Not up to Puri's standard

Story: Corruption has been so prevalent in India. There are few honest people who fight against it initially but unfortunately get threatened and killed or in the fear of losing family members they keep quiet. ISM story starts on corruption issue.... a newly built apartment collapses on heavy rains. A honest journalist Dasardharam (Thanikella Bharani) reports the issue and provides the details about the people behind that corruption. Unfortunately that news doesn't go to print edition but lands in the hands of the corrupt builder. He goes with goons and hurts the journalist and threatens that if he attempts to report anything to police then he will kill his son. Out of fear journalist Dasaradharam keeps mum.

Now the movie location is shifted to Dubai... Javed Bhai (Jagapathi Babu) is a mafia don... kingpin in Indian politics and corruption deals. Sulthan a.k.a Sathya Marthand (Kalyan Ram) is a street fighter who makes money with illegal fights and betting in dubai. He has a habit of smoking kareem beedi (local raw tobacco beedi from AP, India)... coincidentally Javed Bhai also has the habit of smoking the same kareem beedi. Once they meet up at a beach and makes up a quick friendship.

Alia Khan (Aditi Arya) is daughter of Javed Bhai. Romance blossoms between Sulthan/Sathya and Alia. While this is happening someone breaks the details of corruption and corrupted politicians on an online portal in the same lines as wikileaks. That sets the theme of the movie. How can we eradicate corruption? Do we change the person or the "thought' of corruption itself? In the rest of the movie director Puri tried to provide a solution in his style... but not up to his usual mark.

Performances:

Kalyan Ram had a complete make over in this movie, changed his hair style, built six-pack, improved his diction, performed with ease. His performance at pre-climax is excellent. I'm totally impressed with him in the movie. This is Aditi Arya's debut movie. She did good in her limited glamor role. Vennela Kishore did a small role as hero's sidekick. Ali tried to evoke laughter as marriage broker. Posani & JP acted as corrupt politicians.

Behind The Screen:

Story, Screenplay, Dialogs and Direction are by Puri Jagannadh. He is the kartha, karma & kriya of this movie. I missed Puri's usual mark in this movie. Music by Anup Ruben's is OK... ". 'kanulu neevayina... ' is the only melody that you will remember when stepping out of the movie. Excellent photography by G. Mukesh. Production values and quality by N.T.R. Arts (Kalyanram's own banner) are high.

Commercial Analysis:

During my childhood days there were lot of 'erra cinemalu' made by Madala Rangarao, Saichand, Kodi Ramakrishna, T. Krishna etc. They too used to address social issues and provide a radical solution towards the end of the movie. Whether it is feasible or not is secondary but they used to give a 'kick' when stepping out of the movie. ISM movie touched a very important subject 'corruption'. Approach to address it and the solution taken is also good but it's disappointing to see a senior director like Puri err'ing on execution. There are lot of cinematic liberties taken, people can excuse them had it been handled properly. There is inconsistency in the precautions taken by protoganist/villian/heroine when hiding their identity. Such inconsistencies spoiled the movie. Pre-climax & Kalyan Ram's performance in climax are the only saving grace. Over all a disappointing product from director Puri Jagannadh.

Rating: 2.75/5

- Raghu Chitturi