Pista started off on a promising note as an entertainer that would deliver on all the masala required for a commercial success. It does contain the masala elements such as the good hero, the rival gangsters, the glamorous heroine, five songs, action sequences, comic sub-plot, etc, but what it lacks is the novelty to tie up all these elements into a successful entertainer like Pokiri!!!

What is it about : The movie starts off showing the violent enmity between the two gangsters Kishore and Prakash Raj who want to control the city of Vizag. In this setting, Vishal lands up from his village, as he has promised his mother, to bring back his missing elder brother who had run away as a kid. Within five minutes of landing in Vizag, he gets caught between the gangs due to him witnessing a murder. Soon the movie shifts into his love story with Shriya and just before the interval he realizes that Kishore is his lost elder brother. The second half is all about Vishal trying to reform his elder brother and by the end of an overdrawn violent climax, they team up to finish off Prakash Raj and go back to their village to begin a new life. In the middle of all this, he has time to sing 5 songs with Shriya and raise a few laughs in a comic sub-plot with Ali and MS Narayana.

What is Good: Performances by Prakash Raj, Kishore, Vishal and Ali are good. Prakash Raj excels as usual and Vishal puts in a lot of effort in his role which requires him to carry a huge portion of the movie on his own steam. The action sequences though a bit violent are well executed and the comic plot involving Ali, MS Narayana and Vishal raises a few laughs from the audience. Shriya does her usual bit of providing the glamour by fluttering her eye-lashes at the hero and doing the required song & dance routine.

What is bad: What brings the movie down is the not so novel story and screenplay that devotes most of the first half to the love story angle rather than the two gangsters. The rivalry could have been easily used to create more dramatic situations instead. The second half shows Vishal as a superhero who very easily manages to reform his brother while fighting Prakash Raj single-handedly which didn’t look too convincing esp. as the villains are shown to be so ruthless & powerful. The songs seem to be forced into the script and end up dragging the movie instead. Sayaji Shinde is wasted as the corrupt minister and he gets limited to 4-5 scenes.

Me Thinks: This movie could have been much more gripping if the script had been reworked in the first half. It is an average entertainer which has nothing new or different to offer. It definitely has shades of Pokiri esp. with Prakash raj’s character.

Tailpiece: The term Pista is colloquial for a guy with attitude…but this doesn’t really gel with the hero’s character who seems more of a happy go lucky type than a dude with attitude!!!