'GHS' Review: For Cricket Loving Kids

Film: Golconda High School
Rating: 3/5 Banner: Art Beat Capital Pvt Ltd
Cast: Sumanth, Swathi, Tanikella Bharani, Subbaraju, Shafi, Hema, Sivannarayana, Ravi, Jhansi and others
Music: Kalyan Malik
Editing: Shravan Katikaneni
Cinematography: K K Senthil Kumar
Story, screenplay, direction: Indraganti Mohana Krishna
Producer: P Ram Mohan
Release date: 15/01/2011

Sumanth has been trying hard to score a hit and now he arrives with a different treat after a long time. Let us see how it goes this time.

Story:
Set on the backdrop of cricket, the story begins with the Golconda High School which housed the best cricket team about fifteen years ago.

Now, the situation changes and principal Viswanatham (Tanikella) has a big problem. The ground of the school is desired by one of the trustees Kireeti (Subbaraju) and he wants to build coaching centers there to make money.

Viswanatham decides to call Sampath (Sumanth), an ex-student and also a star cricketer during his school. He is given the task of coaching the current cricket team and ensure that they win the inter-school championship. If that happens, then Kireeth agrees to resign from his post. The challenge takes place between Sampath and Kireeti.

Who wins this challenge? What happens to Golconda High School forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
Sumanth has come up with a decent act and as always, he suits best for such roles. If he can choose such scripts, he can create a brand of his own instead of trying for commercial flicks.

Swathi looks starved. Though her eyes and dialogue delivery are attractive, it is her thin reed figure which is a put off. The good side is her performance but the role offered is not of her caliber. 

Tanikella Bharani was elegant and showed the right kind of maturity. Subbaraju was contained and did his bit as required. Shafi was competent and gives few funny moments. Hema, Sivannarayana, Manimala, Jhansi etc do their bit as required and add value. 

The actual heroes were the boys who performed without a hiccup and showed their mettle on the cricket field as well. Their chemistry worked well with each other and this gave life to the film. 

Good Things:

• Theme of the film
• Performances of young chaps 
• BEST DIALOGUE: “salahaalu ivvadaaniki desamanthaa ready..kaani sariggaa aadadaaniki 11 mandi dorakadam ledu”

Drawbacks:

• No sufficient humor
• Not so gripping screenplay
• Highly predictable ending

Analysis:
This is a film which comes across as a novel theme and it will connect with those who love the game of cricket and those who believe in an overall development of their children.

As such, this is written based on the book ‘The Men Within’ so it is a motivation tool for youngsters.

Also, there are important lessons to learn for the students. Overall, the film scores on idea but not on the ideal way of making an entertainer.

On the hiccup side, the film has few clichéd sequences and the second half gets a bit predictable.

But then, such films must be showed to the school going students and publicity must be strong as it deserves to score a hit.  

The movie can make collections only by marketing at schools and intermediate colleges. Only the cricket loving kids may enjoy this film out of heart but not for all. How Cricket or any other sport can bring overall development in students should be projected in a more convincing manner.

The people those never incline towards cricket also have got captivated watching ‘Lagaan’. But this film fails to captivate the elders those like Cricket as well.

Bottom-line: Idea is good….but could be dealt ideally

(Sirasri can be reached at sirasri@gmail.com)