannadh who lights up the screen with his vintage style of dialogues and the way he mouths them; truly badass.
Writing/Direction:
Before I start analyzing this movie, let me just say that I am not a huge fan of the Malayalam original itself. Lucifer was a movie that had a lot of potential but went south very fast for me, especially in the latter portions. However, despite that I went into GodFather with a clear mind as a remake is a fresh slate that can change the game entirely solely based on execution.
Now that being said, Mohan Raja’s writing, direction, screenplay is literally a tale of two halves; while the first half is written crispy, directed well, and sticks to a tight screenplay, the second half takes out key elements of the story and is written conveniently to no regard with a overdramatic and pulpy screenplay that doesn’t fit the tone of the movie, all slam dunked with a bland narration that leaves somewhat decently written scenes off as well. Starting with the writing, Mohan Raja’s writing takes a lot of things from Lucifer but changes up a lot too; some for the good and some for the bad. The goal is clear with the core plot; while Lucifer is a political drama, GodFather from the outset changes its story to make it a commercial potboiler with a political backdrop to add a fresh element of some sorts. Hence, there isn’t really any exploration of the political system and how the political system changes people like Lucifer. That being said, Raja writes the first half quite tightly, with each scene contributing to the plot or some sort of character arc. Prithviraj’s writing was quite strong in some places, and he keeps that writing while taking out some overindulgent portions in the entire slow burn mindset of the original; as a result, the events follow crisply without much of gap between them and establish the scenario effectively. Many different characters are set well with good initial arcs, as well as the events following each other and the threads being revealed in very non-linear format, akin to the original. As Raja keeps this going, he succeeds as the movie moves entertainingly with the proceedings written tightly. There is no depth or exploration of characters, as expected, to the level that this movie can bring, but the way each scene is written to relate to the prior to create almost a domino effect in the movie’s proceedings in itself is very good. However, this all changes from interval. Not only does Raja’s writing become very convenient, literally having all the events happen just out of thin air, it also becomes erratic without a proper balance of the various arcs and characters. Many characters don’t get their proper desserts, but on top of that the convenient nature of having Chiranjeevi dominate everything isn’t established convincingly at all. Crucial scenes just go by and are done way more conveniently, but even more soapily to the point where it becomes melodramatic and formulaic far away from the tone. A crucial character from the Malayalam original has been cut, which would have helped with the establishment and payoff, and instead Salman Khan’s track is written very messily and directed messily too (more later). Action scenes and events fly conveniently without a backing and whatever tightness the movie employed in the first half, going from one event to the next, is gone in thin air. Crucial twists and callbacks don’t matter anymore as it becomes too commercial to the point where scenes contrast and lag beyond belief, leaving an overall mediocre writing effort.
The screenplay, direction, all follows the same template of the first half keeping things within the vicinity and hooking the audience with how tightly it has been written but the second half just completely going off the rails and not only disinteresting the audience but changing everything that the writing team worked so hard to establish in the first half. Mohan Raja’s updated screenplay, which was already mentioned to have been changed from the original, works for the first half. Scenes are tightly drawn to each other, emotional cores are constructed, and the movie doesn’t let go of a tight flow it has from scene to scene, going through every single scene with utmost purpose to contribute to the plot in some way and deepen the conflict. Non-linear screenplay is used here, going back and forth from timelines and characters to establish all of the arcs very smoothly; taken from Lucifer, but nonetheless taken well. Some of the ways the scenes have been written and executed, such as the interval bang, heighten the tension and drama so well, as well as subtlety being used to the screenplays benefit and intensity used when needed. However, the second half is once again subpar at best. The screenplay does go scene to scene initially and keeps to the plot, something that keeps the movie bearable, but where the screenplay falters is the classic commercial potboiler way of making a scene overdramatic within a matter of minutes; a relationship which has been established as strained for so long, rather than using subtlety just evaporates into a stream of pulpy moments that aim to forcefully extract tears rather than letting the realism of the movie dictate. The screenplay does this many times in the second half; to pair with the messy writing, the movie becomes overindulgent in many scenes and convenience takes command as the movie moves into- yea you guessed it- the Salman Khan track, which is executed as a flurry of random punches rather than a cohesive move in the story, ruining the screenplay. It’s one of the better aspects but still ends underwhelming. Mohan Raja’s narration and direction are uneven and flat out disappointing after the end. The narration, for one, is one of the biggest culprits of the entire movie; its so uneven with the tonal shifts it employs. The serious, realistic, and more grounded tone is sacrificed for some random stunts and soapy emotions sprawled out; the attempt to make a tight commercial movie with a focused and subtly intense tone goes completely out the window with random scenes left right and center (preaching, crying, screaming, killing, blowing (up), you name it). The direction is again a tale of two halves; good the first half, keeping the execution top notch with an interesting hook, but bad in the second half, becoming quite bland without gripping elements even in the scenes that should have impressed that relate to the conflict. Goes without saying, the entire Salman Khan-Megastar track could have been directed a lot better and a lot more grippingly.
