Mahesh Khaleja

Superstardom is what makes you glued to the seats even when the proceedings seem a little dreary for our comfort. Enthiran/Robo/Robot was called as the movie that rode on superstardom without actually making the protagonist behave like one. South of the Vindhya's is the place where most of the superstars in India orginated from and not without reason. It's a topic that's left out for discussion on a rainy day

Superstardom does not rest easily on many shoulders. What you do when you sense it, is to want to get to the crowd a lot more and entertain them. Expectations increase, pressure to beat the collections of your last big hit increases, and the frequent and fervent desire to stretch the imaginations comes in

Mahesh Babu after notching up the blockbuster called Pokiri experienced all these in some magnitude or the other and came up with two duds called Sainikudu and Athidhi. Trivikram, the director of his new movie, Khaleja does a lot in resuscitating the superstardom

That Trivikram understands the performing capabilities is put beyond doubt in the movie. You just need to watch Mahesh in the drunken scene to know the differences a good director can bring to acting capabilities

Khaleja takes off on a comic note and does not shed that look/feel through out though it can't be called a full length comedy entertainer. It's only in the second half that we get to listen thoughtful dialogues and philosophies. "Daive Manushye Rupena" meaning "There is god in human beings" or rather "God is in the form of human being" is the thing that's flashed in the beginning of the movie. Second half, more or less is all about proving that right

Trivikram does well to ensure the continuity of the movie and it can be said that he made Mahesh carry the movie on his shoulders. It was a different characterisation for Mahesh as he not only performs comedy with aplomb but also is pretty loud - both in terms of voice and the words used

One thing that is noticed clearly is the self deprecatory nature of the dialogues in the movie. Notice the way Mahesh uses the words Mass Hysteria and Over expectations

There are a lot of scenes that stand out in the movie. Rao Ramesh's visibility in the movie is all about elevating the character of the hero and the same stands true for Shafi too. Being Trivikram's movie, there are a lot of dialogues that would linger long after the movie has finished. Sampler's being

1) Meeru dantlo ginja ne choostunnaru, nennu dantlonchi vache chettu gurinchi alochistunannu

2) Abhaya Hastam ante meeru Devudu

3) Chee! Nuvvu chhodu vadu choodu, vadu chachetapudu garvam ga navvadu, nuvvu chavu kosam edustunavvu

This is a movie that could have done well without a few dialougues, hitting below the belt and yeah before I forget, Anushka and Prakash Raj also star in the movie