Shirdi Sai

I was shocked at the negative reviews given by imdb. Raghavendra Rao's movie "Shirdi Sai" was certainly one of the best movies made in 2012. The movie has lots of devotional value. Nagarjuna has acted brilliantly as the title role. Even the other cast did a good job. All the stories mentioned in Satcharitra were true. Only the biggest flaw was the comedy track which was too loud and boring otherwise everything else was in the right track. The music by Keervani was the best. He's one of the best music directors in the south especially for devotional films. I recommend all the Baba devotees to watch this film and feel Baba's presence.

Story - It is the compilation of some life events of Shirdi Saibaba. Performances - Firstly, Nagarjuna excels in the role of Saibaba. He has got very little to do till climax, but then he carries the whole climax on his able shoulders. His performance in those (climax) scenes is just terrific. Watch out for these scenes - 1) Saibaba tells to his followers and devotees that, he's got a call from the Almighty, he has to go and he would return in a couple of days. In this scene, Nagarjuna's performance is superb. 2) The entire climax. Nagarjuna is just outstanding. His maturity and versatility come into picture in these scenes. These scenes depict why he is the only best choice for devotional movies. Another best part about him is, he did not imitate Vijaya Chander. Rather he did it in his own style with his own interpretations about his character. Others like Srikanth, Rujutha Desmukh, Sharath Babu and Kamalini Mukherjee did their job nicely. Comedy by Shayaji Shinde, Ali and Dharmavarapu tests your patience. Sri Hari is irritating. Music - Music by M.M.Keeravani is good but he could not repeat the magic of Annamayya and Sri Ramadasu, though. Other Departments - Art work, Photography are fine. Editing is good though there few lags in second half. Dialogues - Dialogues written by Paruchuri Brothers are sometimes very good and sometimes inappropriate. Story & Screenplay - Story is nothing but the compilation of some life events of Saibaba. Screenplay is not fluid. Direction - Direction is the worst part of this movie. It is not engaging enough. The connectivity between two scenes/incidents is missing, many times. Hence there wouldn't be a smooth transition or flow in Shirdi Sai, unlike in the cases of Annamayya and Sri Ramadasu. Hence this might appear like more of a documentary than a feature film. His tendency to insert poorly written cheap comedies in devotional movies is again visible. Final Piece - "Shirdi Sai" is definitely not on par with "Annamayya" and "Sri Ramadasu". Keeravani couldn't come up with an enthralling score, but his work is good though. Raghavendra Rao's direction is best to be forgotten. The only person who could give the same output as "Annamayya" and "Sri Ramadasu" is Akkineni Nagarjuna. He just steals the show, especially in the climax episodes. Watch it for him, without expecting another "Annamayya" and "Sri Ramadasu".

Raghavendra Rao should have stopped with Annamayya. But then, he thought that he had already mastered the art of making period films and made a couple more - Sri Ramadasu and Shirdi Sai. The former was merely watchable while the latter isn't. The life and times of Shirdi Sai Baba of Nashik is not an easy subject to make a movie on, I will give you that. Apart from getting a solid cast & crew together, the director has to deal with the complexity of bringing the characters to life as well as depicting a credible picture of the world at that time in history. Raghavendra Rao succeeded on both counts with Annamayya, but with this one it looks like he has made an amalgamation of sub-plots & side-characters which do not piece together to make it whole. And credibility is of utmost importance. Most of the scenes were clichéd, painfully in-the-face and lacking in conviction. Looked like the actors were merely playing a part for which they were being given a paycheck for rather than actually portraying the characters' true selves. For a long time I have admired Nagarjuna's boldness and screen presence, but over the past few years one only sees a fading star still struggling to keep his name among the movies piling on at the box- office. Sharath Babu, Srikanth and others have some rare moments that bring back memories of some of their previous roles, but again nobody succeeds in making an impression. The original - 'Shirdi Sai Baba Mahatyam' was much more convincing and inspiring than this haphazardly put together rehash. Its my belief that when you try and depict characters like Shirdi Sai, Ramakrishna and Vivekananda (people who have inspired generations) on-screen, you have to make a supreme effort overall to merely make the film seem appealing. With all due respect to Raghavendra Rao, the effort does not show, if there ever was one in the first place. A disappointing film for all Shirdi Baba lovers.

Trailer—Shirdi Sai