Edge of Tomorrow - Get off your asses and watch this movie, you maggots.

Story - 

Private Cage happens to relive his day over & over again where he combats with the mimics (extraterrestrial enemy). The future of mankind lies in his hands. How he succeeds in doing this forms the rest of the screenplay.

Movie -

The movie begins with the news reports of various tv channels announcing the invasion by the extraterrestrials and the whole world is fighting them although the news channels only mention the Russian & Chinese troupes. Anyways, Private Cage is arrested for impersonating a military officer & is forced to join the combat army to be part of the battlefield. As unwilling he is, he joins the forces to battle out the mimics at the beach in France. He is not trained & he wants to escape from his situation. The brutal battlefield turns into a slaughter, Private Cage runs into the most celebrated war hero Rita Vrataski only to see her die. This is followed by Cage's death. Now, Cage wakes up and his day starts all over again with the events repeating themselves as it is. Sooner it's revealed what actually triggered this Groundhog Day fiasco but ofcourse not before Cage's killed enough number of times. Now Cage must team up with Rita to make his nightmare, the nightmare for the enemy. The first half is terrificly told, the pace is faster, entertainment guaranteed with enough amount of laughs that compliment the scenes.

The second half is where the fun time looping thing ends and the film gets more serious. Sure, Cage keeps dying only to learn from his mistakes and use it as a strategy to execute his true mission. There's an well intentioned attempt to give an emotional touch to the lead pair's relationship which looks half baked or rushed but the acting definitely makes up for it & succeeds somewhat in separating this film from the usual Sci-Fi fantasy films. The battle shifts to Paris, the major twists appear at the right time to make this film a nail-biter. The success of the mission depends on Cage's ability to hold onto his visions long enough to execute the plan & kill the extraterrestrials. The last 15 minutes of the film will take the audience for a ride. The climax too is as subtle as it can get, giving perferct justification. By the time the end credits roll in, you will know you had got your money's worth.

Performances -

Tom Cruise as William Cage really kills it. He is in his elements and entertains you throughout. The age will never stop this guy. Emily Blunt as Rita Vrataski gives an effective performance & supports Tom Cruise superbly. Bill Paxton is first-rate, it's always good to see him on the big screen. There are bunch of supporting actors & their performances are in sync with that of the lead actors.

Technical Aspect -

Again the 3D worked big time. The visual effects definitely justifies the huge budget of $175+ million. The mimics design is super effective and the battlefield shots are terrific.

Positives -

1. The interesting plot revolving around repeating time loop.

2. Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt's highly energetic performance.

3. Highly entertaining first half.

4. Doug Liman is back. The one we know for The Bourne Identity & not for Jumper.

Negatives -

1. The film does lose it's pace for a while in the second half.

2. The emotional connect seems half baked.

Final Word - Get off your a**es and watch this movie, you maggots. Hollywood is on fire with back to back best entertainers.

My Rating - 4/5

X-Men: Days of Future Past is entertainment at it's best.

Story - 

It goes something like this, the mutants should time travel to the past to stop one of the mutants from committing a grave mistake that would lead to their destruction in the future. To alter the course of events means to alter the entire history, affecting the past & the future. Mutants in the present day have united to alter the past, but will the mutants in the past unite?

Movie -

Bryan Singer, the director of X-Men & it's sequel X2: X-Men United knows the franchise better, gets to business right from the first scene. He doesn't waste time in introducing us to the present day scenario & the war with The Sentinels. Here, we are introduced to a small band of X-Men who fight The Sentinels & manage to defeat with the help of Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde's ability to phase through solid objects as well as time. The initial few minutes itself prove that this is an high octane action ride. In the present day, Charles Xavier & Magneto have united & along with The Wolverine & Storm meet this small band of X-Men & asks Kitty Pryde to send them back in time to alter certain event. Now Kitty Pryde has the power to send them back in time but it's limited to a month at most, anything more than that will rupture the mind. What Charles Xavier asks for is to be sent back to 1973. Knowing the danger involved, The Wolverine steps in as he can withstand the rupture through his power to heal quickly. So, The Wolverine gets sent back to 1973 where his task is to unite Charles Xavier & Magneto, the glitch? They can't stand each other & reaching Magneto is, to put in his own words "complicated". How The Wolverine succeeds in getting them together & will they stop the actual event from happening forms the first half of the film. The pace is extremely good here, you've all the whistle-worthy, clap-worthy scenes in this segment. Not revealing much, yes the first half enough provides double the entertainment for the money you've spent.

