Jai Simha
Director: KS Ravikumar
Cast: Balakrishna, Nayanthara, Brahmanandam, Natasha Doshi, Haripriya, Prakash Raj and Jayaprakash Reddy
Rating: 2.5/5
If you’re a Nandamuri Balakrishna fan, Jai Simha might work like most of his films have over the years, for it treads a very familiar path of violence, romance, drama and action. Coming from a seasoned director like KS Ravikumar, known for delivering several commercial blockbusters, it’s no surprise that the film would appeal to a section of the audience and it does to some extent. Kumar gives a solid action spin to an age-old story and the result is surprisingly decent.
There’s not much one can expect from a Nandamuri Balakrishna’s film unless he does something very offbeat such as Sri Rama Rajyam or Gautamiputra Satakarni, which doesn’t happen very often. In Jai Simha, we get to see Nandamuri Balakrishna, the actor and star, in equal measure and kudos to Ravikumar for tapping both the sides convincingly.
Balakrishna is at ease in dual roles as father and son. As the father, he plays a character who’s on the lookout for a place there’s no bloodshed. To imagine him, known for playing violent characters against faction backdrop, play a character who doesn’t want violence is a relief. But this is justified with a flashback, a recurring element in most of Balayya’s films.
The film has good scope for comedy and who better than Brahmanandam to take the lead. As silly as some of the portion with him come across, they’re still entertaining and lighten the mood of an otherwise loud and serious film.
Given this is a festival release, Jai Simha packs all the elements in right proportion, ticking all the boxes that ideally make such films click. As clichéd as it may sound, Jai Simha is a popcorn entertainer that gets most things right.
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