ATHADU

Athadu Cast & Crew :

Cast : Mahesh Babu, Triha, Prakash Raj, Sonu Sood, Kota, Dharmavarapu, Giri Babu, Nassar, Brahmanandam

Athadu Music Director : Mani Sharma

Director : Trivikram Srinivas

Stunts : Peter Hyne

Athadu Producer : D Kishore & M Rammohan

Sri Jayabheri Art Productions

Story:
Nandu (Mahesh Babu) a professional killer is hired by Shiva Reddy (Sayaji Shinde) a political leader to stage a fake murder on him to gain public sympathy and votes! But the plan turn awry as Reddy is killed by another hit man (Sonu Sood). But the cops (Charan Raj) is hot on his heels and in a mix-up they shoot Parthu (Rajeev Kanakala) a runaway who is on his way back to his village after 12 long years! Now Nandu impersonates as Parthu and goes to his village and his family. Soon he becomes a part of that family and helps his grandfather (Nassar) to solve some vexing problems through his brawn and wealth. He also falls in love with Poori (Trisha) but the CBI led by a determined officer (Prakash Raj) is after Nandu which leads to the climax.

The following scenes of the film are brilliant -

1. The first shot where kid shoots while serving tea.
2. The rewinding scene in which Mahesh stabs somebody in old city
3. Mahesh's bargain with Kota over telephone
4. Mahesh telling heroine that she is not beautiful
5. Mahesh delivering cash to poojari
6. Mahesh first encounter with Tanikella
7. Mahesh's fight with Brahmaji
8. Brahmanandam comedy episode (nuts & bolts)
9. Mahesh's last encounter with Kota

Photography: Photography of the film is terrific. The camera angles, shot framing, lighting effects and camera movements are appropriate to the respective scenes. A tint is used for the first half an hour of the film which made this film appear like the Hollywood films made with Mexican backdrop. Cinematographer KV Guhan deserves a pat on his back for his fine work.

Fights: Fights by Peter Hynes are excellent. All the fights in this film are powerful and natural looking. Only for the fights in climax wires and threadwork was used. Two separate fights involving Tanikella Bharani and Brahmaji have lots of humor injected in them. It is very difficult to make the fights appeal to Andhra audiences when shootout (pistol) is involved. But the shootouts in this film are an exception.

Dialogues: Trivikram is known for his punch comedy dialogues. This film has limited punch dialogues compared his earlier film, which is understandable because this story does not allow more comedy scenes. Still, the comedy dialogues written for Dharmavarapu and Brahmanandam are good. The way Trivikram compared how things appear beautiful when you watch them at the right moments by comparing formation of love to a beautiful moonlight is very thoughtful. His satire on using Sumos in killings is good.

Music: Music by Mani Sharma is good. The picturization of the first song (title song) which comes as background song for titles is wonderful. 'Pilla gaali allari' is a teasing song between the lead pair in house set with other artists participating in. Neetho Cheppana song has got typical Mexican music that is shot in abroad. Lots of bleaching shots were used in this song. The last song 'Pilichina Ranantava' has something for fans to cheer about. However, the songs in this film (except for the 1st song) form as the speed breaker to the narration. Background music and rerecording of the film is good.

Other departments: Editing by Srikar Prasad is good. Lyrics by Sirivennela are very good, as usual. Artwork by Thota Tharani is adequate. Production values by Jayabheri banner are grand.

AUDIO: Audio of Mahesh Babu's Athadu was released by Superstar Krishna at the house set of the film constructed at Nanakramguda. This album consists of six melodies composed by Mani Sharma. Maruthi Music has bought the rights of this audio. This simple function was attended by Krishna, Mahesh Babu, Trisha, D Kishore, Murali Mohan and Pawan (Maruthi Music).