Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Mahesh Babu, one of the biggest superstars in South India, has come up with his latest movie, Srimanthudu. Despite his recent movies not performing well at the ticket counter, this movie carries huge expectations as the trailers and songs have become popular. Does it live up to expectations? Let's find out.Story: RK (Jagapathi Babu) owns a business empire. He wants his son Harsha (Mahesh Babu) to take over the operations but Harsha has other plans - serving people.Harsha likes Charusheela (Shruti), a post graduate student studying Rural Development, and joins her college to study the course. Both fall in love. But when Charusheela comes to know that Harsha is son of RK, she stops seeing him.Harsha asks her for the reason, she tells him about her Devarakota, a small village in Uttarandhra. The village's tank is grabbed by local rowdy Sasi (Sampath) who is the right hand man of central minister Venkata Ratnam (Mukeshi Rishi).The villagers start migrating to the cities but Charusheela's father tries to stop them in the hope that good-days would come soon.What has this plight of the village got to do with Harsha's father and what does Harsha do when Charusheela tells him this? Watch it on the silver screen.Artistes' Performances: The film is undoubtedly one of Mahesh Babu's best performance in his entire career. As well-educated, good-natured rich man, Mahesh Babu oozes charm as well as gives his best in the emotionally charged scenes. Even in the action episodes, he exhibits class. Mahesh Babu is the pillar of this movie.Shruti Haasan looks beautiful, shares great chemistry with Mahesh and has solid role too. Jagapathi Babu is evolving as a reliable character artiste for dignified father roles. He is perfect to the T as a rich businessman. Rajendra Prasad is good as well.Sampath and Mukesh Rishi have done what is required for the roles. Sukanya, Ali, Rahul Ravindran, Subbaraju, Vennela Kishore, Sitara and a host of actors are present in the movie but they don't get highlighted.Technical Excellence: Rich frames are the striking feature of the movie. Appreciation should go to the cinematographer Madhie. He has distinct style in filming hero elevating scenes.Songs by Devi Sri Prasad are catchy. 'Rama Rama', 'Charusheela' and 'Jaago Re' songs are effective on screen.The pace of the movie is not only slow but some unnecessary scenes are also there, good editing would have done wonders. Fights by ANL Arasu are neat.Highlights:Mahesh Babu's performance Shruti Haasan's charm Elevation of heroism Dialogues Direction Jaago Re song sequence Cinematography Drawback:Slow first half Editing Analysis: Director Siva Koratala has proven that he could present regular mass movies in style with 'Mirchi'. In Srimanthudu, he has used the same style but has strong content and has narrated the movie in focused manner, not deviating from the story.While watching the movie, you will also spot the similarities with Mirchi like father's love for son (Jagapathi Babu/Sathyaraj), hero entering into a village on a certain mission.Also, Koratala selected a topic that rings well with the current mood in the nation - adopting the villages. One can also find influence of Ashutosh Gowariker's 'Swades'.No special intro is given to Mahesh Babu. He comes into the story with a song and then the story is told in leisurely.In the first one hour, it goes on sluggish pace but picks up later. Even in the first hour some scenes like Mahesh Babu confronting Mukesh Rishi at his residence in Delhi, fight sequence in wedding get highlighted. Second half the movie takes a gripping turn."You have earned respect through sheer hardwork, let me also earn it," tells Mahesh Babu to his father Jagapathi Babu in one scene. Such class scenes laced with dialogues and liberal dose of English are welcome change.Then there is also one gripping sequence in the second half when Mukeshi Rishi invites the hero to his mango farm. The movie is dotted with many scenes that elevate heroism to the peak.Dialogues written by the director will also make the fans happy. When Mahesh beats a rowdy, another one comes forward to beat him, then Mahesh tells to this guy: "Nenu Ikkade Untanu..repu kooda untanu..vaade kadatledu..mundu vaani choodandi." Mahesh taking selfie with a rowdy is another hilarious moment in the film.Mahesh Babu's class performance, Shruti's charm, good message, right mix of mass and class elements make the movie a good commercial entertainer.All in all, Srimanthudu is the movie where content and commercial elements have blended well. Bottomline: Srimanthudu With Rich Message

