With a rather lukewarm response from critics for the first part of NT Rama Rao's biopic, Kathanayakudu, Nandamuri Balakrishna along with director Krish Jagarlamudi return with the much-anticipated sequel, Mahanayakudu. Following the journey of the actor turned politician's political journey, the film entails the hardships and eventual triumph of the novice politician. Sure, his lack of knowledge as a politician gives the prominent figures in the field an upper hand.

However, their overconfidence seems to get the better of them as Rama Rao proves yet again that the love of his fans have culminated him into successfully running the state of Andhra Pradesh as he conquers all the obstacles, or one big obstacle in the film, his own finance minister, Bhaskara Rao. Now how he beats Bhaskara Rao in his turf, politics, with the help of his son-in-law, is what the sequel covers. How does it fare? We'll find out below.

Nandamuri Balakrishna reprises his role as the celebrated NT Rama Rao who ventures into a new phase of his life. While the prequel set base for what made NT Rama Rao take several career switches, Mahanayakudu explores the challenges he faced as a politician. Although, initially, Rama Rao goes head straight towards politics with his ally, Bhaskara Rao, without much experience in the field. Sure, his amateur stance is not missed by his supposed adversaries.

Considered to be 'just an actor', the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, throws his first challenge by advancing the Andhra Pradesh elections by eight months. But NTR is a force to reckon with, who takes it up and flourishes. He swoops into the political sphere and takes up the majority of the seats as he rightfully claims the love of his fans. One of the significant scenes from the film that vouch for the same is when Gandhi's visit and her rally sees a drop in footfall as everybody rush to hear Rama Rao speak in the outskirts of the city. Rama Rao overcomes his first obstacle by becoming the Chief Minister of AP but doesn't see the conspiracy that is taking place within the part.

To ensure that he is rightfully directed in politics, NTR also recruited Chandrababu Naidu. With his wife, Basavatarakam (Vidya Balan) diagnosed with fourth stage cancer and his own ailing heart giving away, NTR along with his wife head to the States. Taking advantage of his absence, Bhaskara Rao stages a political coup that results in the governor asking Rama Rao to resign as the CM. The film's focus then takes us through the 31 days during which NTR's strong will and Naidu's political presence of mind retrieved the CM seat back on their turf.

Let's first look at the positives of the film that made it better than it's prequel. Unlike how Kathanayakudu was far too overwhelming with respect to its slow pace, the long script and the terrible editing, Mahanayakudu was saved by a structured script. Sure, it isn't a script to rave about but it does hold the audience's attention. The scene stealers of the film are undoubtedly Rana Daggubati, Vidya Balan and Sachin Khedekar.

Daggubati's surprisingly on-point impression of Chandrababu Naidu with respect to dialogue delivery and even poise has proven once again that the actor is ready for challenging roles. Balan, with her strong role as Basavatarakam, NTR's pillar of strength, does what she does best, performs like a pro. Sachin Khedekar as a politician with his consistent smile and latent motives are believable. His subtle facial expressions that many would miss, is his strength. The music of the film is also quite good.

However, despite good performers, the film does lack the impact and fails to meet with the expectations. Nandamuri Balakrishna makes NT Rama Rao look like a good Samaritan to the point of suspicion. But that's not the only big problem here. The lack of the filmmaker to dig in deeper and uncover NTR's governance accounts for lazy writing. Well, you can't just blame it on lazy writing but also the fear of being reprimanded for painting an image of Rama Rao beyond his holier than thou image.

Needless to say, the film sparks propaganda, especially keeping in mind the upcoming State elections. Everything seems to be dumbed down to one point and the evils of one such prominent party. Something which I also noticed in Nawazuddin Siddiqui's Thackeray movie. Biopics are meant to show the life of prominent personalities for their good and bad sides but filmmakers clearly lack the backbone to project the negatives, fearing a backlash.

Jagarlamudi makes NTR a fictional character who is practically perfect. But what about his governance style or the policies passed by him? Or even the fact that because of some of his steps, the state did undergo several financial loses and economic setbacks? Why won't the makers cover these aspects of NTR's political career? Why only focus on one episode from his illustrious political career? Not cool.

Yays

- Structured script

- Rana Daggubati, Vidya Balan, Sachin Khedekar's impeccable performance

- Good music

- Spot on dialogue delivery by Rana Daggubati as Chandrababu Naidu

Nays

- Nandamuri Balakrishna's erratic and inconsistent performance as NTR

- Underwhelming direction

- Confusing timeline

- Extremely propagandist

- Enshrining NTR but not emphasizing or focusing on his governance style

Final Word

Just like I said earlier about NTR Kathanayakudu, even Mahanayakudu cannot be called as the late legend's biopic. It suffices the fanaticism of fans who worship Rama Rao but doesn't delve into the reality of the situations that were presented to him. Another word ideal for NTR Mahanayakudu would be a romanticized tale of an achiever who was too good to be true. For fans, it would be a homage to the star but on a critical basis, the film lacks tremendously with respect to presenting facts. However, I cannot deny the fact that this was better than the previous part.

Rating:2.5out of 5

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 22, 2019 01:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).