Jeevi rating: 3/5
Punchline: subbalakshmi lechipoyindi
Genre: Love
Type: Straight
Banner: Sri Venkateswara Creations
Cast: Allu Arjun, Sheila, Prakash Raj, Poonam Bajwa, Jayasudha, Subbaraju, Jayaprakash Reddy, Sunil, Chitram Seenu, Srinivasa Reddy, Jeeva, Ragini, Delhi Rajeswari etc
Dialogues: BVS Ravi
Music: Mani Sharma
Cinematography: Vijay K. Chakravarthy
Art: Anand Sai
Editing: Marthand K. Venkatesh
Lyrics: Sirivennela, Ananth Sriram, Chandrabose
Co-Producers: Sirish-Laxman
Presenter: Smt. Anitha
Producer: Raju
Story, Screenplay & Direction: Bhaskar
Release date: 1 May l 2008
Story Neelakanta (Prakash Raj) is a powerful man in his village who doesn’t believe in love marriages. He has two daughters. His elder daughter Subbalakshmi (Poonam Bajwa) elopes with a guy called Babu from a lower class on the night of her arranged marriage. Neelakanta men kidnap all the friends of Babu. Krishna (Allu Arjun) – a happy go lucky guy from Hyderabad – is one among them. Krishna likes a girl called Meena (Sheila) who happens to be the younger daughter of Neelakanta. The rest of the story is all about whether Krishna elopes with Meena or convinces Neelakanta to marry her.
Artists Performance
Allu Arjun: Allu Arjun is pretty excellent in the first half as the characterization in the first half is vibrant and needs loads of energy. He carried the entire first half on his shoulders. His steps in 'elagelaga' song are really cool. He excelled in the emotional scenes in the second half.
Others: Sheila is average in the film. A better looking girl would have added value to the film. Her character is also poorly etched. The comedy by friends gang is good, especially that of Sunil. Prakash Raj is good as the possessive father of girls. Sahaja Nati Jayasudha is pretty good as usual in the limited role given to her as the lovely mother of hero. Poonam Bajwa is adequate. Subbaraju is good.
Story - screenplay - direction: The basic story line is an interesting one. The way director penned screenplay in the first half is good. The interval block is nice. But it is extremely difficult to write screenplay for the second half and director seems to have faltered in the second half. There is ambiguity and a bit of confusion towards the climax and director settled for a tweaked version of DDLJ climax. Direction of the film is good in the first half. But he could not effectively translate the emotions on the screen in the second half. Bhaskar should have worked more on the characterizations. There is no individuality to the character of heroine as she behaves just the way hero wants her to. The characterization of Prakash Raj character is bit confusing in the second half.
Music: Music by Mani Sharma is good. Mani Sharma gave Hollywood texture to the background music (especially the instruments used). Picturization of the songs is pretty good. Allu Arjun's costumes would have been taken care of in 'parugulu teeyake pasidaana' song though the song is supposed to be whacky. The steps Allu Arjun did for 'elagelaga' are excellent.
Other departments: There is not much scope for witty dialogues in the film. But BVS Ravi managed to tickle your funny bones in the first half. Some of the dialogues are natural. Cinematography by Vijay K Chakravarthy is good. The graphics work done to the film should have been better. Artwork by Anand Sai is appropriate. Editing is adequate. Production values by Dil Raju are excellent.
Analysis: First half is good and entertaining with nice ambiance. The movie's tempo goes down as soon as the gang shifts to Hyderabad in the second half. The climax of the film appears little hesitant and ambiguous. The plus points of the film are energetic performance by Allu Arjun and well made first half. On the flip side, the emotions in the second half don't work and the movie lacks soul. We have to wait and see how this film fares at box office.
