'Dongalunnaru Jaagratha' hit the screens this Friday. In this section, we are going to tell you how the film is.
Story:
The film tells the story of a small-time Raju (Sri Simha), who is married to Neeraja (Preethi Asrani). On a fateful day, he comes across as black SUV and breaks into it with the intention of stealing the valuables in it. His plan goes haywire. He soon realizes that he has been trapped by someone who has scores to settle with him. That someone is Dr. Chakravarthi (Samuthirakani), a surgeon. Can Raju manage to bail himself out of the trap?
Analysis:
The Argentine-Spanish crime thriller '4x4' (2019) has been remade as 'Dongalunnaru Jaagratha'. Like the original from which it derives its base material, the Telugu film, too, is based on actual events that happened in the other side of the globe. In the original, the central character breaks into a truck that has got a security mechanism that cuts the power supply. In the Telugu film, some insubstantial changes have been made to the premise.
The car is soundproofed and polarized. A rigged gas tank has been replaced with a time bomb. Like in the original, the victim is delirious and dehydrated. Sri Simha brings out the anxiety and desperation of the character well.
A retired cop who becomes a mediator is played by Srikanth Iyengar. Like Samuthirakani, he arrives long after the audience have lost interest in the film.
In Indianizigng the original, a reference is made to the Gajendra Moksham tale from Hindu mythology. Raju's Telangana accent, Neeraja's pregnancy, the references to Balakrishna and Chiranjeevi, the over-anxious body language of Raju right at the start of the survival thriller... these have been done with zero inventivess.
Raju doesn't betray years of mental stress. His circumstances outside the SUV are basic: a holy tree, a mentally unstable vagabond, an ATM that is rarely frequented by customers.
The dubbing artist who dubbed for Sachin Khedekar in 'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo' has dubbed for Samuthirakani. While Dr. Chakravarthi uses sophisticated language and even deploys aphorisms like 'A thief is a man in greed', Raju is a picture in contrast. He uses everyday slang of the masses, deploying double-meaning words like 'Mingesnava' and 'Madhapur'. If the former says things like 'I am going to crush you' and 'You are an opportunist', the latter uses words like 'Chichore' and 'Sher', besides deploying phrases like 'Maa ki kasam'. The class differences have been brought out in superficial ways.
The film spends too much time in convincing the audience that a thief is a parasite. Nobody is on normal terms with Raju. When he takes stock of his life, we don't feel anything for him or his victims. He is worried for his pregnant wife, but we don't feel his love. His broken morality doesn't make us sympathize with him. The people's court portions are hilariously bad. The kind of emotions that 'A Wednesday' (Hindi) elicited in the audience should have been elicited by this film.
Kaala Bhairava's background score is average.
Verdict:
This film is a soulless remake. Even at 90 minutes, it makes for a punishing watch.
