Khaleja Review

I’ll be honest.The "Maheessshhhh" dialogue from Ashta Chamma is pretty much my reaction to every pic of Khaleja I have seen. But then again, beyond that sweety smile, intense eyes and total yumminess that is Mahesh Babu, I got bored with his last movie, Athidi. Yes, I have a problem with Amrita Rao but it was beyond the pairing [As an actress, she's better than a fair few]. Something in the story just didn't sit right. Thankfully, Trivikram’s film have always held my interest and considering the Trivikram-Mahesh combo returns after the critically acclaimed Athadu and also counts as a return for Mahesh too, expectations were moderately high. Moderately high, u may ask? Well, let’s just say Puli taught me a lesson on expectations but that’s another topic.Since action is always an important factor, as well as music; Khaleja is no different on the outer scale. An action-based commercial pot-boiler [seeing a lot of those lately], it has Mahesh’s trusty hit-makers Mani Sharma for music and Raju Sundaram for choreography.

In our opening scene we are introduced to the cremation grounds of Pali, a rural village in Andhra Pradesh, struck by a strange disease with an alarming mortality rate. Its residents believe their beloved village is cursed. No reasons, no apparent causes yet the number of deaths only increased by the day. The village head/oracle [Rao Ramesh] foresees a saviour that will rid them of their dilemma and sends out Siddhappa [Shafi] with instruction to find him and bring him back.

On the other side of the country, we meet Raju [Mahesh Babu], a taxi driver that has had a few run-ins with lady bad-luck. Not the mythical type but a real life lady whose name is Subbashini alias Subbu [Anushka Shetty]. Every time he meets her, his taxi takes a turn for the worst. If that wasn’t bad enough, he even ends up in hospital. On what seemed like a normal drop off, one of his passengers forgets his wallet and he goes to return it to him. But lady bad-luck strikes again, as his geologist passenger gets killed and his assistant lands smack on his taxi. After the other encounters his manager [Dharamavarupu] has no way of paying for it, and tells him he has only one way to resolve this. The assistant had life insurance so Raju will have to take the life insurance cheque to the family in Rajasthan and get some in return for the damages. What was to be an easy trip to Rajasthan turns into another dangerous encounter but this time with Subbu and Raju as the target. Injured, he seeks assistance from a stranger. But to the stranger, Siddhappa, Raju is the saviour the oracle foretold. What does Subbu have to do with this? Is Raju really a saviour? Can he save the village? Or is there a less divine being involved in this?

You will never have seen Mahesh in any flick like this before. He’s chatty, witty, funny and downright “local” with a Godavari 

accent. Unlike his brooding intense characters of the recent past, with Trivikram’s unique style of dialogue, the actor shows a fun-side as we laugh at his misfortunes. A complete entertainer, the normally soft spoken actor will have you in splits. Trivikram must be commended for the confrontation between Mahesh and Rao Ramesh in front of the villagers and later between Mahesh and Raghu Babu when the latter is kidnapped by the former. The director’s touch is evident in every scene and the cinematography and music enhance it. Anushka is pure eye candy with nothing much to do but she looks a million bucks and has a cool chemistry with Mahesh. Considering her Arundhati and Vedam have put her in another league from the current glam queens, it is a little disappointing. Prakashraj as businessman G.K. has down played his role well. Barring the climax, he seems a little too quiet from what we are used to. Shafi, Subbaraju and Rao Ramesh have always been reliable for their histrionics, deliver once again. Although Rao has done the oracle at in Magadheera, he’s more controlled this time. With Mahesh himself rocking the floor with comedy, Ali and Sunil are just extras. Mani Sharma has always been in Mahesh’s good books and he delivers once again, with Piliche and Makathika the picks of the lot.

No matter how much I enjoyed seeing Mahesh on screen, the pitfalls are definitely there. First, the length. I could count at least 3 occasions where the action sequence could have put me to sleep, especially the introduction scene for Mahesh, which honestly, had no connection to the story. Visually captivating, yes, but way too long. Second, the depth of the characters is simply not there. Face value may work on passerby characters but not main ones like Prakashraj. This is essential for the validity of the screenplay. Innovative as the screenplay may be, it’s obvious that Trivikram is riding on the star factor to drive the story home.

Pluses and minuses apart, Mahesh... I mean, Khaleja entertains so long as you put your brain away for the serious bits. A definite watch for some action, comedy and Mahesh. Rating: 3.5/5

P.S. Did anyone notice that besides the bathroom scene in this movie, Mahesh never shows his stomach??