There would be huge expectations from a team that delivered the biggest blockbuster of last year. I am referring to the team of 'Bommarillu' Bhaskar and 'Dil' Raju. They teamed up again to bring in another sentimental, family movie - Parugu. I am very sure that Bhaskar started off this project with an impacting story line. Imagine a plot of this kind - The hero helps a girl from an affluent family elope with a boy from a poorer family. The father of the girl manages to grab all the people involved in this elopement and shows them hell. Instead of giving up and surrendering to the torture, the hero ends up falling for the second daughter of the baddy. How he manages to convince her and finally how he manages to get out of the clutches of the villain's gang sounds like a perfect commercial formula for a Tollywood movie. Add some good fights and songs to it, you already have a winner here.
But, this sounds more like the storyline before the episode of Srija took place in Chiranjeevi's family. With the whole film industry sympathizing with Chiranjeevi's family, Bhaskar must be in a huge flux on how to shape his story. If he goes ahead with the original plot and makes a movie with a hero from Chiru's camp, it will send a wrong signal. Unfortunately, the developments that took place in Chiranjeevi's personal life had a strong (negative) impact on the original plot. He was forced to narrate the agony of a father whose loving daughter elopes without leaving much choice to her family. So how does the new storyline look like? confused, contrived and misleading. In fact, at one point the story takes a steep 'U' turn and makes the hero look like the villain and the villain tries to garner all the sympathy.
Analysis - Keeping the contrived storyline aside for a while, the performances of the lead actors were fine. Prakash raj lived in the role of a caring father and did his best. Allu Arjun looked pretty decent though he didn't have a lot of scope to show his 6 pack body. His dances were very agile in a couple of songs. Sheila, the newcomer couldn't add much value to the role. She has to improve a lot on her histrionics. Sunil and a couple of new comedians were just fine. Cinematography by Vijay K Chakravarthy was very good. The color degradation was very appealing in shots showing the village locale. Music by Mani Sharma is good. I think Mani Sharma reached a point where he is able to give his best for almost each and every project that he is working on. Dialogues could have been better.
Highlights - If there is one highlight in this movie, that is Prakash Raj's performance. Aspiring actors can learn from his emotions in this movie. He proves it again that he is a bundle of talent. All Arjun did very well without going overboard. He should be appreciated for toning down the commercial element in the hero's character. He had ample scope to demonstrate all the flavors and but he played a very soft role.
Lowlights - The major let down of this movie is its story line. You would walk out of the theater completely confused. I guess the director also concluded this movie with a lot of confusion in his mind. The heroine, Sheila is one of the other lowlights of the movie. They could have gone for an experienced actor like Jenelia or Trisha for this powerful character. She failed to bring life to the character. If Bommarillu was appreciated for its simplicity and the feeling of this-can-happen-to-me, this movie is at the opposite side of it. The audience can never connect with the storyline and its illogical flow.
Watch it only if you are a fan of Allu Arjun and if it is in your must see list. Otherwise you can let it go and you wouldn't miss much!