'Aithe 2.0', written and directed by Raj Madiraju, hit the screens on Friday.  Here is our review of the thriller.

Story:

Abhishek, Kartavya Sharma, Neeraj, Mrunal, Zara Shah, and Mridanjli are a group of friends. The male members are unemployed youngsters.  A bright mind comes up with the idea of effecting banking transactions through an SMS gateway.  The friends form a team and prepare a software app named Eureka.

They approach Avinash Ganguly (Indraneil Sengupta), the CEO of AM Bank.  A ruthless entrepreneur that he is, Avinash deceives the youngsters by stealing the massive idea for free.

Devastated and burning with the desire to teach the CEO a lesson, the youngsters decide to counter him.  But least do they know that the smart Avinash is also getting ready to beat them at their own game on the D-Day.  What is that game and how does it all end?  That's the climax.

Analysis:

One thing that is constant while watching 'Aithe 2.0' is that somebody or the other is caught over-reacting to the situation almost every 15 minutes.  For example, when the youngsters lose to short-circuit the mind-blowing software they have invented, they almost go mad.  Two loud minutes later, the team leader says, "Don't worry, guys!  Everything, the whole coding, the whole thing, is in my brain.  We can recreate it together".  Yes, it's normal to go bonkers when our precious effort goes down the drain, but then there is only so much of over-reaction that you can take.

Consider the villainy of the corporate thug.  The youngsters angrily rush to the CEO to blast him for stealing their idea.  At this, the villain actually takes out a hockey stick for impact.  He beats them up himself.  Had he been a street rowdy or a low-end don or a conventional gangster, it would have made sense.  For God's sake, he is a suited and booted CEO.  We expect him to be different.

This is nothing compared to what happens in the climax.  The corporate scamster of Nirav Modi proportions literally goes searching (almost) for the police and gets arrested.  Wish Vijay Mallya too had such a tiny brain and a big heart.

Coming back to the beautiful, Einstein-type friends.  The villain announces the launch of Eureka.  The inventors take their sweet time to realize that Eureka is the name of their software too, a name they didn't share with the villain.   When they decide to game the villain, they hardly seem to have done their homework properly.  He gets to know of the big mischief the very next morning.  And yes, he is someone who readily falls for a honeytrap.

Every technical breakthrough seems to happen with practised ease.  One of the good guys cracks the AM Bank's system in a jiffy.  Give us a break.

The performances are largely mediocre.  The lip sync is horrible.  This is not to say that the actors have no zing in them.  They may have to live for another day.

Kittu Vissapragada's lyrics are impressive.  But it's his dialogues which are found struggling to make a mark.  Somehow, the amateurish making values do everything in.

Anil Chiluveru's music is good.  Kaushik Abhimanyu's cinematography is forgettable.

Verdict:

A techno-thriller that is at best good on paper.  At least the climax should have been gripping.  Instead, it's sketchy.