Mitrudu Review

What happens to a man who is waiting for death to happen but instead is loved by a woman and who wants to marry him. A new urge of life comes in him but then there are quite a number of twists and challenges in this happy moment that he has to face and overcome. What is all that, let us see.

Story

Saikrishna (Ranganath) is a big industrial tycoon and he is keen on getting his only daughter Indu (Priyamani) married to an eligible bachelor. However, Indu gets to know that there is a problem with her horoscope and a particular type of horoscope will match her. She begins her search and chances upon Aditya (Balakrishna). However, Aditya has no interest in his life but Indu chases him and finally convinces him to marry her. Saikrishna is upset by this since he finds Aditya has no family. Meanwhile, there is minister Munuswami (pradeep) who wants his son to marry Indu and then there is Indu's friend Madhu (Deepak) who also has a strong urge to marry Indu. Above all this, Indu marries Aditya for a very particular reason. What is all that and whether Aditya really decides to live his life or not forms the rest of the story.

Performances

Balakrishna has come up in a rather surprising image as a mild character and the punch in his performance and the energy levels was not there. Priyamani was pretty and she must wear more of traditional and Indian dresses since she looks a lot better in them than the western wear. Deepak was handsome and did his bit, Pradeep Rawat as villain was alright, Ranganath carried his role with professionalism, Brahmanandam provided relief with his comedy, Krishna Bhagawan was witty as usual and serious when required, the others like Balaiah, Dharmavarapu, Ahuti Prasad, Hema, Surekha Vani, Chalapathi Rao etc just come and go and do their contribution.

Technical aspects

The script lacked strength and the screenplay was plain. The saving grace for the film happens to be the music with few catchy songs and then the cinematography that captured the foreign locales well. Editing was alright but it could have been crisper during the first half. Dialogues were nowhere near the regular Balayya style and the costumes and the locations were apt. The art department did its bit and it was justified.

Director's portrayal

The director in his debut attempt has come up with a rather weak storyline and he failed to give strength to the hero's character as his focus was more on getting sympathy for him. His narration skills have been good at few places but then he needs to work more on coming up with a strong content and that too while dealing with a big star. The idea of coming up with a complete family entertainer was good but for a commercial star, there has to be equal proportions of comedy, romance and a good dose of action which was missing. The subject lacked depth.

Critic's view

The film has lost out majorly due to two reasons - the characterization of the protagonist has been quite weak and it was a major turn off given his high voltage image. Secondly, there seems to be no connection between the title and the story and it takes a real good time for the plot to actually pick up. While the first half goes about with silly romancing and a rather quiet Balakrishna, the second half seemed to generate some interest. However, the landing was not that smooth and again it drifted back to a regular climax and there was nothing special to relish for the audience. This could appeal to those who like sentiment and are not too keen on comparing Balayya's image with the role. It could turn out to be a poor grosser at the box office, only songs are the saving grace.

Verdict

Poor and below average, nothing special about it

Cast: Balakrishna, Priyamani, Ranganath, Pradeep Rawath, Chandramohan, Deepak, Krishna Bhagawan, Balaiah, Brahmanandam, Hema, Chalapathi Rao etc

CREDITS:

Banner: Vaishnavi Cinema

Music: Mani Sharma

Cinematography: Balamurugan

Director: Mahadev

Producer: Sivalenka Krishna Prasad

Release date: 01/05/2009