Don Seenu Review

Easily, the thing that works most in favour of Don Seenu is that it doesn't mess itself up by taking itself too seriously. It feels like an ordinary movie by standards that certain films nowadays are getting us used to, but because it celebrates its sheer tomfoolery, it keeps from falling limp.

Don Seenu is about the ambitious Seenu (Ravi Teja), who has grown up with just one passion - that of becoming a world-class don. Thanks to his enterprising nature, he gains access to the cream of the city's goondas, and uses his cleverness to play off the top two - Machiraju (Sayaji Shinde) and Narsing (Sri Hari), fierce rivals - against each other.

The movie has all the energy of a typical Ravi Teja flick, but it keeps needing to survive on certain modes of resuscitation, that include air-headed leading ladies, below-the-belt jokes, and frequent Mani Sarma hand-me-downs.

How much you like the script of this movie depends on how okay you are with suspension of disbelief for a good part of 2 hours and 45 minutes. Don Seenu must woo the sister of one of the villains, to further his rival's destructive aims, and this sets off a string of mind games that a 4-year-old wouldn't fall for.

Then again, you're better off not letting the "big picture" hurt your experience, because there is a kind of gay abandon to the movie all through. The fights in the end would put Rajnikanth to shame, the hero keeps shamelessly manipulating his heroines, and there are way too many songs, but in general, it's a whole lot of orchestrated confusion.

Among Venu Madhav's raucous lunacy, Ravi Teja's grab-the-scene-by-both-hands brand of buffoonery, or Brahmanandam's poker-faced loudness, Don Seenu has several moments of comic brilliance. This, despite the absolute silliness, that passes off as humour, from the ladies.

Clearly, star power gives Don Seenu solid reinforcement. While the film practically leans on Ravi Teja for its essence, the rest of the male cast puts up a neat show, despite the weaker moments in the writing. Brahmanandam, however, has been criminally wasted, and so have side kicks like Raghu Babu and Brahmaji.

This being an out-and-out comedy, the villains are made props of helplessness in order to enhance the humour, but aren't as comic as you'd want them to ideally be. Both Sayaji Shinde and Srihari do a good job, though.

The women are in this for the songs and the skin show, and to take the preposterous story forward. Shriya Saran is still made of the stuff she was made of in the earlier part of this decade, but not a lot has changed - either in terms of the maturity in her acting or the perennially turned-on look she carries. Saran and Anjana Sukhani both manage to keep the flick colourful, though.

Mani Sarma's tunes are passable, and some of them are even too lengthy for comfort. However, splendidly shot locales abroad and a lot of gloss all over help the film's cause.

In all, Don Seenu is not the kind of flick that might inspire poetry in you, but lighten up life for the moment it will.