‘Khaleja’ Review-2: Just Average

Movie: Khaleja Rating: 3/5Banner: Sri Kanakaratna Movies Cast: Mahesh Babu, Anushka, Prakashraj, Rao Ramesh, Shafi, Ali, Sunil, Brahmi, Subbaraju, Tanikella, Raghu Babu, M S Narayana, Dharmavarapu, Amit, Veda etc Music: Mani Sharmaa Cinematography: Yash Bhatt, Sunil Patel Editing: Sreekar Prasad Story, screenplay, direction, dialogues: Trivikram Srinivas Producers: Singanamala Ramesh, C Kalyan Released on: 7th Oct 2010 The texture recalls ‘Mrugaraju’. The desert comedy recalls ‘Aata’. Rao Ramesh recalls ‘Magadheera’. Mahesh Babu’s wish coming true recalls ‘Baba’. It’s an inspired movie from all bits and pieces of other movies and lacks in original stuff. The story is about a cab driver Raju (Mahesh) who is worshipped by villagers as God as their savior. They want a savior because the villagers keep dying mysteriously. Raju unleashes the secret behind the deaths and rescues them from all sorts of evils. Subhashini (Anushka) is a girl who loves Raju after some cinematic twists and turns. GK (Prakash Raj) is the antagonist whose selfishness lies behind deaths in villages. Why GK does that? That’s the mystery. The story is completely different and new for both Trivikram and Mahesh for sure. But the handling isn’t with care. Knowingly or unknowingly audience tend to compare ‘Khaleja’ with ‘Athadu’ due to combination aspect. But Athadu is many times ahead of this Khaleja. There is no comparison. Anushka is used just for the sake of female quotient and nothing else. She has got no justified role at all. Some scenes have indeed worked. Anushka runs away from Amith and comes to Mahesh Babu. She says that she ran away from him as he looked dangerous holding condoms with him. Then Mahesh says, “I have no condoms with me. Am I not more dangerouns?” Mahesh says emotionally, “Comedy cheste nene cheyyali. Inkevaru chesinaa oppukonu”. Trivikram tried to repeat his Athadu flavor in some scenes but they failed. One such scene is with Bharani. Mahesh gets down from a truck along with Anushka who si the daughter of Bharani. Then Bharani asks his men to finish Mahesh. The men crack some practical jokes like ‘we are having tea’. That didn’t give right kick to the tempo of the scene. The action episodes are monotonous. Every fight is dealt ruggedly without any concept. Trivikram’s attention during action scenes that he has shown with Atahdu is not seen now. Brahmanandam got wasted. Sunil is good. Ali’s part is entertaining. Raghubabu has a trivial and serious role. Mani Sharma’s music is average. First half is too elastic. The actual story is understood only in last 30 minutes. It is difficult to understand what is happening on screen due to confused screenplay. A straight narration would have helped both director and audience in making and understanding respectively. This is a movie just for time pass but not to quench the thirst to watch a wonderful and captivating one.