Om Namo Venkatesaya - Review

There is no doubt Annamayya was a classic in all ways. But post Ramadasu, Shirdi Sai you would start to doubt the team and think may be it is all fluke. And Om Namo Venkatesaya proves that. If not all, at least the writing department headed by Bharavi is. Nagarjuna is the same actor who mesmerized us in Annamayya and became better with each passing movie. Raghavendra Rao just sticks to what worked in Annamayya but the writing and the story department has taken severe beating in the movies after Annamayya. ONV is no different.

Hathiram Baba's story is very far fetched and needed some good convincing back story to make it convincing. There was never scope for a highly emotional climax. But Raghavendra Rao uses few scenes very efficiently to improve the graph of this movie but after the jail episode the movie goes down the hill and never recovers. Both Nagarjuna and Sourabh Jain are the major highlights for this movie. Nag's dialogue delivery in this movie and his diction show the effort he has put into this movie, but the dialogues are just alright ones.  The other highlights are production values and the way Tirumala garbha gudi is showcased. It reminds you so much of Tirumala. There are few scenes with Nagarjuna and Sourabh that are goose bumps inducing. The problem is that they are few and far between. Songs wise, some are good on screen and some are okay. Akhilandakoti song and Kalyanam song are pure bliss for devotees.

Overall, ONV is an average movie marred by weak climax and some old fashioned scenes. Lastly, there can never be another Annamayya. So stop trying please.