Srinu Vaitla’s Aagadu (2014) Movie Review

Cast: Mahesh Babu, Tamannaah, Shruti Haasan, Rajendra Prasad, Sonu Sood, Tanikella Bharani, Rao Ramesh, Brahmaji, Brahmanandam and Vennela Kishore.
Director: Srinu Vaitla
Screenplay: Anil Ravipudi-Upendra Madhav-Praveen Varma
Music: Thaman SS
Censor: U/A
Runtime: 165.22 Minutes

G. Shankar (Mahesh Babu), an orphan boy finds shelter in the house of Raja (Rajendra Prasad). Shankar was sent to jail for committing a crime, when he was a kid. He comes out of the jail as an eccentric Police offer Encounter Shankar. He is posted to Bokkapatnam and he decides to clear local goon Damodhar (Sonu Sood) issues with the natives. As Shankar goes about confronting Damodhar’s assistants, he comes across Saroja (Tamannaah) and falls in love with her. At this time, Raja’s son and Damodhar has a small flash back. What would be that past? Did Shankar succeed in eliminating bad elements from Bokkapatnam? Forms the rest of the storyline.

Telling something about the performance of Superstar Mahesh Babu is like a sin. He once again charms his fans with his charisma and he moulds well in this role. His punch lines in Rayalaseema dialect earned huge response. Tamannaah Bhatia tries her best to put up a good show, but her over confidence clearly shows on the face which turns her okay performance into an average one. Brahmanandam, Posani Krishna Murali, Vennala Kishore and Prudhvi failed to tickle the funny bones. The biggest disappointment was Sonu Sood as a villain who never really is daunting nor is even comic. Brahmaji and Rajendra Prasad although present in the film, are not given substantial characters. Nasser’s role is similar to his character in Baadshah.  Shruti Haasan is red hot in ”Junction lo Function” song.

To begin with, Movie is simple, formulaic and too gutless to defy the safe path, Aagadu is made purely with an eye on the box office. It’s a film that puts all its weight on the shoulders of Mahesh Babu, hoping that his charm, stunts, his punch lines and antics would make up for all the creative privation on the part of the writers and director. The story line chosen cannot be said good and the screen play should have been more punctilious. Movie has mainly inspired from Dookudu, Gabbar Singh, Chinnodu and Ontari. As a director, Srinu Vaitla treads the safe path and follows the foot prints of his blockbuster Dookudu, neither daring to experiment nor displays entertainment. Srinu Vaitla has relentlessly parody Mahesh Babu’s previous works, but never really manage to get it right.

Cinematography by K V Guhan is major asset of the film. In fact, it’s his top notch camera angles, lighting and placements which keep you seated till the end. Musically the sound track is not as per the standards of Srinu Vaitla movies. Except for Naari Naari and Aagadu title track, all other songs, simply don’t impress. The background score especially in the action sequences is fairly good. The major drawback in the technical side is fight choreography, every punch and the kick just makes every goon fly away by a mile, totally unrealistic. Choreographer Prem Rakshith worked a bit more on the formations rather elevating the song with his steps. Editor MR Varma could have easily cut short the film by 20 odd minutes. It is a movie with rich production values. 14 Reels did not show compromise in any department.

In all, Aagadu is a half hearted project made only to earn some quick profits. The story is predictable which is fine, but it’s gravely written. There’s not enough drama, action, build up of story and failed to carry emotions. Looking at the track record of Mahesh Babu, Srinu Vaitla and 14 Reels, a very polished, well worked upon and entertaining movie was being expected from the trio. But sadly, we have to admit here, that Aagadu falls way short of what was being projected by the makers. The movie could have been a different experience all together, only if it had an entertaining script, Promising atmosphere, crisp editing and hummable tracks. In the nutshell, Aagadu has less engaging and entertaining moments, hence it turns to be a tedious journey.

Survi Review: 1.5/5

 Theatrical Trailer: