There are a number of reasons why I love this film, although they can be summed up easily as plenty of Allu Arjun and dancing! A lot of work has gone into showing off Bunny’s six-pack throughout the film, and I definitely approve. In addition, there are some great fight scenes (where Bunny follows the Salman Khan principle of removing your shirt wherever possible), Cinema Chaat favourites Ajay and Subbaraju appear as villains, and it’s one of the very few films where Hansika doesn’t irritate me to the point of switching off. And there is of course this:
Don’t be put off by the picture – there is nothing of Ali in this clip!
The appeal of Desamuduru definitely lies with the cast and their energetic performances rather than a good storyline or even well-written and believable characters – because it doesn’t have either of those. Desamuduru was Puri Jannaadh’s follow-up to Pokiri, and perhaps after such an exceptional effort, he just ran out of new ideas. The plot is paper thin and the story follows a well-used formula without anything novel in the execution. Perhaps as compensation, the director ups the pace, meaning that the lack of a storyline tends to vanish in the constant confusion of fight scenes and action shots. At least the high energy ensures that Desamuduru has mass appeal, even if it doesn’t rise to the dizzy heights of Pokiri.
Bunny’s Bala Govind is an arrogant young TV reporter working for his father on the crime beat with Maa TV. He has a basic idea of what is wrong and right – for instance, killing people is wrong.
But beating them up within an inch of their lives is apparently perfectly OK.
Some of the detail in these scenes is excellent – I love how the drunk pulls his bottle of booze out of harm’s way, and how Bunny’s shirt slowly rips as he flexes his muscles – classic!
Bala’s latest altercation ends up with Murugan (Subbaraju) in hospital and Bala under threat from Murugan’s father and local gang boss Tambi Durai (Pradeep Rawat). Bala however escapes to film a travel program in Kulu Manali – a little bit of a change from crime reporting, but apparently travel is where Bala feels he has his calling. Anyway, swapping the mean streets of Hyderabad for the mountains of Himachal Pradesh seems perfectly reasonable, especially when there is a gang of Tamil thugs baying for blood as incentive. Plus it means we get this song along with a backdrop of snow-clad hills and slightly bemused looking locals.
Bala has a traditional Telugu approach to love – see, instantly fall head over heels, stalk and wear the girl down until you can convince her to marry you. Sigh. This time the unwilling heroine is Vaishali (Hansika Motwani) who is a Sanyasin and appears completely uninterested in Bala despite his total belief in his own irresistibility. The rest of the word sees Vaishali as a demure and quiet Sanyasin, but this is how Bala see her, which seriously makes me question his fashion sense even in fantasy dance sequence land.
Hansika is surprisingly OK here in a role that doesn’t require her to do very much. I didn’t particularly like or dislike her the first time I saw this film, but compared to subsequent appearances I think this is one of her better performances. She looks suitably demure at the beginning as a Sanyasin and manages to bop around reasonably convincingly in the songs. Later on in the second half when the romance quotient is reduced to almost zero, she continues to hang in there, and acts appropriately wimpy in the subsequent fight scenes.
There isn’t a lot of chemistry between her and Bunny, but some of that is down to the plot, particularly since no sooner does Vaishali declare her love than the film switches back to action and fight scenes rather than playing up the romance. At least that is until we get to the ultimate fan-girl song in Manusuley. Even the song’s similarity to Dil Se helps bump up the heat factor and when you add in Allu Arjun drenched in litres of oil smouldering at the camera it definitely reaches sizzling hot! Except I tend to think: all that sand with all that oil – ouch!
Bunny at least seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself throughout. He looks very happy to be surrounded by a bevy of beautiful girls in the songs, and in a number of the scenes with Subbaraju and Ajay I’m convinced that they ended up ROFL most of the time. It’s one of my favourite things about Bunny that he seems to be perpetually about to crack up, so I end up smiling every time – even if it’s totally inappropriate.
There is a tedious comedy track involving Ali which starts out bad and just gets worse as it goes along, but thankfully that’s it for comedy uncles. Much better is the comedy provided by the altercations between Subbaraju and Bunny, and the histrionics provided by Telangana Shakuntala as Murugan’s evil mother. Jeeva also does his evil henchman sidekick while Ajay is excellent as a thug who cannot talk and adds both to the mayhem and the comedy in equal measure. It all adds up to a lot of this – Reeey!!
A number of the fight and chase sequences are excellent with some good choreography and wire work, and it’s just a shame that they aren’t connected together by a better storyline. There is of course the obligatory item number featuring Rambha which pops up at an odd time and doesn’t add anything at all to the film, but it’s a least one more opportunity to watch Bunny dance.
Desamuduru is a hodge-podge of a film which relies on a charismatic cast, fast action (and even faster dance moves), along with the appeal of beautiful scenery in Manali . It’s a film I watch over and over again, just for the songs and Allu Arjun’s dancing. Not just for those shirtless scenes – of course not! It’s not a film for everyone but if you can leave your brain at the door and just sit back for the ride there is plenty to entertain – although judicious use of the FF button makes it even more enjoyable. Desamuduru gets 2½ stars for story and execution, but 5 stars for enjoyment and re-watch potential!
It sure is!
Cinema Chaat 