Avoid Akhil to stay chilled

The launch of a star son, even if being chaperoned by a well-known film director is a huge challenge in itself. The weight of legacy and the expectations of a new breed of fans awaiting the big launch can be quite daunting.

Director V V Vinayak, one of the top few who have kept their flags flying in the industry, helms this 130-odd minute venture, which also features another debutante Sayyeshaa Saigal, the mandatory Hindi import. No prizes for guessing that she would go to extraordinary lengths to justify the brain-dead slot the film reserves for her!

Vinayak takes the socio-fantasy route, one of the two sure-shot formulae the local movie masala makers have, the other being syrupy romance. He whips up kitsch—a mythological mumbo jumbo of protecting Mother Earth from the wrath of the Sun God and how the displacement of a fireball, its antidote from its location in a remote African jungle spot can spell doom to the mankind.

Naturally, the movie’s scale becomes global. There is a Russian bad guy (strangely with an Italian name, Quattrochi!) commandeering a global villain gang, replete with stern-looking Afro Americans (the grating dubbing voice making them more local) and a stressed out Indian, Mahesh Manjrekar, the father of the heroine. How the fireball gets displaced and how it gets replaced by the sun God- amulet wearing hero in a continental chase of sorts is the entire film all about.

Doused in generous desi spice, despite the ambience shifting gears from India to Spain and Africa, the hackneyed treatment, the predictable scene-by-scene unfolding of events and excessive heroism, foisted on young Akhil’s shoulders mar the viewing pleasure to a large extent. Despite a fresh young pairing, the lack of sizzle and chemistry between the young things, especially during duets is another sore point. Excessive macho build-up, one presumes!

Post-interval, the middle-order support to the team is also guaranteed through Brahmanandam, who is his usual-self. The villains are mere caricatures to fill up the roles of bad men, a sad thing, as a solid encounter between the good and bad could have made the film even more gripping.

The Akkineni scion, who has a watchable screen presence, cannot be blamed for not doing his best. His fights exudes raw power, the dances, though repetitive in form, are well performed. Added to it is even one song, a fashion of sorts in contemporary times, which sees the father Nagarjuna matching steps with his son in which the lyrics go Akkineni Akkineni…

Ostensibly, computer graphic work seemed to have delayed its release from Dussehra to Diwali. If only a little more time and effort had been invested in moving away from the please-all routine of a macho entry scene, three songs, four fights and three-reel comedy, Akhil could have created one differently with his first film. Instead, the venture stays stuck in a commercial director’s blinkered world view, which is myopic and stereotyped.

Film Name : Akhil

Cast : Akhil Akkineni, Sayyeshaa Saigal, Brahmanandam and Mahesh Manjrekar

Direction : VV Vinayak

Genre : Action

Likes : Energetic hero and global locations

Dislikes : Old story and musty treatment

Rating : 21/2

By K Naresh Kumar