Munna Review

Prabhas' latest flick 'Munna' is an admixture of different film stories and had the shades of his blockbuster 'Chatrapati'. There are also resemblances of a Bollywood flick 'Trishool'. Though the film had a divided talk before its release, the film was opened with a good talk. Dil Raju's anticipation did not prove wrong. Debutant director Vamsi Paidipally looked promising.

Prabhas, who is craving for a success, strived hard and Dil Raju's winning streak helped him in realising his dream. Surely, Dil Raju could look for another hattrick as he already had four successive hits earlier and the number went up to five with 'Munna'.

Kamalakar @ Kaka (Prakash Raj) is a mafia don and the entire city bows before him. He controls the State politics and nobody dares to write or talk against him. Munna (Prabhas) who was an orphan joins the bridge course offered by the government and continues his studies with scholarships. Once he joins the college, he had an altercation with Kaka's son Rahul. This leads to an altercation between Kaka and Munna.

However, Munna bashes the goons sent by Kaka and surfaces right in front of Kaka to declare that he is none other than his son. Munna warns Kaka that he would make him to count his days. Munna crumbles the citadel built by Kaka by getting his controversial factory closed and halting his political clout. How Munna became an orphan? What made Munna to revolt against his father? How he took revenge against Kaka? form part of the remaining film.

Prabhas gave an impeccable performance all through the film. He flexed his muscles in action scenes and Peter Haynes and Ram-Laxman were able to choreograph action scenes in such a way to attract the mass audiences. Prabhas also showed good ease in dance sequences and the different long hairstyle gave him a new stylish appearance.

Debutant director Vamsi failed to elevate the glamour of Ileana and she had a very insignificant role in the film except to shake legs with Prabhas. Again Prakash Raj walked away with honours in a routine villain character. Posani Krishnamurali, Brahmaji, Rahul Dev gave good performance as villain's side kicks. Shriya sizzled in an item song and in fact it is the stuff that is generally done by Mumaith Khan kind of item girls. Unfortunately, a talented artiste like Kalyani was roped in an insignificant role in this film.

Venumadhav's comedy failed to evoke laughter. Lack of comedy is the basic drawback in the film.

Harris Jayaraj's music is also not very impressive and is just okay.

However, the choreography of songs was good. Thanks to cinematographer C Ram Prasad and the digital intermediate technology. Marthand K Venkatesh should have used his scissors further, as there were several scenes which were kept unnecessarily to boost the hero's image.

Dil Raju's production values are excellent. Especially, the establishment of the hero using his mental power in the climax while counting the number of bullets is extraordinary and a novel experiment. The director though maintained certain tempo in the first half, lost grip on it making the audiences feel bored till the climax. The second half looked quite dragged with unnecessary scenes to elevate the hero's image.

Cast: Prabhas, Ileana, Prakash Raj, Venu, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Rahul Dev, Tanikella Bharani, Brahmaji, Raghubabu, Posani Krishnamurali, Venumadhav, Sridhara Rao, Chalapati Rao, Sukanya, Shriya and Kalyani (guest appearance).

Credits: Dialogues - Koratala Siva and BVS Ravi, Lyrics - Kandikonda, Bhaskarabhatla Viswa, Ananta Sriram, Cinematography - C Ramprasad, Editing - Marthand K Venkatesh, Music - Harris Jayaraj, Presents - Smt Anita, Producer -  Dil Raju, Story, screenplay and direct