Om Namo Venkatesaya is a devotional musical film that talks about the life journey of Hathiram Bhavaji. He is a devotee of Lord Venkateswara and lived his entire life preaching what he believed. Nagarjuna plays Hathiram's role. The film adds up to the list of his devotional films such as Annamayya, Ramadasu and Shridi Sai.
Before we talk in detail about the movie and the pros and cons of it, we are making it clear that it is not a commercial film that goes by the grammar of usual Telugu film. It caters to a set of devotional fans and the family audience who are devotees of Lord Venkateswara.
Nagarjuna delivers another solid heartwarming performance. His emotions look real. He is the backbone of this biopic, and if not for him, the film might not have conveyed what the director intended to. Anushka makes use of the screen time given to her. Though there is nothing special about her role, she does what was expected. Saurabh Raj Jain portrays the role of Lord Venkateswara and he has done a convincing show.
Om Namo Venkatesaya is a typical old style Telugu film directed by legendary filmmaker Raghavendra Rao. We would say, he was saved by the performance of Nagarjuna. The film deviates a little bit now and then, especially during the early parts. Why is there a glamour song in a devotional film? That was totally uncalled for. There were hardly any fresh scenes in the movie. One of the major drawbacks would be the character sketch of the villain. An overbeaten and outdated style antagonist do not help the proceedings. It has a very simple story and would have been better had it been a little shorter. Many scenes are repeated, and so are many shots.
MM Keeravani lifts some of the emotional scenes through his music. Though the songs could sound stereotypical and old school, the target audience would not have anything to complain about. The BGM is very effective and it is the soul of the film. Visuals, on the other hand, are tacky. Though there are a couple of good VFX work, the overall CGI part is below average.
The film is not for the current generation masala movie buffs but for the elderly audience who enjoy old school devotional films.