Nannaku Prematho
(translation: "to father, with love")
2016
3/5 stars
This is a tale of strong filial love, finely planned revenge, and two cunning minds playing against each other. Abhiram (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.) is determined to bring down Krishnamurthy (Jagapathi Babu) and his empire in retaliation for wrongs done by him to Abhiram's father in the distant past.
The plot contains many twists, some genuinely surprising, and the movie is fully entertaining for that reason. However, there are scenes that aren't explained well, and/or seem unnecessary to the plot, which weakens the film in the long run. Rao gives his customary strong and charismatic performance, despite the character of Abhiram not being fully likable; Babu, as usual, is an excellent villain. The supporting cast is solid, but Rakul Preet Singh (who plays the love interest) is generally unconvincing and has little chemistry with the hero. The choreography is fun to watch, the songs good in general (with "Follow, Follow", sung by Jr. NTR, being particularly memorable), and the incidental music quite effective throughout. Overall, Nannaku Prematho is truly enjoyable, but has enough flaws to keep it from being exceptional.
Kantri
(translation: "cunning")
2008
Did Not Finish
While silliness-of-plot is not a deal-breaker for me when watching Indian Cinema (I'm looking at you Shakti), thirty minutes of Kantri was enough to let me know that I didn't care for the story, disliked the romantic interest, couldn't get invested in the hero, and, most importantly, (despite Jr. NTR and Prakash Raj) wasn't being entertained.
