Story - It is the compilation of some life events of Shirdi Saibaba.
Performances - Firstly, Nagarjuna excels in the role of Saibaba. He has got very little to do till climax, but then he carries the whole climax on his able shoulders. His performance in those (climax) scenes is just terrific. Watch out for these scenes - 1) Saibaba tells to his followers and devotees that, he's got a call from the Almighty, he has to go and he would return in a couple of days. In this scene, Nagarjuna's performance is superb. 2) The entire climax. Nagarjuna is just outstanding. His maturity and versatility come into picture in these scenes. These scenes depict why he is the only best choice for devotional movies. Another best part about him is, he did not imitate Vijaya Chander. Rather he did it in his own style with his own interpretations about his character. Others like Srikanth, Rujutha Desmukh, Sharath Babu and Kamalini Mukherjee did their job nicely. Comedy by Shayaji Shinde, Ali and Dharmavarapu tests your patience. Sri Hari is irritating.
Music - Music by M.M.Keeravani is good but he could not repeat the magic of Annamayya and Sri Ramadasu, though.
Other Departments - Art work, Photography are fine. Editing is good though there few lags in second half.
Dialogues - Dialogues written by Paruchuri Brothers are sometimes very good and sometimes inappropriate.
Story & Screenplay - Story is nothing but the compilation of some life events of Saibaba. Screenplay is not fluid.
Direction - Direction is the worst part of this movie. It is not engaging enough. The connectivity between two scenes/incidents is missing, many times. Hence there wouldn't be a smooth transition or flow in Shirdi Sai, unlike in the cases of Annamayya and Sri Ramadasu. Hence this might appear like more of a documentary than a feature film. His tendency to insert poorly written cheap comedies in devotional movies is again visible.
Final Piece - "Shirdi Sai" is definitely not on par with "Annamayya" and "Sri Ramadasu". Keeravani couldn't come up with an enthralling score, but his work is good though. Raghavendra Rao's direction is best to be forgotten. The only person who could give the same output as "Annamayya" and "Sri Ramadasu" is Akkineni Nagarjuna. He just steals the show, especially in the climax episodes. Watch it for him, without expecting another "Annamayya" and "Sri Ramadasu".
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