Damarukam

The demons have lost the battle to the Gods and all demons but Andhakasura (Ravi Shankar) are killed. So, this fellow plans to wait for his time to avenge and goes into oblivion for now. Thousands of years later a few planets, the sun and the moon line up and cast some strange looking graphics into a house. Born at this precise moment is a girl who can save or end the world, based on who she marries (Maheshwari played by Anushka).

So there's Andhakasura who plans complete world(s) domination by marrying this girl that got hit by graphics and there's the mass hero played by Nagarjuna (Malli aka Mallikarjuna) marrying who will keep the world from falling into darkness.

Malli's got God issues of his own; he was an ardent Siva devotee until his entire family was killed by a bear sized panther (an avatar Andhakasura takes up). Got to be one of the most convincing ways to orphan the protagonist, and moreover all the parents around will take a lot more writing and reaction shots.

Mordor vs. Masala

This is one of those films that believe in the invincibility of the vagabond Masala hero, more than the rest.

Andhaka mostly schemes it the 'Jaani Dushman' way and he finally gets Mahi to this reddish waste land where he plans to marry her. With a few swift hand gestures he creates a kingdom full of ash buildings bleeding lava. He goes through all this only for Nagarjuna to just walk in there with some sword and kill him after struggling through a few bad lines (Budida aipodaaniki nenemi duudini kaadu ra!)

Nagarjuna goes through the usual troubles of playing a young, unmarried, physically attractive fighter/lover/protector of the human realm at the age of 53. He was as convincing as the Nagarjuna of many films where he gets along being Nagarjuna.

Of the other cast members Ravi Shankar will stay back, but, it's not a happy memory. I feel bad that after all those lengthy intense lines, the snakes in his hair and the biker tattoos on his arms, he got killed so easily. Like they don't even respect his eyebrows that turn upwards.

This film has absolutely nothing original to offer. It incorporates every redundant Masala technique of the past 20 years and makes an ugly mash up of it.

Strange ! Asuras, Agoras, Gods on Earth, humans with divine abilities. Story is, well, unusual and therefore the execution was all important. The execution bordered on the bizzare, unfortunately.

So when mythology meets modern movies, astrology meets astronomy one needs to be very very strong on delivery. The delivery was the equivalent of a crazy comic strip.

Over the top gaudy sets, terrible wigs and makeup - what was the director Sreenevas Redde thinking??? The movie has a very dated look.

The song 'Sakkubai' was the only thing one can take away from the movie. It may bring belly buttons back into fashion.

Anushka is pleasant, Nagarjuna's abs are fab. The comedy is by and large passable and at times elicits a good laughthanks to Brahmanandam and M S Narayana. But the usual slapping and mocking midgets was in bad taste.

The story in a nut shell - good vs. bad, Gods vs. demons. (Caveat :Believers may turn into atheists).

Wish the cast and crew luck - what else.

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Screams Boredom Director Srinivas Reddy, known for wholesome comedy entertainers, weaves a socio-fantasy flick that neither impresses nor arouses interest. Touted to be a mega budget film, there was so much of hullabaloo around the release of the film, but having watched the film I realize now that all of it was strategically planned hype. What irritates the most is why senior artists like Nag still aspires to do commercial films when ideally he could be doing multi-starrers or even films with different plot.

Mallikarjun aka Nag is the blessed child of Lord Shiva who is destined to stop something bad that's about to unfold. Andhakasura, the last of the Asuras swears to avenge the death of his race, and in turn win over the world. In order to champion over the world, he should sacrifice a woman, who happens to be Anushka, born on an auspicious day and time. But, to get to Mahi, Andhakasura should go through Malli first. Will Andhakasura get to Mahi and in turn achieve what he wants forms the rest of the story.

The plot has been revisited a million times in films such as “Govinda Govinda” and “Bhairvadeepam”, and yet we're presented with a similar story in the same old clich\xe9d fashion. I can understand if an old story is presented differently or with a touch of creativity, but sadly “Dhamarukam” is an unsatisfactory output. The film hardly shows any signs of novelty. The VFX in the film was greatly spoken about before the release of the film, but from what I saw in the film, I'm sad to say that the output was pathetic.

Nag turns in a decent performance, but he starting to get typecasted with mass-appealing roles. It's time for the actor to don a different hat and do roles that'll be remembered a la his roles in films such as “Manmadhudu” and “King”. Ganesh Venkatraman is wasted as the baddie cameo, while Ravi Shankar as Andhakasura was brilliant in his role. The biggest strength for him was his voice and his command over the language. Anushka gets to bare some skin, while Prakash Raj as Shiva was convincing in his role.

In spite of the presence of leading comedians, there were hardly any laughable moments in the film. You tend to look back at Nag's films such as “King” and wonder wish this film too had comedy as entertaining as that movie. DSP's music was satisfying but the songs at the wrong juncture only broke the narrative of the film.

You'll save yourself from torture if you choose to ignore this film.

One time watchable. Everything was done good except showing prakash raj directly as Lord shiva. Instead they wud hav shown as splitted energy (Om karam the known as Rudra) tht formed the entire universe combined and took shape of Prakash Raj, tht cud be better. Climax graphics r not tht much appealing. Overall nag, anushka, ravishankar performances r good.