Devaraya

Dorababu (Srikanth) is a spoilt rich kid in an East Godavari village. Dorababu and his friends spend their time gambling, drinking or helping Dorababu with his flirtations. The friends are the usual set of village vagabond clich\xe9s with a few senior artists, not like they can get all seniors, like in a Star's film; the budgets are restraining the scope of these cinematic wonders.

Swapna (played by Vidisha), a city girl who came home for the holidays falls on Dorababu's radar, but, for the first time he realizes the motherly nature (ammathanam) of a woman when with her, which somehow is a hint at him loving her. They end up at a temple in ruins by interval time and the film with its shameless Magadheera imitation moves to the story of Sri Krishna Devarraya and the dancer he loved (Sunanda played by Meenakshi Dikshit).

Now, Dorababu isn't just a rich brat, he is the body the soul of Devarraya chose to enter so that he can finish something that will silence the Aghoras in the Godavari district.

Got it all sorted

Many of our filmmakers suffer (with commercial failure) because of the illusion that they've got it all sorted, beginning with the writing technique which is based around a single scene. Almost half our film's scripts are random fills of over exploited comedy clich\xe9s and the inevitable love story to provide cue to songs. An essential exercise to earn their right to shoot the epic period parts full of bad wigs.

Srikanth

With more and more Telugu movies starring people who do not speak the language, somebody like Srikanth can be a relief in the light hearted scenes. However, playing Devarraya and having to deal with the powerful (because the writer heard them in other Telugu period flashbacks) lines which were supposed to be the highlight make you giggle as Srikanth finds it hard to find a place for his hands.

The film fails on the more basic levels. Sunanda dancing in the King's court does a mix of Indian classical dance with occasional item song close ups full of eros.

A film from the popular school of 'GRANDIOSE = MORE ROSE PETALS'.

People, at the outset, this is not a history lesson. It is not even a speculative take on history. It is.... O God (or should one say O, Devaraya) an unintentional parody on the great king Krishnadevaraya.

The story : Many moons ago the great king Krishandevaraya succumbs to love (actually shall we say libido ??) and in an unfortunate attempt at demonstrating his love for Sunanda -a classical dancer in his esteemed court who in this movie has been portrayed as an item girl of the Vijayanagara empire - destroys an idol of a Goddess. This of course leads to misfortune.

Now lets jump into the 21^st century where the spirit of the king makes a belated entry into our hero's mortal body and accomplishes a couple of things - repairs his moral compass, restores his pride in Telugu, beats up some baddies who want to usurp land to build a factory and restores the idol in its rightful place. Wow !!

Actor Srikant plays Dorababu as well as Krishnadevaraya.Dorababu is the 21^st century, unemployed, undereducated village wastrel, playboy and gambler. Krishnadevaraya is the 16^th century king of the Vijayanagara dynasty. The former dresses for some inexplicable reason in kurtas with a strong feminine bent. The latter wears enough bling to shame even his lady friend.

The former also falls in love but with the very precocious 'Sheela ki Jawaani'-loving, city-bred granddaughter of the village scholar. Precocious she maybe but she is a motherless child therefore loves God (!) . She throws wisdom and caution to the winds and sets out to 'repair' Dorababu.

Very thankfully, the end to this very painful saga (painful for the viewers, that is) comes swiftly and mercifully. Thank you Gods and kings !!

The ordeal was made even more unbearable thanks to the dancing skills of the two leading ladies Meenakshi Dixit (Sunanda) and Vidisha (Swapna). Nothing needs to be written about the supporting cast. As for director Nani Krishna - was this a comedy, parody or tragedy ????

If and only if one is bent on inflicting torture on self, watch this tragi-comedic parody. Hmmm..