While watching Umamaheswara Ugra Roopasya, we get carried away with the seamless narration, only to root for the furious protagonist to emerge victorious at the end.
Protagonist Mahesh (Satya Dev Kancharana), who owns a studio given by his father Manohar (Raghavan), ekes out a living by shooting deaths, marriages and other functions of the townsfolk. Downstairs is a shop owned by bone setter Babji (Naresh), an elder-brother figure for the simpleton hero. Babji’s daughter Mithila (Kushalini Pulasa) and apprentice Korra Suhas (Suhas) fill Umamaheswara’s small world.
The trigger to the main plot is provided by a minor cycle accident caused by village elder Nancharaiah who hits a fruit vendor causing his merchandise to fall on road and later grabbed by the passing-by school kids. The frustrated fruit vendor goes home, hits his wife, who happens to be the sister of Babji.
Babji, who could not hear his distressed sister’s SoS on phone, goes to a kiosk to recharge his phone. A minor scuffle there leads to a fight, drawing in Suhas and Mahesh too during which Joginath (Ravindra Vijay) thrashes Mahesh black and blue.
Feeling mightily humiliated, Mahesh vows not to wear slippers until he pays back Joginath in kind. Meanwhile, Mahesh’s love interest Swathi accepts the US alliance her father brings, marries the guy and flies off, inflicting more pain on the hapless hero.
Mahesh, on learning that Joginath went to Gulf in search of work, visits his home posing as a friend to know when he will be home. He gets acquainted with Joginath’s feisty sister Jyothy (Roopa Koduvayur) when she visits his studio to get herself photographed so she could take part in a magazine’s cover page picture competition. Jyothy ridicules Mahesh’s photographs and his lack of skill which moves him to hone his photography skills with inspiration provided by his veteran photographer-father.
With the fighting skills learned from a Kung Fu master (Sridhar Reddy), Mahesh finally defeats Joginath (who returns from Gulf) in a climax fight, mainly to make him know ‘pain’ as his father suggests. The film comes to end with Mahesh requesting the permission of Joginath on hospital bed to take the hand of his sister Jyothy in marriage.
The movie is devoid of any pretentions or artificial glitz, sticking to the natural beauty of Araku and its people. A remake of a Malayalam film, it never makes the viewer feel out of touch with either the people or the environment. Conversations, appearances and situations are so natural that you feel that you are on a journey with the characters. Aided by a strong script, Satya Dev essayed his role with ease while Naresh does a cakewalk playing Babji.
Appu Prabhakar’s cinematography, though largely succeeded in capturing the beauty of locales of Araku, could have been better. Satya Dev was found wanting in emotional scenes. Flash Mob scene is excellent and editing is good. Songs and music go along with the splendid visuals. Costumes are perfect. The age of the hero is supposed to be around 30, but Satya Dev looks older for his role, especially when paired with Jyothy.
Save some minor and negligible exceptions, director Venkatesh Maha ‘injected’ the movie into the hearts of audience with his charming sequences, stunning picturisation and superb cast.
