Film: Dookudu
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Samantha, Prakash Raj, Brahmanandam, Kota Srinivas Rao, Sonu Sood, Shayaji Shinde, Nazar, M S Narayana, Dharmavarapu Subrahmaniam, Tanikella Bharani, Subba Raju, Vennela Kishore, Rajeev Kanakala, Chandra Mohan, Master Bharath, Sonia, Supreeth, Shafi, Aditya Menon, Izaaz Kahn, Vinod Jevanth, Bharath, Sudha, Pragathi, Satyakrishna, Rajitha, Vinay Prasad, Baby Shreya Varma, Senthil, Giridhar, Prabhakar, Sravan
Story: Gopi Mohan
Dialogues: Kona Venkat
Music: S S Thaman
Lyrics: Rama Jogaiah Shastry, Bhaskara Bhatla, Viswa
Director of Photography: K V Guhan
Editing: M R Varma
Art: A S Prakash
Action: Vijay
Presented by: G Ramesh Babu
Banner: 14 Reels Entertainments
Produced by: Ram Achanta, Gopichand Achanta and Anil Sunkara
Screenplay and directed by: Sreenu Vaitla
Release date: Sept 23, 2011
CBFC Rating: U/A
INTRO:
Prince Mahesh babu’s Dookudu finally on screen under high expectations as his earlier flicks Khaleja, Athidhi din’t perform well at box-office. This time Prince teamed up with most successful combination Srinu Vytla, Gopi Mohan and Kona Venkat. Let us see how far Dookudu met with expectations.
What's it about!
Dookudu movie opens in times of year 80 with narrating life of Shankar Narayana(Prakash Raj), a local leader with huge mass following. Shankar Narayana is Demi-God to people of Shankar Nagar in Hyderabad.
On journey to attend a function in one of his followers place, Shankar Narayana (Prakash Raj) is attacked by group of rival politicians (Kota Srinivas Rao, Shayaji Shinde) and a mafia leader Nayak (Sonu Sood). Severely injured, Shankar Narayana falls into a coma. His son Ajay (Mahesh Babu) becomes an IPS officer and wins the name of an efficient police officer. On a mission to catch Mafia Don (Sonu Sood) in Turkey, he meets a beautiful girl Prasanthi (Samantha) who happens to be his immediate boss's (Nasser) daughter. He proposes to her but she thinks he's playing games with her. But Ajay suspended by being a victim to tactics played by opponents.During this mission Ajay come to know real conspiracy behind accident of his father and wants to take revenge on it.Meanwhile, Shankar Narayana comes out of state of coma. Now Ajay IPS hatches plan to take revenge on the guys who traumatized his father.
Dookudu is an action packed movie filled with humorous episodes in narration. You can find satires on reality shows and wannabe actors.
Analysis
Dookudu is the first film in the combination of Mahesh Babu and director Sreenu Vytla. While Mahesh Babu is known for his action movies, Sreenu Vytla is popular for making comedy-oriented movies. Though there are plenty of action elements, Dookudu is primarily made as an entertainer and it scores in big way in providing hilarious moments. Sreenu Vytla has stuck to his strength and that is the main strength of the film too.
Basic aim of the story (written by Gopimohan) is to portray the beautiful relationship between a father and son; to show that a beloved son can go to any length or to keep his father happy. Towards the end of the movie, this angle is brought out clearly but the more enjoyable part of the movie, obviously, comedy scenes and Mahesh Babu's impeccable performance.
The concept of reality show is novel idea for a movie and the corresponding scenes with this reality show evoke good laughter. Though Prakash Raj's character is inspired by Germany movie Goodbye Lenin! (2003), the film delves more on indigenous comedy and action elements.
Scenes like - M S Narayana's showreel as a hero, Brahmanandam asking people to vote for him for a reality show, Brahmi confessing to hero Nagarjuna through a pen camera, Mahesh Babu's dialogues delivered in Telangana accent - stand out in the movie.
Remembering Late NTR, ANR, Superstar Krishna and liberal usage of Nagarjuna's name in the movie is also good.
On the down side, the film takes plenty of time to come to the main story, giving more prominence to heroism and romance between the lead pair and also has excessive run time for this kind of story.It needs some trimming. In a nutshell, audiences get paisa vasool entertainment from the movie.
Performance
Mahesh Babu comes out with knockout performance - from his diction, to his body language, to his energy, everything is perfect in the film. As always he looks damn handsome but in this movie, he looks better in every frame. Mouthing dialogues like "Police" with force, delivering Telangana accent with perfection are examples of his fine performance. He is the best star-actor in today's Telugu film industry and this film proves once again.
Samantha looks beautiful but she hardly has any role in the movie. Prakash Raj as good-natured political leader is perfect. The film has plenty of actors but Brahmanandam and M S Narayana steal the show. They actually are strength. Both their scenes are howlarious. Sonu Sood as villain is okay. Sonia plays as a friend to Samantha.
Among the technical members, dialogue writer Kona Venkat wins all the laurels. His dialogues - both comedy ones and one that elevate heroism - are simple superb. Simple dialogues like - Nuvvu Hero Avudamani Ela Anukunnavu Ra..Aa Kallakinda Carry Bags tho - make you laugh out loud.
Taman's music is not that effective on the screen though - De Thadi and Chuli Buli songs are good. His background score is also very loud. Cinematography by K V Guhan is decent but the quality is not consistent. Editing by M R Varma is not smooth. But the film has rich production values.
Gopimohan's script has this angle to showcase father-son relationship but like always Srinu Vytla's touch of comedy dominates the movie and the director once again shows that he can deliver best in entertainment. His success lies in bringing out comedy but he, as a director, has not progressed much. If a director wants to convey message through the film, he/she has to create the scenes that audiences can easily understand it (like in ' 3 Idiots') rather than telling them with an end card. That is where Srinu Vytla fails but his core of strength of comedy makes the movie a winner.
Bottom-line
Dookudu is a good action entertainer that compliments the spirit of this festive season. Contentwise, the film offers nothing new but it provides enough entertainment to keep you engrossed. Mahesh Babu's riveting performance, M S Narayana and Brahmanandam's hilarious comedy, and fine dialogue writing are highlights of the movie. Despite many blemishes, you can enjoy the movie. Go for it.
FINAL TOUCH:
Dookudu is a feast for Prince Mahesh babu fans. First half of the movie is interesting and makes you to think, is it going to be a block buster? It is the dragging and dramatic second half, which turns show down. But enough entertainment quotients are injected. Length of movie should have been trimmed; it is 2:50 min.
