Film: Athidhi
Rating: 3.25/5
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Amrutha Rao, Murali Sharma, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ajay, Rajiv Kanakala, Kota, Benerjee, Naazar, Sunil, Brahmanandam, Venu Madhav etc
Editing: Gowtham Raju
Camera: Sameer Reddy
Art: Srinivas Raju
Story: Vakkantham Vamshee
Dialogues: Abburi Shiva
Music: Mani Sharma
Producer: Ramesh Babu
Direction-Screenplay: Surender Reddy
Released On: 18th Oct 2007
Story:
The story of the film opens in Delhi. An orphan boy finds shelter in the house of a couple (Rajeev Kanakala and his wife). Their daughter is Amrutha (Amrutha Rao as a child). They all live happily together for a few days. They name that orphan boy as Athidhi. But unexpectedly, Amrutha’s parents get killed by an early teenage sadist murderer. The guy kills them for not giving sufficient money when demanded on road. Athidhi tries to catch him but his efforts go vain. The killer escapes in masquerade. But looking at the pistol in the hands of young Athidhi , people believe him to be the killer of those wife and husband. Amrutha also believes the same.
After a few years, Amrutha grows up and becomes a painter. She lives with Nazar, the Home Minister’s family. She happens to encounter Athidhi (Mahesh Babu) as her savior. The theme is normal that she falls in love with him. She doesn’t know that he is the same guy who lived in her home for a few days. She takes him to her home later. Then he comes to know that he is at right place. But he doesn’t reveal the fact that he is the same boy. His mission is to put an end to the murderer of Amrutha’s parents. He finally knows that he is Kaiser is the gangster. Who is Kaiser? Where he lives? How he looks? How he operates kidnap and murder deeds sitting in remote? Breaking all these shells takes us to the grand finale of the film. How Athidhi reveals the truth to Amrutha? All this makes the rest of the film. Several twists and turns also appear good in the film.
Performances:
Mahesh Babu is at his best. His histrionics are marvelous. He developed more confidence in dialogue delivery. His dialogues are with full punch and power.
Amrutha Rao is sensible. She has some Manisha Koirala features. She proved to be good performer as well.
New villain on Telugu screen Murali Sharma did well as Ajay Sastry, a police officer. He is very good actor who tuned famous with the Deepak Tijori’s TV serial ‘Rishtey’. His popularity started with the eunuch’s role in Indra Kumar’s ‘Masti’. So far he acted in films like Main Hoon Na, Black Friday, Rewind, King of Bollywood, The Rising.
Ashish Vidyarthi spilled villainy along with laughs. He is given a typical get up in the film with long netted hair. He acted as associate to main villain Kaizer.
But our tall guy Ajay, although present in the film, is not given bigger role.
Cinematography by Sameer Reddy is good in some frames. Especially in the scene before climax where heroine’s sister gets killed, camera worked out well.
Music by Mani Sharma is disappointing this time. Mahesh has been saying, “Mani never disappointed me”. But this time he disappointed Mahesh and his fans as well. Tracks are old and BGMs appear to be routine. The song ‘Rathraina Naaku Ok..’ on Malaika Arora Khan is the only bit that is good.
We recall Malleeshwari to some extent while watching the film in second half. Direction by Surender Reddy is average. It became difficult for him to carry with the long story line of the film. He always kept his mind on bringing depth in every frame but he failed to develop a strong knitting point between the scenes. That’s the part of screenplay where he fumbled. But his effort in thinking something different is understood.
Notable mistake:
In the heroine introduction scene, Melkote explains himself as a bald headed man. But where is bald head for him? Director seems to be inattentive to this dialogue.
Highlights for Masses:
- Venu Madhav’s comedy while asking for hot coffee
- Broken beer bottle episode in Brahmanandam-Sunil scene
- Surender Reddy’s idea in focusing on throat of Benerjee during his death
- Fight between Mahesh Babu and Ashish Vidyarthi, just before the latter’s death
- Death of Amrutha’s sister
Analysis:
It’s a 2 hr 51 minute movie with heaviness in action episodes, subtleness in little comedy and some appropriateness in sentiment. On a whole it turns to be a considerable film but shouldn’t go with the expectations of Pokiri or Athadu. It’s a movie of its own standard.
First half of the film is with action episodes followed by some routine fights and some love track scenes between the hero and heroine. As the film approaches interval, seriousness starts surrounding. Second half is with heaviness of action. Though there is some comedy that is not sufficient.
First half of the film is about 1 hr 23 minutes in length while second half is about 1 hr 28 seconds. The interval bang in the film is interesting. The climax is prolonged. Coming to the comedy track in the film there are two tracks-with Venu Madhav and Sunil-Brahmanandam. They spill laughs for the brief time they appear on screen. But still there is no enough comedy that a commercial flick of this range should have. The film has the appeal to attract masses. Villainy of Murali Sharma is impressive.
The minus point in the film is lack of sufficient comedy, weak music and long story line. The plus point is Mahesh Babu.
The film appeals this way for different set of audiences:
- Masses: They say it’s long film but action part is good. They also say that comedy is good although short.
- Women: They say Sunil-Brahmanandam’s comedy is vulgar and violence is disgusting
- Class Audience: They say it’s heavy
(SiraSri can be reached at SiraSri @gmail.com)
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