Review : Daruvu – Routine fare from Ravi Teja
Release date: 25 May 2012
123telugu.com Rating : 2.75/5
Director : J.Siva Kumar
Producer : Burugupalli Shiva Rama Krishna
Music Director : Vijay Antony
Starring: Ravi Teja, Taapsee, Bramanandam,

Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja has teamed up with Tapsee for the movie ‘Daruvu’. Directed by Siva and produced by Boorugupalli Sivaramakrishna, the movie has released across the world today. Music has been scored by Vijay Anthony. Let us see how the movie is.

Story :

The story of the film is very similar to other Yamalokam films of the past like Yamaleela, Yamudiki Mogudu and Yamadonga. Bullet Raja ( Ravi Teja) is a small time crook with a good heart. He bumps into Shwetha (Tapsee) at a function and falls in love with her. But Shwetha is already engaged to Harbour Babu (Sushant Singh), a powerful local goon. Harbour Babu hatches a plan to finish off Bullet Raja and he succeeds in his efforts.

Bullet Raja heads to Yamalokam, but he realises that his life is unjustly terminated by Chitragupta (M.S.Narayana) and so he picks up a fight with Yamadharma Raja (Prabhu). A hapless Yamadharma Raja decides to send him back to earth into the body of Home Minister Ravindra, who is killed by his associates (Shayaji Shinde and Avinash). After Bullet Raja enters into the body of Ravinder, he must now confront his enemies and fulfill the wishes of his mother (Jayasudha) and his followers. Whether he succeeds or not forms the rest of the story.

Plus Points :

Ravi Teja continues to amaze with his incredible energy levels. His best performance comes when he portrays the role of the Home Minister with negative shades. There is a lot of potential in this fine actor and someone needs to tap that.

Jayasudha gives a terrific performance as Ravi Teja’s mother and the emotional scenes involving her have come out well. Tamil star Prabhu gives a decent performance as Yamadharma Raja. Brahmanandam is good as Vidya Balan and he succeeds in bringing a few laughs along with Vennela Kishore. Raghubabu is good as the corrupt swamiji. Shayaji Shinde and Avinash are ok in their limited characters. Srinivasa Reddy and Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam entertain briefly.

The climax scenes have good emotional quotient and they have been executed well. Same is the case with the Interval block. Some of the comedy scenes are enjoyable.

Minus Points :

Tapsee disappoints in a very insignificant role. She only has a perpetually shocked expression on her face throughout the movie. Her acting skills need polish and she needs to learn to emote.

The film is excessively loud in many places and the length is a tad too long. While Ravi Teja’s pre-interval performance as the Home Minister is good, his performance gets very repetitive in the rest of the film. It is time for him to try something different.

M.S.Narayana is wasted as Chitragupta and his characterization is poor. Same is the case with Sushant Singh. The placement of songs in the film leaves much to be desired, especially in the second half. None of the songs are appealing and they act as speed breakers.

The Yamalokam set and the graphics are atrociously bad and I have not seen such shoddy work in recent times. There is a green mat which acts as the flooring and the visuals give the impression that the actors are standing on uneven ground.

There are many holes in the plot. When your face resembles the face of the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, will you and the people around you fail to see that? The abrupt change of heart shown by Shayaji Shinde and Avinash is not convincing.

Technical Aspects :

Cinematography is not too good and leaves much to be desired. Editing is jerky and care should have been taken here. Background score is bad and music is very poor. It is very loud and none of the songs make a good impression. Director Siva does not make a very strong case for himself with this movie. He succeeds with the climax episode and the interval block but that is just about it. His direction is substandard in other areas.

Dialogues are just about ok. Dances have routine Ravi Teja steps and there is nothing new here. Production values are just about average.

Verdict :

Daruvu is a very routine and unexciting offering from Ravi Teja and that is a big disappointment, given his considerable talent and incredible energy levels. He tries his best to make the film work but there is not much he can do when there are a host of other issues with the film. Poor graphics,lengthy narration and bad music are glaring problems. There are a few good moments in the film, but the key word here is ‘few’. Watch the movie without any expectations only if you are a Ravi Teja fan.

123telugu.com Rating : 2.75/5

Reviewed by Mahesh K.S.

Legend:

5 – Flawless

4 – Must Watch

3 – One Time Watch

2 – Wait for the DVD

1 – Stay Away

    

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