The first half of the movie, as you can guess, is actually quite good; it has some flaws, but for the most part kept me engaged and entertained with signs of a vintage Chiranjeevi and a good supporting cast. The movie starts off explaining the conflict with a flamboyant Puri who immediately lightens up the proceedings at the snap of an eye. The back and forth motion of establishing the events, characters, and different players in the political scheme goes on and allows the audience to be immediately invested in the movie without much break. Chiranjeevi’s entrance only heightens this and serves to bring more heft, as the first half goes along with an iron hand in terms of writing and direction. Every scene contributes to some arc, some thread, or some plot progression element, and if not that then it is ably elevated heroism by Thaman and Chiranjeevi who are on fire with their own strengths. Supporting characters also get their space, particularly Satyadev, Nayanathara, and Murali Sharma, and the writing accommodates for them. The writing is depthless and goes across events quite quickly, but considering the goal made clearly by the entrances the writing is crisp and to the point very effectively. Different character’s motives are made clear very fast and the screenplay helps with this along with direction that makes us interested. It goes along slowly but steadily, and the first fight is done so well with an ample use of slow motion and heroism. Balancing the movie back and forth with characters, an emotional core is also constructed across Brahma along with a sense of mystery that sets up the movie perfectly. With each event following the next, the movie moves tightly to the pre-interval and interval portions; they could have been better with more impact but get the job done pretty well, especially the interval with its use of fiery subtle intensity and a smooth introduction of Salman Khan to set up the second half.
The second half is where the entire movie goes awry in the snap of an eye; collectively, the writing, screenplay, direction all fail, with only Thaman and a comedy scene breathing some sort of life. The direction is the first one, with the events still relating to the plot but becoming boring and rather formulaic at times rather than inspiring or captivating. Chiranjeevi bhajana begins at this point too, with the direction evidently running out of ideas. Amidst all of this, as the scenes move the writing becomes convenient with Chiranjeevi just having everything his way; the setup and the mystery around his character goes away, as the convenience eliminates all of the character setup the first half does in terms of bringing forward who and what Brahma is. One fight is good here, as Thaman’s BGM and Chiru’s screen presence save the day; but the writing slips into convenience and predictability fast. Additionally, the screenplay ruins the emotional core by becoming soapy, particularly with Nayanathara. As Satyadev and Nayanathara’s relationship unravels and the conflict setup becomes evident, the way the emotional arc wraps up is so overindulgent without an ounce of subtlety, going against the entire tone of the movie. From there, it turns into regular commercial potboiler with the hero becoming Superman and having everything go his way without the justification for any of the events, essentially negating all the setup done earlier to build the mystery. The removal of Tovino Thomas from the Malayalam original makes the convenience worse as we don’t have an indication to the brain behind Brahma. With the direction staying bland, and the movie ascends into complete madness at the pre-climax and climax portions. With 2 completely useless songs and the entry of Salman Khan, who uses cheap VFX, an entire library of complex guns, and some aerial punches with absolutely no effort to fill the scenes, the combination scenes are lazily directed with an effort to unite the threads but the effort going south as there isn’t a proper justification nor execution; just some slow motion and some bare efforts. The highlight is ending the movie on Thar Maar Thakkar Maar, one of the poor songs, and Godfather finally evaporating a very good setup to leave for a middling experience.
Technicalities:
Thaman’s songs are very poor, drawbacks even, but his BGM I must say is amazing. Almost too much duty has been done for this movie, but I’m not complaining; so many baseless scenes in the second half elevated completely and entirely by a BGM. Thaman is BACK for now at least! Cinematography by Nirav Shah is a dream; the lighting, the different scales of shots, and the way certain locations have been pictured with the resolution is very pleasing. Editing is sharp initially and lags a lot later, but not much could be done. Dialogues are very bland except for Puri’s dialogues which are a hoot. Production values are good for the most part. VFX is cheap and tacky, a worse one in commercial Telugu cinema for sure.
Overall Verdict/TLDR:
Man, I came out and told a friend at interval that Chiranjeevi was back, and by the end I was forced to eat my words. GodFather could have been the comeback, it could have been the slap to haters, but instead it produced a second half that slapped me across the face for getting myself hype and keeping expectations. A tale of two halves- from brilliance and gripping to convoluted convenience. Positives are Chiranjeevi, supporting actors, some cracking Puri lines, BGM, cinematography, tight writing in the first half, fights, good back and forth screenplay and direction in the first half, faithfulness to source, and a good interval bang. Negatives are the entire second half: poor writing that is convenient in the second half, tonal inconsistencies in the narration in the second half, overindulgent second half screenplay. a mess of a climax and ending in the second half, the songs and VFX, the bland dialogues, most Salman Khan scenes, and cutting out important parts of the original in the second half(Get the idea)? Being a Chiru admirer has becoming tiring as of late; go to the cinema hall, get disappointed, and return. With GodFather, he’s so close to a comeback; and yet, SO FAR.
Commercial Viability: The hype on the movie is surprisingly low (proof are the USA premieres). I’m hoping that at least collections will pick up because talk is majorly positive. Bookings look solid in AP/TG though as the Dusshera festival is today. Salman Khan’s presence should hopefully help for some North openings. The breakeven is a bit high, in my opinion going towards an average-above average!
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