Released Date : 11 Aug, 23
Avg. User's Rating : 3.5/5
Story: An innocent man Shankar (Chiranjeevi) and his sister Maha (Kirthi Suresh) move to Kolkata hoping for a better future. But nothing seems to happen.
Review: Meher Ramesh tests both his luck and your patience with this Telugu remake of Ajith-starrer Vedalam. The film that promises to be a commercial potboiler feels like a mishmash of three different stories. What's worse is that all these stories are outdated at best and cringe-worthy at worst.
Shankar (Chiranjeevi) comes to Kolkata from Hyderabad to enroll his sister Mahalakshmi aka Maha (Keerthi Suresh) in an art college. He ends up driving a taxi and meets Lasya (Tamanna Bhatia), a criminal lawyer. Lasya's brother Srikar (Sushant A) falls for Mah even though he himself shares a love-hate relationship with Shankar. And while Meher is busy cracking jokes on Lashya, joining Brahmanandam and Venela Kishore to lighten the mood, something more serious is happening in Kolkata. You see, young girls are being kidnapped around town and thanks to corrupt cops, law enforcement has no idea how to catch the mafia.
The film begins by establishing Shankar as some naive man whose truth seems too good. However, as the film progresses we are shown that all is not what it seems. And if you've seen any Indian film that idolizes the hero, you already know where this is going. It doesn't help matters that the first half of the film moves between multiple tracks, with Mehr showing off something serious, cracking a joke and shoving in a duet song for good measure - because why not. The film doesn't get much better after the interval, the crappy writing doesn't do much to hook you to the core of the film – the women being trafficked and Shankar's relationship with Maha. Some scenes towards the fag end of the film are a little better.
Meher lends a hand to fan service, writing dialogues about Chiranjeevi's stardom, which don't always work. He tries too hard to tip his hat to Ram Charan or Pawan Kalyan. Srimukhi and Rashmi Gautam are brought in only to offend and some of the former's scenes with Chiranjeevi will bring you back. This film has a lot going on, but none of it lands. Mahati Swara Sagar music is the best. Dudley's cinematography, however, helps the film.
Chiranjeevi does his best to breathe life into his character but he can only do so much to elevate an old film that offers nothing of the novel. Keerthy Suresh, reliable as always, portrays his role well. Tamannaah's dubbing needs to be better, but the actress does well in acting. Sushant A, Murali Sharma, Brahmaji and others are doing well. Tarun Arora, Sayaji Shinde, Ravi Shankar and Shawar Ali needed better characters to make an impact.
Bhola Shankar suffers as the transitions between different parts of the film are jerky, not to mention, the writing required a deft hand. Even Chiranjeevi and Kirti are not enough to save the day.
