George Reddy Review: Failed to Utilize the Opportunity to tell a Great Story!

Marketed with the taglines “A Man of Action” and “A Forgotten Hero,” this biographical drama bases its narrative on the life of George Reddy. A research student in Physics at Osmania University, Hyderabad, who is a student union leader well-known for his Marxist inspired radical ideas and opposing societal issues like social discrimination and inequality. Directed by Jeevan Reddy, the film stars Sandeep Madhav playing the titular character with Satyadev and Muskaan Khubchandani reprising the supporting roles.

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The storyline of George Reddy begins with George’s humble beginnings in Palakkad, Kerala, and instantly fast forwards to his college days. At the top of his game when it comes to academics and discipline, George also took part in multiple communist based activities. Which included inspiring his fellow students and friends to fight for their rights, and to ‘Raise Their Voice,’ in response to the appalling socio-economic issues inside the college premises.

First off, when you base your film on a powerful individual, who seems to present an awe-inspiring story that has the potential to be displayed incredibly on the silver screen. Every viewer expects the movie to reach its expectations, particularly after watching the director declare that he dedicated five years of his life to research the entire subject. With that in mind, I expected the movie to introduce, establish, and celebrate the titular character more than what it did.

Jeevan Reddy, who wrote and directed the film dropped the ball as far as screenwriting and execution goes, and did not bother to tell a story effectively. Take this film’s distant cousin Aaytha Ezhuthu/Yuva as an example. The character of Michael Vasanth played by Suriya is loosely based on George Reddy. And Mani Ratnam did a fantastic job by making the moments count and elevating his character, which made the viewer connect to the protagonist significantly more.

Contrary to that, Jeevan’s narration was all over the place from the beginning to the end. Most of the scenes didn’t connect and failed to transition to the next flawlessly. Prathap Kumar’s work on the cutting room floor made zero sense as it honestly felt like he did a subpar job piecing together a bunch of scenes and leaving the unnecessary ones for no reason whatsoever.

Additionally, the lengthy 153-minute disrupted the appeal that is left in the film. Adding a romantic angle that didn’t serve any significance was yet another inferior choice on the writer’s part. The same time could’ve been spent to introduce us to George’s family or explore the relationship with his mother a bit more as the film didn’t offer anything rather than a few throwaway scenes here and there. Moreover, the groundless action sequences were a little too much to handle at times, and once again did not carry a strong enough reason to include them in excessive amounts in the first place.

On the more positive side of things, the dialogues, by and large, served competently to deliver a few impactful scenes. The cinematography by Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti was a treat to watch, primarily in a series of action scenes that are shot beautifully. Also, the performances from the entire cast were yet another strong suit for the movie. In particular, Sandeep Madhav was able to transform his half-baked character to gold by carrying himself with a bundle of charisma and aggressive body language that carried most of the film.

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Overall, George Reddy felt very amateurish and failed to captivate and utilize the opportunity to tell a great story. The screenwriting, execution, and the overall presentation went for a toss as the narrative was stuck in the muddle and never tried to make it’s way to the top. For a man who sacrificed his life for the greater good, he deserved better than this.

Rating – 2/5 | Grade – C

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