Rating: 3/5
Banner: Harika & Hassine Creations
Cast: Allu Arjun, Ileana, Rajendra Prasad, Sonu Sood, Brahmanandam, M S Narayana, Ravu Ramesh, Kota and others
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematographers: Chota K Naidu, Shyam K Naidu
Editor: Prawin Pudi
Story, screenplay, direction: Trivikram Srinivas
Producer: S Radhakrishna
Presenter: D V V Danayya
Release date: 09/08/2012
Allu Arjun who is desperately seeking a hit has teamed up with Trivikram Srinivas who is also keen to cover up for his ‘Khaleja’ injury. Let us see if both have succeeded in their mission or not.
Story
Ravi Narayan (Bunny) comes from a middle class working family in Vizag but then his dreams and aims are big. True to his nature, he also has a very sharp intellect and street smart nature. A chance encounter leads him to Bittu (Sonu Sood) who robs a bank with his gang. Eventually, Ravi becomes the key witness for the bank robbery and he gets Bittu arrested, this lands his life in danger. He is sent to Hyderabad to stay with ACP Sitarama Rao (Rajendra Prasad) and here he meets Madhu (Ileana) and falls in love. But Bittu escapes from the prison and he vows revenge. What happens after that forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Allu Arjun carries out his role with involvement and since there are not many serious moments, he didn’t have to show much energy levels. One thing missing is his superb dance. This is a letdown.
Ileana is disappointing. All her beauty and charm has vanished and she looks starved and dehydrated. Size zero figure is definitely not for this girl. Her expressive reactions showed some life though.
Rajendra Prasad is perfect. His versatility and the way he gels inside the character and story is appealing. Though he didn’t have a strong character per se, he gave enough push and made his presence felt.
Sonu Sood was upto the mark. As usual, he mixed his performance with some humour and some seriousness. Most of the times, it is his facial expressions and the dubbing which deliver promptly.
Brahmanandam was hilarious, his laid back humour is always funny. Tanikella Bharani was elegant, M S Narayana was apt, Kota was usual, Ravu Ramesh was not used to his potential, Brahmaji was regular. The others like Hema, Dharmavarapu, Raghu Babu and others added to the screen space.
Highlights
- Comedy
- Dialogues
- Pace
Drawbacks
- No emotional peaks
Analysis
There is a drawback in most of the Trivikram’s films. Though one would enjoy watching the film all through, one would always get a feeling in the heart of hearts that something was missing in the film. This feeling would haunt the viewers of Julayi as well. To say rather bluntly, one would get this feeling more often in Julayi than in other films of Trivikram.
In the past, he used to cover up this drawback by adding a strong dose of comedy. But in this film, the comedy element has come down by a few shades. Though the comedy part entertains the audience to some extent, it could not make them involve in the story. Since the viewers get a feeling of irritation whenever there is no comedy, Julayi could not satisfy them completely.
Trivikram wanted to design the role of villain on par with that of hero in all aspects. The story revolves around two characters, who are equally strong physically and mentally and what they would do when they are pitted against each other is the theme of the film. However, the director failed to build up the theme and giving it a tight finish. Though initially it appeals to the audience watching the hero anticipating every move of the villain, one would get bored if the same scenes get repeated again and again. The audience should feel interested but should not get irritated when two intelligent persons fight with each other.
Even in the development of characters, Trivikram fumbled again. This problem arises when the director wants to carry the story forward only through dialogues. That is why Trivikram’s films appear routine and are not able to cross a certain limit.
The storyline is not great, the characters don’t have much strength but it is purely the cat and mouse game which is depicted between the protagonist and antagonist and the gaps filled with some comedy and punch dialogues.
And to sum up, one cannot expect a better entertainer than this from the standard of Trivikram at this juncture. He struggled his level best to make it a mass entertainer but ended up entertaining only A class audience. We have to see how audience receive it finally.
Bottomline: Mind Game
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
