A strong aspect of Itlu Arjuna is the disability chosen by writer director Mahesh Uppala. The love story woven around it has a good mix of lovey Dovey and emotional moments. Anaswara Rajan plays a chirpy character channeling Genelia Deshmukh and Mamitha Baiju; the young actress delivers a competent act in both comic and romantic scenes. Debut actor Anieesh Reddy gets a challenging role, and he does a fine job in portraying the myriad emotions just though body language. The crime angle with the subplot of 10, 000 crore hawala operation doesn’t fully work nevertheless the movie makes for an interesting watch.

Starcast: Anieesh Reddy, Anaswara Rajan, Vennela Kishore, Bramhaji, Kalaiysaran, Elango Kumaravel and others

Genre: Romance/ action

Writer and director: Mahesh Uppala

Music: Thaman S

Cinematographer: Raja Mahadevan

Producer: Venky Kudumula

Production house: What Next Entertainments

Presenter: Akkineni Nagarjuna

Running time: 2 hours and 23 minutes

In the interviews leading up to Itlu Arjuna’s release Anieesh Reddy and team have described the film as a mix of Kshana Kshanam and Tholi Prema. The film indeed plays out like a mixed cocktail with the love portions taking more prominence in the first half; midway through the plot turns into a cat and mouse game with the lead characters finding themselves in dangerous situations. This mixed thali could have gone completely haywire but Mahesh Uppala along with the cast make sure that the viewers are engaged for a large part

The story of Itlu Arjuna primarily focuses on a former thief and a speech impaired young man Arjun (Anieesh Reddy). Anaswara plays Arjun’s childhood sweetheart Keerthi. It begins as a one-sided love story with Keerthi having zero idea about Arjun’s love. Keerthi feels immense suffocation due to her mother’s orthodox ways. Vennela Kishore plays Keerthi’s prospective fiancé; Running parallel to this is a 1,000-crore hawala operation. Mukesh Rushi is Peddana a powerful gangster. How these two tie up forms the main premise of Itlu Arjuna.

A strong aspect of IA is the love story between Anieesh and Anaswara. Whether its Arjun’s one-sided love in the beginning or Keerthi developing a bond with him; these portions give the movie some of its best moments.

Thaman’s music and background score also help in a big way. After some time Thaman seems to be having a blast. The songs and the background score do a fine job in further propelling the romantic dynamics as well as the tense moments.

Among the songs Chinni Chinni and Hai Re make a strong impact. As viewers you root for the couple to have a happy ending. Thaman’s work in the tense moments deserves equal mention. The score in the climatic stretch in particular makes a strong impact.

Mention must also be made of how Arjun doesn’t become a usual larger than life hero. Lots of times Arjun scrapes through with tact and some luck. There is an underlying thread of vulnerability with his love at stake. Anieesh especially shines in the scenes of helplessness and anger.

Anaswara as already mentioned channels both Genelia and Mamitha. This particularly holds true of the comic moments; still, she comes up with a lively act. Some of her reaction shots especially in the second half raise ample chuckles. At the same time, she scores in the emotional moments too.

Vennela Kishore as the prospective fiancé is in good form as well; he contributes to some good comedic moments. Bramhaji as a semi villain deserves a mention too particularly in a scene with Anaswara and Getup Srinu.

Mukesh Rishi comes with his usual towering presence, but the character needed more meat. Elango Kumaravel and Kalaiysaran fare much better in comparison but the crime angle in totality doesn’t fully work.

The film also suffers somewhat from a not so impressive final face off. The characterization of the antagonists could have done with sharper writing; this would have made Arjun’s win even more satisfying.

Apart from Thaman’s score Raja Mahadevan also score with his slick visuals. The final episode in particular with Arjun battling his way out has been fantastically shot. It doesn’t play out like a usual action sequence as the reliance is more on tact than raw physical action.

Final word: Itlu Arjuna is a good launchpad for Anieesh; the debutant deserves praise for not taking the route of a usual larger than life hero.