The second half elegantly passes through past & the present time, the twists come in the right time & the follow up for that twist is commendable. Like I said, Bryan Singer knows the franchise better than everybody & his vision does justice to the characters. It's a very interesting but deadly game between the mutants themselves & between the mutants & the humans. Is altering the event enough to change the course of the future? Is it worth changing if the war is inevitable? Does mutants have a chance or should the humans be given a chance? All these questions are answered as the screenplay for the second half is entire based on those answers. The pace loses a bit in the second half since concentration on building up scenes for the grand finale. The grand finale is ofcourse epic considering the huge budget spent on the film & it's the CGI which does the talking. The ending if revealed will be the worst thing for any reviewer to do, if you're a true X-Men fan then all I can say is this is the ending you were all waiting for. Ofcourse the logic does take a toss in the second half but hey that's exactly the last thing you wanted while buying the ticket.

Performances -

Hugh Jackman as The Wolverine nails it. It's a treat to watch him, wonder why he doesn't get any decent standalone film? James McAvoy takes off from the prequel & is very efficient as Professor Charles Xavier. Patrick Stewart makes a comeback as the original old Charles Xavier & he does what he does best. Ian Mckellen as Magneto is very effective while Michael Fassbender as the young Magneto gives a an elegant performance as the baddie making up for the Ian Mckellen's positive portrayal of Magneto. Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, well what can I say for her, respect is the word. Halle Berry as Storm doesn't get much to do but very glad to see her. Ellen Page as Shadowcat contributes a lot during the initial few minutes which is very important for the entire film. Nicholas Hoult as the Beast renders great support throughout the film. Peter Dinklage as Trask is first rate. Shawn Ashmore as Iceman is decent but again limited scope. There's a bunch of actors playing mutants & they support really well. Not going to mention few actors as I said I'm not going to reveal much.

Special mention for Evan Peters as Quicksilver, if you're going to love this movie it's because of him. His action scene in the first half is what gonna get the maximum cheers, whistles & claps. Yes, he's that fabulous.

Techinal Aspect -

What can I say? The 3D is efficient in certain parts, but the CGI is extra-ordinary. All I can say is money well spent & it shows on screen making the film a visual treat both in the action sequences & the scenes that doesn't involve action.

Positives -

1. Evan Peters as Quicksilver.

2. The Wolverine.

3. The whole concept of the past and the present. The conception of having the characters together in their older form as well as younger form.

4. Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. You just can't stop loving her.

5. Also, Ellen Page as Shadowcat & the new band of X-Men.

6. The Climax.

Negatives -

1. You wish Evan Peters was part of the plan in the 2nd half too. He's used only in the first half & it's not justified at all in not involving him in the second half.

2. Logic does take a toss.

3. The involvement of Magneto's younger version starts losing it's justification in the second half.

4. Storm literally has nothing to do. When you see her, you would atleast expect one contributing scene involving her.

Final Word - Watch it because it's entertainment at it's best.

My Rating - 4/5 [3.5 for the actual film + 0.5 rating only for Quicksilver. After a long time I clapped, cheered during a scene & it truly deserved it.]

Godzilla - The King of Monsters, saviour of the city. Finally Hollywood pays a true homage to Gojira.

Plot - 

Let me clarify that this movie is not about Godzilla vs Humans, it's treatment is completely different than the 1998's Roland Emmerich's Godzilla. This movie solely lies on the battle of the monsters where humans are made into just spectators unlike the previous film where humans were made to battle it out directly.

So, this time Godzilla is back but for a reason & that reason is what holds the movie till the end. He has his monster friends who call him out for a battle & humans are caught in between them. All the humans do is get shocked looking at the monsters in Japan followed by Honolulu & of course California. The story begins in 1999 where a nuclear plant is being attacked by an unknown force, we are introduced to Joe Brody played by Bryan Cranston who is the first one to detect the unusual events that occurs. The attack results in a mysterious meltdown of the nuclear reactor leaving Brody's wife dead. Now Joe Brody, the Hollywood's most conventional be-the-only-person-to-know-it-all, continues his search for the truth behind the nuclear meltdown. 15 years later, the truth is revealed & it comes with it's own price. The monsters get unleashed & what follows forms the entire film.

