Himsinche 23va Raju Pulikesi Review

Monday, August 06, 2007
Taking advantage of the trend of comedians playing the hero’s role in films, the producers of Himsinche 23va Raju Pulikesi have cashed in on a good opportunity and have released the Telugu dubbed version of Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi. Comedian Vadivelu plays the lead role in the film.

Another reason why the film would have to do well is because it is not the routine love story based in a college or an action film. It is a historical film – something which is a change for the regular Telugu film audience. The director of the film Simbudevan – Shankar’s protégé – has dome a good job directing the film. Vadivelu has played the double role in the film excellently, making the film a very enjoyable watch. The film is much like the NTR films of old like Rajaputra Rahasyam.

Story:
The king of Veer Cholapuram (Nagesh) has wife (Manorana). Her brother Chanda Prachanda was of a very wicked mind. He killed all the 22 princes born to the queen. The king’s astrologer predicts that their next child would be an idiot. After praying to god Pulikesi Swamy, the queen is blessed with children – this time twins.

Prachanda, who is also the Rajguru, takes one of the babies and hands it over to the astrologer to kill it so that he can handle the other son alone and make him his puppet. This child is however saved by a childless couple who bring him up and name him Ugra Bhairava. The child who was kept at the fort by Prachanda turned out to be the idiot.

Once in power, he made very stupid decisions and harassed people who spoke out against him. The other child Ugra Bhairava grows up to be a very clever child and loyal to his country. In his effort to rid India of the British, he tries to rid the nation of its traitors. He gets an opportunity to do so when Dalapati (Simran) attempts to kill the king. Urga Bhairava catches Pulikesi.

Taking advantage of the fact that he and the king look alike, Urga goes back making people think he is king while the real king goes and talks to the Britishers. After a while when Urga starts ruling Veer Cholapuram, he makes some good decisions for the country and its progress. Observing this, Prachanda decides to kill him because he is coming in the way of his plans.

He attempts at killing him with the Britishers help. Finally, Urga emerges victorious, Prachanda repents of his wrongdoing and the film ends on a happy note.

Plus Points:
Vadivelu’s acting is what the carries the movie through. He has handled the fight scenes, dancing scenes and the emotional scenes very well. And of course you can’t miss his comedy timing – something that he is a master of. His playing the role of Urga Bhairava and Pulikesi is absolutely excellent.

Nazar too acts extremely well in the film. Director Simbudevan deserves the kudos because he has made an excellent film all in all. He has made that sure that each scene in the film has been shot upto the mark and that the tempo right through the film is not lost.

Art director Krishnamurthy had done a commendable job with the sets making the palaces in the film look almost like the real thing. There has been good research into clothes worm by people of the time that shows with the costumes of the film being done really well.

Minus Points:
The director has taken all precautions to present the film on the whole well. But he has seemed to have pushed aside Nazar’s character in the first half of the movie thus not etching it fully well. However his role is short and it doesn’t the rest of the film. Another drawback of the film is that the director was not able to establish properly how a common city dweller like Urga can become king and turn things around in the kingdom without any prior knowledge of administration. Barring these two drawbacks the film is good.

Conclusion:
The director deserves the most clapping for a job well done. He has mixed folklore/tradition with problems faced by people today. He has come up with something that is fresh and new. Despite it being a story based in the 18th century, he has infused it with brand endorsements, the cola war etc.

He doesn’t preach too much in his film, which is another factor drawing in the crowds. Sriman is an actor who stands out from the cast. The director has chosen to make the film on the thin line between excellence and a bad film. He has turned the basic storyline of the film into an out and out comedy show.

Credits:

Cast: Vadivelu, Monica, Tejasree, Nanditha, Nazar, Izhavarasu, Nagesh, Sriman, Tejasri, Venniradai Murthy, Manorama
Dialogues: Sriramakrishna
Music: Sabesh – Murali
Presenter: RB Choudary
Producers: NV Prasad, Paras Jain
Story, screenplay and direction: Simbudevan
Banner: Mega Super Good Films
Released on: August 3, 2007