Khaleja Review

Khaleja

Cast : Mahesh Babu , Anushka, Prakash Raj and others
Director : Trivikram Srinivas
Music : Mani Sharma
Writer : Trivikram Srinivas
Releasing date : Oct 7, 2010
Genre : Action, Drama

Rating : 2.5/5

It Is About

A film that answers a lot of questions. For instance, why Mahesh Babu chooses to
do the same over and over?

The plot…

The film kicks off in Rajasthan (Why the film starts there is later revealed. The
fascination of shooting a desert seems like a more genuine reason than what
the film tells us about why we are there). The entire first half seems like a typical
Trivikram screenplay which had been messed around by commerciality. The film
is stagnant almost through the first installment as a series of imposed comic
episodes take their toll.

The film’s central intension of a hamlet waiting for God to show up to save them
for the increasing deaths arrives at the end of the first half. This is when a stabbed
Raju (Mahesh) is spotted by the Shafi (the Shiva devotee sent out to find the
savior). After the rather Magadheeraish sequence the film is at its entertaining
best in first few minutes of the second half as Raju tries to disprove to the
villagers their belief in him to be God.

Clichés of usual commercial cinema are in plenty as the second half moves on and
we arrive at the end which sort of reminds us that this is ‘no special movie’.

What’s good?

The visual sense of the desert sequences in particular were breath taking. Even
though the film’s visual as a whole is very glamorized (very Telugu), it still stands
out.

What could have been better?

Trivikram’s dialogue brush has not lost its wit, but, is getting sucked into patterns
and repetitive patterns at that.

The action episodes are as Mahesh as possible with that touch of Trivikram to

them. With more money comes the need for more action and less brains to the
script.

Do films really need all those songs?

Actors.

Mahesh tries real hard to get into a new sort of extravagant persona and fails
miserably. May be he should just stick to the only thing he knows, just staring
here and there, not much talking and the smile now & then.

Prakash Raj, Anushka and the other usual set (Ali, Sunil etc) do as told.

The Shiva devotees – Shafi and Rao Ramesh were somewhat of a relief in the
acting department.

Verdict.

What’s bold about this film is that they give out a straight statement stating that
the hero is God. The protagonist does nothing new; it’s just that they’ve answered
the long unanswered question of how these dudes do all that.

The film’s visual might cheat you into ‘looking for reason’. Abandon that and it is
an easy