Walt Disney Pictures finally make their debut in Tollywood with their much anticipated production - Ananangaa O Dheerudu (AOD). AOD is co-produced by the legendary Raghavendra Rao, who is credited with some of the biggest Tollywood blockbusters and its biggest stars. His son, Prakash Kovelamudi, who had earlier directed the award-winning children’s movie “Bellyful of Dreams”, comes with this fable of a brave warrior on a mission to save the world from the evil forces. So will Walt Disney’s production values and Prakash’s story-telling sensibilities combine to be a winning combination for Tollywood??? Read on to know more.

What’s it about: AOD has a story that is as old as the hills and can be told in five lines. The evil serpent queen Irandhri (Lakshmi Manchu) takes over the kingdom of Angarajyam after being accidentally released from an ancient curse. Irandhri and her rakshasa followers unleash a reign of terror in the countryside in her quest for immortality. In parallel, Yodha (Siddharth) is a blind warrior who is entrusted the task of protecting Moksha (Harshita), a young girl with divine powers, during her journey to Angarajyam. During this journey, Yodha’s narrates his story of his lost love Priya (Shruti Hasssan) and how he ended up being blinded in her quest. The second half is about Irandhri trying to kill Moksha while Yodha plays the brave warrior battling the odds against him. Will Yodha protect Moksha, will Irandhri attain immortality, Will Priya and Yodha meet again are questions that are resolved by the end of this fairy-tale.

What is Good: The biggest strength of the movie are the stunning visuals in each frame. The art director, cinematographer, SFX team, costumes and make-up departments come together to create a visual fest that takes your breath away. The SFX are on par with a Hollywood production (not surprising because of the Walt Disney connection). The SFX involving Irandhri and her transformation into a serpent are the highlights. In the acting department, Lakshmi Manchu reigns supreme in her characterization of Irandhri. With her voice modulation and body-language, she stands out in every frame and makes the much desired impact as the vicious serpent-Queen. Harshita as the young Moksha scores in her pivotal role as well. The “Adi Gorasarpam’ song is the highlight with its picturisation on Irandhri.

What is bad: The biggest drawback of AOD is that it never rises to a level where it draws you into the characters. You don’t feel strongly enough or involved with Yodha and Priya for the difficulties they encounter because of Irandhri’s evil intents. Scenes follow each other without building a tempo or anticipation about the impending conflict and when the conflict does happen, it gets resolved too easily. The action scenes involving Yodha happen too quickly and easily making it look very predictable despite being shot in a style reminiscent of the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. Siddharth’s characterization of a blind warrior doesn’t rest too easily on him given his physique and so he seems more natural in the romantic or the comic scenes. Shruti Hassan has nothing much to do apart from looking good in the song-&-dance routines while her chemistry with Siddharth is cold. Ali’s vulgar comic track seemed totally forced into the script.

Me Thinks : This movie will definitely appeal to the children because of the SFX and the fairy tale story. Overall, it leaves with you a feeling that the director missed out on the emotional quotient.

Final Point: For all the money spent of SFX, they could have spent some more & digitally erased Shruti’s Tamil tattoo off her back !!!

Click here for Anaganaga O Dheerudu Review 1