Never has been action so stylish

Some said it was a hit. Some said it was a flop. Some said it lacked the Trivikram "punch". Some said Prince wasnot given enough lines to speak! Whatever they say I saw a packed cinema hall today morning playing "Athadu". Reserving my judgements on the above comments about the commercial success of the movie I would say this - One of the best action flicks in Telugu after a long long time. Coming to action - The man of the moment - Peter Hains - The action choreography has never been better. We had the same Peter Hains last year too. But I didnot notice the same beauty in the stunts then. Why? Perhaps the action sequences choreogrpahed by Peter needed a slender frame rather than the aging body of Venky (in Gharshana) or the bulky body of Vikram (in Aparichitudu). The action sequences looked stylish owing to the fact that it was "Prince" Mahesh, a slendor, tall guy with intensity radiating from his eyes who enacted them(Venky was always wearing goggles and Vikram was always a hairy mess!!) . Prince is who gave the action sequences an edge - He executed them with panache. What ever the critics say - never has been action so stylish in Telugu. I am a fan of good cinema - I dont care who stars in them if I get the Rs. 40 worth of entertainment from the movie! Truly the money spent on Athadu's ticket was well spent. I enjoyed the movie throughly.

Coming to director Trivikram the transformation from family commedies to action was looking very natural. Dialogues did have the punch contrary to what I heard. The title song introducing the hero deserves a pat on the back. The only problem there was I was looking at the elegant Prince rather than the credits - A bad thing considering that the people who have put in their best efforts to make such a movie. The "scan" that goes on in the titles describing the accessories like bikes, guns etc; the hero uses is really cool. Trivikram never ceases to fascinate me in the way he tries to rip-off scenes from english flicks. In Athadu too - the accidental assasination scene (Rip-off from "Most-Wanted") - The jumping onto a train scene (exact rip-off from "US Marshalls" starring Tomy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes). Screenplay was slick. The only loose end that needs to be tied - Charan Raj (Who shoots Rajiv Kanakaala) - makes his re-entry into the movie at the climax fight but miraculously vanishes when Prakash Raj and the CBI team walks in!! I dont know why a capable director like Trivikram didnot notice that - An example of Trivikram's capability: In general we find mis-spelt posters in political rallies. In the rally organized by the character Siva Reddy - The word "Prabhanjanam" is misspelt as "Prabhanjenam". When he can take care to observe such minute details - he is capable.

Music was good. I liked the songs. Except for the title song and the one thereafter the rest were just hindrances in the screen play by popping up at tense junctures of the story. I was more engrossed in contemplating what was going to happen next in the story rather than the song. Nevertheless Mani Sharma deserves a round of applause and the picturization too was perfect. Coming to the most boring and predictable aspect of the movie. The climax fight - Matrix style. I still can't get it. Why do producer's and director's chase the Matrix style of "stop-motion-camera" work action when it is absolutely unnecessary for storyline like this. When will the Indian film makers learn to draw the line between what can be used and what should not - The usage of technology should not be reduced to a mere publicity stunt ("We picturized action sequences with 16 cameras - We imported special cameras from hollywood" etc; ).