{"data":{"prismicReviewarticle":{"uid":"godfather-a-desperately-attempted-devotion-to-megastars","tags":["politics"],"first_publication_date":"2022-10-05T08:00:09+0000","last_publication_date":"2022-10-07T10:21:52+0000","data":{"title":{"text":"Godfather: A desperately attempted devotion to Megastar's image"},"rating":null,"datetime":"2022-10-06T19:15:00+0000","img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/38ae2ad8-dbab-46fa-8a3c-15eee4d870d7_Godfather.JPG?auto=compress,format&rect=0,0,2028,1000&w=2028&h=1000"},"embed":{"embed_url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GPaj0OW-No","thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9GPaj0OW-No/hqdefault.jpg","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4cQ8NR0-bhR9XatCr_LN6w","title":"God Father Trailer | Megastar Chiranjeevi | Salman Khan | Mohan Raja | Thaman S | R B Choudary"},"content":{"raw":[{"text":"“An actor essaying a role on screen that is entirely in contrast to his off screen achievements is more faker than a fake preacher” "},{"text":"The above axiom infers that cinema should not be seen doing art for art’s sake, as no art is complete, if the Cinema and its actors fail to influence or win the trust of the masses, in any which way, for after all, art should reflect not only the true identity of people’s lives, but also the characters that essay the art. "},{"text":"A day before the release of “Godfather”, Chiranjeevi, speaking to the press made some interesting (for media “sensational”) comments on Pawan Kalyan, his brother, saying that people need a leader like him and that he wanted him to rule the state oneday, even as he sounded a little bit ambiguous in his support to him to that effect."},{"text":"Whether, the statement has anything to do with his movie “Godfather”, the character that he plays in the movie revolves around a political plot that involved a family political business.  "},{"text":"Bramha, the protagonist character is no ordinary man, after all, played none other than by Chiranjeevi, Megastar, he who deserves a smashing entry, a scaled-up soundscape and wise lines, for, his second innings in the field that he excelled turned out to be unimpressive with flops like ‘Saira”,  “Acharya”. "},{"text":"Though, the movie attempted to stay close to its Malayalam original, devotion to the Tollywood’s Megastar is not its “only” weakness. The film is equally hampered by a poor screenplay that fails to take its unusual premise forward with enough tweaks from the original to appeal his fans and by pretensions to a gigantic scale that end up miring the entire narrative in clichés."},{"text":"As far as disappointments go, this one is a double whammy. It seems in his zeal to cast Chiranjeevi in the titular role, the director seemed to have failed to understand the Andhra Pradesh politics."},{"text":"The movie, while drawing the parallels to the developments that followed the unfortunate demise of Late YSR and the Hero’s own failed political endeavour thereafter, though begins and ends with an interesting take on the nature of evil, it flounders in between as the goal appears to become the creation of a grand epic to project Chiranjeevi, the Hero, rather than a soul-searching examination of the subject through relatable characters."},{"text":"As if that is not enough of a let-down, there is the fact that Chiranjeevi’s on screen politics in the movie hardly matched the worldview and intelligence he revealed or being revealed in his politics in real life. "},{"text":"This letdown could have hardly been a factor had the role been essayed by any other actor, but for Chiranjeevi, who still claims that politics are not away from him, though he moved away from them and that he might one day or the some other, support his brother’s political cause. "},{"text":"The story of the movie kicks off with the death of the state’s CM known as PKR (any rhyming with YSR, is purely coincidental), resulting in a power struggle (parallels to the developments of post-demise of YSR are purely coincidental) in his party and family, since Chiranjeevi himself claimed that the movie is neither a satire on nor a critic of present day politics or politicians."},{"text":"The cast included a stellar assembly of stars like Salman Khan, Satya Dev, Nayanatara, etc. Unless the director simply wanted to prove that he has the clout to rope in such a stellar assembly, the casting is inexplicable."},{"text":"Unless the director is following the recent trend of ‘Pan-Indian” cinema, he should not have cast Salman Khan, the superstar of the Bollywood, in a role that has lesser presence and whose entry in the movie is through substandard VFX scene, which was not worthy of the star, as his role is limited to occasional appearance."},{"text":"This casting decision comes across as part of a misinformed attempt to give the movie a resonance of pan-India concept in the north."},{"text":"Considering Chiranjeevi’s stature in Indian cinema, the evident effort to attract attention elsewhere is quite incomprehensive."},{"text":"The most criminal under-use of talent is reserved for  Nayanatara whose primary task is to hang around, for, it is one thing to claim that it’s for the first time in the history where the film has no heroin and duet songs, but another to project a star like her to be a shadow on the margins of the male stars- — never taking any initiative, but instead existing solely to be manipulated, abused, led, guided and/or saved by the men.  "},{"text":"And coming to Chiranjeevi playing Godfather, a character that embarks on doing justice to the state politics, while, saying at one point that the greatest fraud perpetrated on the public has been the claim that politics is a battle between good and evil though it is, in his view, the greater evil versus the lesser evil."