Krishna Review

In many ways, Ravi Teja is one the very few actual entertainers on Telugu screens. Fantastic comic timing and dialogue delivery and a full range of emoting prowess are only one side of the story. Given the lack of any superstar image or rabid fans who base their personal reputation on the success of each new release of his, he is much more free to do just what he wants, and the result is almost always good news for all those of us who just want 2 hours of clean fun.

Krishna is the quintessential Ravi Teja comedy - the entire gang is there, the comic sequences are full paisa-vasool, and the dialogues rock. If it were not for an overdose of violence in the second half, this would have been in the Nuvvu Naaku Nachchaav league. And yes, if you are still not a fan, it will make you one.

Krishna (Ravi Teja) spots Sandhya (Trisha) in the Vijayawada Kanakadurga temple, and decides that she'd be quite lucky to marry him. Unfortunately women have minds of their own, and she takes a pretty dim view of his advances.

Never one to take anyone else's opinion seriously, Krishna persists, and even moves into a portion in her house with his brother (Chandramohan) and sister-in-law (Sudha), after getting incumbent Venu (Venu Madhav) to vacate through a mixture of several acts we shouldn't really discuss in a public forum. He also discovers that the owner Bobby (Brahmanandam), Sandhya's uncle who she is staying with, has an extra-marital affair with his servant maid, and thoroughly exploits this to get access to Sandhya.

Sandhya however has a flashback - she is being hounded by Jakka (Mukul Dev), a seriously evil villian who wants to marry her, and Krishna has to take him on. Krishna, of course, has no problem taking anyone on anywhere, as long as you don't expect him to be polite, or, worse, quiet. The second half then sees the movie swerve from the path of light-heartedness and into violence. The climax is as moronically grandiose as any you find in movies of leading stars.

Krishna has a pretty hilarious first half, with the path being led by Mr. Motor Mouth himself, who finds more things to say in any situation than any other living man. Fortunately Brahmanandam too has a full-bodied role that lasts right through the movie, and excels as the poor man who has to pay a huge price for having an illicit affair.

Venu Madhav in a brief role elicits the mandatory guffaws, but Trisha, with a flair for comedy herself, has nothing much to do in the film. The music features mostly average tracks, with the songs being more of speedbrakers than entertainers. However, the picturization makes them look grand.

Tollywood directors' fixation for grand and violent climaxes has always been the bane to the repeat value of even good films, and Krishna is no exception - tension and gore in the second half spoil the bohemian feel created by the first. However, this one is better than just about everything else screening in Telugu at the moment, and is a vital recommendation for a healthy life.