Are small crimes like chain snatching, extortion, stealing can be linked to mass murders, chemical poisoning and eradicating whole villages? Can this all be a crime syndicate of organised crimes committed by one man? Well if it is so, how will you react? Do we need a hero that can shine like Dhruva Nakshtram – North Star in the sky? Well we might!
Plot : A young 15 year old boy gets arrested for killing a MLA ticket enthusiast in a political party office. In papers, the news comes out as a boy doing it in haste and heat of the moment. But actually, the crime becomes the source of a multi crime organisation runner, Siddharth Abhimanyu (Aravind Swamy). That one crime committed by now Chief Minister, Appalanaidu(Nasser), who was a party president then, becomes a point of his father Chengala Rayudu’s political growth (Posani Krishna Murali). As the saying goes everyone will have to face their inevitable downfall, Siddharth finds an ample enemy in Dhruva (Ram Charan). Dhruva IPS has a lover in Ishika (Rakul) and a group of followers in Fellow trainees, Gautam and Gang (Navdeep and others). Dhruva finds out that the small crimes are connected to an organised network and he chooses his enemy. Thus, ensues a cat and mouse game between both the strong coolheads. Watch on screen how the game explores each other and end!
Performances : Ram Charan after Orange gives a heartfelt, sincere performance and never lets the movie tempo down. His body language, his face off scenes and diction standout in this movie compared to his previous movies. So good welcome change was ignited in him by his decision to remake an already proved film. May be a necessity to stand up to the original and clear focused director like Surender helped him in his reinvention. Anyways, it is heartening to see him put an effort in acting as well while he was always a chiseled body builder and dancer.
Aravind Swamy just rocked the screens with his presence and his understated, held back, nuanced performance. His motive in the movie is to become a rich man with fame, money, power, emotion, morality, rights, fear and death. While depicting these on screen he never misses a beat and he gives life to the absolute brutal menacing villain on screen.Rakul Preet Singh tries to do the role that Nayantara did in the original but she comes close to being beautiful on screen but as a performer she is just ok. Navdeep utilises the opportunity he got. All others are adequate as well. Posani is a miscast in Tambhi Ramaiah’s role here. He mostly did try to play the role like him in original but missed the beats.
Technicalities : Editor Naveen Nooli’s cuts are in sync with the movie and he never tries to hurt the flow when film is moving at a pace. He could have done better job in few scenes but on the whole he has done an adequate job. Production values of Geetha Arts made the film look grand and stylish. PS Vinod’s camera is in top form here. His visuals are the big plus for the movie. He never lets you take your eyes off the proceedings and few angles are better than the original. The Art department should be given kudos for designing it the best. The movie looks better with each moving visual on screen. Apt set designing helps Suri to deliver what he intended on screen.
Story by Mohan Raja was good and his characters are the major driving points of this movie. Siddharth Abhimanyu versus Dhruva is the movie and both the characters are stitched so perfectly that you feel like knowing them more. Dialogues by Vema Reddy have nothing original but every literal translation from the original Tamil Version.Screenplay by Surender Reddy follows the original to the tee and one wonders what exact change did he bring to the original that he credited himself with screenplay. As a director, he just carried the feel of the original expertly and he should be credited for that. Even though there are few shots exactly taken out from original, one never misses his mark in frames.
Analysis : The movie is one of the better remakes that Telugu Film Industry produced in recent years. Being true to original yet adding an element like aastadighbandabam would make it more exciting and easily watchable. The characters are so true and innovatively believable with their driven nature and we enjoy them facing off and one upmanship. This movie is a good enjoyment for all action and commercial cinema lovers. Watch it at least once in theatres as this paves way for entertaining new movies.
Rating : 3/5