Movie -

The first 15 minutes of the film starts as a prologue with the events that occur in the nuclear reactor. Then the story moves forward to the current times where the characters of Aaron-Taylor Johnson & Jennifer Olsen are introduced along with their son. Soon, Aaron has to leave for Japan to get his father who is currently been arrested for getting inside a prohibited zone. After the father-son reunite, they opt for their own journey back to the prohibited area in search for the truth. The entire first half is about introducing the main human characters & move the story forward along with them. Apart from Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Bryan Cranston there is Ken Watanabe to introduce the audience to the respective monsters as the story moves forward in it's own pace. The main character, Gojira aka Godzilla makes an entry only towards the end of the first half & it's a superb introduction scene for him.

The second half shifts to Las Vegas where all the monsters are headed to. All the attempts by humans to contain these monsters go in vain. The story moves in a brisk pace here as the audience anticipate a huge showdown between the monsters & any scenes before the final battle adds as a built up having a positive effect on the scenes that unfold. The audience get to view the three huge monsters, they get to sympathize with the big guy, they get a glimpse of human emotions & efforts to witness as well as do their part in this epic battle. The final showdown like I mentioned is epic & is worth all the wait. The movie ends on an open note & yes there'll be a sequel. But to the ones who expected an after credit scene, realized that it's not a Marvel movie a tad bit late.

Performances -

Bryan Cranston sets the mood of the film as the scientist & the father of Sam Brody. He forms the emotional involvement in the initial 15 minutes. Juliette Binoche is effective in her brief role. Aaron-Taylor Johnson puts up an honest effort to make up for all the scenes not featuring the monsters. Jennifer Olsen gets very little scope. Ken Watanabe gets limited exposure but all his scenes contribute majorly to the film.

Technical Aspects -

As usual it's done brilliantly. You get to see choppers to trains to submarines being played upon as broken toys, you get to see a tsunami, you get to see several money shots of Godzilla, all that money spent proves to be worthy. The 3D, well enhances the film.

Positives -

1. Godzilla himself.

2. The epic battle between Godzilla & the MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms)

3. The effective initial 15 minutes.

4. Portraying Gojira/Godzilla in it's original form nowhere like the 1998 version.

Negatives -

1. Godzilla has roughly about 20 minutes screen appearance & he's absent for the larger part.

2. MUTOs though positive additions to the movie remain unidentified creatures as far as the Indian audiences go. As happened with the audience in my theater, they seemed largely disconnected with MUTOs till the entry of the big guy.

3. Humans are turned into mere spectators throughout since the entire movie is about the battle between the three monsters. This could be a negative aspect for those people who expect  Godzilla vs Humans showdown.

The movie is typical Hollywood in all aspects, got way too many cheesy scenes, entire climax is heavily relied upon the battle that turns out to be epic & despite it's cheesiness what makes this movie so good is the fact they've got everything right this time. It's pretty clear whose side we are on, it's not the MUTOs, it's definitely not the humans...  yes it's the big guy, who gets all the sympathies followed by loud cheers as he gets up, walks towards the ocean & swims off.

Final Word -

This Godzilla is a true homage to the original Gojira series. He's the King of the Monsters & he's definitely the saviour of the city. GO FOR IT !!!

My Rating - 4/5

The Amazing Spider-Man 2: A ridiculously pointless sequel.

Story - 

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) has successfully graduated from high school & he is still fighting the crimes in the city as well as seeing Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) breaking the promise he made to her father in the prequel. He's feeling guilty about breaking the promise & calls it off or to say let Gwen call it off between them. That's the only way for him to save his love. On the other hand, a new villain character Electro effectively portrayed by Jamie Foxx emerges & Peter Parker gets to meet his old frined Harry Osborn played by Dane DeHaan [well don't we all know what Harry is going to turn into!]. So, there's our hero, his complicated love story, two villains, his search for the truth about his parents, Aunt May (Sally Field) & a cameo by Stan Lee... the ingredients for the Spider-Man sequel is ready. Isn't it Amazing? Hold on, it's not.

