When an actor as capable as Mahesh Babu joins forces with a director as clever and wily as Srinu Vytla, fireworks are expected. Dookudu is not only a colorfully packaged entertainer, but also is a cracker with laugh out loud comic scenes. It has all the elements that have worked for both Srinu Vytla and Mahesh Babu so far in their respective careers, and is a perfect recipe for a fun outing.

What’s it about : After a messiah of the poor, Shankar Anna (Prakash Raj), meets with an accident, his family members move to Mumbai. Shankara Anna’s son Ajay (Mahesh Babu) grows up to be a daredevil police officer who rises amongst the police ranks handling crime in his own unique way, which is otherwise considered rash. When he is assigned to bring down internationally wanted criminal Naik (Sonu Sood), Ajay cleverly sets the trap for Naik. However, when Shankar Anna wakes from the coma, Ajay is forced to put a veil of being an M.L.A. for the sake of Shankar Anna’s health. Soon Ajay realizes that Naik, along with Shankar Anna’s former trusted aides, had plotted against Shankar Anna. Ajay now has to get rid of each of them, without hurting his father’s health. What kind of methods Ajay employs, and how he fools all the criminals becomes the rest of the story.

What is Good : Dookudu is an out and out Mahesh Babu’s film all the way, with dialogues and scenes conceived to portray his abilities as an actor. That he looks ‘smoking hot’ irrespective of what he wears is a huge asset to the actor. Even dialogues in Telangana dialect sound pretty sweet when he delivers them. If anyone forgot to see how good his comic timing was in Khaleja, he reiterates it in Dookudu like a pro, matching scene on scene with seasoned actors like Brahmanandam or M.S.Narayana. Also watch out for those scenes in Brahmanandam requests SMS like kids in a reality show or M.S.Narayana’s monologue, spoofing the likes of Balakrishna, Ramcharan Teja, Jr.NTR and even Rajnikanth!

Samantha is pleasing on the eyes, though her role is pretty limited. Prakash Raj and Sonu Sood come up with reasonable performances and the huge support cast that includes Nazar, Sayaji Shinde, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Dharmavarapu Subrahmaniam, Supreeth, Masther Bharat all perform well too.

The entire first half passes away breezily, like any other Srinu Vytla movie, aided with some funny dialogues, hilarious scenes and neatly choreographed fights.

What is bad: While no one can take away the credit from the many comic situations, they go on expected lines for those who have watched Srinu Vytla’s earlier films like Dhee and Ready. The main emotional content of the film, featuring Prakash Raj and Mahesh Babu, falls short of expectations. Slow second half too plays spoil sport to an extent. However, the pre-climax is again saved by unparalleled comedy that can be seen only in Telugu movies.

Technical Departments : Director Srinu Vytla manages to surprise his audiences as he weaves comedy, scene after scene, but never forgetting that he is dealing with a star like Mahesh Babu. Yet again he got some hilarious punch dialogues from the writers and extracted strong performances from his key performers. Cinematographer K.V.Guhan’s efforts are top notch, be it in chase sequences in the streets of Istanbul or fights or songs. Thaman’s rerecording is decent in parts, but his already hit compositions have been shot well, though one would have expected more from Parvati Melton’s item number. The fight choreography is top notch, and the art department too does a decent job.

Final Point : Dookudu is a typical Srinu Vytla film with high fun quotient. It is not only a must watch for all Mahesh Babu fans, but will also be a good watch for all the Telugu families, who love going to the cinemas with families, especially in the festive season.

Click here for Review by Mahesh K.S