Bujjigadu Review

Producer KS Rama Rao made several blockbusters with Megastar Chiranjeevi, which include Abhilasha, Challenge, Rakshasudu, Marana Mrudangam and Stuartpuram Police Station. But for the last film, all the others were silver jubilee hits. His other films like Chanti, Mutyamanta Muddu and Matrudevobhava was a different genre. He had also made a blockbuster like Criminal with Akkineni Nagarjuna. After a considerable gap, he came out with Bujjigadu by roping in Puri Jagannath, who gave hattrick hits like Pokiri, Desamuduru and Chirutha, as director to give a much awaited break to hero Prabhas, who failed to please the audiences after giving a mega hit like Chatrapati, as his recent films like Pournami, Yogi and Munna failed to reach their expectations. Though Prabhas and Trisha proved a hit pair for one film, their combo also tasted a flop. But their combination with Puri Jagannath did wonders, as Puri Jaganath's magic can be seen all through the film. It is definitely a director's movie and Puri is able to extract good performance from Prabhas. Mohan Babu's role in the film would be quite memorable.

STORY: Bujji (Prabhas) and Chitti (Trisha) are childhood friends. However, they get separated as Bujji leaves for Chennai. After staying for more than 12 years there, Bujji, who has a strong wish to see his childhood friend, decides to come to Andhra. However, he unintentionally involves in a case and gets jailed. Noticing that Bujji had the nature of doing any kind of job, Machi Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao) gives him the job of eliminating Sivanna (Mohan Babu). In fact, Machi Reddy and Sivanna are rivals and both their gangs involve in fights at every opportune time. Now, Bujji sets out on the job of killing Sivanna. Unfortunately, Sivanna's men overpower Bujji. Noticing his guts, Sivanna gives him a job and takes him to his home. After reaching Sivanna's house, Bujji comes to know that his boss is none other than his childhood friend Chitti's brother. Realising that they are childhood friends, Chitti loses her heart to Bujjigadu. Now, Bujji turns the table and joins hands with Sivanna to teach a lesson to Machi Reddy.

PLUS: Prabhas gave an extraordinary performance in the film. Really he has proved himself as an artist with perfect comedy timing, impressive body language and has showed very good ease in action scenes and also in songs. Especially, the dialogue-modulation with East Godavari slang with a scent of Tamil are impressive. The audiences can watch an all-new Prabhas under the direction of Puri Jagannath. Trisha has once again come up with a very good look. Like many of the films in which the heroine has not much scope to perform, this film also did not give much choice for her to perform. But she appeared glamorous in all the songs. She is able to utilise every possible opportunity to impress the audiences on the screen. Another major asset for the film is the performance of Mohan Babu. Especially, the mannerism he used in this film (Silly Fellow) would enthral, not only the hardcore fans of Mohan Babu but also the average audiences. (It is worth mentioning here that Mohan Babu used the same word to address the producer during the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Telugu film industry). Though Sanjana appears as another heroine, she has not much role in the film, excepting a couple of scenes and songs. Kota Srinivasa Rao, Jayaprakash Reddy and others have done justice to their roles.

MINUS: The entire first half of the film was full of hero's worship towards the south Indian Superstar Rajinikanth, his pranks, and other such entertainment-based scenes, and some good action scenes, and other such scenes. The interval bang was the basic turning point of the movie. When it comes to the second half, the director appears to have lost grip in some scenes. However, he is able to withstand all those troubles to give a nice conclusion in the end. He should have handled the other characters also on par with Prabhas and Mohan Babu, but they are used as dummies for the smooth movement of the story.

REMARKS: Though the songs suit the mass image of the hero, they lack the melody. Music by Sandeep Choutha is just okay, especially on the screen. Action scenes choreographed by Vijayan are stylish. Camera work by Shyam K Naidu is impressive and he was able to capture the beauties of New Zealand and other places during the songs. Had Varma used his scissors a little sharper, the film would be more impressive, though none of the scenes appeared irrelevant in the movement of the story.

Cast: Prabhas, Trisha, Sanjana, Mohanbabu, Sunil, Ali, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Jayaprakash Reddy, Raja Ravindra, MS Narayana, Ajay, Subbaraju, Brahmaji, Qayyum, Pragati, Supreet, Rajesh, Ahuti Prasad, Hema, Sudha, Master Akash, Baby Pavitra and others.

Credits: Music – Sandeep Choutha, Cinematography – Shyam K Naidu, Action – Vijayan, Editing – Varma, Art – Chinna, Producer – KS Rama Rao, Story, dialogues, screenplay and direction – Puri Jagannath

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Released on: May 22, 2008