'AOD' Review: Graphics Wonder – Content Blunder

'AOD' Review: Graphics Wonder – Content Blunder

Film: Anaganaga O Dheerudu
Rating: 2.5/5Banners: Walt Disney & A Bellyful Of Dreams Entertainment
Cast: Siddarth, Shruti Haasan, Manchu Lakshmi, Vallabhaneni Ram, Baby Harshitha, Ravi Babu, Tanikella, Ali, Brahmi, Subbaraya Sharma etc
Music: Keeravani, Koti, Mickey J Meyer, Salim- Sulaiman
Cinematography: Soundarrajan
Editing: Shravan Katikaneni
Story, screenplay, direction, dialogues: Prakash Kovelamudi
Producer: Devineni Prasad, K Raghavendra Rao
Release date: 14/01/2011

The prestigious Hollywood production house Walt Disney has made its debut in Tollywood along with Shruti Haasan. Let us see how it fared..

Story:
Irendri (Lakshmi Manchu) is a serpent queen who rules the kingdom of Angadesam. She hails from the family of magical witches and seeks immortality. Her mentor reveals about a girl Moksha (Baby Harshitha) who has a divine power in her and drinking her blood would be the solution.

Irendri sends her troops to get Moksha but her bodyguard Yodha (Siddarth) the blind warrior stands as protection. On the other hand, Yodha has got his love tale with Priya (Shruti Haasan) and assumes she is dead.

However, there is a connect between Irendri and Priya. And Yodha’s mission is to take Moksha, the divine girl, to a place to save the lives of many children who get into coma with the poison showered by Irendri’s fiendish troops.

Will Moksha go and save children with her power or she falls in the trap of Irendri? What happens from there forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
Siddarth is a mismatch to the role. He can be good for the role of a prince but he doesn’t have the ruggedness or the masculinity to be a warrior. However, he tried to do his best so efforts were good though result was bad.

Shruti Haasan looks fresh, beautiful, seductive and sensuous. However, she must remember that if she continues picking up roles like this, her career will not last for long. Performance wise, she didn’t have anything to offer except show some oomph in the songs. 

Lakshmi Manchu is the saving grace for the film. Her grandeur and decoration in appearance makes up for any drawbacks and she has given a decent performance given her debut in Tollywood.  Well, there is huge acceptance for her as Mohan Babu’s daughter. She emulated him in a few scenes with her walk and dialogue.

Baby Harshitha is okay but given her character, it would have made sense if she maintained some serenity instead of prancing around like a kid who just comes after the school is over. 

Ram Vallabhaneni seems to have come through recommendation. Ravi Babu looked silly, Ali brought few smiles, Brahmi looks dumb, Subbaraya Sharma has a guest role, Tanikella was brief, the others did their bit as required.

Wonders:

• Historical grandeur of graphics unimaginable on Tollywood screen
• Make up and back ground score given for Lakshmi Manchu

Blunders:

• Blind hero with no macho look
• Dialogue
• Screenplay

Analysis:
First things first, if Prakash is looking to make a career as a director, he must go back to school and learn the fundamentals. For starters, the story must be strong, if it is not then the narrative must be strong, if that is not then atleast the etching of the characters must be convincing. He has failed in all skills department. It looks as if he was focusing on the surroundings and the colorful settings rather than the main plot and the depth it must have. A few observations regarding attention to detail that he must ponder:

• Siddharth’s appearance lacks macho look that is required for this role.
• Moreover his blind portrayal adds no value to the drama but dropped the graph down.
• The scene shows the villain piercing the eyes of Siddarth, where are the scars?
• If it’s a fantasy then the script and dialogues must suit that genre, phrases like ‘Naayala’ ‘Jaffa’ …sounds strange. There is a fluctuation in the grammar, sometimes it is authentic, sometimes it becomes colloquial. ‘nadumu chooste mara phirangulu..’ is term used in a song. Where did this ‘phirangi’ come in such a folklore backdrop?
• The movie runs beyond time and space (!) It is hard to find out the backdrop- Caribbean or Arabian or Siberian or Indian? Well, it’s understood as Fairy Tale and hence backdrop shouldn’t be questioned.
• Good narration is accompanied with gripping screenplay and enticing dialogues. Nothing worked in this movie from start till end.
• The divine girl Moksha is shown just like a normal school girl and hence her characterization lacked value.

The decorum given for Lakshmi Manchu was good but given that packing, any person would fit the bill easily. The fact that she is Mohan Babu’s daughter, her style of walking brought the connection to the audience but then it will be interesting to see how she would perform in a mainstream cinema.

Overall, the film has got some breathing moments only due to the presence of the visual effects and graphics. This is one of its kind and the first time in Tollywood. Cinematography was just average, dialogues, screenplay were amateur. While the first half is mild, things show improvement in the second half but that is purely because of the visual appeal and since there are not many words spoken.

The box office performance is a question mark. If this film is intended for kids and banking on their patronage, the result of content-weak films like ‘Clash of Titans’ should be remembered here.

Bottom line: Watch it only if you wish you must!!