Movie -

Well, the first half begins with Richard Parker & their back story regarding what happens to them. Then the story gets back to New York where the Spidey is flying all over the city to fight crimes. Unlike the prequel, the lead pair goes through a break up which leads to several scenes that doesn't feature them together which makes the first half miss that much needed spark. Sure, there are funny moments, few manage to get some chuckles the rest seems repetitively old. The highlight in the first half is Jamie Foxx's character, it's unique characterization & Jamie Foxx's performance holds the first half of the film tight. The pace here is decent & events unravel smoothly enough.

The second half loses it's steam with several twists which was supposed to be thrilling but ends up dragged. It's here where the film actually seems crowded where too much concentration is put on several sub-plots & make it part of the main story. What holds the second half is the honest performances & those few scenes which are perfectly handled by the director, the inconsistency in the screenplay shows which plays the spoilsport. Honestly, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is way better than The Amazing Spider-Man 1, but the problem is apart from the technical aspects, the standards were never set that high as far the story goes. Purposefully not going to speak about the pre-climax & climax, just going to reveal the fact that, close to the climax you will feel that the entire 2hrs 20mins journey was pointless.

Technical Aspects -

It's brilliant. The camera work is top notch, the 3D is very effective unlike several other superhero movies that hardly exploit the 3D technology, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 perfectly uses it & it justifies to be made in 3D.

Performances -

Andrew Garfield has worked really hard to get it right this time. He does grow on you in this sequel. Emma Watson takes off from where she left in the first part, she is good. Jamie Foxx steals the show as Electro. Dane DeHaan handles his part very well. Paul Giamatti excels. Sally Field does justice to her character & surprisingly she gets to do a major melodramatic scene.

Final Word - This Spider-Man is still far from being AMAZING. So if you want something Amazing, still suggest you to watch Sam Raimi's Spider-Man sequel.

My Rating - 3/5

2 States - A marriage not to be missed.

Story -

Based on the Chetan Bhagat's novel, the story is about two lovers who wants to marry their parents with one another in order to be united forever. It's a predictable love story since the novel is equally famous among the film's target audience. How the boy gets the girl's family to like him & how the girl gets the boy's family to like her, how the boy & girl gets the boy's family to like the girl's family & how the boy & girl gets the girl's family to like the boy's family form the entire novel as well as the screenplay for the film. It's based on a novel & yes it is a "novel" story too. 

The Film - 

The movie follows the novel not just page to page but actually word to word. The first half starts decently with Arjun Kapoor's introduction & it's his narration unravels the story of his marriage to the viewers. It's love at first sight for him, so he gets the audience involved in his love story. The story moves in a decent pace giving ample time to both the principle characters to get established. For this kind of story it's very important to clarify the characterization of the lead characters & that is what makes them instantly connect with the audience. Their successful love story comes to a point where they need to take it to the next level i.e. getting committed. That's when they decide to meet each other's parents & also get the parents to meet each other since these are no ordinary lovers, they are lovers with high self respect for themselves & their love. What next? Have North Indians & South Indians oops Tamilians ever shook hands & hit it off straight away. May be for friendship, for crush but for starting a relationship.... 

With that starts the second half, where the lovers try everything to bring each other's parents together & convert the hatred into love. The efforts are honest, heart touching, funny, romantic & that makes the flow of the story even more smooth. Like I pointed, all it takes is the instant connection, the movie's first half successfully establishes that much needed connection with the viewers that makes it easy for the second half. Yes, it gets little more filmy in the second half but that's how Chetan Bhagat's writing skills are. Too many hurdles for the lovers to unite & too much stronger the relationships are in this film. How the hurdles are passed is something to watch out for. 

Performances -

Arjun Kapoor impresses brilliantly throughout. I wonder why he kept reminding me of Abhishek Bachchan in many scenes but that might be just me. He enacts his role with conviction & ease. Alia Bhatt shines yet again, she's convincing as a Tamilian-Brahmin & yes she again speaks with her eyes. 

But the real stars of the film are Ronit Roy, Amrita Singh & Revathy. The real savers as well as contributors to this film are these three. They've such strong characterizations, Amrita Singh as the Punjabi mother actually lives the character. The movie can be connected with real life characters mainly because of her. Revathy again comes out with flying colors, she sang Saathiya Tune Kya Kiya & that was my paisa vasool moment. Then, Ronit Roy, man what a terrific performer. Salute to him for his controlled performance. Shiv Subramaniam as Revathy's husband supports very well. 

