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T-Series Films and Chalk And Cheese Films’ Srikanth is a biopic of the visually impaired Srikanth Bolla who, by sheer dint of hard work and brilliance, achieved what seemed impossible.
Srikanth (Rajkumar Rao) is born blind. Within minutes, the joy of his family members on his birth turns into misery and despair when they realise that he is blind. Srikanth is sent by his poor family to a school for the blind in Hyderabad. The child turns out to be very intelligent. On passing his school examinations with flying colours, Srikanth has to knock the doors of the court to get admission into the Science stream as no Science college is willing to take a visually impaired student. As a college student, Srikanth impresses the President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, when he (Srikanth) tells him that he wants to be the first visually impaired President of India. Years later, Kalam invests in Srikanth’s business. Srikanth also finds another investing partner in Ravi (Sharad Kelkar). He grows from strength to strength but along the way, he also becomes so arrogant that he scoffs and insults the very people who have helped him become the big businessman he is today. Of course, he mends his ways in due course of time.
Jagdeep Sidhu and Sumit Purohit have done a shoddy and half-hearted job of the story and screenplay. There is hardly any sensitivity in their writing when, actually, the first requirement of the biopic was sensitive writing. Besides, although the story per se is good, the duo has tried to pack in too much and, in the process, not done justice to most of the aspects. Consequently, the drama appears too scattered to be true. A major drawback of the drama is that the writing does not exploit the emotions the way it should’ve. In scenes which ought to have made the audience cry, weep and sob, the tears either don’t come or just about come. Since the drama doesn’t evoke tears from the viewers’ eyes in most of the scenes, the high which the audience should’ve experienced while watching this inspirational story just doesn’t happen.
The portion in the post-interval part, in which Srikanth becomes arrogant, brings down his character so badly that it takes away whatever sympathy and emotions the viewers develop for him before that. This is the biggest defect of the screenplay. There are other fallacies in the script too. For instance, Srikanth tells the President of India that he would strive to be the first visually impaired President of India, but not once is he shown to be working towards that goal. It is scenes like the above which make the writing appear frivolous and mindless at places. After all, Srikanth is the hero of the drama, no less. He can’t be saying things which he doesn’t mean. The court battle, which Srikanth wins, should’ve evoked tears and claps from the viewers, but it leaves them merely as passive spectators. This is partly because of weak writing and partly because Srikanth, even in the courtroom, comes across as an oversmart young man. Given his visual impairment, the audience won’t like to see him behave over-smartly. Being smart is one thing and appearing oversmart is quite another! The script also seems to have been written as a rush job. The duo’s dialogues are fair but they should’ve been clapworthy as well as emotional.
Rajkumar Rao does a fantastic job in the title role. He plays the visually impaired Srikant Bolla so outstandingly that one can’t help heaping praises on him. Jyotika does well as Srikanth’s teacher, Devika. But her character doesn’t get the scope it deserved, in the scheme of things, a mistake made by the writers. Alaya F., as Swati, also gets very limited scope but she is sincere in her performance. Sharad Kelkar lends fine support in the role of Srikanth’s funding partner, Ravi. Again, he gets limited scope only. Srinivas Beesetty makes his presence beautifully felt as Damodar Bolla. Anusha Nuthula is fair as Venkatamma Bolla. Sridhar Murthy stands his own in the role of S.N. Venugopal. Sukhita Aiyar makes her mark as Vidya Reddy. Arnav Abdagire is nice as the 12-year-old Srikanth. Srikant Mane has his moments as the 5-year-old Srikanth. Aarav Khot is okay as the 7-year-old Narendra Bolla. Akshay Chaudhary is alright as the 14-year-old Narendra Bolla. Vinita Venugopal (as Kavitha Mantha), Sasidhar Kocharlakota (as Mahesh), Om Kanojiya (as the 13-year-old Mahesh), Abhijeet Chitre (as the Electricity Board officer), Ganesh Mayekar (as the Electricity Board peon), Rana Pratap (as Srikanth’s lawyer), Vivek Mishra (in special appearance, as Sreegiri) and Kartick Sitaraman (as Ravish, airport chief officer) provide reasonable support. Jameel Khan, in special appearance, is average as President APJ Abdul Kalam. Bharat Jadhav (special appearance) is alright as the magistrate. Hansal Mehta plays himself well in a brief special appearance.
Tushar Hiranandani’s direction is not up to the mark. For one, he has not been able to make a tear-jerking tale of inspiration. Secondly, his narration lacks the warmth and sensitivity needed for this kind of a drama. In other words, after the film is complete, the audience do not get up from their seats with a sense of exhilaration, which was so necessary. Music (Tanishk Bagchi, Sachet-Parampara, Ved Sharma and Aditya Dev) is so-so. The remixed version (Aditya Dev) of the superhit Papa kehte hain song (originally composed by Anand-Milind) from Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak is, of course, the best song. However, it must be added that the song and its music/tune have been used so many times in the background that it’s an overkill. It almost appears as if the director thought that the song was his lottery to success. Lyrics (Shloke Lal, Yogesh Dubey and Kunaal Verma; Papa kehte hain lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri) are alright. Punit J. Pathak’s choreography is average. Ishaan Chhabra’s background music is fair but should’ve been far more impactful. Pratham Mehta’s cinematography is nice. Aejaz Gulab’s action and stunt scenes are functional. Tanvi Leena Patil’s production designing is proper. Sanjay Sankla’s editing ought to have been far more sharp.
On the whole, Srikanth has inherent value in the inspirational story but that’s about all because it just doesn’t go too much beyond that. The scripting and the narration are both terrible letdowns. As such, it will remain a weak fare.
Released 10-5-’24 at Inox (daily 7 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: good. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor at most of the places.