Shatruvu (Naveen) Review

Desperate situations call for desperate actions, they say. In Tollywood, there was nobody more desperate than Vadde Naveen --- a hero looking to safeguard his place. In a sense, Shatruvu, was his make or mar film.

In his anxiety to please all, Naveen seems to have taken the easy way out by going in for an excessively masala script. But it only tastes sours. And Naveen also seems to have banked heavily on the two heroines' bodyshow than really on building strong body for the story.

In that sense, the enemy (Shatruvu) for Naveen was within.

Come to think of it, Shatruvu's basic story is okay. But there are too many loose ends in its narration and that is where the director Arun Prasad has slipped very badly.

The story begins with Siva (Naveen) a happy-go-lucky-guy, who is bit of a dreamer rather than an earnest trier. But his aim is to go to Dubai and earn millions. His persevering brother (Sijju) manages to send him to the Gulf. But alas, when Siva actually lands in Dubai, he realizes he has been duped by the recruitment company and eventually he gets framed in a murder case.

Siva's brother who comes to Dubai to help matters out is killed. This is good enough reason for Siva to take a vow to kill the killers of his brother. He does that eventually after a ketchup show of mayhem and some misplaced songs. Woven into this are the story of his love and that of a night club dancer in Dubai (Navneet Kaur and Meghana Naidu).

Naveen looks pretty committed and is very enthusiastic all through. But that is not enough to save this senseless show. The heroines Navneet and Meghna are there just to show off. The cleavage-revealing attires and the extra closeness in songs just wear off quickly.

The villains, led by Riaz Khan, are routine. The comedy track is okay but tends to go overboard with double entendre dialogues. The music and other technical departments just don't seem to measure up.

Shatruvu is an intended comeback for Naveen.

But it has comeback on him like an unexpected boomerang.