Clearing all the air, the much awaited Sekhar Kammula’s ‘Leader’ has hit the marquee amidst huge expectations today. Can the film live up to the expectations?

Banner: AVM
Cast: Daggubati Rana, Richa Gangopadhyaya, Priya Anand, Subba Raju, Harshavardhan, Kota Sreenivasa Rao, Ahuti Prasad, Tanikella Bharani, Suhasini, Suman, Udaya Bhanu etc
Cinematography: Vijay C Kumar
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Music: Mickey J Mayor
Producers: M Saravanan and MS Guhan
Direction: Sekhar Kammula

Story:

Chief Minister Sanjeevayya (Suman) is killed in a landmine blast. As his last wish, he asks his US returned son Arjun Prasad (RaNa) to be the next CM. Arjun’s mother (Suhasini) after Sanjeevayya’s death, first describes Arjun about his father’s corrupt activities, and later tells him to become the next CM to cleanse the corrupted system.

Deciding to become the CM, Arjun plays all political games on one hand, and on the other hand, his cousin and ruling MLA Dhanraj, (Subbaraju), corrupt criminal, already proclaims himself as next CM to all the MLAs.

Arjun eventually wins the coveted position – CM. And later he vows to raise 1 lakh crores (black money) from all public representatives through Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) rides and distribute the money for good governance.

In his mission to change the system, Arjun faces several barriers from his own party members. How far can he sustain these political conspiracies? What’s the path he chose to succeed and make changes? And how did people respond to this transition phase forms the story.

Analysis:

After soft and romantic films like Anand, Godavari and Happy Days, Sekhar Kammula throws his weight behind political fraternity in ‘Leader’, where corruption takes the centre stage.

We saw Shankar’s ‘Oke Okadu’, Shivaji and few other films. And ‘Leader’ is nothing different. Worst – the characters and scenes are purely cinematic and not realistic.

The movie starts on a very slow pace, followed by the drama and interval. And every now and then, hero romances with the female leads. I cannot understand what was the reason behind Suhasini’s death and the scenes following her death. There’s no conclusion.

The film showcases some true incidents that took place after YSR’s death. Worst scenes being TV anchors supporting RaNa directly on air. Pre-interval scene is good and the rest of the film is pathetic and bad.

I know it’s a sincere effort by Sekhar Kammula, but the film is not convincing enough. He lost the pulse of mass audience. Sekhar Kammula’s political knowledge is not sufficient to make a film on politics and should have done more research on political system and its loopholes.

Performances:

RaNa as Arjun looks very elegant, handsome and makes a confident debut. His base voice modulation is good. He aptly fits into the character of a young CM. His on-screen appearance is class, but needs to work more on his expressions.

Although Priya Anand looks bubbly, her role is totally cinematic and unrealistic. Her role doesn’t make any sense, except for the fact that fact that she helps CM. Her romantic sequences with CM are very odd.

Richa Gangopadhyaya looks beautiful. She might have donned another character other than a journalist. At times, there is no link between CM’s acts and Richa’s gestures.

Kota Srinivas Rao was at his usual best. Subbaraju as rival politician did alright, but I really cannot understand why the director chose Subba Raju when there are so many others to pick from? Harshavardhan did a very good job as protagonist’s yes-man. Suhasini and Ahuti Prasad were alright in their roles.

Technicalities:

Technically, there are several flaws in the film. Camera work by Vijay C Kumar is nasty. Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh looks like a mere formality. And I question what he was doing during some unnecessary sequences running for hours. We wonder whether Thoata Tharani’s art work has anything to do with the script. The only grace was the Music by Mickey is awe-inspiring.

The dialogues lack power. For a political subject like ‘Leader’, you must have some powerful dialogues. Comedy is zero. Romantic scenes does not make any sense.

All in all, Sekhar Kammula has disappointed me in all ways. It’s a very very poor film