It is Telugu cinema’s veteran K.Raghavendra Rao’s 100th film and the launch of Allu Arjun, producer wizard Allu Aravind’s son and nephew of superstars Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. However these giants of the industry can do little to redeem Gangothri, which is another love story that lacks heart or soul.

The story is set against the fierce Rayalseema faction fights. Neelakanda Naidu (Prakash Raj) is a factionist leader whose only daughter Gangothri (Aarthi Agarwal) is in love with Simhari (Allu Arjun), the son of Narasimha (Suman), the right hand man of Naidu. The lovers are childhood sweethearts and their romance grew as they grew older. One day the love birds are caught red handed by Neelakanta Naidu and this creates a rift between him and his lieutenant. Naidu bombs Narasimha’s house, which results in his son taking revenge. He vows that he will marry Gangothri within one year!

The story is downright ridiculous and unbelievable. But it is the fiery Prakash Raj who steals the thunder as the factionist leader, while debutant Arjun has a long, long way as far as acting goes. Aarthi looks pretty as usual and Keeravani’s music is melodious. The song “ Nuvvu Nenu Kaliste…” is picturised well on Aarthi.

In spite of all this Raghavendra Rao fails to lift this adolescent love story, as there are no major twist in the plot. At least using the divine Ganga as a leitmotif he could have brought some more symbolism imagery into the film. Instead he has his trademark apples, flowers and lots of belly-buttons!!

Verdict: Below Average