Dandupalyam

Pooja Gandhi's Kannada movie Dandupalya, which is about an infamous crime gang that spread terror in and around Bangalore in late 90s, was released a few months ago and has proved to be a big commercial success at the Karnataka Box Office. Now, Director Srinivasa Raju has brought the Telugu version Dandupalyam, which will surely impress Telugu audience too.

Dandupalyam is a crime thriller and Pooja Gandhi's daring performance is the main attraction in the movie. Srinivasa Raju's screenplay and dialogues, Arjun Janya's music and background score, Venkat Prasad's picturisation are its other highlights. The main drawback of the film is that it has too much of gory and melodramatic elements.

The movie, which does not have hero or heroine is a realistic film based on a gang of 11 members from Dandupalyam. This gang members are antagonists of the society and they go about their job of raping, killing and looting. They are not bothered to cut a throat of a person, even for small gains. The film tries to showcase the barbarous crimes that had happened in 1990s.

Their method of operation is very simple. A woman from the gang finds a right house for the robbery where lone or elderly reside and visits the house asking for water. When the resident goes in to bring the same, the gang members enter the house. They attack, gang rape and murder them and rob money and valuables.

A pregnant woman (Nisha Kothari) along with her mother-in-law is murdered brutally. This incident is followed by killing of another family consisting a mother and her two children. The Police department wakes up and PSI Chalapathi (Ravishankar) takes up the challenge to crack the crime acts. Will he be successful in catching them? If Yes, how he does? What will happen later? Answers to all these question should be seen on screen.

Srinivasa Raju has penned a real story based on the reports published by crime tabloids. The violence is glorified, which is acceptable as it is based on real life incidents, but a movie should have something more than the bloody acts.

It is Pooja Gandhi, who steals the show with her dare-bare act. The way she smokes beedis, sits and mouths the dialogues are amazing. Her entire body language is excellent and her costume compliments each other. Her skin show is a treat for masses. The other members of the group Makarand Deshpande and Ravi Kale have good scope for their roles and they have done justice to them. Their performance surely add to this crime show.

Others like Raghu Mukherjee, Priyanka Kothari, Doddana, Bhavya and Sudharani have limited scope their respective roles and they has also done a good job. In technical front, Arjun Janya's music and background score are main attraction. Ram Prasad's cinematography is another highlight in it. Editing, dialogues and costumes are also commendable. If you are lover of bloodshed, then Dandupalyam is a treat for you. Go and watch it this weekend.

Producer: Girish, Prashanth, Srinivasa Raju Director: Srinivasa Raju Cast: Pooja Gandhi, Raghu Mukherjee, Priyanka Kothari, Ravi Kale, Makarand Deshpande, Sudharani, Bhavya, Doddanna, Ramesh Bhat, Srinivasa Murthy and others Music: Arjun Janya