Monday,
June
04,
2007
Arjun's
double
joy
Arjun
made
his
debut
in
Telugu
films
with
Maa
Voorilo
Gopaludu.
He
shot
into
fame
with
his
excellent
fighting
skills
and
got
the
image
of
an
action
king.
His
films
like
Gentleman
and
Oke
Okkadu
made
him
a
big
star.
His
film
on
'Manjunatha'
was
yet
another
marvel.
Keeping
his
popularity
among
the
Telugu
audiences,
many
of
his
films
in
other
languages
are
being
dubbed
into
Telugu.
One
such
experiment
is
Manikanta
directed
by
Selva.
The
film
has
nothing
new
to
talk
about,
as
it
is
a
routine
revenge
drama
with
temple
in
its
backdrop.
However,
the
director
has
tried
to
maintain
a
good
amount
of
suspense
till
the
interval.
Moreover,
the
presence
of
Jyothika
and
Malavika
is
expected
to
draw
good
crowds.
Raja
(Arjun)
runs
a
pickles
factory
in
Mumbai
and
is
being
brought
up
by
Vikramchary.
Once,
a
girl
called
Mahalakshmi
(Jyothika)
visits
Mumbai
to
meet
Mataji
(Annapurna).
On
learning
that
she
is
away
from
town,
she
stays
in
the
guest
house
run
by
Vikramchary.
Raja
falls
in
love
with
Maha
at
first
sight.
Though
Maha
doesn't
like
Raja,
she
gets
attracted
when
he
saves
her
from
a
brothel
and
when
a
police
officer
(Satya
Prakash)
is
about
to
rape
her.
Later,
Maha
returns
to
Pulivendula
and
invites
Raja
to
their
place.
Learning
that
Raja
is
going
to
Pulivendula,
his
foster
father
also
goes
with
him.
Immediately
after
alighting
the
train,
Raja
is
attacked
by
Balaraju's
(Asish
Vidyarthi)
men.
Unable
to
understand
why
they
attacked
him,
he
first
expresses
his
dismay
and
later
get
whisked
away
by
Vikramchary.
The
latter
takes
Raja
to
a
house
and
he
is
surprised
on
seeing
a
photograph
of
an
elderly
man
with
his
face.
Then
Vikramchary
reveals
the
flashback.
The
elderly
man
is
none
other
than
Manikanta
(Arjun),
father
of
Raja
and
one
of
the
village
elders.
Manikanta
always
preaches
that
the
entire
mankind
is
one
and
the
castes
and
religions
are
created
by
the
people
in
the
society.
He
always
strives
for
the
upliftment
of
the
poor
and
the
downtrodden.
He
gives
away
his
sister
to
village
president's
(Pasupati)
son
Balaraju.
As
the
government
reserves
the
president
post
to
a
Dalit
woman,
Vikramchary's
wife
Annapurna
contests
the
seat
with
the
support
of
Manikanta,
despite
stiff
opposition
by
Balaraju
and
his
family.
After
winning
the
seat,
Annapurna
and
the
entire
dalit
families
led
by
Manikanta
visits
a
temple.
However,
Balaraju
stops
them
saying
that
the
temple
is
built
by
his
forefathers
and
prevents
their
entry.
At
this
critical
juncture,
Annapurna
is
killed.
Manikanta
chops
the
hand
of
Balaraju's
brother
for
instigating
the
murder.
In
order
to
take
revenge
Balaraju's
father
invites
Manikanta
and
all
the
villagers
for
lunch
on
the
occasion
of
the
seemantham
of
Balaraju's
wife
and
Manikanta's
sister
and
serves
poisoned
food.
The
entire
village
is
ruined
including
Manikanta
and
his
wife.
Vikramchary
somehow
escapes
with
Raja
as
both
of
them
did
not
take
food.
Learning
how
Balaraju
killed
his
father
and
mother,
besides
his
aunt,
who
was
the
wife
of
Balaraju,
Raja
decides
to
take
revenge.
He
challenges
Balaraju
that
he
would
finish
the
work
started
by
his
father
by
constructing
a
temple.
Balaraju,
his
brother
and
father,
who
are
against
the
proposed
temple
are
killed
by
Raja.
The
film
ends
on
a
happy
note
with
the
union
of
Raja
and
Maha.
PLUS:
Performance
by
Arjun,
Jyothika
and
Asish
Vidyarthi
are
the
highlights
of
the
film.
As
Manikanta
and
also
as
Raja,
Arjun
showed
good
variation
in
performance.
While
Manikanta's
role
is
moulded
with
dignity,
Raja's
character
is
quite
youthful.
All
the
action
scenes
are
choreographed
well
and
a
couple
of
dance
numbers
are
worth
watching.
There
is
nothing
much
to
talk
about
the
film
as
it
has
nothing
novel
but
for
the
suspense
maintained
by
the
director
till
the
end
of
first
half.
Music
by
Deva
is
just
okay.
Rajasekhar
Reddy
deserves
pat
from
the
back
for
scripting
good
dialogues