Plusses - 
1. Definitely the performances especially Amrita Singh, Ronit Roy, Revathy & the two lovers. 
2. The relationship between a mother & son is beautifully exploited here. It's really heart touching. 
3. The proposing scene. Beautifully shot & performed. 
4. The dialogues, no two thoughts about it. 

Minuses -
1. Like I said the movie follows the novel word by word. Anybody who knows the novel by heart like me would say "they could've simply made the characters read out the novel for 2 hrs". For us novel readers, the story doesn't offer anything even slightly different than the novel. 
2. The music, they did gel well with the mood of the film as well as in the narrative but still they lacked the charm & one does miss a chartbuster. A love story without charbuster songs will definitely would end up making us feel something's incomplete. 
3. Since the movie follows the novel so closely, the pace keeps dropping now & then making the narrative inconsistent. 

My Rating - 3.5/5

JAI HO - Achchi picture bani hai, sirf akele mat dekho instead 3 logon ko batao aur unn 3 logon ko ek ek karke 3 aur logon ko Jai Ho dekhne ke liye kaho.

Story -

Jai Ho is the story of Jai Agnihotri, an ex army man who tries to help people & serve the nation even without the uniform & tries to spread his simple yet effective thought of the help chain - no thank you instead help 3 people in need & spread the chain. For every positive action comes an evil reaction & how Jai tackles the problems created by the evil men in the society forms the story of Jai Ho. Will that simple thought prove effective? Will the ONE COMMAN MAN make the difference? Should watch that on the big screen.

Script Analysis -

Jai Ho is the adapted version of Telugu superhit film Stalin. The script for most of the part is very loyal to the original version & the biggest difference is that Jai Ho is the simplest version of the hard hitting Stalin. It's applaudable that the very thought which is the soul of the film is conceived in a very simple way unlike the Telugu original where it happens through an heart touching real life incident instead Jai Ho writers follow the path which Pay It Forward followed where the helping 3 people thought is conceived by a boy for his class assignment. This very concept was beautifully captured since a "thought" becomes important & not how is that thought born. The first half moves in a decent pace concentrating on the social issues until the interval impact. Well it's the best part of the movie so no wonder people are applauding it with claps all over. Second half takes the commercial path yet holding on to the simplicity of the narration of the first half & the hero-villain's first face/off happens here. The pace here gets slow down a bit while the performances & Salman's shirtless act makes up for it.

Performances -

Salman Khan is in his best form & he outperforms his last 5 performances. He's roaring like never before, he's at his best in the emotional sequences & he's at ease in the comic scenes which are not in his trademark style. It's a toned down performance from him except in the action scenes & his shirtless act without any graphics & stuff earned the kind of response which was similar to all his previous 5 blockbusters combined.

Daisy Shah has limited scope, she's a good dancer so all her talent has been limited to the songs. Tabu gives a matured performance. Danny Denzongpa is very good as the villain. Sana Khan leaves the mark in her short negative role. The new villain guy who played her brother showed much promise without many dialogues. Santosh Shukla enters with a menacing look, wins with his comic expressions & leaves a mark during the climax. Mukul Dev is getting typecasted. Nadira Babbar plays a typical Bollywood mother & is passable. Naman Jain is very good as Salman's nephew. Pulkit Samrat gives an honest performance. Yash Tonk & Ashmit Patel share screen space along with Salman as his friends & haven't tried anything above their limits/ability. Genelia Deshmukh is superb in her cameo. Aditya Pancholi & Sharad Kapoor play the forgettable baddies. The man who played the drunkard & Mahesh Manjrekar were first rate.

Then there's a load of actors who are just in for cameos, Suniel Shetty, Tulip Joshi, Nauheed Cyrushi, Vatsal Seth just add into the cast members. Suniel Shetty gets to mouth a dialogue which gets the whistles but that's about it.

Other Departments -
Music lacked the punch which is uncommon for a Salman film. But they don't play the spoilsport although the editing of Baaki Sab First Class Hai was not good. Action was very well choreographed by Anl Arasu & Ravi Varma. They chose to add more of a realistic feel by including all the biting that normally happens when a normal person is fighting on the streets & they didn't let it spoil the usual Salman's action fun. Editing was good in parts especially could've made it better in the first half although it's the second half that loses the pace & the clever editing shows how it's been managed. Cinematography was good.

