Yatra Movie Review

✅ Fact Checked

Yatra is a biographical drama film based on the life of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. The film features Malayalam superstar Mammootty in the lead role. Jagapathi Babu, Rao Ramesh, Suhasini, and Anasuya Bharadwaj appeared in prominent roles. Vijay Chilla and Shashi Devireddy produced the film under the 70mm Entertainments banner. Mahi V. Raghav directed the film. Yatra was released worldwide on 08th Feb 2019.

Yatra Story

The film starts with the early life of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (Mammootty) through newspaper articles during titles. The ruling party, Mana Desam, calls for advance elections considering that the opinion polls are in favor of them and the opposition party is weak. YSR stands against the decisions of the high command of the party during several decisions and this angers them. An incident triggers YSR to take a bold decision of traveling across the state on foot to interact with the general public to understand their problems. What he learned and what he did forms the crux of the film.

Story Analysis

Yatra has a wafer-thin plot driven by docu-drama-style narration. It is indeed a bold decision to make a biographical drama based on a padayatra. There is no scope for commercial elements. The director made a good decision to narrate an emotional drama instead of forcing either action or comedy into the film.

First Half

The first half begins with political conflicts and a hopeless situation for the opposition party. This eventually leads to the dilemma of YSR to give up on politics. These elements added depth to the story by establishing the purpose of padayatra. However, showcasing the problems of the public from the beginning could have made it effective. As the film progresses, they take the approach of showing one problem at a time and adding a solution through the manifesto. This seems like propaganda at the expense of drama. Moreover, the film strives to show both ruling and opposition parties in a bad light. It takes two conflicting ideas that the public had a lot of problems and that they favored the ruling party. Many of these scenes are unnecessary and doesn’t add any value to the script. The interval sequence is good but it doesn’t help the story structure.

Second Half

The second half mostly deals with the determination of YSR to fulfill his promises. The entire second half runs on 3-4 sequences of public suffering cross-cut with the politics. The expertise of the editor helped the film to gain momentum. However, the majority of the film lies flat without any highs and lows. There are several hero elevation scenes but they don’t intensify the story.

The major problem is that everyone (at least Telugu audiences, considering that it’s a multi-lingual film) already knows the climax. It is a major spoiler and the film depends heavily on the screenplay. Moreover, the positive aspects of YSR were never discussed in detail. YSR won every election he contested and stood up against the charisma of NTR during the 1983 and 1985 elections. Instead of belittling ruling and opposition parties, the film could have glorified such aspects of his life. Overall, Yatra is an engaging drama for audiences who like documentary-style narration.

Performances

Mammootty is terrific as Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. His powerful screen presence coupled with subtle acting takes the film to the next level. The film goes against the regular commercial portrayal of the lead character by showcasing him as a soft-spoken person throughout the film. Mammootty portrays heroism through his performance without the need for action scenes. Rao Ramesh may not appear as a key character but his presence is felt throughout the film. His expressions perfectly carry the mood of the scenes. Jagapathi Babu is a good choice for the role of Raja Reddy. Anasuya Bharadwaj plays a brief role. She delivers a memorable performance.

Technical Analysis

The script of Yatra is above average which develops over a simple line. The dialogues are terrific and convey the message through simple expressions. The production values are great. The producers spent lavishly to rope in prominent actors. The cinematography is an asset to the film. The music elevates the mood throughout the film. But the background score appears to be overdone during some scenes. The direction is superb. Mahi V. Raghav has a very good understanding of cinema and he made sure that Yatra lives up to the expectations. He can effortlessly pull off a commercial film.

Conclusion

Yatra is a biographical drama that tries to bring back the glorious election campaign of YSR without giving any credit to the Congress party. The film has serious political propaganda that may not appeal to everyone. However, the fans of YSR and YS Jagan will enjoy every minute of it. But as a regular film, it is a one-time watch for audiences who like the drama genre.

Yatra

Director: Mahi V. Raghav

Date Created: 2019-02-08 11:00

Editor's Rating:
2.5
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Author
Pavan Teja
Pavan Teja is a content writer with experience in various topics such as films, politics, health, fitness, beauty, religion, science & technology, make money online, english to telugu translation, etc. He previously worked as Telugu film analyst and is currently working as an assistant director.

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