Mallanna – Review

Versatile actor Vikram has become very popular among the Telugu audiences with his film Aparichitudu. After a long gap, Vikram is playing hero, in a Tamil film Kandhasamy which has been simultaneously made in Telugu under the title Mallanna, with Shreya in the female lead.

Mallanna (Vikram) is a CBI officer working in the economic offences wing. He works under a joint director called Krishna Rao (Krishna). Because of his official position, he can find out those who are amassing wealth and Mallanna uses his intelligence to find such money and donate it to the people. For this, he chooses the devotional path as the Hindus are very religious and believe that God would come to their rescue whenever they face problems. He manages to propagate a gossip that whoever faces problems, can write their problem on a chit and tie the same to a tree. Sooner, the person"s problem would be solved. For this, Mallanna takes the help of eight of his friends who are experts in different fields and at the same time, work in one or the other of the economic offences-related departments.

In the process, he manages to conduct raid on a millionaire (Ashish Vidyarthi) and finds black money. But, the millionaire"s daughter Subbalakshmi (Shriya) vows to take revenge against Mallanna and teases him in the name of love. Mallanna too plays the drama. Due to certain lapses in the plans, Mallanna gets caught by the police and he is forced to accept that he as been playing the drama. But, the police official who arrests him is a puppet in the hands of the millionaire, whom Mallanna raided. So that millionaire puts a proposal that he will not reveal the secret to any one on a condition that Mallanna would share 50 per cent of what all he robs from anyone.

Mallanna accepts the proposal and wants the millionaire to send him to Mexico on a fake passport so that he could collect the money of on another millionaire there and ask him to give his bank account number in Mexico so that he could deposit the entire money there. As per the plan Mallanna collects money and deposits the money in the millionaire"s account there. Later, he asks Subbalakshmi to check the deposit in their account and inform her dad. After Subbalakshmi opens the online account and reveals to her father that the money has been deposited, Mallanna cracks that password and transfers the entire money back into his account.

Finally, that millionaire tries to take a revenge against Mallanna by giving the tape where he had recorded Mallanna's confession. However, Krishna Rao, who knew Mallanna's activities destroys the evidence. Finally, Mallanna, raids another big shot called AP Pedda Manishi and brings out the black money he stored in his bus. However, the police again arrests Mallanna for robbing the economic offenders. There is no evidence that Mallanna helped the people in the form of money. At the same time, the people who lost the money do not lodge any complaint about the theft. So, the court relieves him as there is no proof of his misdeeds, though it is clear that he admitted the fact on his own.

PERFORMANCE:
As far as performance is concerned, Vikram has given his best performance in his usual manner. The speciality is that he sports different get-ups for the movie which includes a woman"s attire. He sports a character which has 12 different attires. He is quite shrewd in changing his body language to suit the changed get-up and make the audiences spell-bound. Especially the attire as a cock is very attractive. He is good at the songs and also in action scenes. The director of the film has moulded his character well as an officer who, deals with economic offences. His chemistry with the heroine is good as well Vikram has taken the character like a challenge and as emoted well in every frame. Shreya, who plays heroine in this film does not show any inhibition to expose her glamour. Moreover, the 'size zero" bug has bitten her a lot and she sports a lean look all through the film. She has sizzled in all the songs with excellent dancing skills. At the same time, the heavy dose of exposing, the kissing scenes and romantic scenes with the hero might prevent the family audiences to the theatres. Superstar Krishna has played another important role in this movie and he has done justice to his character. All the others including Ashish Vidyarthi, Prabhu, YG Mahendran and Mukhesh Tiwari have also done well. Brahmanandam"s comedy is average.

TECHNICAL:
Music takes the cake among all the other technicians in this movie. Almost all the songs have become very popular and the audio has been a chartbuster for the past several weeks. Devisri Prasad has given fantastic tunes to most of the songs. Moreover, he has made Vikram render the songs on his own and the experiment has worked out well. Camera work by Ekambaram is okay, while Sahiti has penned the dialogues and lyrics. Though the lyrics are good to listen, they fail to sync with the lip movement. Thota Tharani"s seniority can be witnessed in the sets erected for the songs and for some scenes. Susi Ganeshan, the director of the film, needs to be complimented for penning a good story. However, he has failed as a director after the interval bang. The common audiences cannot understand the calculations and actions of the hero in the second half. Even there are no mass elements to talk about in the second half.

REMARKS:
It is very common that a film which has evoked lot of hype during its making would either be a big hit or a flop. For Mallanna, the second half has proved to be a curse as the audiences feel bored after the interval bang. It has taken almost two years to complete the film and there are high expectations about the movie. However, the film has proved to be a dud ultimately with the entire second half testing the patience of the audiences. You can watch the film if you are a hardcore fan of Vikram, or to see the glamour and romantic dances of Shreya. The production values of V Creations are adequate.

Cast: Vikram, Shreya Saran, Ashish Vidyarthi, Prabhu, YG Mahendran, Mukhesh Tiwari, Brahmanandam and others.
Credits: Dialogues and lyrics – Sahiti, Camera – Ekambaram, Producer – Kalaipuli S Thanu, Story, screenplay and direction – Susi Ganeshan.
Banner : V Creations
Released on: August 21, 2009