Krishna Vijay’s Asura (2015) Movie Review

Krishna Vijay’s Asura (2015) Movie Review

Starring: Nara Rohit, Priya Banerjee, Ravi Varma, Rupa Devi, Satya dev, Madhu Singhampalli and others.
Direction: Krishna Vijay
Producer: Shyam Devabhatuni
Banner: Deva media & Entertainment, Kushal Cinema, Aran Media works
Music: Sai Karthik
Censor Certificate: UA
Runtime: 126 Minutes

Dharmateja (Nara Rohith) a sincere prison officer of Rajamundry Central Jail. Due to his sternness, Dharma often misunderstood as chesty and people in the department call him as Rakshasudu. “Manishi bayata untadu, Kaavi loopala untadu”, and Dharmateja always wannabe poet and wanted to publish his poems with the help of his longtime girlfriend Harika (Priya Banerjee). One fine day, revered – savvy convict Chandrasekhar Kota aka. Charlie (Ravi Varma) gets transferred to Rajamundry Central Jail and he was given death sentence as he brutally murders Rupadevi’s family members. Charlie takes the help of Pandu, and tries to escape from capital punishment. Pandu with the help of Muthyam Reddy (Madhu Singhampalli) pen few plans to escape Charlie from the hangmen’s noose. But things turn around when Dharmateja gets to know about the escape route. Why did Muthyam Reddy support Charlie’s escape plan? Did Charlie escape? Will Rakshasudu win this time? How did Teja tackle this rare convict and the case forms the rest of the storyline.

Firstly, Nara Rohith must be appreciated for selecting this kind of subject for his debut production venture. He does a neat job of playing earnest, powerful Dharmateja’s role. He delivers his dialogues to paragon and ups the massy quotient, but he should have focused more on the stoutness issues as he looks a bit out of shape for this role. Priya Banerjee has very limited screen time, but she looked beautiful in her role. Ravi Varma hurls another shocker at us, with his blast of a performance as venerated convict Charlie. While Madhu Singhampalli affirms yet again that he has immense potential to deliver the goods. Satyadev, Rupa Devi are fine in their confined roles.

There are few real cases convincing spattered around in Asura that makes you believe that director Vijay Krishna holds promise as a film maker. For his directorial debut Vijay has chosen a story that could not even be called conventional. It’s more than a formula in that it throws together two very different rudiments of action films that we have become wonted to over the years in Hollywood. The story tracks the journey of savvy convict who wanna flee from a central prison which is headed by most powerful jailer. The plot line looks arresting but the movie falls real weak on the suspense element in that the man behind the acts is disclosed quite early on. The rest of the story is essentially a rough-and-tumble between two men, and the script looks for excuses to draw up one face-off event after another. The ultimate aim is to pump up all that androgen but the punch is very rarely delivered. The revelation in the climax should have been propped up. But here it looks half-baked and quite flimsy.

To be fair, you expect the film to work on certain degrees and it often does. But unfortunately those levels aren’t much that would make an edge of the seat thriller. Romance seems to be wedged into the narrative in away in which there seems to be no way out. And as much as I am not opposed to romance, I was distraught by the fact it was tardily but surely crushing the real thrills that ought to have been there instead.

The film has been glibly shot, and SV Visweswar makes sure that visually the film retains a freshness throughout. But very rarely do the visuals help a film rise above a very middling script. And Asura is no exception. The music by Sai Karthik is nicely composed, but the songs come as speed breakers to the narration. The background score match the mood of the film. The action choreography does leave a mark as well. Dialogues of the film are one of the major assets of the film. Editing by Dharmendra Kakarala should have been crispier. The 2-hour runtime of the film feel too long. Production Values of Deva media & Entertainment, Kushal Cinema, Aran Media works are fine.

There is always a question as to whether a good intent is reason enough for a film to be considered as first rate. Unfortunately it isn’t and Asura belongs to the category of those films, the principle of which is virtuous, but the execution of which fails the very purpose that it upholds. Asura’s story deserved a much better handling than the one meted out to it. As such as it appears underdone and makes you wish on several junctures that a bit more verve was injected into it which could have made it a thrilling tale.

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