Rating – **** (4/5)
Some tales are so beguiling to listen and know of, that it takes a while for the mind to register that this is indeed a true story. Reality is indeed stranger than fiction, and the journey of Srikant Bolla is an apt indicator of the same. A visually impaired man fighting through insurmountable odds to achieve an unthinkable feat – it might seem like just another underdog story but it surely is way beyond that.
Srikant’s entry into the universe almost doesn’t happen but his upbringing isn’t filled with tropes. Rather early in his life, he is bullied like you would expect a kid like him to be but he doesn’t quite fight it conventionally and rather is the bully himself on several instances. That is what sets him apart and becomes a door into what you can expect ahead. Of course, he is faced with hurdles that are beyond one’s comprehension and he overcomes them with his charm, wit, and intelligence. It helps exponentially that he has a mother-like figure in his life, Devika Teacher (Jyothika), who literally raises him and becomes his shield throughout his life. That made me wonder even more as to why didn’t we see the real-life Devika in the end, when the key people in real-life Srikanth were shown. Perhaps she didn’t want that attention.
However, none of this would have translated if not for Rajkummar Rao. He doesn’t act like Srikanth, he transforms into him. Playing a man with no eyesight is incredibly stereotyped in Hindi films but all that is broken into pieces as Rao delivers a performance for the ages. Never caricaturish, never unrealistic – always spot on.
Srikanth also achieves a rare feat of not just being an inspirational biopic with sugar sprinkled everywhere but showcasing the man in question’s negative, or shall I say, more human side as well. He has an ego and is full of himself when he achieves so much, and as someone who is never prone to even say ‘sorry,’ he struggles.
Srikanth dwindles most with the perplexingly rushed, and scattered screenplay of the love track with Rao and Alaya F (Swathi) and even towards the crescendo, where there isn’t much cohesion with its placement. But owing to Rao’s stellar act, a repeated rousing background score of Papa Kehte Hain 2.0, and such a fascinating true story – Srikanth does enough to keep you invested and inspired while also being entertained.