Anaganaga O Dheerudu brings many firsts to Telugu Cinema. While it is first Telugu film from Walt Disney, Lakshmi Manchu, Shruti Hassan, director Prakash venture into proper Telugu commercial cinema with it. The movie comes with lot of adulation and expectations that it is going to be a visual extravaganza. 123telugu.com tells you more.

What’s it about: A powerful witch, Irendri (Manchu Lakshmi), takes rebirth and causes havoc in a tear drop shaped nation! People are in trouble and one amongst them seeks to brig the help of a kid, Moksha (Harshita), who has been gifted with divine powers. In the mean time Irendri’s weakness of chasing blood for her life drives her to find a solution - immortality. Her evil friends drive her to bring Priya (Shruti Hassan) and Moksha together for a literally ‘bloody ritual’ before an eclipse so that she can gain control over death. Who stands between Irendri and her prey – it is none other than a blind but ruthless warrior Yodha (Siddharth). The warrior seems ‘lost’ searching for easy pleasures but has been assigned to protect Moksha! Can this blind warrior save the special girl from powerful and evil Irendri’s reach; will he finally find his lost love. Anaganaga O Dheerudu raises these questions and answers them in a visual effects filled fairytale saga.

What is Good: From the moment the titles of the film roll, the visual effects are thrilling, till the end. They are easily the best work that we have seen on Telugu cinema screen so far. Most VFX are based around Lakshmi Manchu’s terrifically etched character - Irendri. The lady makes the best of the opportunity coming up with a stunning and powerful performance. She overcomes her accent barriers to deliver her lines as energetically as her famous dad.

Siddharth, as Yodha, gives honest portrayal whenever situation demands in the movie. You feel bad for him because he has to do all the acrobatic stunts according to the visual effects directors but Lakshmi Manchu takes the cake. Obviously the visuals around her get more attention. Shruti Hassan looks charming and little girl Harshita gives a sweet performance. Ravi Babu as Senapathi and the lady who acted as Irendri’s assistant too deserve a mention.

The movie’s story is simple but names like Anga Rajyam, Agartala, Kakasura, Sarpini, Dhruki etc. take you back to the age where you loved books like Chandamama, Bommarillu etc. Technically too the movie does some terrific job, but more about it later.

What is bad: When you see such magnanimous efforts on screen, it is almost heart wrenching to write about the negative side of the movie. Unfortunately the screenplay fails to maintain the intensity throughout its length, like Arundhati for example. Exceptionally done episodes give way to not so interesting scenes, and the beginning half of the second half is a real dampener until the climax saves the movie. Even a specially created character in the climax might seem too cartoonish for our Telugu film aficionados. For a movie titled on a hero, Anaganaga O Dheerudu is more about Irendri’s search for immortality than the hero’s search for his lost love. That is probably its biggest problem. Like Walt Disney’s earlier release Prince of Persia, this film too has all the elements, but somehow seems to lack the ‘special something’ ingredient – intensity and a surprise element. As a result it becomes too predictable.

Technical Departments: : The movie is born out of director Prakash Kovelamudi’s mind and he should be completely appreciated for bringing something as visually appealing. However, the soul and spirit of such movies depends on raising the momentum at every level, and Prakash couldn’t do that successfully throughout the film. Other aspects that might affect the movie’s performance are: Siddharth’s looks – he looks more a warrior from Chinese movies; and the background music – it seems heavily inspired by western films. Together these aspects could raise nativity issues for a typical Telugu cinema viewer. That said, costumes department deserves a tap on the shoulder – they did as good as the art department. The sets and locations are good to look at. Cinematography for such movies is always troublesome, but all marks to Soundar Rajan, who makes way for the aesthetically done vfx. Editing could have been crisper, but that doesn’t take away marks from Shravan, the editor. While the first few action sequences interest, we start losing interest as we see similar kind of stunts again and again. The production values are awesome, and one hopes such productions are made more often in Telugu films.

Final Point: Anaganaga O Dheerudu is a movie for the child in you. Even children movies need intense story telling, but the computer generated imagery in this movie is too good to miss. Watch it with kids in the family. They might thank you, but if you don’t relate to the movie don’t blame us! Happy Pongal!

Click here for Anaganaga O Dheerudu Review 2