Srihari entered the Telugu film industry as a villain. He turned a hero with 'Police'. Though action films are his forte, he tried his hand in other kinds of films. Though he gave a couple of hits, he had no notable hits to his credit in recent past.
However, Srihari did not restrict to hero roles alone and had accepted good roles in other films. His performance as a character artiste in 'Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana' was a big hit, and very recently he gave a tremendous performance in 'Dhee' also, which is almost equivalent to the hero.
As a hero, Srihari's last film 'Hanumanthu' won critical acclaim. He earned a good name as a good performer and the film remained a milestone in his career but the commercial value of the film was a zero. This time, with renewed vigour, Srihari chose 'Chintamani Kola Case', a successful Malayalam film and remade it on his own banner as 'Sri Mahalakshmi'. As the entire subject revolves round that character, the film has some title justification. Srihari sported a different hairstyle and with vermillion on his forehead.
Probably for the first time, he performed in a lawyer's role. While the original version was directed by Shaji Kailas, Srihari chose Vijayan the action choreographer turned director to direct the film. Unfortunately, the film was a serious stuff with no relief in the form of songs or comedy.
Lakshmi Krishna Devaraya @ LK (Srihari), a famous advocate, always fights on behalf of criminals and make them win the case with impeccable argument. However, LK believes that he was the envoy of God and implements the real justice after the court acquits them by killing the accused in the name of cosmic justice. His sister (Suhasini) always encourages him in every case. In fact, LK's parents commit suicide as they did not get justice in the court when their daughter was raped, but the culprit escapes from the clutches of law. So, LK turns an advocate and argues on behalf of culprits and finally punishes them on his own. Sri Mahalakshmi (Shamna), an MBBS student, was the daughter of a teacher Sambamurthy (Sri Tilakan). She gets killed by some nine NRI girls. Their parents meet LK and urge him to save their children who were fixed in a murder case. LK makes a thorough research on the subject and gets the girls acquitted. But in his personal enquiry, LK finds that the hostel matron Olga Rose Mary (Sana), medical college principal Bhogendra Bhalla and public prosecutor Janardhan (Sayaji Shinde) were behind Sri Mahalakshmi's death. It is Janardhan and Bhalla who raped the girl which led to her death but imposed the case on NRI girls. Finally LK implements the cosmic justice by killing all the three accused.
Vijayan's direction and gripping screenplay was impressive. The film, however, was a one-man show for Srihari.
The court scenes followed action scenes caused a little boredom to regular audiences. But Srihari walked away with honours with his good performance. The characterisation of Srihari as an aggressive advocate is okay. The twist in the story that was unravelled in the climax is beyond imagination of the audiences. Shamna, though a novice emoted the fear well in her face. Manisharma's background score is good.
The basic drawback in the film is poor comedy. There is only one item song with Mumaith Khan. Though appears in a couple of scenes, Subbaraju gave a good performance.
Cast: Srihari, Suhasini, Shamna, Sayaji Shinde, Rallapalli, Tanikella Bharani, Venumadhav, Subbaraju, Raghu Kunche, Ajay, Sree Tilakan, Raghubabu, Jeeva, Sana, Aiswarya, Rajitha, Mumaith Khan and others.
Credits: Story - Sajan, Music - Manisharma, Editing - Gauthamraju, Presents - Sowbhagya Exports Pvt Ltd., Producer - Santhi Srihari, Screenplay, action and direction
