Godfather (2022 movie) review


I am a lifelong fan of Chiranjeevi's movies. The fandom started in the early 90s with the movie Gang Leader, and continued till the mid 2000s. I started to watch movies from other languages and industries at that point of time, and Chiranjeevi's increased push into the world of politics made me lose interest in his movies. All that changed when his 150th movie, Khaidi number 150 was released. I watched it on the day it released. The movie was uninspiring though, with the actor reprising some of his tropes that took him to the top, which felt jaded and out of place in a newer context and generation. The worst part of the movie was the character of Kajal Aggarwal, who was in the movie to only be the love interest of Chiranjeevi, despite being half his age, and dance next to him. His next movies, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy and Acharya had a better approaches and did not portray any love interest of Chiranjeevi, but the overall tone of the characters where they are shown as flawless and perfect men does not work well. Godfather is the movie where the learnings of these movies comes perfectly together, with Chiranjeevi still portrayed as a saviour of the masses, but has a dark history that is unfortunately not explored too much in the movie.

The movie portrays a power struggle between multiple characters when the chief minister of a state passes away (murdered as shown later in the movie). The buildup of Chiranjeevi's character before his introduction, and his entry on screen and subsequent interactions are a pleasure to watch for any diehard fan. His character is like a chess player who seems to expect different moves from his opponents, and always seems to have the right countermove to get the upper hand. Even when his opponents seem to put him away by making false allegations against him, he seems to be able to navigate through the tough times by having the right set of contacts and people. The seemingly unanswered questions come together with a reveal at the end, which made me want a movie that talks about his time away and what he did before the events in the movie began. The villain of the movie, Satyadev, does an impeccable job portraying his character, and Nayanthara's acting was also exceptional. Salman Khan does his thing in the cameo, but I don't think anyone thought that it was not a good idea to show him drive a vehicle that he used to mow over some villainous henchmen in the movie. There was one easter egg in the movie, one that anyone could see coming. Chiranjeevi's number on his dress when he is in prison was 786, a throwback to his super hit movie, Khaidi No.786.

I remember my sister insisting that I watched it in the theater since the background score was amazing, and I agree with her assessment. There are no songs in the movie, save for an item number that builds up the climax, and a post credits song, but the background score stood out.

Overall, the movie is an entertaining watch, especially for diehard Chiru fans.

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