Movie Review – Rating (1.25/5)

I was correct! I guessed Pawan Kalyan’s Komaram Puli (Telangana activists just read Puli) would be a disastrous film after the audio release. A couple of songs hinted at the sequences preceding and it’s not tough for a movie buff like me to connect the dots. A.R. Rahman cannot be entirely blamed for the audio output because the situations demanded such songs. So, I transfer the entire blame on the director S.J. Suryaah. The first official trailer, courtesy the substandard helicopter graphics, the time taken to complete shooting the movie (more than 2 years), and the never ending debate surrounding its release date, further strengthened my opinion.

Coming to Komaram Puli, it’s high time the directors realized patriotic movies need not be loud, and the protagonist need not shout and lecture at every possible opportunity. Even silence speaks and creates deadly impact; movie makers like Ram Gopal Varma and Mani Ratnam have proved it not so long ago.

I could relate Tamil director S.J. Suryaah’s intentions behind the scenes, but at the same time the audience (or should I say the director) in me was visualizing another version. This was rampant during the songs and action sequences, focusing more on the editing and presentation aspects. While a couple of the scenes were brilliantly conceived, majority of them were brutal and tediously protracted. The director failed to understand the sensibilities of Telugu audience and stuck to his Tamil formula of overdose in almost every situation. He got carried away by the star power of Pawan Kalyan and wanted to do a film for the society. He wanted to give it a raw treatment like Krishnavamsi’s Rakhi but ended up churning out a typical Tamil masala film.

The movie starts on a brilliant note. I particularly liked the scene in which the woman comes to know of her pregnancy. But the movie slips away right from Pawan Kalyan’s introduction, which was more like a parody - poor graphics and cheap execution. Ridiculous of all is Pawan Kalyan, an IPS officer in Andhra Pradesh, saving the Indian prime minister in Malaysia, all alone. He then starts lecturing, which if properly trimmed could have created huge impact. Even his mother gives a lengthy speech towards the end.

The romance with heroine was overboard and severely mars the flow of the movie. The picturization and placement of songs were pathetic. Picturization of the much hyped "Power Star" song was no way close to Chiranjeevi's "Mega Star" song in Kodamasimham. Manoj Bajpaaye was loud, boring, and eccentric. Screenplay was haphazard and seemed puerile. The climax tests your patience. The whole auditorium burst into laughter when Pawan is electrocuted by villain just because he is fondly called Power Star. Shriya Saran did a miniscule role and her item song was pathetic. Puli team’s headquarters remind us of settings in Hollywood movies, while much hyped Binod Pradhan’s camerawork failed to make any impact. A.R. Rahman’s background score is just about right for the movie.