Mallepuvu is one of those movies which leave you wondering on what was going through the director’s mind while he shot the movie. Mallepuvu is an amateur production that fails consistently in all departments be it script, technical values or providing basic entertainment. The saving grace in this is Bhumika who would have been in the only reason you would have gone to watch the movie in the first place.

What is it about: Here goes..... Koti (HariKrishna) and his sidekick Samundra (the director of this flick which makes him give himself equal footage) are working as construction laborers (wearing designer outfits!!!) who are a part of a bigger group where everyone yells at each other instead of working. A new entrant to their group is Malleshwari alias Malli (Bhumika) who comes there disguised as a man (very very unbelievable…given her delicate looks) and soon our hero flips for her. All this time, we have the cops & some goons walking all over the city looking for her. Soon she gets kidnapped which leads Koti on her trail. By the end of the movie, the trail leads from a brothel to Bangladesh to an entire family involved in bomb-attacks, to jihad seeking terrorists, to cell-phone triggered bombs, to a crass item number!!! While the first half doesn’t move at all, the second half decides to compensate by going all over the place while trying to fit in every masala element in it. And yes, before I forget there is comic sub-plot of a total of three scenes with Venu Madhav which has no relevance to the rest of the film!!!

What is Good: Bhumika, Bhumika and Bhumika...She is the only one reason that can make you sit through this movie. Despite a sketchy character & no support from anyone else, she still manages to leave an impact. Good considering that she has no dialogues in the first half of the movie.

What is bad: Where do I start since almost all cinematic elements in the movie are bad. The story is sketchy & the screenplay is non-existent in the first half. The editing is shoddy with random cuts while the cinematographer decides to light up some shots in soft-focus without a reason. The rest of actors scream their way through the movie with some real bad dubbing. Most of the actors are wooden while Harikrishna desperately needs to get some acting lessons and a stylist before he starts his next movie. Maestro Ilaiyaraja provides decent scores which really do not create the magic expected from him.

Me Thinks: This is one movie that can be safely avoided. When the audience has a choice of watching movies that are entertaining and slickly made, Mallepuvu comes out as a tacky and amateurish movie. The audience was actually laughing at some of the illogical situations. Bhumika needs to be more careful while choosing her heroine oriented roles in the future esp after Anasuya established her credentials.

Tailpiece: The director Samundra could have easily done away with HariKrishna & cast himself in the lead role since he is there in almost every scene shadowing the hero except for the songs. He also inserts his photo while the credits roll at the start so that the audience sees him before the hero makes his entry Maybe another Bhagyaraj or Subhash Ghai in the making!!!