Just decide which of these two proverbs do you like the most: absence makes the heart grow fonder or out of sight is out of mind.

Mahesh Babu is hoping for the former. The 'Prince', as he is popularly known among his fans, hasn't had a release since heaven knows when. His last film was Arjun last year. It has been one big gap since than.

Of course, he has got married in the time in between. But he needs a big hit to announce that he is still in the reckoning.

So Athadu is a big, big film for him. It has to be a hit. There is no room for ifs and buts for him now.

Athadu, according to all accounts, is a remake of the Hollywood flick Assassins. The Richard Dainer directed film had Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas.

Here, reports say, the film has been slightly remodeled to roll Stallone and Banderas character. And Mahesh plays that. Of course, Sonu Sood, the Bollywood hulk, is also playing an important role in the film.

Trivikram Srinivas, as a writer, is known to take 'inspiration' from Hollywood films. Now making his debut as a director, he is said to have re-worked Assassins into a slick commercial Telugu entertainer.

The highlight of the film is of course the action sequences. Mahesh Babu himself said this at the audio release function of the film. They have taken extreme pains to get the action scenes right.

Some fight sequences have taken more than twenty days to complete. Such is the seriousness with which they are filming it.

The story roughly goes like this: Mahesh Babu is a hit man for a mafia. But he is actually a good man, who has taken to this work out of sheer necessity.

He is injured during one of his missions in a village and is helped by a local belle (Trisha). She changes him totally. But what happens after that is the story.

For Trisha, too, on a hot streak, Athadu is very important. She needs to prove that she is a consistent performer.

The songs, set to tune by Mani Sharma, have already been lapped up by the fans.

Mahesh says the film has all the elements to attract the masses. The action portions perhaps the most unique as we have taken extra pains to make it look real and attractive. Mani Sharma's music too will be a great attraction, he said.

The question is will it be a bull's eye for the hit man.

Set for mid-August release.