Movie : Dookudu
Rating : 3/5
Cast : Mahesh Babu, Samantha, Prakash Raj, Dr Brahmanandam, Kota Srinivas Rao, Sonu Sood, Shayaji Shinde, etc.
Banner : 14 Reels Entertainments
Story: Gopi Mohan
Camera: K V Guhan
Editing: M R Varma
Co-producer: Ramesh Babu
Presenter: Krishna Productions Pvt Ltd.
Music Director : S Thaman
Producer : Achanta Gopichand, Achanta Ram & Anil Sunkara
Director : Sreenu Vaitla
INTRO:
Putting an end to the year-long waits of the public, one of the big-budget and highly-anticipated releases of the season, Dookudu finally saw the light after jumping all the hurdles. Charming Prince Mahesh Babu is seemingly looking daring and dashing. Sexy Samantha is no appearing less than an angel, thus mesmerizing the youths. Srinu Vaitla’s success rate and promising hilarity are pulling crowds to theatres. The host of comedians and supporting actors are serving as drawing factors too.
PERFORMANCES:
The show-stealer, Mahesh, is back to sweep you off the floor. And, he looks dashingly amazing and daringly fresh as Ajay. His comedy timing, surprisingly, changed for the better and is convincingly extraordinary. The Telangana accent, in particular, that he splashed in few scenes is truly awesome. This is definitely one of the best performances, with respect to comedy timing, that the Prince has delivered. His dancing moves too improved and the fights are mind-blowing. To put in a sentence, the whole film is a one-man show of Mahesh Babu. Samantha is gorgeous in her outfits and hairstyles. She decently fits into her role of Prasanthi, the love interest of Ajay. She isn’t hot to define, but delightful to watch. The dubbing suited her well and the lady is good on the whole. However, she has nothing much to do in the first-half what with Mahesh dominating all through.
Brahmanandam plays an awe-inspiring character with negative shades. Especially, his SMS request is splendid and so his comedy sense. He is at his usual best. Vennela Kishore leaves an impression every time he appears on screen. Nassar is appropriate as Samantha’s father. His dubbing sounds weird but he gives out an upright show. Suman plays a regular cop and Shiva Reddy is impressive. Pragathi as Samantha’s mother is apt. Prakash Raj as Mahesh’s father is fitting and not great though. He indeed looked as if artificial at times.
Rajeev Kanakala is just okay and Sonu Sood is average. Kota Srinivas is regular and so is Tanikella Bharani.Chandra mohan and Bramaji suited well in their roles. Sayaji Shinde is passable. Subbaraju and Nagababu are regular. MS Narayan is just awesome…his show reel in the film is a big asset for the second-half. His is spoof ofMagadheera, Simha, Robot and Yamadonga. I’m sure no one else other than MS would have carried out the comedy so well. Master Bharath and Dharmavarapu are decent and Sonia as Samantha’s friend is fitting. Parvati Melton is sizzling hot in the peppy item song.
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS:
KV Guhan’s cinematography is a true asset for the film. He weaves magic with his photography and ensures that every frame looks like a canvas – colorful and rich. I must say, this is the finest camera work I’ve seen in the recent times. Thaman’s music is foot-tapping and renders tunes that are rage for the front-benchers. All the songs are picturized aesthetically. Background music is good in bits and pieces, but exciting mostly. The storyline is run-of-mill and a mix of Pokiri, King and Dubai Seenu. Despite this, Srinu Vaitla gave a lift to the plot with his direction. He handled Mahesh so beautifully and gave him a new dimension through characterization. Screenplay is fine, but slow in many parts during the first hour and the graph has ups and downs occasionally. The humor saves the film in a big way. Dialogues are first-rate and one of the highlights for the flick. Fights are first-class too.
PLUS-POINTS:
Mahesh Babu
Music
Background scor
Bhrami’s SMS request
MS Narayana show reel
KV Guhan’s camera work
Overall comedy
Dialogues
Poovai Poovai & Dethadi songs
Parvati Melton’s item number
MINUS-POINTS:
Loose script
Same old story
Prakash Raj’s character
Samantha
Dragged story
Misfired emotional scenes
Screenplay
ANALYSIS:
The Telugu audiences have been looking forward to Dookudu, for more than a year now. Subsequently, it had hit the marquee with much hype and hoopla. But then, it turned out to be yet another run-of-the-mill kind having been deprived of novelty in the story, which draws inspiration from a couple of earlier releases (incidentally Srinu Vaitla’s works). Despite the makers shunning the reports of it having resemblances withPokiri, the viewers tend to compare the two and find similarities. They realize that Pokiri is repeated towards the end.
Ironically, Prakash Raj is left with nothing much to perform. His role has no strong point and has been made a fool in both the reel and real life. Nonetheless, Mahesh is the biggest asset for the whole act. Vailta ensured the actor carries off the responsibility of the film safely and keeping the fan-base he has in mind. Mahesh’s dialogues in Telanga accent appeared to be force-fitted though they’re fun. Thaman helped a lot in elevating many scenes with his loud background score. The music of course is a treat to the fans. The plot revolves around making fun of character like that in Vaitla’s earlier works. MS Narayana sizzles in the second act with his show reel and is a hit with the audience. Brahmanandam’s SMS request is mind-blowing. In brief, slapstick is a big strength for the movie and so is Mahesh Babu. Boasting of a routine story, the flick might do a decent job at the box-offce for, there are no major releases till Dasara. The admirers of prince will enjoy though.
VERDICT:
To be in particular, the film offers nothing different. It has all the obligatory ingredients to make a sumptuous recipe. But then, Mahesh draws whistles from every individual for shedding his inhibitions. It’s the same old confusion comedy wherein characters are made fools, especially Prakash Raj. Srinu Vaitla proved time and again that comedy is his strength, but surprisingly, Mahesh too emerges as his strong suit in it. The movie has the quintessential Vaitla scenes like humor over booze and et al. Thaman’s tunes are pleasant. Father-son sentiment didn’t work out as expected. The flick seems to be dragged. So watch it with no much expectation.