After Legend and Simha, director Boyapati Srinu and actor Balakrishna team up for their third film, a mass masala entertainer that focuses solely on the lead star power.
At birth, Murali Krishna and Akhanda are separated because one has a dream to fulfil and a war to fight.What brings these two films together?Review: After Legend and Simha, director Boyapati Srinu and actor Balakrishna team up for their third film, a mass masala entertainer that focuses solely on the lead lead star power.Due to a sloppy screenplay, a good storyline is diluted and everyone else takes a backseat to NBK (including one of his characters).
Murali Krishna (Balakrishna) is a peoples man in the faction-ridden Anantapur district.He is a farmer who earns his money to build hospitals, punch, and bulldozers, but he also encourages extroversionists to care for nature and avoid violence.His character is almost a nod to Balakrishna's current direction in his roles.With the assistance of Padmavati, the District Collector (Pragya Jaiswal), she is unafraid to hold corrupt police officers accountable and go deep into misconduct in her district. This is the tale of Muralis long-lost twin Akhanda (Balakrishna as an aghorababa), who is taken from his family by a Baba (Jagapathi Babu), who believes he has a purpose to fulfill.He is said to have been born to rectify the wrongdoings of Gajendra Sahu (Niitin Mehta), a brutal man who takes over an ashram and pretends to be a saint to conceal his offenses.Varada Rajulu (Srikanth) is also included in this tale, a ruthless man who takes up illicit uranium mining in Nallamala under the name of copper mining.When people whose lives Murali promised to protect are killed and Saranya must fight to save what is left of her family, Akhanda embarks on a war-path to save the day. He goes on a journey to be eloquent on topics ranging from nature to the importance of God and temples to how women (like nature) are supposed to be protected and not be ravaged.When the film indulges in double-entrendre dialogues, introduction scenes depicting vonis flying and womengirls being used as war collaterals, nobody notices the irony.None of this adds to the story either.Everyone and everyone takes a backseat from the moment Akhanda arrives, including Murali. He isn't even supposed to be God himself, nay.Balakrishna has the opportunity to shine because he can be seen in nearly every scene of the film, either as Murali or Akhanda.When he isn't flaunting his cool new avatar in slow-motion photos that focus on his fake tattoos and piercing eyes, he can dance and indulge in dialogue-baazi.And though this might be enough to give you a break, it quickly becomes exhausting as the film progresses. Poorna, Srikanth, Niitin, Jagapathi Babu, Kalakeya Prabhakar, Subbaraju, and others have one-tone characters that they breeze through.Apart from the fun, Ram-Laxman-style fights (but there aren't many of them), Thamans BGM is what makes it work.The film's score and Ram Prasads cinematography provided the backdrop, even making the scenes entertaining when it's clear that Boyapati is filling the runtime with nothing to say.The length of the film (2-hours-47 minutes) seems to be too short for the tale he wants to tell. Akhanda is the kind of entertainer that would suit only Balakrishnas fans because anyone who wants to simply kill time over a tub of popcorn might be exhausted.Considering how long it has since a major entertainer has been on the radio, time will tell if this is the movie that brings people back to the theaters.