Daruvu Review

Some people make films for themselves, and some others for juveniles.  Daruvu is a film made for the low brow.  Even those given to mean enjoyment in an inebriated condition in the most godless hamlet would find this film cheap.  Ravi Teja's peculiar mien and his knack for adapting to typical roles like that of Vikramarkudu have a flip side to them.  His strength has been vulnerable to maltreatment, and has, from time to time, been misused in some misadventures.  However, none of them abused his style to a deleterious effect like Shiva does.  The net result is a ridiculously weird drama like this intolerably miserable film, where every character seems to hail from a circus company.

The problem with the person who wrote this script is that he doesn't understand the basics of movie-writing.  Don't know whether the same person was involved in translating the unnatural write-up onto the celluloid, but Shiva must understand that there is a difference between comedy and senseless buffoonery.  He seems to have watched all those Yama films to design the content and an even greater number of third-rate, eerie comedies before going on the floors.  It takes a dab hand like Rajamouli to sell a quizzical story with panache and skill.  The lesser mortals who pick up the trick but never understand the art, and have a half-baked knowledge of the fundamentals of filmmaking, end up making a mockery of the fantasy genre.  That's exactly what has happened here.

The film begins with Yama Sr. (Kaikala) warning Yama Jr. (Prabhu) to never play fire with a Telugu bidda.  From NTR down, Chiranjeevi and Junior have taught the Lord of Death suitable lessons in the past.  As soon as Prabhu takes over the throne, he frustrates the romantic plans of Chitragupta, who forever longs to spend time with beautiful girls.  A fun-starved Chitragupta wants to teach his lord a lesson.  He kills Bullet Raja (Ravi Teja) and cleverly reveals the injustice meted out to him because of his folly, so as to put Yama in trouble.  Raja punishes Yama and demands that his life be given back to him but since his body has been charred, he should enter into someone else's body if he wants to live again.

On Planet Earth, Ravinndran (RT, again), the Home Minister of AP, is about to be killed by his partners in crime (Sayaji Shinde and Avinash).  Bullet Raja chooses the HM's body, literally rises from the death bed in the full view of hundreds of tv cameras, and dances like a drunkard.  Above all, the `HM' says, Da.. da.. da.. Daruvu at the interval bang.  He starts teaching Ravindran's corrupt villains one lesson after another.  Meanwhile, everybody is puzzled about the sudden change in the behaviour of the Honorable minister.  The audience, like Tapsee Pannu, are left in a state of bewilderment.

The story sounds neat on the paper but the scenes induce irritation.  If Brahmanandam's (Vidya Balan) feminine mannerisms were anything but funny, RT's womanish act was ghastly.  The scenes in the Yama Loka were bizarre, like RT's shooting of the arrows into the buttocks of Chitra and Narada.  With the director obsessing himself with (mindless) comedy, the story goes for a toss.  Even the sentimental scenes between Ravindran and his mother (Jayasudha) fail to cut ice amidst the noise.

Forget sense, the characters were at best sketchy.  Only those who take the audience's maturity for granted make this kind of films.  To put a Home Minister in an unrealistic situation, show him enter the wedding hall and elope with his sweet heart, require an extraordinary understanding of the art of filmmaking.  Shiva doesn't seem to put any effort in accomplishing this, nor does his dialogue writer, who seems to believe that with RT spouting the lines, nobody would care for content in the dialogues.  Of course, the dialogues were not noticed, not because of RT but because of the chaos.

'Vennela' Kishore's role was almost useless, so also Raghu Babu's, who plays a fake god man.  Vijay Antony's music for songs sounds noisy, and his BG score is inept.  The art work as well as the graphics could have been much better.

There is no place for emotions here.  The entire film is an exercise in fakery.  That scene where Brahmi is tortured by the villains, who make him perform difficult steps, is the defining moment of Daruvu.  The scene packs Daruvu's flavour and tastelessness.

Released on: 25th May, 2012