Almost all the films that has the word ‘YAMA’ in their titles – from Yamagola to Yamadonga – went onto become decent grossers, thanks to the comedy the word ‘Yama’ allows. We have another film with the same word releasing this week titled – ‘Brahmalokam to Yamalokam via Bhoolokam’. Will this film repeat the tradition the previous ‘yama’ films did? Let’s see.

What’s It About: The film is about Seenu (played by Sivaji) who, thanks to his friend Sobhan Babu (Venu Madhav), chances upon a boon from Lord Brahma (Rajendra Prasad)! The boon is simple - anyone who has the boon will be able to see all the fate or destiny written for people on their foreheads! Sound funny. Here’s more. But using this boon Seenu discovers a truth about himself and his love interest Shwetha (Sonia of ‘Happy Days’ fame). But Lord Brahma has an ultimatum from the great goddess Shakti herself, that he has to get the boon back, because it is against the way world should run. And here starts the fun (?) between Seenu and Brahma!

What is Good: Rajendra Prasad brings divinity to his role as Lord Brahma, the great creator of the universe. His presence is supported well with the visual effects. In most Indian films where gods are depicted, Brahma is seen wearing poor makeup with his other three heads made of clay or plaster of paris. But some really good Visual Effects show us a new Brahma, whose all four heads talk and emote.

Venu Madhav, M.S.Narayana, Raghu Babu, and Aarthi Agarwal in a small role, bring some laughter. It is really good to see Laya on big screen after a long time, even though her role is for less than a minute.

However it is hard to define if a film is really mind blowing when one has to say that the best part of the film is it’s Visual Effects!

What is bad: Over the years, especially in Telugu film industry, we have seen exceptional performances in the role of ‘Yamadharma Raja’, some of which were made memorable by the likes of Kaikala Satyanarayana and recently Mohan Babu. They were so good that the same role essayed by even a talented theatre and film artist like Jaiprakash Reddy seems unconvincing.

The screenplay and the script of the film take a long route to a small line of this film, depending on sometimes cheesy comedy. Sivaji and Sonia share no chemistry at all, and sometimes they even look disconnected from the entire happenings of the film. Their love story is poorly written. Most of the songs and fights add only to the duration of the film.

Technical Departments: Appreciations for visual effects have already been mentioned. Even though the editor tries, the script doesn’t allow any particular feel to the film. Director concentrated more on generating comedy even with the divine characters than safe guarding the vision a title like ‘Brahmalokam to Yamalokam via Bhoolokam’ allows. However he should be appreciated for the vision he had and executed for the main character ‘Brahma’. Also the choreographer who made even someone like Jaiprakash Reddy dance should definitely be appreciated.

Final Point: India has developed exceptional pool of talent in terms of film technology – creating world class visual effects, sets etc. The fact that the works for a film like ‘Golden Compass’ or ‘Gladiator’ are done here is just an example. However, it is shocking that most of the stories are still uninspiring.

I go with two out of five for this film - one for the Visual effects and one for Rajendra Prasad’s acting and characterisation. Watch it only if you want to see how great the VFX work in Telugu industry is.