Here we go again. Violence, gunshots, killings, blood bullets, celebrations. Stunts, shoot outs, escapes. You have seen them all ever so many times that you begin to sympathise with the guys and gals who have made this their career and are called upon to clear the same files in office every day.
For a story: there is this crazy war
lord Bhagwan (Jackie Shroff) and his lieutenant Jai (Pavan Kalyan) who would
make Crusoe’s Friday blush with modesty. For conflict, there is Kulkarni (Atul
Kulkarni) an aspiring Don out on a prowl and at home the infant terrible: his
son Muna (Adivi Sesh).
There is need for body display so we have Jahanvi (Anjali Lavania) caressing
her own body as if the camera is a voyeurist. She is obviously too bold and too
much body to be heroine so get in Sandhya (Sara Jane Dias) for some gentle
drizzle and a soft romantic number.
Exit script writer, re enter stunt man. One long service of fights bullets and
suddenly the script drenched in blood has corpses all around and as you yawn
Vishnu Vardhan decides to give you a break.
In the idyll village away from the violent Bengal where blood was oozing till
now, our star pair get space, time and script to romance. In the absence of our
Bengal Friday, power equations change fast, time for the under dog to get the
better of Bhagwan. Floor crossing, more bullets glass splinters. Our script
writer and stunt man are going through the revolving door. They take the script
their way depending whose turn it is to be in according to the revolving door.
Vishnu Vardhan believes alteration is entertainment. The narration swings like
a pendulum between violent city and romantic village. Travel futile, he decides
to export violence into the village. For assistance he has the aid of an
enigmatic Paparayudu (Brahmanandam).
Having dealt with a schizophrenic
script, the script takes one final leap into mayhem and destruction. Just when
you thought Bhagwan and his strained perversity is catching up with Friday, it
is the recently empowered Kulkarni who returns to the script with a near army
full of guys, guns and swords. After a stint of violence at Camp Kulkarni, the
scene shifts. By now you have lost count of the guys dead. The numbers are as
interesting and happenings as criminal as the Satyam accounts. Friday through all
this floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee and of course behaves like the
star he is.
Now we have a climax with a High Ham Bhagwan and cool shoot Friday pelting
bullets and a confession which says : a film by Vishnu Vardhan.
It is tragic that we believe time and again that a film like this is enough to
take on the gullible audience. With absolutely not even a pretentious moment of
originality you yawn your way thorough. You cannot even take a quick nap
because of the bullets and the blood. In the midst of all this there is Pavan
Kalyan who does more than his best to restore a semblance of sanity to the
proceedings. Even if you are not Pavan Kalyan fan, you heart goes out to him
and his restrained performance. Leave alone a Panja – the film maker does not
even have a gentle hold on the film and that is its undoing.
L. Ravichander