Annayya Review

Chiranjeevi does it once again. No, not the bungee jump a la Baavagaaru Baagunnaara, but the role of an elder brother along the lines of Hitler. After convincingly portraying a disciplinarian brother in Hitler, he now plays the role of the eldest brother of two siblings in the recently released Annayya. Sounds similar, huh! How can we forget Chiru has two younger brothers in real life too?

But, the autobiographical element ends here. Unlike his real brothers who are successful in their own ways — one as a producer and the other as an artiste — his filmi brothers in Annayya are real vagabonds. Played by Ravi Teja and Venkat respectively, Ravi and Gopi (both automobile engineers) land their big brother Rajaram (Chiranjeevi) in deep trouble.

After a couple of dramatic sequences, both the younger brothers fall for Lata (Chandini) and Geeta (Sishva), Mahalakshmi Devi's (Soundarya) younger sisters. Following suit Rajaram also propositions Devi. When the elder brother manages to arrange for their wedding with their respective lovers, they both come to the engagement function fully drunk. Naturally, the girls' sister gets furious and rejects the alliance at once. A frustrated Rajaram throws both the brothers out.

The vagabonds now exhibit their skills as hi-fi engineers and design a new car (?) for automobile manufacturer Ranga Rao (Sarat Babu). Only later do the siblings discover, to their dismay, that their 'boss' is an enemy of their brother waiting to strike at the opportune moment.

How Rajaram rescues them from the mess is to be seen on the screen. Chiranjeevi as a transport company owner and Soundarya as a self-made entrepreneur deliver good performances. However, the rest of the key players fail to live up to the expectations.

Poor Muttyala Subbaiah seems to be suffering from (selective) amnesia! He usually churns out successful sentimental melodrama, but this time he almost lost track of the characters and the screenplay. The comic part of the film appears outlandish and hardly evokes few giggles.

Music director Mani Sarma's tunes don't leave much to crow about. Actually speaking, the film suffers from a poor and predictable script. It lacks the kind of focussed narrative seen in Hitler. Wondering if such an attempt is worth the money and time spent in the hall? Well, the ball is in your court!