Review of Athadu

Athadu (2005)
10/10
Killer and a Gentleman
1 February 2016
Nandu (Mahesh Babu), an orphan, is a top-notch professional killer in town. He maneuvers his operations with the help of his buddy (Sonu Sood). In one such operation, he falls into the eyes of the cops. While fleeing from the crime scene, he unintentionally becomes the cause for the death of a stranger called Pardhoo (Rajiv Kanakala), a run-away youngster who wants to return home after 12 years. Nandu assumes the identity of Pardhoo and enters his household in a remote village to escape from the cops. The rest of the story is all about how Nandu solves all the problems.

Mahesh Babu is stylish and brilliant as professional killer. He suited the profile of Nandu to the tee. He lives up to his image of Prince Charming with his mesmerizing looks. He transformed smoothly from the character of Nandu to Pardhoo, yet shown the variation in histrionics that come out due to Nandu's guiltiness to impersonate Pardhoo.

Trisha is in her elements in this film with traditional attire and cute mannerisms. The only difference between her characters in Varsham & NVNV and this film is that the voice dubbed by Savitha Reddy is mellowed down a bit, which is good. However, her role in this film is less compared to her past films.

Sonu Sood is perfect. Prakash Raj is adequate as the investigating officer. Tanikella Bharani's get-up and dialogue delivery is different when compared to the roles he is offered these days. Brahmaji is effectively used for a comedy fight in this film. Nassar donned the role of an old man. Frail voice dubbing by SP Balu suited him. Brahmanandam and Dharmavarapu Subramanyam succeeded in creating good humor. Sunil is good as loyal friend. Kota and Sayaji Shinde are adequate. K Viswanath did guest appearance as CBI's local chief.

Trivikram is known for his class entertainers that are loaded with sensible humor and nice emotional quotient. He tried something different for this film. The way he opened the film with a tree shot is terrific. You feel like you are watching Ram Gopal Varma's film in the first half an hour. His taking is trendy and stylish. When the scene shifts to village, Trivikram tries to lace in his typical humor. The screenplay of the film is not binding enough to blend these two stories (contract killer story and masquerader story). Nevertheless, he could not hold the similar tempo in the second half. The continuity and logic behind certain scenes is missing.

Photography of the film is terrific. The camera angles, shot framing, lighting effects and camera movements are appropriate to the respective scenes. A tint is used for the first half an hour of the film which made this film appear like the Hollywood films made with Mexican backdrop. Cinematographer KV Guhan deserves a pat on his back for his fine work.
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