Direction, Sohail Khan finds his form & tries hard to make a loyal remake yet leave his touch which is noticeable in the way of handling of the emotional scenes. But he does go unstable in the second half but again the emotional outburst scenes covers it very well. Production values could've been better.

Positives -
1. A honest script & the message the film carries.
2. A honest & effective performance by Salman Khan. He's dedicated throughout & that's just feast to the eyes.
3. Strong interval point, worthy of claps.
4. Genelia's track.
5. The post interval scene where the first face/off happens between Salman & Danny.

Negatives-
1. The simplistic approach tends to lose it's steam & doesn't gel with the film in the second half.
2. The Tanker scene, well people whistled & cheered but the right after that particular scene ended, majority of the audience realized that it was pointless.
3. Lack of hero worshipping, people like me who have watched Stalin would agree to this.
4. The death of Mukul Dev lacked the impact the bike chase scene had created. That particular scene in Telugu was extremely appreciated where Chiranjeevi cleverly blasts the petrol tanker.
5. The chain formation gets sidelined & more emphasis is made on preaching which could've tackled otherwise.
6. Salman Khan's entry lacked the punch no matter how much whistles it garnered. Stalin's entry though inspired by Tamil film Dheena which itself was inspired by Jurassic Park where the dinosaur's eyes are shown through the hole in the car's window & that's how they showed Chiranjeevi in Telugu implying him to be a dinosaur. That implications was not followed which bats for my previous point that Jai Ho needed more hero worshipping.

Business Prospective -

The film is a winner for it's producer Sohail Khan even before it's release, For Eros to make money the film has to cross 120cr which it will & anything more than 120cr will allow both the producers i.e. Sohail Khan & Sunil Lulla to share the profit. The movie is sold to the distributors on minimum guarantee basis. Once the movie crosses that 140-145cr mark the movie will fall into the profit making zone for it's distributors since from here onwards their profit earnings will begin (I am talking about the producers who paid the token amount on minimum guarantee basis).

Cinema Prospective -

Film pleases the Salman fans, film appeals to the general audience too, few will over exaggerate the film, few will try to bring it down, this will keep happening. With these facts & all the Salman taking his shirt off moment, don't forget the good message it passes for the humanity. Jai Ho's true victory lies in that & not in those box office numbers which anyway would prove Jai Ho a success.

My Rating -
As a fan - 4/5 because it's always feel superb to see Salman on screen but it goes beyond that when Salman actually gives a dedicated performance.

As an audience - 3.5/5 the movie with all the good intentions, honest performances, entertainment factor follows the simplistic path which just doesn't gel well after some point.

As the one who is biased towards Stalin - 3/5 because I wanted more hero worshipping.

Few days back one of the Salman fan had asked whether Salman will just wave his hand in the climax & how he wouldn't be able to like it, my response, it was the best thing when Salman raised his hand & goes onto show the 3 fingers implying help 3 people. Special applause just for that.

And I would thank the audience who danced for the Jai Ho title track & till I reached the parking lot they were screaming Jai Ho, Salman Khan ki Jai Ho !!! As a fan, I got the thing which I waited for 13 months for that response & sorry I kept my eyes on the screen throughout the film so didn't notice you people dancing for the other songs.

1: Nenokkadine Movie Review.

Okay, let me put this out first, 1:Nenokkadine has made me proud to be a fan of Mahesh Babu.
Second, if this movie fails then the only reason for it is because it's a superb film.

Nothing was revealed about the story of the film till it released today, all the speculations were rotating around 1:Nenokkadine being a movie in the lines of The Bourne Series. Well with the release of the film, the movie has given all the answers to those speculations.

Story -
Mahesh Babu plays a rockstar, who keeps saying his parents are killed by 3 guys. Mahesh Babu remembers those 3 guys but the glitch is his psychological problem. He's suffering from the psychological disorder which makes him not realize what is real between reality & imagination. He constantly imagines to kill those 3 guys taking revenge on them but in reality he's losing his mental balance because of that. Nobody believes his story & every proof points out that he's imagining these things because of the trauma of being an orphan & has created imaginary characters of mom & dad followed by the 3 villains, who've killed his parents something which consoles Mahesh's inner mind on why he's an orphan.

