Aagadu Review

Behind the Movie Aagadu: Combination of Mahesh Babu and Srinu Vytla is by itself a guarantee card for entertainment. Their second attempt to please Mahesh Fans is here. Tamanna, SS Thaman already adding more of value, let us see how far Mahesh Mania can make the film go unstoppable.

In the Movie Aagadu: Story takes off with introduction of childhood days of Shankar, an orphan taking shelter with a Police Officer (Rajendra Prasad). To save Police Officer family from a grave insult, Shankar lands in prison where he grows up as gutsy and intelligent Circle Inspector Shankar (Mahesh Babu) taking charge of Bukkapatnam town shivering in clamps of Mafia Don Damu (Sonu Sood) and his gang doing all the illegal activities. In the process of combating with Damu legally, Shankar faces hurdles. Meanwhile, Shankar also falls in love with local Sweet shop beauty Saroja (Tamanna). What is the personal agenda behind Shankar’s rivalry with Damu and how did Shankar play the game using Delhi Soori (Brahmanandam) and Damu’s sweet heart (Mumtaz) is the rest of second half.

Values of the Movie Aagadu: All those audiences who are well acquainted with Srinu Vytla’s typical premise do not need anything new to explain. Despite Srinu was trying to do something new with Mahesh, it is his inflexibility to adoption pulled the entire movie into a routine formula format. Rhyming word play, satirical punches, boasting hero image, a soft family emotional thread, cute heroine for romantic track, a humanistic message, roof shattering action, loud music … what else, we have everything needed for a typical Telugu entertainer. Srinu Vytla made sure of having all the ingredients into a package. However, it is the poor screenplay and half baked drama muzzled the final output. Dialogues by Anil Ravipudi, Upendra Madhav are real lifeline for ‘Aagadu.’ Countless banging punches goes off our head at a lightening speed. The way Srinu made Mahesh to utter lengthy lines is the best part. KV Guhan’s camera work is top notch and every song, fight is pleasant to watch. VFX gets perfectly mingled into narration. MR Varma’s editing is traditional. SS Thaman’s songs looked peppy with incredible picturization. Title song and Shruti Hasan item songs stand out. Fight compositions were also thrilling. On production front, 14 Reels maintained very high standards.

On performance front, this is a tailor made character for Mahesh with lighter vein comic touch and high arrogance is more exposed. One would wonder why dance masters did not compose those smooth and graceful steps for Mahesh. Although not racy, Mahesh was stunning in Nari Nari, Bhel Purri songs. Highlight of the film is Mahesh’s impeccable timing of comical satires. He was precisely the top scorer in entire lot. Tamanna is meant for songs and glamour show. She was outstandingly beautiful. Rajendra Prasad is in a brief and respectable character. Sonu Sood failed as ruthless villain. Ashish Vidyarthi did a fairly good job as gay. Brahmanandam was at his usual flow. Posani’s Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu spoof is hilarious. MS as Database Danayya is superbly etched. 

Raghu Babu, Siddhappa Seenu, Vennela Kishore, Nassar, Tanikella Bharani, Pridhvi, Harshavardhan etc did their portions well. Brahmaji was a tool meant to elevate the hero and he is on top at interval bang.                         

Out of the Movie Aagadu: When Mahesh Babu gets going on, he is unstoppable. Despite Srinu Vytla's numerous slips, ‘Aagadu’ makes you to cheer just because of Mahesh Babu. This is completely a one man show of Mahesh. He delivered a mesmerizing performance shouldering the burden of scripting and technical flaws made by Srinu Vytla. 

Like in every film of Srinu where Brahmi becomes the oxygen pump, he dribbled carbon dioxide in Aagadu. The minute Brahmi enters in second half; Srinu’s fort of confusion comedy begins to take the toll. Writing department failed to enthuse or tickle the viewers with ill conceived characterizations. Even then Mahesh tried hard to pull them off. Parody Dances of Brahmi in climax was a saving grace. CG work and editing for these portions was praise worthy. All in all, Brahmanandam did not steal the show as expected. 

With a strong first half and weak second half, ‘Aagadu’ has fallen in a mid trap. While Fans love to watch Mahesh Babu’s superb histrionics, common audience are left half satisfied. Overall, ‘Aagadu’ is not a film of Super Star Mahesh’s caliber. However, commercially 'Aagadu' is going to create new records for sure due to heavy number of screens allocated and Mahesh Mania running peak in the public. 

Cinejosh Verdict of Aagadu: First Half Hit - Second Half Phat

                                                         Cinejosh Rating: 2.5/5