Kathanayakudu (2008 film)

The plot tells the story of two childhood friends: Balakrishna and Ashok Kumar. Balu stops at nothing to make his friend happy. As time passes by, they take different paths, and Balu becomes a barber in a small village called Siricilla. He marries Devi and has three children and leads a happy life. However, his finances are poor and he is often led to the door of Dharmaraju, the financier. He has tough competition from the smarter and more clever Shanmugam, who has a salon opposite his shop. Balu is a man with self-respect and honesty. His life continues the same until one day there is news that a film shooting is going to happen in a place near their village and the hero of the film is superstar Ashok Kumar. The news spreads rapidly, but Balu hesitates to reveal himself to be a friend of Ashok Kumar. However, people around Balu learn about their friendship, and suddenly those who have been ridiculing him start doing favors for him—only to meet Ashok Kumar, or at least watch him from outside. Balu is hesitant to do what they want, and soon people start shunning him. Balu faces poor treatment even from his children. At last, Ashok Kumar publicly acknowledges Balu as his childhood friend who made him a superstar, and he meets Balu.

Guest appearances

Special appearances in the song "Cinema Cinema"

(in order of appearance; reused footage from Kuselan)

The soundtrack of Kathanayakudu was released on 30 June 2008.[11] The soundtrack consists of five songs. The song Cinema Cinema commemorates the 75th anniversary of Telugu cinema. Footage of Suriya, Khushbu, and Sneha and archival footage of famous superstar actors N. T. Rama Rao (popularly "NTR"), Akkineni Nageswara Rao ("ANR"), M. G. Ramachandran ("MGR"), and Rajkumar are shown with each chorus of this song. The verse alternates between clips shot of an actual movie crew filming on location, intercut with real-life superstar actor Rajinikanth — who plays a fictional superstar actor in this film — spoofing blockbuster movies such as Zorro, Lawrence of Arabia, House of Flying Daggers, and the James Bond series.[12]

Rediff.com gave the film a rating of 2+1⁄2 out of 5 stars and wrote: "P Vasu conceives everything in a larger than life canvas keeping in sync with the image of the superstar he is directing. And while he seems to have gone overboard by moving away from the original, Kathanayakudu is worth a watch for the touching last moments."[13] Jeevi of Idlebrain.com rated the film three out of five and wrote that "The plus points of the film are Rajnikant, Jagapati Babu and a heart touching climax. On a flip side, a better screenplay and a faster narration would have helped the film tremendously".[14] A critic from 123telugu also rated the film three out of five and wrote that "Go to the movie, if you want to see a film with a good script, good performances and a sentimental climax which will definitely bring a tear to your eye. Another very good family outing".[15]

• Kathanayakudu at IMDb