How do we look at Trivikram? A director who predominantly writes well or someone, who gradually is losing track of his true identity ? Prompted by Attarintiki Daredi’s success, Son Of Satyamurthy attempts to give the broken-family-ties template, a newer spin,a commercial toasting and not totally compromising on its star-vehicle aspirations either.
It’s a predictable result we have, celebrating its often epic-driven dialogue over the plot, the kind of lines coming from well-read, super-smart characters in films. Partly entertaining, partly purposeful, mostly straying, it’s best viewed as a better Allu Arjun-film than a weaker Trivikram-work.
With the title sounding enough like the Suriya-Gautham Menon film, Surya S/O Krishnan, the father of a protagonist too is a realtime hero here, whom the son totally respects and idolises. But unlike the former, this is no nostalgic tribute.
Given the fact it tries to please a larger league, Son Of Satyamurthy is more an idea of sustaining his legacies. In fact, we don’t mind connecting the doting figure to a Ramayya in an Yevade Subramanyam, the large-hearted owner of a firm, run more by humanly values despite debts regularly giving an evil glimpse.
Even if it’s a heartfelt premise that it rides on, the film lacks any direction. One moment, it’s the Brahmanandam slap-fest and the digs at Rajendra Prasad, the next, we see some muscles being flexed and in quick time, we are to supposedly warm up to the longing of Viraj Anand for his family.
The Tamil-speaking areas, that we’re shown gets it closer to the Chennai Express-scheme of things. Sathyaraj, the father is replaced by Upendra, the brother in his traditional dhoti with obvious violent strides in the part. The Super-Machi number comes just when we expect it to, alongside the baggage of tracks that Devi Sri Prasad would have composed when he was half-awake.
The dejavu of an Arjun fitting into the shoes of a Pawan Kalyan strikes consistently. Some retracting towards Attarintiki Daredi, he lets a girl elope. CHECK. He saves a family from disrepute. CHECK. He goes to an alien town to fight a bunch of goons. CHECK. The grandfather then is the father now. The patterns are all what we apparently have. May be, with a maker or a writer with lesser credentials, these references would have passed without much cribbing.
Occasionally, the better sides of the film have us looking at women in a nicer light. The female lead is a diabetic patient and the guy makes little fuss about it. An evil-Devaraj desperately denies to showcase his animalistic darker shades to his better-half, probably, the most appropriately cast Sneha .
All the drama has a near supernatural end. The Satan is perished with the help of nature. The stocks of Viraj are at an all-time high. He gets his girl with complete approval. There are handshakes, lengthy lines and the expected sorry’s. It rains and the son looks at the skies. And, Satyamurthy, what a son you have. But Trivikram, what film do we have ?
Musings of a film-crazy pressman 