What’s it about?
Nageswara Rao (Ravi Teja) was born into a thieving household. His entire village, Stuartpuram, is stereotyped as being criminals. Nageswara Rao, at age 8, becomes a career thief. Because of his intelligence and cunning, he gains notoriety as a thief and inspires terror among law enforcement.
Nageswara Rao decides to alter his ways when an incident causes his girlfriend Sara (Nupur Sanon) to take her own life. For a while, he does nothing at all. Sometime later, he eventually marries Mani (Gayatri Bharadwaj). Nageswara Rao, however, returns to a life of crime after his reformation.
Why did he go back to robbing and killing again?
Why did India’s prime minister the head of the Indian intelligence service (Anupam Kher) to Stuartpuram? Is Nageswara Rao a little bit like Robin Hood? The rest of the story is dedicated to answering these topics.
Analysis
Located in Andhra Pradesh close to Bapatla, Stuartpuram boasts a long history dating back to British era. In 1913, the British criminalized the Yerukulas of the region and sent them to a “reformatory” colony called Stuartpuram.
‘Stuartpuram Police Station’ (1991) starring Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna’s ‘Jaitra Yatra’ (1991), two popular Telugu films, were made about these burglars. But in “Tiger Nageswara Rao,” starring Ravi Teja and directed by Vamsee (of “Kittu Unnadu Jagrattha”), we learn about the village’s most infamous thief: Garika Nageswara Rao, better known as Tiger Nageswara Rao. Is it based on a true story? Do the events shown in the film actually occur? Well, the filmmakers claim that “true rumors” served as the inspiration for the film. So, some of the situations are real, some are ‘rumors’.
The web series “Narcos” likewise featured a feared criminal and his attempts to elude capture by the authorities. Then there’s Sekhar Kapoor’s famed “Bandit Queen,” a life story about a feared bandit named Poolan Devi. “Tiger Nageswara Rao” does not follow in the footsteps of either of these. Instead, the film begins similarly to “KGF” and attempts to be more of an action drama than a story of a real person.
The main issue with the film is that the audience cannot connect with Nageswara Rao since he lacks any attributes to root for. We learn early on that he became a burglar at the age of eight and murdered his own father in order to avoid being caught stealing. Later episodes show him punching a prostitute in the stomach. He’s also introduced as a guy who frequents brothels because he’s always hungry (aakali) and can’t quit ‘eating’ ‘padarthalu’. This lecherous male is also shown falling for a college student because she has amazing “kolathalu”. We don’t associate him with his nature or the acts he committed. The director tries to offer an explanation and twists to his lecherous and violent activities in the second part of the film, but they don’t help.
Like in a typical commercial film, the hero is eventually shown to be some type of Robin Hood, with all of his actions serving a purpose. But by that time, we’ve lost interest. The film is three hours lengthy and has little plot, but it drags on.
There are also some funny tracks. One is Anupam Kher’s role as IB Chief. It’s hard to imagine a Hindi-speaking IB head arriving to Stuartpuram in incognito and conversing in Andhra dialect to learn more about the protagonist.
Ravi Teja has worked very hard to make his portrayal of a feared thief and his actions believable. He gives an honest and competent performance. For the younger self of Nageswara Rao, he even shaves off his beard and moustache. Nupur Sanon’s debut film appearance is brief, and she doesn’t do anything to distinguish herself. As a Nageswara Rao’s wife, Gayatri Bharadwaj is attractive. Anukreethy Vas’s character is also badly written.
Other notable performers include Harish Peradi as the standard bad guy and Jissu Sengupta as a police officer.
The production design in this film is grand. The lavish setting is proof that producer Abhishek Agarwal spent a lot of money trying to make it look like a ‘KGF,’ but the cinematography (barely functional) and the music don’t help much.
Bottomline: “Tiger Nageswara Rao,” a film based on the life of a feared robber Nageswara Rao, has a promising start and retains our attention for an hour, but it comes apart as the film progresses. This is made more like commercial action thriller than a biopic, and the three-hour length of time is exhausting.
Rating: 2.25/5
By: Jalapathy Gudelli
Movie: Tiger Nageswara Rao
Cast: Ravi Teja, Anupam Kher, Gayatri Bharadwaj, Nupur Sanon, Renu Desai, Nassar, Murali Sharma and others
Dialogues: Srikanth Vissa
Music: GV Prakash Kumar
DOP: Madhie
Edited by: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Production Designer: Avinash Kolla
Written and Directed by: Vamsee
Release Date: Oct 20, 2023
