Duvvada Jagannadham Movie Review: While Allu Arjun Shines, The Film isn’t Totally Fine

Sethumadhavan. N

A cop is about to be killed by a bunch of goons and a boy happens to witness the same. Normally one would expect the boy to run for his life or stay hidden out of fear. But here something else happens, not only does the lad go on to save the cop, he also goes on to kill all the goons with a gun. If that wasn’t enough he even shoots a rape accused in the police station, shocking the cop. On knowing the background of the lad the policeman is surprised and asks him if he would like to become a cop. The boy refuses saying that he isn’t interested and also says that one needs to get rid of criminals straight away to ensure a good night’s sleep. The cop realizes that the boy could indeed turn out to be a headache for the thugs across the state. With just a couple of scenes depicting this director Harish Shankar establishes his intentions very clearly in the form of his latest release, Duvvada Jagannadham featuring Allu Arjun

Duvvada Jagannadham or DJ as it’s referred to commonly marks the coming together of Harish Shankar and Allu Arjun for the first time. With commercial hits like Mirapakay (2011), Gabbar Singh (2012) and Ramayya Vastavayya (2013) behind him, Harish Shankar has already established quite a name for himself as people have come to expect engaging entertainers from him. On the other hand we have Allu Arjun who is easily one of the most popular actors in Telugu cinema for a long time now and is a rage among the youth. With both of them joining hands together naturally Duvvada Jagannadham carried quite a good expectation, be it from the trade, Allu Arjun fans or the general audience. With the promos, songs and posters being well received, this festive weekend (Eid being around the corner) seemed to be a tailor made time to watch out for the film. So now that the film has made it to the theatres I was quite keen to check it out and see if it does actually manage to be a commendable entertainer.

Duvvada Jagannadha Shastri (Allu Arjun) has been leading a dual life of sorts ever since he was a teenage lad. Not only is he a simple, traditional youngster belonging to a Brahmin household in Vijayawada who is actively involved in running in the family’s catering business, there is another side to him- he is also a vigilante of sorts, with the police and criminals knowing him simply as DJ. Soon Shastri ends up falling in love with Pooja (Pooja Hegde), a fashion designer and the daughter of the home minister (Posani Krishna Murali), while at the same time DJ gets going on a mission to uncover the mastermind behind a huge financial scam in the state. What happens in case of the love story of Shastri and Pooja and how does it get connected to DJ’s quest to unravel the truth behind the financial scam is what the rest of the film is all about.

Truth be told there’s nothing amazing about the basic concept of the film, except for the contrasting dual shades given to the character played by Allu Arjun. A film of this magnitude and under the direction of a proven “hit maker” certainly deserved a lot more meat to the proceedings, which this one sadly lacks.  There are no major elements that would probably astound or take the viewer by surprise. The writing is a let-down especially in the second half, considering that the first half certainly has its share of interesting moments and manages to keep us quite hooked to the screen. Post the interval the film sort of nose dives and you keep hoping for something to come as a redeemer, but the wait just doesn’t really get over. Needless to say the film has rich production values and Ayananka Bose’s cinematography works quite well for the film.  However at a duration of 157 minutes the film is a little too lengthy for comfort, especially when there’s hardly anything exciting in the second half.

Devi Sri Prasad has delivered on the music front; the songs after all have been popular for a while and have given Allu Arjun an opportunity to put on his dancing shoes to good use once again. Of the supporting cast in the film it is Subbaraju, Murali Sharma and Rao Ramesh who manage to make an impact. Murali Sharma as the cop who supports DJ is effective while Subbaraju gets a lot of scope but is eventually short-changed in a way. Rao Ramesh as the antagonist Royyala Naidu is good, even getting to pay homage of sorts to his father, the late actor Rao Gopal Rao’s character in the film Aa Okatti Adakku (1993). But he’s caught between going the whole hog as either a funny or sinister villain, hence a let-down of sorts. While in her first outing in Telugu cinema Pooja Hegde may not have made a great impact (she did films like Oka Laila Kosam and Mukunda, both in 2014), with Duvvada Jagannadham she is surely to make up for the same.

Though the film doesn’t offer much scope for her to perform as such, she does what is expected out of her pretty well.  She is not only pleasing to the eyes but also manages to complement Allu Arjun comfortably in the songs. Of course it goes without saying that Allu Arjun is the biggest plus point of the film. He carries out the contrasting shades that the character requires with ease, and is especially good as Shastri. With his sloka recital kind of dialogue delivery he makes us smile a lot, though beyond a point it gets repetitive. With Duvvada Jagannadham Harish Shankar has come up with a strictly average fare, it had the potential to be a lot better but does not turn out that way.

Bottomline:

Eventually Duvvada Jagannadham is just another average Telugu commercial entertainer saved thankfully to an extent by an engaging first half and an energetic Allu Arjun.

Rating: 2.5/5