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Encounter Shankar (Mahesh Babu) is the cop in the town with single point agenda to bring down the empire set up by Dhamu (Sonu Sood). Why is he doing that? – is what Aagadu story is in simple.
Mahesh Babu as Encounter Shankar with a badass attitude is perfect in first half of the film. His energetic screen presence makes up for all the flaws in the film, if one were a hardcore fan of the star. The same can’t be said about any other actor, male or female in the film.
Tamannah has blink and miss appearance in the film as one would expect when so much of effort is put on the lead hero. She looks glamorous though in whatever little time she has. Rajendra Prasad is criminally wasted in the film if we compare it to the last big outing of his in a big film. Sonu Sood and along with the usual set of faces comprises the villain batch and they do their routine in a very predictable and clinical manner. Brahmaji is doing his usual self with all earnestness as well.
Then we move to the important set of cast for the film, the comedians. There are number of comedians in the film with, each with a specific task and design, to generate comedy through series of gags. From the top most Brahmanandam, with his now predictable character sketch, to Vennela Kishore to Posani Krishnamurali (hilarious), to Raghu Babu, everyone chips in with their bit. But only few gags manage to give us the real laughs. MS Naayana steals the show.
Mahesh Babu Comedy Scenes Shruthi Haasan’s Item Song Cinematography MS Narayana’s episode
Negatives:
Story and Treatment
Second half lacks the punch
When director Srinu Vytla collaborated with Mahesh Babu for the first time, he not only took the star to next level but also catapulted himself to the big league of directors. His immediate next came with a huge hype starring a big star but it disappointed the fans of the star although the entertainment lovers were fairly satisfied. Post its release though a huge public spat happened and the director had to part way with his writer team. Aagadu was his first film with a fresh set of writers and all eyes are on Srinu Vytla to see if he could deliver or not.
With Aagadu one must say he has failed in his first attempt without those writer talents. There is excess of everything in the film which feels unnecessary throughout and don’t feel organic as well. Its as if the director has decided to put into film all he has come up with in his writing sessions without any editing or reviewing of the material. The emphasis is on the punches and they are come so fast and so thin that they become boring pretty soon. Once the strength of the director, his writing with great punch, is weakened, rest of the film too falls apart.
Still the first half of the film has few gags which suggest the director still posses that punch power but its excess and anxiety to show what all he has got has hurt him the most. In the second half of the film where the writing is pretty weak, so much so that even Brahmananadam couldn’t provide genuine laughs, the movie looses track and the momentum. Also the uncanny similarities with his past film with the same star further impact the enjoyment of the proceedings.
Also the uncanny similarities with his past film with the same star minus the emotional resonance of that film, further impact the enjoyment of the proceedings. The ending is very routing but the problem is enhances the impact of everything else then preceded it.
Overall the movie thanks to Mahesh Babu and his spirited performance and the numerous comic gags, doesn’t matter if they are funny or not, that keep coming in quick succession make for a one time watch if one is so adamant on watching the film. Aagadu is not a really bad movie but the expectations on it are so huge coming from Dookudu combination, make it look poor.
Music by SS Thaman is alright and so is the background score. Editing should have been sharper and cinematography is top notch. We can visibly feel a ‘rush’ in the final product technically.
Bottom-line: Déjà vu Unlimited!
Rating: 3/5