Akhil Review

Akhil in this "socio-fantasy" pursues a girl.  The girl, Divya, decides to have a boy friend, ultimately, just to teach Vennela Kishore a lesson.  After a while, she is kidnapped by a ruthless villain just as he tells her the truth about his intentions.  To save her, the hero traverses his way into the interior of the forests, with Brahmanandam and Vennela Kishore for accompaniment, with no more intensity on his face than would seem on the face of a tourist to Goa.  When he rescues her from the trigge-happy tribal gang, finally, Divya is funnily piqued with him for having been a "cheater".  That is the kind of stuff this film is made of -  a heroine who flies to Europe with the aim of teaching a lesson to the one who spoiled her wedding with Vennela Kishore, a heroine who does things just to make a point to a comedian, a heorine who apparently has no clue about her man's destiny till the end, even as the hero is on the cusp of saving the mankind!

The film begins with a dose of science, astronomy and supernatural thrown in.  The power of JuA is awaited to embrace Akhil, an orphan - the good thing about such an itsy-bitsy  hero being an orphan is that we don't have to watch his backstory involving one or more great parent(s).  Akhil falls in love with Divya (Sayesha), the daughter of Mahesh Manjrekar, a big shot in Hyderabad.  Divya whizzes off to Europe and Akhil follows her.  In Europe, Akhil is forced by circumstances into rescuing his girl friend from deep trouble, in the process becoming the saviour of humanity.

As socio-fantasies go, this one is a new low.  Jujune graphics is just a part of the problem.  The story-telling is so lame that saving the entire mankind has never seemed that less Herculean.  May be, some saviours are destined to spend more time pulling the comedian's legs than in doing that no-body-else-can-do task.  May be, some saviours are destined to having more romantic time than adventurous time.  May be, some saviours are destined to be actively assisted by his villains in accomplishing his mission - that too in the climax.  He is a peculiar saviour, you see!

The script writers are so intent on packaging everything that they introduce even racist comedy in a film that was not supposed to, at least because of the role of some Africans in the globe's destiny.  There is this orphan-finds-his-comedy-parents element that has been done-to-death.  Rajendra Prasad, a funny surgeon of repute, directs Akhil on phone the operating procedure by simultaneously skimming through the relevant information from a trove of medical literature.

The (over-) reliance on comedy in a script written by Kona Venkat is now a fait accompli.  But even having it as usual would be akin to stretching it too much in a film of this genre.  Perhaps, the film was visualized to be less about the claimed genre and more about dishing out Akhil's day out in Europe and Africa!

After Sapthagiri, Rajendra Prasad, JP and Madhu in the first half, the writer is still not satisfied and wants to keep the fun quotient intact till the climax.  The obsession of the Telugu director with comedy is at its peak now.  After the hero's final success, instead of a sense of relief on faces, Brahmanandam is indulged for a brief while.  Instead of a question about some best kept secret (which should have been included) by the hero till now, the question is from Brahmi, who asks, "Did that boy steal the car himself or you gave him the idea"?

Akhil gets to make a debut that allows him to do more than necessary dance.  Nevertheless, he has good dancing talent for sure.  His dialogue delivery passes muster, his expression needs improvement.  The script might not have egged him on to show his intensity.

Sayesha looks gorgeous and has some prettified moments reserved for her.  However, she is comely like a Lakshmi Rai but not elegant like a Kajal Agarwal. Amont others, the comedians are at their usual best, while Mahesh Manjrekar is OK.  The one who played Mamba is fearsome.

Amol Rathod's cinematography is A-rated for the songs.  Anup Rubens and SS Thaman (for one song) give a good output.  Gautham Raju's editing is OK.

Verdict: A socio-fantasy that could have been saved from seeming like a half-baked attempt at delivering half-hearted heroism.  Akhil's reasonably good debut is all that is there for Akkineni fans.

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