Khatarnak Review

Friday, December 15, 2006
Ileana's magic fails to save the film
Amma Rajasekhar, who was basically a choreographer turned a director and proved his mettle with a blockbuster like Ranam. But like many other directors, he failed to maintain the standards in his second film, in the absence of proper storyline. It is surprising that a choreographer like him forgot that mere show of belly and belly button of the heroine could not save a film totally.

Dasu (Raviteja) is the son of a counterfeit racketeer (Kota Srinivasa Rao). As his father goes to jail, Dasu becomes an orphan. He stops his education at 10th class and moves like a vagabond. On the other side, there is a smuggler who used to smuggle drugs and arms into the country. But an honest police officer (Prakashraj) hatches a plan and sends one informer (Raja Ravindra) into their underworld. He stays with them for sometime and passes on information to the police, with the help of which the police were able to bust the smugglers team, though not the kingpin. The don's assistant, who was also a lawyer advises him to play the same trick and admit one of their henchmen into the police to get information from the reverse side. However, he should not be in police records but should be crooked and cunning. The smugglers team's search ends with Dasu. The group threatens Dasu and make him to play like a puppet in their hands. In order to push him inside the police department, he should at least pass Class X. So, they admit him in a school, where he falls in love with a teacher Nakshatra (Ileana). However, she doesn't like him as he neither has no good education nor good looks. After a few incidents, the don's right hand i.e, the lawyer tells Dasu to study well and become a police officer to win her love. Admitting the idea, Dasu turns a good student and gets through the exam. Later, he becomes a constable and gets posted in traffic. The smugglers unit hatches another plan and succeeds in pushing him in the crime police. After watching Dasu as a sincere police constable, Nakshatra too starts liking him. Soon, in a turn of events, Nakshatra's brother, who was a police informer, gets killed in the hands of Dasu at the behest of the don. She chides Dasu and starts hating him. Dasu starts disliking his job as he became a police officer only to win her love. As he lost her love, Dasu turns against the don and finally kills him. Nakshatra learns from the lawyer that her brother was actually died in the hands of don, she reunites with Dasu and the film ends on a happy note.

Plus:
Basically there are no plus points in the film. However, the glamour of Ileana remains the only saving grace. The cinematographer keeps focusing his camera on the belly and belly button of Ileana to lure the masses. At the same time, the costumes selected for Ileana, especially during the songs were so sexy. The director and the costumes designer took special steps to expose her to the maximum extent to lure the frontbenchers. Music by Keeravanai is adequate and the songs were choreographed keeping an eye on masses. Raviteja's performance is another plus point who showed good ease in songs as well as action scenes.

Minus:
There are several lapses in the film. The major lapse is the absence of story. It is surprising that there is no need for someone to go to school to complete class X and one could appear the examination as a private candidate. The over exposure of heroine is in bad taste, especially when she was said to be a teacher. The pathetic state of screenplay all through the film shows the immaturity of the script writer. It is surprising how Raviteja and a producer like BVSN Prasad had okayed the script.

Remarks:
The first half of the film was so hopeless that the hardcore fans of Raviteja also failed to appreciate. The second half is also no better but for a couple of scenes. Khatarnack once again proved that a good story is like a life for any film and despite good performance by the hero, over exposure of heroine's glamour could not make a film a hit. Finally it is a film made in a bad taste.

Hero: Raviteja
Heroine: Ileana
Other cast: Prakashraj, Venumadhav, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Uttej, Raja Ravindra, Suman Setty, Raghubabu, Ankitha and others.

Technicians:
Dialogues - Marudhuri Raja
Music - Keeravani
Cinematography - Santosh Srinivas
Screenplay - Amma Prabhu
Editing - Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Action - Gilli Sekhar
Produer - BVSN Prasad
Story, choreography and direction - Amma Rajasekhar.
Banner: Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra.
Released on: December 14, 2006.