},{"text":"If the dialogue is seen through the parallels between Chiranjeevi, the real life politician and Megastar, the on screen politician, one gets the impression that the movie has made a desperate attempt to project Chiranjeevi as a real “political hero”, who would one day or the other essay the Real Life “Godfather” (or is it Godbrother”) to help his brother’s political cause."},{"text":"It seems, by consenting play the character of Godfather”, a castaway stepson of a politician  who fights cater justice to his father’s political legacy, he desperately attempted to do justice to his image as failed politician and Mass Hero."},{"text":"While he is in no mood to return any time soon to the political theatre, he hopes the people of Andhra Pradesh will appreciate his Godfather like political character, an impression he can exploit at a later date should he decide to support his brother’s political cause."},{"text":"There is so much that could have been done with this intriguingly frank and realistic clichéd theory on the essentialness of politics at large. What we get instead is Godfather’s desperate attempt and ambition to devote on the image of Chiranjeevi, the politician (if the post-release political statements of the actor himself are to go by) that overwhelms everything else in this enterprise."}]}}},"relatedArticles":{"edges":[{"node":{"uid":"brs-student-wing-stages-protest-over-mp-suryas-remarks","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"BRS student wing stages protest over MP Surya’s remarks"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/aeIG9Z1ZCF7ETSSI_BRSStudentwing.JPG?auto=format,compress&rect=0,0,2028,1000&w=2028&h=1000"},"datetime":"2026-04-17T08:10:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"gautam-adani-becomes-asias-richest-person","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"Gautam Adani becomes Asia’s richest"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/Z02IxpbqstJ978If_adani.JPG?auto=format,compress"},"datetime":"2026-04-17T05:51:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"amit-shahs-firm-stance-no-religious-reservations-for-muslims-mo2pi22d","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"Amit Shah: No Religious Reservations for Muslims"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad%2F9a998da1-ed74-4d1d-bf5c-3ce42a2986be_amit+shah.jpg?auto=format,compress&rect=0,44,1280,631&w=2028&h=1000"},"datetime":"2026-04-16T19:29:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"bengaluru-businessmans-honeytrap-nightmare-blackmailed-after-instagram-encounter-mo2pi7w3","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"Businessman’s Honeytrap Nightmare"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/c8335006-73f0-4db2-9b9f-f9d6f0421a05_love+is+blind.JPG?auto=format,compress&rect=0,0,2028,1000&w=2028&h=1000"},"datetime":"2026-04-16T18:30:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"ysr-congress-leader-released-on-bail","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"YSR Congress leader released on bail"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad%2F7216aea1-016a-4612-8cd4-886237641335_ysrcp.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&rect=0%2C5%2C1200%2C592&w=2028&h=1000"},"datetime":"2026-04-16T13:39:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"tvk-manifesto-welfare-ai-1.5t-goal","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"TVK Manifesto: Welfare, AI, $1.5T Goal"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/aeEUw51ZCF7ETQr3_vijaytvk.JPG?auto=format,compress&rect=0,0,2028,1000&w=2028&h=1000"},"datetime":"2026-04-16T13:15:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"from-now-onwards-nari-shakti-will-not-be-just-a-slogan","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"From now onwards, Nari Shakti will not be just a slogan"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/adOj4pGXnQHGZSCp_pawan.JPG?auto=format,compress&rect=0,0,2028,1000&w=2028&h=1000"},"datetime":"2026-04-16T07:30:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"infosys-denies-pune-harassment-claims","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"Infosys Denies Pune Harassment Claims"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/7766529c-412f-4d9a-a068-c32a77895fee_infosys.JPG?auto=format,compress"},"datetime":"2026-04-16T06:06:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"case-filed-against-vijay","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"Case filed against Vijay"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/aPPHEJ5xUNkB2HoK_vijay.JPG?auto=format,compress"},"datetime":"2026-04-16T05:30:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"pichai-ranbir-in-times-100-most-influential-people-of-2026","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"Pichai, Ranbir in TIME's '100 Most Influential'"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/aeC5qZ1ZCF7ETPhc_pichairanbir.JPG?auto=format,compress&rect=0,0,2028,1000&w=2028&h=1000"},"datetime":"2026-04-16T05:28:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"madras-hc-orders-i-t-probe-on-udhayanidhi-assets","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"Court Orders Probe on Udhayanidhi Assets"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/5eb52f79-f1fb-4224-8660-30b6f9452808_udhanidhi+stallin.JPG?auto=format,compress"},"datetime":"2026-04-15T08:13:00+0000"}}},{"node":{"uid":"lokesh-elevated-as-national-wp-of-tdp","data":{"third_party_url":null,"title":{"text":"Lokesh elevated as national WP of TDP"},"img":{"url":"https://images.prismic.io/prad/Z4vnQ5bqstJ99mOE_lokesh.JPG?auto=format,compress&rect=0,0,2028,1000&w=2028&h=1000"},"datetime":"2026-04-15T07:41:00+0000"}}}]}},"pageContext":{"isCreatedByStatefulCreatePages":false,"uid":"godfather-a-desperately-attempted-devotion-to-megastars","tags":["politics"]}}