Bobby Kolli’s ‘Daaku Maharaaj’ doesn’t break any grounds in terms of the story. It is a tried and tested good versus evil saga somewhat elevated by Balakrishna’s star power.
Daaku Maharaaj (Telugu), 12-01-2025, Action, Drama, 2 hours 30 minutes, U/A, Theatre
- Main Cast: Nandamuri Balakrishna, Bobby Deol, Shraddha Srinath, Pragya Jaiswal, and Chandini Chowdary
- Director: Bobby Kolli
- Producer: Suryadevara Naga Vamsi
- Music Director: S Thaman
- Cinematography: Vijay Kartik Kannan
- Rating: 2.5/5
Bobby Kolli’s Daaku Maharaaj plays out like an unabashed love letter to the crazy fan following of Nandamuri Balakrishna.
Balakrishna’s connection with the masses is undeniable, regardless of whether you like the actor or not.
Bobby Kolli uses the connection to the hilt to keep the viewers invested.
Synopsis
In simple terms, the story of Daaku Maharaaj focuses on a civil engineer turned vigilante. The movie initially presents Balakrishna as Nanaji, a driver. However, Nanaji’s real intentions are different.
His true mission is to protect the granddaughter of the tea estate. The family is under threat from MLA Trimurthulu Naidu (Ravi Kishan).
Nanaji quietly eliminates the gangs related to Trimurthulu Naidu. Things take a dramatic turn when Nanaji’s real identity comes out.
Balwant Singh Thakur (Bobby Deol) is informed of Daaku Maharaaj’s reappearance—the second half shifts to an origin story.
Before becoming a vigilante Balakrishna’s Sitharam was an upright civil engineer. Sitharam’s aim was to bring water to the withered area of Sonapur in Madhya Pradesh. This area is ruled by the demonic family of Thakurs.
Bobby Deol’s Balwant Singh Thakur is the youngest among the brothers. The rest of the story focuses on the transformation of Sitharam and his connection with the granddaughter of the tea estate.
A showreel for Balakrishna
It goes without saying that Daaku Maharaaj is mostly a showreel for Nandamuri Balakrishna. The actor’s screen presence coupled with his histrionics is what makes the movie watchable even when the plot enters into an utterly mundane zone.
The actor’s delivery of punch lines is definitely something that hardcore fans will enjoy. He does a very good job of portraying Sitharam’s transition from an honest civil servant wanting to solve the problems of Sonapur through government methods into a vigilante.
A scene which deserves a particular mention is a breakdown portion in the flashback involving the death of a girl. The quire in the voice coupled with the tremble as he talks about the horrific death brings out the actor in Balakrishna.
Both Shraddha Srinath and Pragya Jaiswal make their entry in the second half as the spouses of Bobby Deol and Balakrishna respectively.
Both of them make their presence amply felt particularly Shraddha Srinath as the honest collector who goes against her husband. An emotional sequence between Shraddha and Balakrishna before the death of her character is hugely poignant.
Bobby Deol as the thoroughly aristocratic Thakur with zero emotions makes for a suitably cruel villain. He gets the patriarchal nature of an upper caste bigot to perfection, his confrontation scenes with Balakrishna like the pre-climax sequence are deadly.
Flaws
A major problem with Daaku Maharaaj is its tried and tested formula of good versus evil. The movie comes with zero surprises for those who have grown up on commercial Telugu cinema. The beats of the story become very predictable.
The movie also suffers on account of too much fan worship. The fan service gets nauseating after a point giving little enjoyment for the neutral audiences.
Daaku Maharaaj also suffers from the mostly flat characterizations of the supporting cast. Able comic actors like Satya and VTV Ganesh are given very little to play with. The likes of Shine Tom Chacko as a wacky cop on the hunt of the Daaku start off promisingly but end up being majorly sidelined as the movie becomes a celebration of Balakrishna’s aura.
Technical aspects
Apart from Balakrishna’s performance, Vijay Kartik’s cinematography is also of a good standard, the Chambal portions of the second half showcase his prowess as a cinematographer.
Thaman S’s songs don’t help the movie much but his background score is pulsating, it perfectly complements the cinematography of Vijay Kartik in the Chambal portions.
Final take
To sum it up Daaku Maharaaj is strictly for the hard-core Balakrishna admirers, the ones who worship the actor and watch movies only for him.
(Views expressed here are personal, edited by Sumavarsha Kandula)
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