‘Aadikeshava Movie Review: Staid Revenge Drama Thats Also Unintentionally Hilarious
There are different ways to watch the Telugu movie Adikeshava, directed by Srikanth N. Reddy and starring Panja Vaishnav Tej, Shriella and Joju George. Firstly, the Rayalaseema revenge films of the 1990s and 2000s were categorized as family dramas. Another might wonder if the makers have ever thought of making a mass drama or a film that is partly mass produced, partly sponsored by some prevailing stereotypes. Some sequences are a nod to Boyapati Srinu's massive masala style while others are intentionally and unintentionally hilarious.
Urban romance and family dynamics are explored in familiar ways in the first few episodes. Balu or Bala Kottaya (Vaishnav Tej) is traveling and his mother (Radhika Sarathkumar) loves him. His father Sundar Ramamurthy (Naginedu) asks him to get a job and share his financial responsibilities. Her father reportedly earns £70,000 a month, but the family lives in a bungalow. Since he works in the excise department, the house should have official privileges. Or maybe someone from Rayalaseema will help them with support as he may be in the middle of the road. Either way, the creators don't want us to think too much.
Adikeshava (Telugu)
Cast: Panja Vaishnav Tej, Shreyleela, Joju George, Radhika Sarathkumar.
Directed by Srikanth N. Reddy
Music by G.V. Prakash Kumar
Plot: A change in circumstances brings a citizen to the heart of Rayalaseema, where he has to come to terms with the consequences.
The mother-daughter relationship starts off on a realistic note until the father notices that it's like a TV series. This is a small example of how the director intends to laugh at established clichés. But that doesn't stop him from exploring other recurring important themes.
The heroine Chitra (Srila) is presented as a generous young woman who takes care of terminally ill children. He writes a generous check because he is the CEO of the company. We don't know what her company does, but it could be FMCG as she tests the hero's marketing skills by asking him to sell her skincare products. Playing the artistic heroine, Sriila gets ample opportunity to showcase her impeccable dancing skills.
The action sequences involving Baloo and Chitra are usually fictional. If a little awakening is considered good enough to do a million dollar job a month. There is a faint hint of Vaikunthapuramulo ala in the way Balu "Madam" Chitra is portrayed in two songs composed by G.V. Prakash Kumar.
By chance we receive hints about what to do next. short meeting with a kind-hearted MP (Suman). But we don't take it seriously because it's hard to take anything seriously in cinema.
Breaking Point changes the film's plot from a Trivikram-style urban drama to a Rayalaseema Boyapati-style mass action film. We know that Balu and Chengi Reddy's (Joju George) worlds will intersect. The way they intersect is reminiscent of revenge dramas from the 1990s and 2000s.
Adikeshava involves great bloodshed, burning of people in fire and turning of heads. Issues of child labour, education, domestic violence and women's empowerment were raised. The next hour is devoted to the image of the protagonist as a mass hero. He also received a new name - Rudra Kaleshwar Reddy. The Shiva temple and the politics around it also play a role in the story.
Tanikela Bharani, Sadha and many others come and go without making any impact and it is not their fault. The only character who seems so lost is Malayalam actor Joju George. When a story needs to develop a desperate revenge drama, it turns into the Ramayana.
Vaishnav Tej tries in vain to live up to the demands of a mass hero. Srila's Dance Skills is not a boring film. When he announces that he will have to make a choice: at work or with his partner, a faint glimmer of hope appears in him. But later, as a spectator of the unfolding events in Rayalaseema, his main goal is to dance a mass number to the climax.
The good thing about Adikeshava is that it is only 129 minutes long. Oh, there's a twist at the end that makes me wonder if the audience is playing a joke on us.
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