Parugu Review

There were lots of expectations on Parugu as the film is coming with an admixture of two successful combinations of director-producer (Bommarillu) and producer-hero (Arya). Till the interval bang, director Bhaskar has given the audiences an impression that he was able to overcome the second film hitch, which is haunting most of the debutant directors. But he has made mistakes inadvertently in the second half. He has failed to extract the exact emotions from the artists and the story appears to be dragging and nagging till the climax. However, he has given a good twist in the climax and has made it a little interesting.

Neelakantam (Prakash Raj) is a village elder. He has two daughters Subbalakshmi (Poonam Bajwa) and Meenakshi (Sheela). The film begins with the elopement of Subbalakshmi with one Babu of the same village. The entire family of Neelakantam holes up the friends of Babu (Sunil, Srinivasa Reddy), on the presumption that they helped him. Krishna (Arjun) is also caught by the men of Neelakantam. Krishna makes an attempt to escape from the village but can not do so after having a look at a beautiful girl, who is none other than Meenakshi. However, he does not know that it is Neelakantam's younger child. Though the entire situation is quite charged, Krishna is on the look out of the girl to whom he loses his heart. Before the interval bang, the secret unravels. Neelakantam's brother realises that it was Krishna who helped Babu in taking away Subbalakshmi. On being questioned, Krishna takes the entire gang to Hyderabad along with Meenakshi. He tries to impress her whenever, he gets an opportunity. During the search for the girl, an incident occurs and Neelakantam comes out in open and explains Krishna how a father of an eloped girl will be broken. This turns an eye-opener for Krishna, who decides to sacrifice his love. Soon, Neelakantam and his group find Subbalakshmi and her boyfriend. But she makes it very clear that she will be happy only with her boyfriend and dares her father not to try to separate them. In the end, Neelakantam comes to know that Meenakshi falls in love with Krishna. However, Krishna tells Neelakantam that he is against to separate him with his daughter. But Neelakantam realises the value of love and unites the lovers and the film ends on a happy note.

PLUS: The entire first half of the film is worth watching as it is full of humour and energy. Allu Arjun is at his best as a naughty boy in the first half and he ha excelled in expressing emotions. As usual, he is very nice at dances. Especially, the steps in Elagelagaa song and Parugulu Teeyake are excellent. Sheela though appeared good, not very appealing. It is Prakash Raj again, who steels the show. Music by Manisharma is worth listening. Jayasudha made her presence in a couple of scenes and her character reminds us of Amma, Nanna, O Tamila Ammayi role.

MINUS: The director could not provide a gripping screenplay, which made him to tumble here and there in the second half. He faltered in running the story in the second half and made it quite ambiguous. But he was able to withstand just before the climax giving a nice end. He could not effectively portray the emotions of the artists in the second half. He should have built up the characters more effectively. Poonam Bajwa has no big role to play. The director failed to utilise the services of Sunil, Chitram Sreenu and Srinivasa Reddy in providing a comic relief in the second half.

REMARKS: First half is entertaining and witty. The director failed to maintain the same tempo in the second half and the audiences feel bored with the repeated scenes in the second half. One has to wait and watch how the youth receive the film, as the film has a nice first half and a boring second half.

Cast: Allu Arjun, Sheela, Prakash Raj, Poonam Bajwa, Sunil, Srinivasa Reddy, Pruthvi, Chitram Sreenu, Dhanraj, Subbaraju, Jayaprakash Reddy, Raju, Jeeva, Jayasudha, Ali, Kalpana, Rajitha, Ragini, Delhi Rajeswari and others.

Credits: Dialogues – BVS Ravi, Lyrics – Sirivennela Sitaramasastry, Chandrabose, Ananta Srireem, Photography – Vijay K Chakravarthy, Editing – Marthand K Venkatesh, Art – Anand Sai, Music – Manisharma, Co-producers – Sireesh and Lakshman, Presents –Anitha, Producer – Dil Raju, Story, dialogues, screenplay and direction – Bhaskar.

Banner: Sri Venkateswara Creations

Released on: May 1, 2008