Rating: 3/5
Banner: Sri Saiganesh Productions
Cast: Venkatesh, Trisha, Saloni, Prakash Raj, Subbaraju and others
Music: Thaman
Cinematographer: Syam K Naidu
Editor: Gautham Raju
Screenplay, Direction: Gopichand Malineni
Producers: Bellamkonda Suresh, Bellamkonda Ganesh Babu
Release date: 14/01/2012
Victory Venkatesh who was seen in family oriented roles is back again with a rather emotional and sensitive tale. This time he is pairing up with his regular favourite Trisha. Let us see how this is
Story:
A remake tale, the story begins with Venkatadri (Venkatesh) who has great respect for Varadarajulu Naidu (Prakash Raj) as he saves his life. However, he keeps getting into fights wherever he sees injustice. To bring some discipline, Venkatadri’s uncle (Tanikella) sends him to Varadarajulu Naidu as his personal bodyguard.
However, Varadarajulu’s enemy Siva Reddy (Kota) wants revenge and he wants to kill Keerthi (Trisha), Varadarajulu’s daughter. Knowing this threat, Venkatadri is assigned the task of protecting Keerthi. But she along with her friend Swathi (Saloni) don’t like the bossy and over protective nature of Venkatadri.
To play a prank, Keerthi starts calling Venkatadri from a private number and says she is in love with him. After few hesitations, Venkatadri starts falling in love with the caller not knowing it is Keerthi. Realizing his true love, Keerthi also falls in love. But what starts as a prank brings a totally different perspective to their lives. How that happens forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Venkatesh has always been good with these types of roles so he has a cakewalk in his performance. His sense of dressing is good and his fitness levels are decent.
Trisha looks simply gorgeous. Her real beauty is seen when she wears Sarees and though her role is quite subdued, she has delivered at the right point, especially the emotional scenes.
Saloni got a meaty and significant role. She has utilised it properly and more than her performance, it is her natural sex appeal and a charm that draws the attention of the audience.
Prakash Raj was elegant and his role is brief but effective. Subbaraju was good. Ali’s comedy was a little controversial but enjoyable. Venu Madhav was funny. Kota did his bit as required. Dharmavarapu, Pragathi, Shravan, Tanikella were there to fill the screen.
Highlights
- Venky-Trisha chemistry
- Song picturization
- Climax
- Technical values
Drawbacks
- Slow Screenplay
Analysis
The film happens to be the remake of the Malayalam super hit with the same title which eventually scored success in Tamil and Hindi versions too. So, this becomes the first setback for the film as the familiarity aspect is very high. Moreover, the talk that focus was kept on comedy is not so because what was there in the original has been reprised and there is no extra dose.
On the other hand, the film runs at a steady pace so those who are seeking some fast paced screenplay will get restless. However, despite all these challenges, the director was successful in packaging the film to an appealing level and infused the commercial elements. The action sequences were filled with high voltage. Care was taken to make the film look visually soothing with rich colours, nice backdrops and gripping cinematography.
On the story front, the film will appeal to the family audience, especially the lady audience. And if one has not seen the original, the impact will be stronger. The entire tale runs on a rather matured level and it goes to show the various angles of love such as sacrifice, selfishness, innocence and trust. Given the fact that the story originates from Malayalam where content is given maximum importance, the commercial and entertainment aspects were not upto the taste of the Tollywood audience. But this is more of a class film.
At the box office, the film might score with the grown ups and it might strike a chord at B, C centres if they don’t look for out and out action entertainer. This is a decent festival treat for the Telugu audience but super hit may not be possible.
Bottomline: Can be enjoyed better if you have not seen the original
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
