Daaku Maharaaj: An Abyss of Cliches

Daaku Maharaaj 

Star Cast: Nandamuri Balakrishna, Bobby Deol, Pragya Jaiswal, Shraddha Srinath, Chandini Chowdary, Urvashi Rautela
Music Composed by Thaman S
Cinematography by Vijay Karthik Kannan
Produced by Suryadevara Naga Vamsi & Sai Soujanya
Directed by Bobby Kolli

Cliches have become so due to their repetition and continuous dependence. In this day and age, when you want to relieve yourself from the burden of carrying the same old templates, if someone still believes in them so much that they cannot think beyond them, it becomes the biggest issue.

Sukoon Se Spoilers… So tread with caution, Daaku’s…

Why does God need to take an avatar?

What if Rama waged a war against Ravana upon Mandodari’s insistence?

What if Lanka actually had a bad king rather than a glorious one?

Why do we make films?

The first question has no answer in Abrahamic religions. Avatars are mostly relevant to Hinduism, and there are instances of them in Buddhism and Jainism. Now, a valley is suffering, and an engineer decides to help them. Okay, the local leaders are too powerful, but your engineer is an IES, a National Officer. Even local leaders would be scared, as National officers can put pressure on the Union Government. Fine, still you wanted a flimsy villain, you did not care for any outside world logic. But at least you need to research a bit before writing to give some sort of realism for us to not question the believability factor. An IAS officer is shown more powerless than an uncharged mobile phone. What if she were powerful yet could not go against her love? How complex it would have been for her to react yet not react in a fresh way? When cliches become your Bible, you end up never questioning yourself, wondering if there can be any fresh take possible.

The second question is the film. With Ram being heir apparent, he would have had to report to Dasaratha about the persistent problems in the kingdom along with a solution. Now, imagine him being tested by Devatha’s with a difficult task, and needing to find a solution by going against Ravana. Sita still follows him, and Rama wages war because the southern tip of his kingdom is suffering, and he kills Ravana in any case. But the interesting part would be Mandodari, who also married Ravana against her father’s wishes, being the root cause.

The third question – Ravana was never portrayed as a king who did not take care of his people. In fact, his rise has given more power to the demons who lived in his Lanka. Actually, Lanka is described as a city of Gods, as it was designed by a God and Ravana just occupied it. His own people never complained about his skill to rule. It’s his own personal choice of wrongdoing that resulted in his downfall. Just imagine him as a cruel one instead. it’s easy to do so. Still, the second and third question answers don’t really excite in this film’s case as it just finds an excuse to elevate its hero rather than giving him a genuine cause of action. Being self-aware is not the problem, but taking everything for granted and trying to convince us that it is the only way, is the biggest issue.

Now, the last question needs an honest answer. From my perspective, two things are important: enough money that helps us to live happily and a reason for us to live! Money should make our lives easier, but if it gets too heavy to handle, it is as good as being wasted. The reason for us to live can differ, but it should guide us with passion. Movies should be treated as that passion that guides us to live and as a very good paying job that lets us live happily. If you just look at it as your job that lets you build assets, then you end up doing similar films. Also, when you’re a good copy-paste director, effectively a writer who borrows rather than creates, you will also treat filmmaking as a job that yields you millions.

Bobby Kolli belongs to the copy-paste category. He wants to just follow what works and create in that zone to escape from failure. Like a student who hopes to find a way to pass and end the torturous exams, he is just excited about being in films and making them but not passionate enough to create an original. You can see many films telling this story and many shots being recreated. Not that we want originality from everyone, but you need at least some kind of gripping narrative that lets the emotions seep in. Bobby fails there too. When water is the key tool, wouldn’t you try to build your narrative around it rather than the kid? Also, what emotion should I feel for a clichéd scene about a villain being a villain even when the premise gives you scope to try something different? A ruthless one or a realistic one would have given Bobby Deol something more to do. How did he get an IAS officer to love him with such an attitude? You can just create a report stating the land is so arid and the dam so costly that those plans won’t work. An IAS officer can easily be used to do many things, and using that power needs to be shown in many creative ways rather than in the same old way. Also, rather than showing how good a person is in flash cuts, you should use consistent screen time for them to grow on audiences. When she knows how cruel her husband is and can’t revolt, why is she bringing engineers? Does that make any sense? A storyteller would have done all that, a copy-paste director won’t worry about that.

If presenting NBK is your only target, you might think about 101 ways and succeed in at least 5. Fans are happy for those 5, but you are responsible for the story, screenplay, and narrative. If you believe that just going for tried and tested methods will suffice, your ambition of building a dam for the future filled with many endeavors will be squashed mercilessly by the same dam of shallowness. Still, the cinematography, production design, and a restrained NBK  did their best to carry the film on their shoulders. While the Daaakoo koo kooo sound is fresh from Thaman, yet he is still not learning the difference between being loud and being annoying. Overall, NBK doing NBK things is slowly becoming a genre, but that was the first reason for the downfall. In the current upswing, if past mistakes are not repeated, then an abundance of creative rainfall in the catchment scripts is an immediate necessity.

Theatrical Trailer: