Cast: Nandamuri Balakrishna, Trisha, Radhika Apte, Prakash Raj, M. S. Narayana, Ali, Jayasudha, Chandra Mohan, Pradeep Rawat, Posani Krishna Murali.
Director: Satya Deva.
If it's a Balakrishna film, it's undeniably agreed that there's no scope for logic, gravity, or the sheer amount of stupidity. I'm not saying there's nothing to relish in 'Lion'. There are a couple of worthy gags. In one of the funniest scenes, Trisha orders her lady guards to bash up NBK; NBK immediately whips out his bottle of perfume, and sprays it all over himself. Those ladies (forgettable extras) enthusiastically smother him with love. The bigger joke is obviously NBK romancing Trisha and Radhika Apte in 'Lion'.
My grouse is not about how the masala genre dislodges logic in every situation, it's actually about why it fails to entertain. To some extent, I do giggle when I watch huge cars fly and when the hero emerges from the dead, but if it means continuously defying death in a manner, consciously, belittling the audiences' intelligence, then I'm not impressed.
The storyline of 'Lion' is impressive, Satya Deva, the director, takes a deviation while making a whale out of a kingfish. NBK is a CBI officer who's the upholder of truth, justice, and the like. He is powerful and romantic, too. How else would you explain Trisha singing and dancing with him? Amidst his romance and the path to justice, he finds a case that can bring the whole of the Nation to a pause, because of its girth. He's marching toward the final stage of bringing the culprits to book, alas, the enemies are larger than he had imagined. A chaotic structure of the happenings in the past and the present are used in the screenplay to infiltrate a blob of suspense which works well in the beginning, however, we know who exactly Balakrishna is - Godse or Bose.
We know he's going to win the battle unhurt whoever his enemy is. We just want to see how he does it. That's where the curtain comes down. Good story tarred by a lethargic presentation. Moreover every actor other than NBK is half-used. At the end of it all, it seems like they are merely props in the film.
Oh oh, not to forget, Satya Deva is trying to bring back the '90s with 'Lion'. No, no, not the glorious '90s, it's the garage staleness of the '90s. 'Lion' is inches away from getting labeled a yawn fest. I really want to watch a Balakrishna film that doesn't have him as the supreme power.
Rating: 1.5/5
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