Mahesh Khaleja Movie Review

Banner: Kanakaratna Movies
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Anushka Shetty, Prakash Raj, Sunil, Brahmanandam
Music: Mani Sharma
Cinematography: Yash Bhatt, Sunil Patel
Editing: A. Sreekar Prasad
Action: Peter Heins, Ram Lakshman
Producer: Singanamala Ramesh, C. Kalyan
Story, Screenplay, Direction: Trivikram Srinivas

There has been much hype and controversies associated with superstar Prince Mahesh Babu’s Mahesh Khaleja. To add to it was the fact that Mahesh was last seen in Athidhi few years back.

So no wonder then the movie was eagerly anticipated for!

The story goes like this:

GK (Prakash Raj) and Tanikella Bharani are business partners doing illegal business, running medical colleges etc. In order to cement their friendship and foster their illegal business activities, GK plans to get his son (Amit) married to Subhashini (Anushka) who is Bharani’s daughter.

In the meantime, GK has plans to establish a plastic factory in Paali village, a border village in AP. So he sends a researcher who discovers a Lord Krishna idol and finds that is made of Iridium, a rare metal used in building rockets and that costs many time more than gold.

Later, he learns that entire village has huge quantities of Iridium treasure underground. Both GK and Bharani conspire to evacuate the 534 people living in the village (by raising a superstition) and thereby capture the complete Iridium treasure.

Cut across to Seetharama Raju (Mahesh Babu) who is a cab driver who lands in a village beset with misfortune and looks upon him as a divine power. The plot unveils as how this nowhere related and confused Seetharama Raju saves the lives of people of Paali.

In between you have GK killing the researcher for not letting the secret out. GK also plans to kill Seetharama Raju in a planned manner. But how Mahesh escapes the clutches of the forces of evil and falls in love with Anushka forms the rest of the story.

Director Trivikram Srinivas known to make light movies has tried out something different in the form of an action entertainer Khaleja. While he is able to retain the viewer’s attention in the first half of the movie (like he earlier did in Nuvve Nuvve and Athadu), the interest soon fizzles out in the second half which seem to have lost its initial tempo.

Mahesh Babu is very handsome and elegant in the movie. True to his image of Prince Charming, Mahesh Babu mesmerizes with this on-screen presence. Mahesh Babu’s character in the movie is shown in a very different light. Till now, we haven’t seen him do such a role in his entire career. His action episodes are great and his body language is very energetic. Mahesh has credibly carried the whole movie on his shoulder. In short, it is Mahesh’s movie all the way.

Anushka, as a demure damsel, is attractive. Her essential impishness fits the role to the T (tee). However, she is the major flaw of the film as the heroine. She is tall, old for the hero and cannot act. She has absolutely blank expressions especially during the emotional scenes and there is hardly any chemistry between the lead pair. But some scenes between the two really make you laugh.

Let’s get it right, the major flaw of the film is the heroine (Anushka). She is tall, old for the hero and has absolutely blank expressions, cannot act, has a limited range and the chemistry is between the pair is zilch.

Rao Ramesh does well as a foreteller – almost the same character like he did in Magadheera. Shafi also did well as Rao Ramesh’s disciple. Prakash Raj and Thannikela Bharani are adequate.

Yash Bhatt, the movie’s cinematographer, has done an excellent job. The music composed by Mani Sharma is not too great except for two songs - particularly the Om Namo Siva Rudraya song is absolutely brilliant. Ahmed Khan’s choreography of the songs are the highlight of the film The action sequences of Peter Heins too are fantastic.

Although the storyline is okay, one can’t say the same thing about the screenplay and the pace of the movie. Editor Sreekar Prasad perhaps could have done a better job in the second half where the actual plot would be unveiled.

Too much violence, lackluster romance, the mediocre music and dialogues fail to excite you. The only saving grace is the winsome hero who despite three long years looks fresh but sadly, is not exploited well.

A lot of people feel that the movie is similar to ‘Arjun’. Having said all these, Mahesh Kaleja is certainly not a film that should be made with a whopping budget of 40 crores and shot in 3 years.

All things considered, Mahesh Kaleja turns out to be an average movie. With gigantic expectations and a huge surge in the fan base, Mahesh Khaleja comes with enormous expectations. Let us hope Khaleja becomes a hit for his sake!

Vebtoday Rating  - 3.25/5

Your Ad Here