Daaku Maharaaj review: A mass feast for Balakrishna’s die hard fans

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

Daaku Maharaaj is an action thriller
‘Daaku Maharaaj’ is an action erntertainer. (X)

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)

Bhagavanth Kesari: A Fan Pleasing Entertainer With A Strong Dose Of Feminism

Anil Ravipudi moves away from his regular style of filmmaking and delivers a moving emotional drama. At certain points the film reminds you of Dangal.

Bhagavanth Kesari (Telugu)          

Starcast: Nandamuri Balakrishna, Sreeleela, Arjun Rampal, Kajal Aggarwal and others

Director and writer: Anil Ravipudi

Producers: Sahu Garapati and Harish Peddi

Production Company: Shine Screens

Music: Thaman S

Running time: 2 hours and 37 minutes

Genre: Action drama

Anil Ravipudi is a director who has been successful in making commercial potboilers that are high on entertainment. The director is known for creating characters that come with specific mannerisms resulting in slapstick humour.

However in Bhagavanth Kesari the director opts for a different route. Anil Ravipudi’s brand of humour is absent for most part except for a few scenes involving Kajal Aggarwal. Here he has written and directed a story that has elements which will both satisfy Balakrishna fans and also give a social message through the character of Sreeleela.

Bhagavanth Kesari (Nandamuri Balakrishna) an ex police officer is the foster father of Vijji (Sreeleela). After her biological father C I Srikanth (R. Sarathkumar) dies in an accident he takes on her responsibilities. As a young child Vijji meets Bhagavanth when he was a prisoner in a jail where her father worked. Bhagavanth feels an emotional connection with her right from the beginning.

Vijji’s mother wanted to join the army but she had sacrificed her dreams. Srikanth feels guilty about coming in the way of his wife’s dreams. His biggest wish was to see Vijji joining the army. Here Anil Ravipudi doesn’t use the army angle to evoke patriotic feelings: it is more for Vijji to overcome her anxiety attacks and become a resilient young woman.

Rahul Sanghvi (a Dashing Arjun Rampal) is a power hungry tycoon who firmly goes by the philosophy of Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest. Rahul and Bhagavanth have a bitter past that resurfaces – the usual template between a hero and villain. In a nutshell the story is about how Vijji emerges as a strong woman both physically and mentally and how Bhagavanth helps her to achieve it.

The biggest USP of Bhagavanth Kesari is easily the emotional drama between Bhagavanth and Vijji. Bhagavanth is someone who firmly believes that girls need to be raised like lions and this clearly shows in how he pushes her to do certain things. Vijji’s interests lie more in marrying the love of her life. In these portions Bhagavanth’s attitude reminds the viewers of Aamir Khan’s Mahavir Singh Phogat.

There is a scene where VIjji’s boyfriend comes with his father for the marriage proposal. The prospective father-in-law has a very dismissive attitude of Bhagavanth’s aspirations regarding Vijji. He says that it’s enough that Vijji becomes a good housewife and mother. Bhagavanth gets angry and kicks him, a typical Balakrishna gesture. Naturally Vijji gets annoyed and starts treating Bhagavanth as a stranger. As viewers we empathize with both these characters.

Anil Ravipudi also makes some important points about good touch and bad touch through a rousing monologue by Balakrishna. Here again the emphasis is on how girls should be raised courageous like lions.

Arjun Rampal exudes the right amount of swag and ruthlessness

Bhagavanth Kesari benefits immensely from the performances of Balakrishna and Sreeleela. Balakrishna delivers a mature performance without going overboard in the emotional scenes. The actor’s Telangana diction is also commendable. Of course he satisfies his fans in the flashback portions where he plays to the gallery. There is an important passage in the film’s pre climax when Bhagavanth lets Vijji do all the fighting for a particular reason. Both Anil Ravipudi and Balakrishna need to be given credit for how they let Sreeleela take the center stage.

Known for her glamour roles Sreeleela springs a very pleasant surprise with her performance. The actress does a wonderful job in showcasing the transition of Vijji. She also proves to be a good action heroine convincingly taking on the baddies. Arjun Rampal as the antagonist exudes the right amount of swag and ruthlessness. It is a not a very innovative character but Arjun makes it work.

Anil Ravipudi, the director known for creating characters that come with specific mannerisms resulting in slapstick humour

One of the threads that don’t quite work is the one featuring Kajal, his love interest. She plays a supposed psychiatrist. Her track doesn’t quite jell with the narrative. Another mild issue with the film is the flashback of Bhagavanth Kesari that glorifies his brutal methods.

Bhagavanth Kesari is a welcome break from Balakrishna’s hyper masculine Akhanda and Veera Simha Reddy; A welcome sign of his transition from macho hero to father hero.