JOSH: Naga Chaitanya survives while Dil Raju falters

Josh, apart from being a debut of the charismatic Naga Chaitanya could also be a sort of first to Dil Raju, his first failure. Now, this is puzzling considering that Raju not just had no flop earlier but because scripts, which is his strength in all his earlier productions, is a non-starter here. So much so that I wonder how could this script make him take up this production in the first place. But I will return to more of this later. Good things first.

This movie could be watched if you are curious about Nava Yuva Samrat. Naga Chaitanya has a fantastic screen presence. He seems to love this movie game and is very much at ease. His chocolate boy looks and boyish charm are a huge plus. He seems to be at ease in action scenes than in dance movements. He is no match to the dancing young guns like NTR Jr, Charan or Allu Arjun. This movie didn't provide him much scope to act anyway and that's where this movie fails miserably - that this is neither big bang commercial fare that showcased the new hero's talent like Chirutha did for Charan nor is this any thoughtful fare that showed his histrionic abilities. And of course this is miles away from being a director's/scriptwriters fare where every character moves around the script. Not a decent launch for someone with his kind of background. Chaitanya though gives us a glimpse of what he can do in an action movie in those very few action scenes here. He is so good that I just wished he got launched by VV Vinayak! With his looks, he may do wonderfully well in romantic themes too. His boyish charm and his ease with action is a terrific mix for telugu masala fare. The akkineni successor has truely arrived.

The vivacious Kartika performs well within the limited scope she has. The music and the background score is average. Technical work didn't elevate anything in the movie as it seems to have placed all bets on the story and screenplay, which incidentally didn't deliver. Characterizations are disappointing.

Dil Raju could have started honestly with an idea, like those which formed the backbone for his erstwhile blockbusters Arya, Bommarillu and Kotha Bangaaru Lokam. He surely has an eye for talented aspiring filmmakers who develop these ideas, weave in emotions and lots of details for characters, throw in some fantastic, hummable music and deliver an entertaining fare in the end. But this idea here, that of misdirected youth and parental pressures on education didn't really take off. In the end, it fails to impact and may actually make the audience wonder what the real point is! The entertainment is not great either and the movie is boring at times. While the movie takes enough precautions not to be preachy, clarity becomes the casualty and the whole point isn't conveyed properly in the end. Dil Raju must have thought of delivering more effective fare with this same idea but as it happens sometimes,it simply didn't work out. Though, in the end, I hope Dil Raju isn't getting formulaic in his own way - of making sugar-coated message movies. As he says often, let just the script rule. Let Dil Raju remind himself of what he made Chaitanya's character say in the movie - " Messagelu ivvadam naaku alavaatu ledhu, neeku ala anipisthe,..ok,.. naake problem ledhu".