Legend movie review

Movie name: Legend
Producers: 14 Reels entertainment, Ram Achanta, Gopi Achanta, Anil Sunkara
Diector: Boyapati Srinu
Cast: Balakrishna, Sonali Chowhan, Radhika Apte,
Music director: Devi Sri Prasad
Release date: Mar-28-2014

Legend is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated film of this year for various reasons. Boyapati, Balakrishna combination coming second time after successful Simha, Prestegious banner of Tollywood 14 reels entertainment is producing the film, Devi Sri is first time composing music for Balayya, Jagapati babu is enacting a villain role for the first time and above all it is releasing just before state elections. Let us see if this movie stands up to its expectations or not?

Story:

Krishna (Balakrishna) lives far away from his family in Dubai. His grandmother wants him to stay away from violence and lead a peaceful life. Krishna falls in love with Sneha (Sonal Chauhan) and on his return to India he confronts with Jitender's (Jagapathi Babu) son and beats him to death. Jitender is the reason for the death of Krishna's parents. What follows next is an adrenaline pumping action drama with loads of powerful dialogues and heroism elevation scenes.

Performances:

This is Balayya’s one of the best performances in his career. This kind of roles is a cakewalk for Balayya and he proved once again that no one can replace him in such powerful roles where a hero is not less than a lion. His action episodes, dialogue delivery and costumes are simply superb and cherish his fans to the core.

Jagapati babu is the right choice as a villain and he is best suited for the character and the makeup given to him is never before kind. I get a feeling that Jagapati babu will get so many offers after this film He looks dashing and very handsome with those white beard and stylish costumes. His baritone voice adds extra strength to his performance.

Sonali Chowhan is apt and Radhika apte is good. There is nothing more to tell about them.

Brahmanandam is ok. I feel bad to say that Boyapati could not utilize Brahmi’s stamina as required. His comedy scenes are not well crafted and we can not blame Brahmi as he is already proven comedian. So, it is Boyapati who could have worked more on Brahmi’s scenes.

Technical aspects:

Production values of this film is top notch. The entire movie is very lavish and producers once again proved that they don’t ind to shell out money for the best quality.Devi Sri Prasad back ground score is out standing. The title song is simply superb though other songs are not so appealing. Editing is good but it could have been better in first half to cut few dragging scenes. Camera work is good.

Direction of Boyapati Srinu is marvelous. He is proved once again that he is the top director in Tollywood after Rajamouli in portraying high octane action oriented movies. And for Balakrishna he is the best as he knows how to present Balayya to please his fans.  He seem to be recovered few of his small mistakes from his last film Dammu, but again the excess violence might keep some audience away from this film.

Plus points:

Bala Krishna’s top notch performance

Boyapati Srinu’s direction

Jagapati babu’s performance

Production values

Background score

Political related dialogues

2nd half of the movie

Minus points:

Brahmi’s comedy.

Few unwanted sentiment scenes
Excessive violence

Slow 1st half.

Analysis:
            
Legend is a complete commercial package with all the ingredients neatly packed in. The film starts off with a bang with Jagapathi Babu setting right expectations on the film. The graph dips a bit after Balakrishna's character was introduced. Director tried to add comedy flavor to the film by giving maximum footage to Brahmanandam for a while.
           
They have made desperate attempt to make it work, but the theme of this film doesn't accommodate comedy. Interval gives the real punch and from there on there is no stopping Legend. The film goes from strength to strength with each scene. Balakrishna just carried the film on his able shoulders without letting the graph go down.
            
Balakrishna fans will watch this film numerous times as it is undoubtedly the best from Nata Simha post 'Simha'. Boyapati Srinu lived up to the expectations and delivered a full on masala film that will work wonders at the box office especially in mass dominated areas. There is good sentimental touch to the film which will appeal to classes and families. Excessive violence is the weak point of this film and it may restrict the reach. Saying that all the biggest hits from Balakrishna had excessive violence and therefore it shouldn't be a big problem for Legend.

Verdict: The Lion Roars Again!