Waltar Veerayya (Telugu ,Netflix)

Rating: 0 stars

In Walter Veerayya Chiranjeevi, age 67, acts as though he is Chiranjeevi’s son Ramcharan. He performs very strange dance movements with chorus dancers who look a quarter his and are only too happy to share screen space with a legend who defies all norms of sexagenarian conduct.

One may argue that Harrison Ford is doing the latest Indian Jones film at the age of 80.But really, there is no need for such comparisons.Chiranjeevi is a much bigger star Harrison Ford. Hollywood can’t ford…sorry, afford him.

In fanboy director Bobby Simha’s Waltar(sic.) Veerayya, Chiranjeevi plays a fisherman and smuggler . Everyone seems to be startled at the mention of his name. Whether it is out of amusement or admiration, no clue.This is the kind of rudderless cinema that seems to be going nowhere at a breakneck speed.

Every frame is splashed with gaudy colours. And the song sound like bereft banshees. The assault on the spectators’ senses underlines a deeper malaise in the content. The screenplay is a pretext to highlight Chiranjeevi’s retro-stardom. The choreography is meant to accentuate the youthful element in the hero.

To his credit Chiranjeevi tries hard to make his fun-outing enjoyable for the audience. But the effort is just as inadequate as Chiranjeevi’s last Godfather , know as Oddfather in some daredevilish circle. Woefully, in Waltar Veerayya the writers and director seem to have little idea of how to be fanboys without fuelling the spirit of fatuousness that runs across the lengthy storytelling.

It bites you in your posterior. And it leaves the hero-worship sentiment pretty much un- attended.Waltar Veerayya gets worse with every shot. After a sloppy stint in Dubai, which includes a ritual slaying of a villain (and involves an elephant and FXs, the former far less clumsy than the latter) and Shruti Hassan who shows up all bruised and battered(probably bumped in the hero’s ego) we have a lengthy flashback where Chiranjeevi dances some more when ‘Mass Maharaja’ Ravi Teja shows up in the mess.

Yes, Teja is also a cast member in this fractured 1970s’ kitsch cyclone which is so wild it needs to be honoured for daring to be so out control .Send it to the Oscars, I say. After Naatu naatu with son Ramcharan the choreography of Waltar Veerayya with dad Chiranjeevi would convince the Americans. We excel in dance movements that must not be tried at home.