'Mahaveerudu' hit the cinemas this Friday. Asian Cinemas has brought out the Telugu-dubbed version of this Tamil original. In this section, we are going to tell you what to expect from the superhero-fantasy movie.
Plot:
Cartoonist Sathya (Sivakarthikeyan) is taken aback when the hero from his cartoon strip Mahaveerudu starts narrating incidents as they happen and as they are going to happen. The mysterious voice (rendered by Ravi Teja, who is never seen) leaves him perplexed as it starts predicting a huge tragedy.
The setting of the story is a fragile apartment building constructed under the aegis of a corrupt politician. Sathya soon realizes that he is destined to save the building's residents and confront the corrupt and evil Minister Jayaram (Mysskin).
Post-Mortem:
Director Madonne Ashwin has admittedly been inspired by the 2006 American fantasy comedy-drama where the protagonist begins "hearing a disembodied voice narrating his life as it happens" (plot as described by Wikipedia). 'Mahaveerudu' stretches the idea too hard in the second half. After a point, we get bored of hearing the voice. It doesn't help matters that Ravi Teja's voice lacks a certain gravity and fun value. Nevertheless, we tend to appreciate the sincerity of the film in general.
There was a time when the flavour of comedy in many big-ticket and medium-range Kollywood films used to be decent. Even commercial vigilante films made by Shankar had superb comedy (think of 'Bharateeyudu' and 'Gentleman'). In the past decade or so, the quality of Tamil comedy has nosedived drastically. The standard is so low that the Telugu audience will find such humour unforgivable. Last year's 'Gatta Kusthi' ('Matti Kusthi' in Telugu) is an example. The film had highly derivative and semi-cringe comedy. Yet, it worked for the Tamil audience. Very few Kollywood films have been exceptions in recent years: Sivakarthikeyan's 'Doctor' is an example. 'Mahaveerudu' has the actor never do comedy himself. The situations he finds himself in evoke laughter, though. Yogi Babu, a construction worker who has been taken for a ride by a vile Engineer, tickles the funny bone when the hilarity of the situation is not adequate to do the job.
Sunil plays the antagonist's sharp-witted sidekick. He comes across as a PA at first but reveals himself to be a cold-blooded strategist. Mysskin's characterization is pale, though. Had the villain been novel, this film would have reached greater heights. Saritha, as the male lead's widowed mother, is sentimental.
The cinematography by Vidhu Ayyanna is outdone by Bharath Sankar's flawless background score. Editor Philomin Raj doesn't add much value, as he lets some scenes keep on being draggy. The art direction by Kumar Gangappan is worthy of being talked about.
The Telugu version's dialogues by Rakendu Mouli are impressive. Rarely do we see the lines sound jarring, although the dubbing is quite off here and there. Yannick Ben's stunts could have been smarter, considering that the male lead is a coward who becomes an accidental fighter under the tutelage of the mysterious voice.
Closing Remarks:
'Mahaveerudu' is a watchable film despite its shortcomings. It's too lengthy but the storyline, the treatment, the performances and the good technical quality keep us engaged.
