'Gopala Gopala' review: Pawan Kalyan as the nonchalant God and Venkatesh make an entertaining team

Film: 'Gopala Gopala'

Cast: Venkatesh, Pawan Kalyan, Shriya, Krishnudu, Mithun Chakraborty, Posani Krishna Murali, Madhu Shalini, Vennela Kishore, Raghu Babu.

Director: Kishore Kumar Pardasany

Stars: 3.5

Has God created man or has man created God? If God is within us, evil too resides in us. What's the line of separation? Well, these are some questions that provoke thought.

Like the recently-released Hindi film 'PK', 'Gopala Gopala' too challenges blind faith. Venkatesh gets under the skin of the character - a believer of humanity - with panache. He is helped by a stranger-turned-friend Pawan Kalyan to go through an arduous case against the idea of God's existence. Simply put: he drags God to the Court. Meanwhile, Posani Krishna Murali brings more laughs than expected; but Shriya as a dutiful wife doesn't contribute much.

Watching the two actors light up the screen, who, for many years have starred in successful remakes, is a nostalgic tribute. Kalyan's entry is no less than Krishna's metaphoric lessons during the Kurukshetra war. He also helps Venkatesh deal with hypocrites.

Educate people via such films and immediately a stupid mob cries 'ban'. Maybe that is the reason filmmakers are still trying to drill the idea - 'beginning and end are the acts of god' - into our minds. Even here, where God-loving is pitted against God-fearing, you can easily understand that sentiments lean toward the latter.

But does God really live in the temples, or within us, the human souls? 'PK' and 'Gopala Gopala' profess the same belief that God is not an outsider. We do not know if God will come down to help us and heal our wounds; we do know that the people we respect and love will stand by us through hell and beyond.

That's where the faith lies - exactly the cause for god lending a hand to a sincere human in his dark times in Kishore Kumar Pardasany's Telugu version of the Hindi 'OMG - Oh My God!' God Pawan Kalyan with a charming smile confesses that dharma supports rightfulness; however, in no manner, does it mean to curb the will to criticize religion and its beliefs.