‘Bangarraju’ movie review: A passable festive entertainer
The Hindu
The Telugu sequel banks heavily on Nagarjuna and Naga Chaitanya and barely skims the surface of the supernatural revenge family drama story
The fun part of Bangarraju, the sequel to Soggade Chinni Nayana (2016), lies in what happens when senior Bangarraju’s (Nagarjuna Akkineni) soul enters the body of his grandson Bangarraju (Naga Chaitanya). This is when the junior who has inherited his grandfather’s traits of being a charmer, gets an extra swag and a tad worldly-wise, and does everything with ease — taking on opponents in action sequences or diplomatically settling family frictions. The father-son duo is good to watch in these portions; each time Nagarjuna looks at Chaitanya with pride, the theatre erupts. A usually restrained Chaitanya steps out of his comfort zone and has fun playing a flamboyant character.
Bangarraju feels like a throwback to the 1980s and 1990s with its plot of a family revenge drama accentuated by supernatural elements. Senior Bangarraju and his wife Satyabhama (Ramya Krishna), with the consent of Lord Yama, literally move between heaven and earth to help their grandson who is lonely and lost in a large joint family. Nagarjuna and Ramya Krishna bring in their vintage charm to the story and these are cakewalk characters for them. Another thread of the story has to do with the mysterious power in the village’s Shiva temple.
While Soggade Chinni Nayana packed in a lot of fun with Bangarraju teaching his nerdy son Ram (Nagarjuna in a dual role) a thing of two about being a charming husband and saving him from a foe, this story traces younger Bangarraju’s journey through strained familial ties, deceit and revenge.