Is he really an orphan? Is he really imagining people or do they exist for real? If his imagination is real then how will he kill the bad guys without knowing which is real & which is imagination? Or has he killed them already for real & thinks it to be his imagination? The questions never end until you watch the film & that's the beauty of it.

Take a bow Sukumar (Aarya, Aarya 2 fame) for coming up with this terrific narration. People tend to make routine films & very few dare to tell complex stories. Then comes the another kind of directors who dare to tell the simplest of stories in the most complex possible way creating ample opportunity for the actors to perform & to explore the direction skills of themselves. Sukumar & his movie falls into that rare breed.

I don't think this is some huge twist which shouldn't be revealed because despite that the movie takes the audience on for a ride with excellent performances especially by Mahesh Babu who gets to underplay his role to perfection with multi-layers in his characterization. He gets to play an angry man searching for the bad guys, also gets to play out his innocent part when he's revealed that everything he thinks is his imagination.

The dialogues are top notch despite lack of punch dialogues which was extremely unnecessary for a film like this. The dialogue where Mahesh tells the heroine "may be love isn't powerful as fear. Because the fear of watching my parents killed, the fear of being killed by those 3 guys & the fear of never succeeding in killing them has made me never forget the faces of those 3 people & due to that fear, the feeling of touch of my mom, the love of my dad has lost. That's why I guess I don't remember the faces of my parents". This dialogue alone speaks wonders about the film.

And the last speech "we are civilized, moderinized & globalized. The civilization dies when the human being die of hunger & for every 3 seconds a human being dies out of hunger in this world...."

Not going to reveal what & why the last dialogue was but shared simply to give a glimpse of how this film is beyond a revenge flick but how much brilliant it is a psychological thriller.

Performances -
Mahesh Babu has outperformed all his previous performances. This is his career best performance. Kriti Sanon is gorgeous & also performs too, a rare find in recent times. Prince Gautam (real life son of Mahesh Babu) plays the younger version of Mahesh & yes, 15-20 years from now we'll have a superstar. Nasser, Kelly Dorji & Pradeep Rawat are good in their respective roles. It's good to have a strong villain role to be written like this. Posani Krishna Murali provides some comic relief in an otherwise serious flick. Sophie Chaudhary sizzled in the item song.

Plusses -
1. The initial 15 mins of the film.
2. Few lighter moments between Mahesh & Kriti Sanon where she plays with his psychological disorder.
3. The fight sequence before the interval.
4. Extraordinary interval scene & twist.
5. The two superb action scenes in the second half, one involving a bike chase & the other in the parking lot.
6. The 3 major twists in the last 15 mins of the film.
7. The climax emotional acting by Mahesh Babu.

Minuses -
1. Film doesn't appeal to the masses. Not used to this type of story telling.
2. The songs. Barring 1 song in the first half rest has no impact whatsoever & for a thriller songs are not needed.
3. The item song of Sophie Chaudhary, yes she's hot & if she had concentrated in southern films she could've been an successful heroine but doesn't change the fact that the item song appears to just please the masses.
4. The runtime. Well ofcourse it's just 2hrs 24mins & it's the songs which makes the film seem little dragged.

Will this film work?
This is what I witnessed in my multiplex. The entire Mahesh & Kriti's episode in the first half kept the audience laughing constantly. The interval scene the majority in the multiplex clapped. The scene will keep you in awe of shear thinking of the writers & the way Mahesh has performed. During the interval, being contempt with the movie's first half I went to my friends & asked them how are they feeling. One group said they're loving it, second gang said it's ok-ok, they feel like watching Kannada movie Lucia which also dealt with not knowing what's real & unreal but the last gang who are avid moviegoers or to say pakka mass telugu audience were having their hands over their head & say "Yuk what a worst film man, one among them did walk out too".

As far the movie lover in me goes, finally I've got a Telugu film to critically praise & a movie from Mahesh Babu after 9 years to feel proud. Not many actors get to play such performances, it was Athadu in 2005, after that I've liked his films but it's Nenokkadine which challenges him to perform in a way which as a fan I feel proud of.

Recommendation - Watch it, Telugu film industry has come up with an unique thriller film.