At the heart of Bhagavanth Kesari lies the relationship between Vijji (Sreeleela) and Bhagavanth (Balakrishna). Joining the list of jailers & their children across masala cinema in 2023 (a happy set of coincidences, I assume), Vijji, the daughter of a jailer played by Sarathkumar, grows in the foster care of Bhagavanth after her father’s death. We do not try to guess Bhagavanth’s age (why would we do any such thing while watching Balayya onscreen) but we do get an answer in the present-day portions of the film when Balayya declares he is 50. The fact that this line was met with cheers across the theatre is worth taking note of, with regard to understanding how to write roles for our senior actors in this day and age.
We also learn about Katyayani’s (Kajal Aggarwal) age early on in the film. She is in her mid-30s here though, not having received the decade-long concession Balayya gets. Despite being saddled with the most insignificant and poorly written role in the film — with her “I am a psychologist” shtick being an unenthusiastic encore from Catherine Tresa’s character in Iddarammayilatho — the actor’s romantic angle with Balakrishna is largely a relief. This is not a romantic film, and the presence of a love story in a film is not as damningly mandatory as it was, say, in the 90s. So Anil Ravipudi uses Kajal as a glorified prop, but not before mining this faux romance for a few laughs.
From the winky-eyed humour evident in Balakrishna calling Kajal “aunty” to the dark comedy seen in Balakrishna killing a guy because he did not like his teeth to a bunch of political sidekicks keeping a female politician in their ragtag group only because she speaks English, the comedy in Bhagavanth Kesari is subdued but interesting. The director also works some of Balayya’s internet/fan culture jokes with equal amounts of silliness and restraint (“jubilee hills, banjara hills, maa chicha kodithe medical bills” made me chuckle). Anil Ravipudi is also more calm this time around. He knows that the star he is working with is larger than life from the get-go. And it is with this assurance he surges forth and designs Bhagavanth as someone self aware and emotional, which is rarely what we get to see in films like these. Atleast one half of his character works that way, while the other half plays to the gallery without blinking.
Bhagavanth Kesari, or atleast one-half of him in the film, is easily one of the most humble roles of Balakrishna in recent times. The world he is from, where he calls himself adavi bidda a lot, is not exactly novel (think Pawan Kalyan in Bheemla Nayak and NTR Jr in RRR), but it achieves its own grooves and meaning in the presence of a new star. There was a certain apprehension I felt about Telangana being used as a mere backdrop, and though Bhagavanth Kesari does not hold a candle to the kind of Telangana-centric films we have seen from filmmakers native to the region, it also feels validating to know that Telangana is now a part of a film with the most mainstream star at its helm. Anil Ravipudi commits to the new milieu, and the casting of Telangana actors like Jeevan and Muralidhar Goud, who have so far featured in smaller films, was a heartening sight.
A major part of Bhagavanth’s heroism lies in the way he strives to make Vijji (Sreeleela) join the armed forces. He pushes away a marriage proposal for Vijji because the prospective father-in-law is dismissive of her aspirations. Bhagavanth also schools an army school instructor equally dismissive of female applicants in his academy. There is a touching (though somewhat conveniently shoehorned) monologue on good touch and bad touch. There is also a line about how girls need to be raised like lions, not deers.
A major part of Bhagavanth training Vijji is also to make sure she loses her anxiety and stops getting panic attacks. One can debate whether this Dangal-meets-The Accountant arc fits the norms of textbook feminism or not. But after six back-to-back successful films, most of which involved parodying women senselessly, to see Anil Ravipudi use the platform his success has given him to put forth this message, is something else. Bhagavanth Kesari is middling at its action portions, a place where masala films are at their most gung-ho mode, but the impact of its serene disruption of traditional masculinity, not to mention its reinvention of Balakrishna will stay on. Here’s hoping there is more of them, wherever they are coming from.
Bhagavanth Kesari
Cast: Nandamuri Balakrishna, Sreeleela, Kajal Aggarwal, Arjun Rampal Director: Anil Ravipudi
