Early on in Yatra , Sucharita (Anasuya Bharadwaj in an impressive cameo) walks into Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s house as party workers look on, with disbelief and hushed murmurs. Then, we see her from YSR’s point of view. He’s seated, with his majestic presence lending an aura to the house. Director Mahi V Raghav’s film takes off from the point where YSR is a force to reckon with in his hometown and the surroundings. He has the clout to silence troublemakers, who give way to his vehicle that drops Sucharita back home, in a situation of crisis. Overlooking the enmity her father had nurtured for him, YSR backs Suchitra’s nomination for the by-election.
- Cast: Mammootty, Rao Ramesh, Suhasini Maniratnam and Ashrita Vemuganti
- Direction: Mahi V Raghav
- Music: K
Yatra is less a biopic and more an event-based film, focussing on what led to the defining padayatra that led to YSR becoming the chief minister in 2004. It’s propaganda-heavy and doesn’t hide its intentions. The opening and closing portions are generously laced with photographs and video footage of the leader. And the team hasn’t gone out of its way to do a costume drama, looking to make all its pivotal actors similar to the characters they portray. Ashrita Vemuganti and Suhasini Maniratnam bear uncanny resemblances to YSR’s wife Vijayalakshmi and Sabita Indra Reddy. However, the others bring in their own persona to the roles. Rao Ramesh as the advisor KVP Ramachandra Rao shows the right amount of restraint. The scene stealer, though, is Mammootty. The actor’s innate majesty and screen presence are a big plus to the film. His Telugu isn’t bad too and the occasional accent can be overlooked. Jagapathi Babu and Nasser appear in crisp cameos.
Yatra is just over two hours but it takes time to find its rhythm. The first segment felt like watching yet another eulogising biopic where the protagonist has no character flaws and faces no major hurdles. It finds its direction when YSR finds himself at the crossroads. There isn’t much support from the ‘party high command’ and the ‘ruling party’ is still going strong. The turning point is the scene between YSR and KVP one night when they feel it’s time to do something or it might signal a slow end to their place in politics. The events that lead up to the padayatra with YSR wanting to know ground realities, are well depicted.
The padayatra highlights several issues that changed the course of politics in united Andhra Pradesh. Yatra directs its barbs to the then ‘ruling party’ (without naming it) that built HITEC city and gave sops to MNCs but ignored farmers. Farmer suicides, lack of sufficient pension schemes for elders, health care neglect are all discussed. Though some of the scenes are moving, the film acquires the tone of a docu-drama and gets tiresome. Sathyan Sooryan’s cinematography bathes the frames in dusty browns during the padayatra and his camera angles give YSR the larger-than-life persona. K’s music gets monotonous after a point.
As YSR marches on despite the scorching heat and blisters on his feet, not just the ‘ruling party’ but also ‘the high command’ has to listen. The film handles these sticky situations with humour. The ‘ruling party’ members always wear yellow shirts and its leader is never shown. Only once over a phone call we hear the leader (Chandrababu Naidu) and the hall guffaws, acknowledging the tonal similarities. Jagan, too, is only referenced through a phone call. The tug of war between the hard-nosed ‘high command’ and YSR, again, is brushed with humour.
