Film: Magadheera (Telugu).
Cast: Ramcharan Tej, Kajal Agarwal and Dev Gill.
Direction: S.S. Rajamouli.
Exactly 400 years ago in Udaigarh kingdom, there lived a princess Mitra Vinda (Kajal Agarwal), a security chief Kalabhairava (Ramcharan Tej) and the villain Ranadev Billa (Dev Gill).
Predictably, the two men fight for love and interestingly, maverick director S.S. Rajamouli tells viewers the story within the first 10 minutes of the film itself.
Using a marauding Sher Khan (Srihari), the director reveals that the story is about the couple succeeding in their love 400 years later, in the year 2009.
The rest is about how well technology, creativity, imagination and innovation are leveraged to present what is an eye-pleasing experience for viewers.
‘Magadheera’ is not for the weak-hearted, those who do not like the sight of blood and neither is it for those who like movies with storylines that are much-closer-to-everyday- reality.
But then Rajamouli, who has delivered a half-a-dozen hits and is touted as one of the most successful directors of the decade in Telugu cinema, excels in story-telling.
The way he has used the flashback as a flip switch, going back and forth and taking the viewer through a 400-year journey in a jiffy is interesting.
As for the histrionics or acting skills of the lead pair, suffice it to say that there is room for improvement. As the villain a relatively-new Dev Gill does appear to have done a good job and his actions will surely have recall value in the viewer’s mind. The glamour component too, does not lack and Mumaith Khan and Kim Sharma excel. Actually, Kajal the heroine herself does not lack.
RCT, as the megastar’s son is popular as, is mostly wooden-faced and could have shown a wee bit more of expression. In the dialogue delivery too, he could have improved.
However, there are no two doubts about the youngster’s dancing skills and the remake of the enormously-popular ‘Bangaru Kodi Petta’ bears testimony to this.
Adequately-trained by Peter Hein and our very own twin brothers, Ram Lakshman, the hero and the villain do a good job and the fight scenes have come out very well.
Music by M.M. Keeravani does rock, with foot-tapping numbers and the background score by Keeravani and Kalyani Malik is in sync with the mood of the scene.
The magic created by cinematographer Senthil Kumar and the way he makes the camera move is fantastic.
The vast expanse of the Thar desert in Rajasthan has been beautifully-showcased but what one does not understand is the colour on the screen. The sand is almost milky-bluish white!
SURESH KRISHNAMOORTHY