Weaves no great magic

So far, Naga Shaurya has played the unassuming, charming lover boy who enchanted with his enduring smile and magnetic demeanour. But his latest, ‘Jadoogadu’, is an attempt at proving to all that there’s more to him than the sweetheart he has been portrayed as till now. The sole aim of the film, it seems, is to make a statement to one and all – that Shaurya is the new ‘mass hero’ in town.

Krishna (Naga Shaurya) is a village lad who has big dreams. His aim in life is to be rich and live a life of luxuries -- at any cost. And so, this ideology buys him a “good humoured” wrath of the village panchayat who express their disdain towards him. In a challenge, he leaves to Hyderabad promising to return with Rs one crore in hand.

And what follows is his turning into a collection agent (after buying Rs one crore worth loan papers for Rs two lakh from the fictional ISD Bank), joining the dreaded Srisailam (Zakeer Hussain) and using his name to collect money from the toughest of people. In the process, he falls for Parvathy (Sonarika), a nurse whose ambition is to work in Dubai.

The rest is about how he is embroiled in a web and how he gets out of it with his quick-wittedness. To be fair, the film starts off on an interesting note with director Yogesh establishing principal characters according to the script demands. However, after some time the progress is a bit loud on the ears. If one notices clearly, there’s no breathing pause in 90 per cent of the first half as it is mostly verbose or sprinkled with action.

Then there’s the love track between Krishna and Parvathy. A ridiculous one! It is high time Telugu filmmakers stopped the promotion of eve teasing as “heroism”. The moment the hero sets his eyes on the girl, he immediately falls for her. It’s alright till there; what follows isn’t. One wonders which ladies’ hostel allows men to enter without examining if the people inside actually want him in there.

To beat that, Parvathy seems ever ready to go out! She is dressed to the T even in the midnight. It was startling considering that she is a nurse with a middle class background. And how and why she falls for him is a mystery only detectives can crack (because what the hero is doing is more of sexual harassment than actual love). And then suddenly, towards the end, all the lust turns into love just to make the girl an important element in the plot.

Added to all the unconvincing scenes is the fictitious production design which in no way elevates the film. But that’s not it; ‘Jadoogadu’ is also highly predictable at most points. An attempt at being saucy comes across as a deplorable spread of sexual innuendos in the film. A transgender is called a dual sim phone (how mean!). That’s the mildest sample though because these just keep coming.

Why ‘Jadoogadu’ doesn’t work is due to the fact that the director wants an end result he is unsure of. He has a definitive outline of what he desires but the ‘commercial calling’ paired with bad dialogue writing, ineffective music and incompetent cinematography, affects his narration big time. Nonetheless, he is a maker to watch out for, especially with the way he has etched his principal characters.

Going for an image-makeover, Shaurya delivers the goods. Sonarika’s debut is worth mentioning. Despite being giving a role that has nothing other than glamour to display, she does a commendable job. Kota Sreenivas Rao, Zakeer Hussain and Ajay go about their job with precision.

Despite being replete with an item song, action sequences, punch dialogues, villains and a beautiful heroine, ‘Jadoogadu’ doesn’t warranty your time but then it is a safe option if you do not wish to tag your kids along.

Movie Name : Jadoogadu

Cast : Naga Shaurya and Sonarika

Direction : Yogesh

Genre : Action entertainer

Likes : Performances and the plot

Dislikes : Cinematography and predictable

By Pranita Jonnalagedda