Harsha (Mahesh Babu), who is the feather bedded son of multi- millionaire Ravikanth (Jagapathi Babu), is a business minded person. He's such a good Samaritan that he always wanna help the needy, over the complications caused by others. Meanwhile, he falls in love with Charuseela (Shruti Haasan) and the complications start when Charu tells a secret about his father. Harsha leaves to Devarakota to solve the issues, instead he adopts the village and starts developing it. That's when he comes across Shashi (Sampath Raj) a local goon and starts mounting upon a small problem. The path the movie takes as the director attempts to find common ground between the two types of personalities is what makes the movie that much more interesting in the end.. Star Performance It's a one man show Mahesh Babu steals the show with his performance. In full contrast to his image, Mahesh seen as an out and out classy with some Massey shades. It is very evident that Harshavardhan character is very close to Mahesh's heart and gets into the skin of the character. And his cool dance moves deserves a special mention. Shruti Haasan is also effective in her role and sizzled with her moves in the Dhimmathirigae songs. Rajendra Prasad and Jagapathi Babu are promising in their short roles. So is the others in the shorter roles includes Sukanya, Sivaji Raja and Tejaswi Madivada who are not here in archetype characters who just talks the standard lines. Ali's presence guarantees some fun, if not too much. Vennela Kishore and Rahul Ravindran cameos that has a bearing on the story. Poorna is pretty in her traditional attire. Techinical Team The climax is also shot without any clarity and remains another engaging episode of the movie that comes to sudden stop. Questions en ti sir.. etc are good deserves some applause.Srimanthudu takes some time to settle and once the backdrop is set the movie moves on in a reasonably decent narrative structure. The not so watertight screenplay by Koratala Siva make it an uneven ride, but there are some very remarkably written elevation sequences. Even here few scenes remind us that this is rather a meek gallimaufry of situations from quite a few films in the past like Bageeradha, Brindavanam, Dookudu, Janani Janmabhoomi, Dil, Athadu.etc. The other major highlight of the movie is Madhie's camera that gives an fresh prospective to every shot. The way Madhie handled the long shots post the fight sequences shows his Midas touch. The tunes of the 6 songs composed by Devi Sri Prasad are fine while "Charuseela" and "Jagore Jagore" are expected to be the chart toppers. The background score provides all pep needed for this film. The movie is a little lengthier at two hours forty three minutes and towards the end loses the plot forthright. The final appears hurried and looks out of sync with the flow of the narrative. Editor Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao could have easily cut short the film by 20 odd minutes. Production Values of Mythri Movie Makers" are grand.Director Koratala Siva's Srimanthudu has every ingredient that you ask for from a commercial entertainer. From action, romance, humour, melodrama, songs, dance moves to emotional sentiments, there is a bit of it all to make things sufficiently spicy. But only if you go for the film without much expectation, Srimanthudu may turn out to be a watchable fare at best. The film's real trump card, is Mahesh Babu who has given a tremendous performance in the lead role. But the directorial lag is evident in many scenes even though Koratala Siva just manages to make them engrossing. On the whole, Srimanthudu will surely be a treat for the actor's fans despite being tagged as a social themed film, the movie has some good emotional sequences which will touch fans hearts.

Harsha (Mahesh) is the son of a very rich businessman (Jagapathi Babu). He meets Charuseela (Shruti) who tells a hidden truth about his life. That changes Harsha forever and he lands in a village. He adopts the village but faces problems from the local politician Sasi (Sampath Raj). How Harsha overcomes all those troubles and achieves his goal forms rest of the story.One cannot imagine any other actor as Harsha. Mahesh gets into the skin of the character and takes every scene to another level with his spellbinding performance. There are different shades to this character and Mahesh does justice in every aspect. His handsome looks and charismatic styling adds value to the character. Watch out for his performance in the penultimate scene.Shruti got an author backed role. She is extremely good in emotional scenes. Jagapathi Babu looked stylish as a rich father. He is quite impressive in the scenes with Mahesh. Rajendra Prasad is natural in a very important role. Vennela Kishore and Ali tried to add some fun to the proceedings. Sampath Raj and other villains are aptly cast.Shruti got an author backed role. She is extremely good in emotional scenes. Jagapathi Babu looked stylish as a rich father. He is quite impressive in the scenes with Mahesh. Rajendra Prasad is natural in a very important role. Vennela Kishore and Ali tried to add some fun to the proceedings. Sampath Raj and other villains are aptly cast.Koratala Siva's dialogs are another asset to this film. Devi Sri Prasad's songs are in perfect sync with the film. Background score is pretty impressive too. Top notch work from the cinematographer. Editing could have been tighter. Production values are rich.

You could say this movie is Mahesh Babu's Swades (the 2004 SRK film) albeit a little dumbed down. Or a Mirchi (the Prabhas film) rehashed. Yet there can be no denying that Srimanthudu achieves more than any big ticket Tollywood potboiler has in more in that last decade, for the simple reason that it is a drama made like one. In terms of sheer integrity of storytelling, it's reason enough to cheer to not have a Brahmanandam getting slapped for comic relief. Well Brahmanandam isn't part of the movie, but there is Ali and he doesn't have even one cheesy innuendo laden line. No cheesy punch dialogs either.And the first half of the movie actually is part of the movie isn't a prelude to the interval bang but a gradual progression of the narrative flow. The protagonist Harsha is introduced with a song Mara Mara... which sounds like Rama Rama, which establishes his character sketch. True to his name which means happiness, Harsha, chooses to attend the Sriramanavami celebrations organized by the staff working at his billionaire father's factory, giving a family do a miss. When he retorts, "Manakosam pant cheese val Judah manna family NE," to his angry father, it's obvious, this guy doesn't feel at home in his home.Harsha isn't sure of what he wants to do or be but he isn't interested in taking over the reins of his father's Rs 25,000 core business empire. let me earn some respect," (let me do what I feel like) Harsha expounds to his dad. His purpose finds him through the love of his life, Charusheela, a student of MBA in rural development. In the process of wooing her, he stumbles upon his roots and finds himself.So Harsha sets of on a journey of self-discovery to his native village, Devarakota, with his cycle in tow. Moved by the plight of its people who are exploited by the vicious henchman Sasi, our man decides to adopt the village and in the process discovers that his father too was like him. His journey from a rich man's son disinterested in his father's fortune to a village dweller unfolds a little too simplistically but its Mahesh's nuanced portrayal is what makes it engaging and perhaps will resonate with the sections of the audience who share a similar predicament.The movie isn't without its flaws. Mahesh keeps seamlessly shifting gears to become this veritable hulk who can beat up 20 goons without breaking a sweat, for all her well-intentioned purposefulness, Shruti transforms into this object of desire in the dream song sequences, and you could argue about the solution the film offers as being too blah. But let's just say, there is more to like about the film than there is to dis.Last but not the least, the music is easy on the ear and compliments of the mood of the film. Definitely worth a watch.