Shakti Kapoor though over the top most times, looked every bit the blood thirsty tribal chieftain. She becomes Gautham’s ticket to the Hinglaj temple. Taapsee does the needful – which isn’t much in terms of acting for she is – playing a comically devout girl who is convinced the world will end in three years and wants to accumulate as much good karma as possible by visiting all the holiest Hindu shrines in the world.
Gopichand carries it of endearingly, coming to his own in the action sequences. His only dream is to make big bucks and keeps buying lottery tickets praying for a change in fortunes. Gautham is a guy who’s looking desperately for lady luck to knock on his door. The first half goes about establishing characters. Add a couple of songs as well to that list. You have all the usual suspects – an underdog hero, an overbearing warlord villain, a stupefying treasure, esoteric clues, a map, elaborate chase sequences, some wry humor and a pretty lady (Taapsee). Off course with a template like treasure hunt, there is only so much you can innovate. The filmmaker has done a pretty good job of putting it together without resorting to the usual vanities of Tollywood – forced comedy tracks, songs and the likes. So, director Chandrasekhar Yeleti most definitely deserves a pat of the back for having the gall to reinvent a now “extinct genre” of Telugu cinema. What’s even more remarkable is that it’s not set in an imaginary realm of Telugu speaking cowboys riding atop horsebacks - like Mosagallaku Mosagadu (1971), Dongala Dopidi (1978), Kodama Simham (1990) to name a few of the most iconic adventure films. We don’t make many do we? Mahesh Babu’s 2002 Takkari Donga was the last such film that comes to mind. Movie Review: This must easily be the best treasure hunt based Telugu movie of the new millennium. Synopsis: Though well made, it falls well short of offering a jaw dropping adventure experience! Reign in your expectations to have a better time of it.