Mahesh Khaleja- Review

Mahesh Khaleja- Review

Movie Mahesh Khaleja Director Trivikram Srinivas Cast Mahesh Babu, Anushka, Prakash Raj, Rao Rao Ramesh, Shafi, Ali, Sunil, Brahmanandam, Tanikella Bharani

Mahesh Khaleja, with all its hype and hoopla is one of the most awaited films in Tollywood. The curiosity level among audiences and Mahesh fans was more because they wanted to see their favourite hero on screen, having missed him for three years. The striking point is whether Trivikram Srinivas, who gave a cool blockbuster Athadu with Mahesh Babu, repeated his magic this time with Mahesh Khaleja or not.Sitarama Raju (Mahesh Babu) is like Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider. A taxi driver himself, he just descends in a remote village in Rajasthan. His mission is to save the people who are on the verge of annihilation due to mysterious reasons. The population looks towards him for deliverance. At this stage, he meets Subashini (Anushka) and naturally love develops between the two. One Siddappa (Shafi) reaches the village from nowhere to announce to the villagers that their savior has arrived. Before the hero gets to his job for which he has come there, Subashini’s dad (Tannikella Bharani) takes away the girl from the hero, for he wants to deliver her to a baddie GK (Prakash Raj), who wants her to marry his son. Now, Sitarama Raju has two goals before him: to rescue the heroine and to save the village from the threat of annihilation. No doubt, Mahesh Babu is the cynosure of the movie, shouldering the entire responsibility. Anushka, though stayed away from skin-show, with her stony expressions gives a feel that she is not a match for Mahesh. Prakash Raj in a cliched baddie role is stale while Rao Ramesh has won the accolades thanks to his off beat role. The audience who would watch this movie starting with funny episodes and ending as a melodrama will realize that Trivikram Srinivas, who handled the story, screenplay, dialogues and direction, wanted to show that he is a jack of all trades. Though none would dare to find fault with Mahesh Babu’s multiple talents, the problems comes from others, most of whom have just chilled out with regular performance, absolutely away from seriousness, enacting a semi-TV serial like stuff. From the focal point till the finish, the hero turns into more than God for the villagers, but the reasons showed for such veneration fade into illogical ones. Trivikram missed the fire in the screenplay in Khaleja and it meanders aimlessly. Mani Sharma’s music is a big letdown. But for the number with the Shivite touch and another on Lord Krishna, the other romantic and frolicking numbers are non-performers. The background score too does synch with the scenes at most paces. The cinematography is impressive, but of what use? Coming to dialogues, the audiences would sure get puzzled with cascading dialogues from Mahesh Babu, who is known, or say famous, for his one-liners and facial expressions in place of words. Comedy department has virtually no significance in this flick, but it would give a feel that it had nothing to do with the running story. Editing is soggy. The director tried to play havoc with the entertainment factor by jetting in the philosophical touches deliberately and rather in crude manner. The juxtaposition is naturally between selfishness and selflessness. Another minus point is the sudden spurt of mindless violence from the close of the second half till the climax, battering the audiences black and blue.