INTRO: VARUDU is the latest offering from director Gunasekhar (Okkadu fame) with Allu Arjun as it’s hero. Varudu is having a grand world-wide release today (March 31st) and one of the reasons for the hype is the heroine. The heroine’s name/pictures/details are not revealed yet. Music by Manisharma is an average fare (depends a lot on the picturization)…. detailed review follows:

Allu Arjun in & as VARUDU

STORY LINE: Sandeep [Allu Arjun] decides to go for an arranged marriage and his parents [Suhasini & Asish V] selects Deepti [Bhanu Sri Mehra] as the bride. Both – bride and the groom decide to look at each other only on the day of marriage and as per our hero’s wish, it will be a grand 5-day marriage with the presence of all his relatives. Diwakar [Aarya] comes from no where and kidnaps the heroine just before the muhurat. How our VARUDU saves the bride and bring her back forms rest of the routine plot…!

TECHNICAL: Gunasekhar as always was fascinated about the settings and the grand visuals. He hasn’t learned from any of his failures like: Arjun or Sainikudu. Though the story was convincing enough, our director’s screen-play hardly had any gripping moments. And, whenever we feel that the film is reaching a high point – he lets us down immediately with another dull episode. The climax episode and the usage of graphics for the pillars was of a cheap taste. He should seriously start concentrating on the content rather than the visual feast. But, the way he has written the character of ‘Diwakar’ is laudable..!

Music is a big minus for this Varudu film. Though Manisharma tried to compensate with his Re-Recording, there was no scope for him. Except the “Bahusaa Oh Chanchalaaa…!” song, none of the numbers were impressive. Cinematography by Rajasekhar is neat and consistent. Editing is also fine with the given script. Production values were rich with lots of wastage visible. CGI work was not that effective and the lack of necessity deters the work even more.

PERFORMANCES: ALLU ARJUN was impressive as always with his high energy. But..but… he needs to improve his dialogue delivery a lot… that too… when challenging a voice like RaviShankar (dubbed for Diwakar character). He is pathetic when compared to the villain’s voice. His dance movements and fights were good enough. Debutant heroine: Bhanu Mehra is decent enough but not the heroine item. She doesn’t have a glamor or performance quotient to be a successful heroine. Suhasini, Aasish Vidyardhi, Naresh, etc were effective enough.

But, it was Tamil hero: AARYA who steals the show with his impeccable performance. Many a times, he dominated the screen with his power packed style and dialogues. The way he utters the “Kooshmaanda..!” is really powerful. Singeetham has also made his presence felt.

HIGHLIGHTS: Allu Arjun & Aarya’s screen presence, Aarya’s character & dialogues, Marriage episode (pre-interval) were effective.

PITFALLS: Loose screen-play, not-so-impressive heroine (after all the expectations), over usage of graphic work has spoiled the other-wise cool settings, bad songs with not even a single hummable number, boring 1st half definitely spoil the show…!

FINAL ANALYSIS: Director has completely failed in narration and in the end: gives us a below par movie with good intentions but no impressions…! He should have reduced the production cost along with the boring elements if he had worked more on the script.

Anyways, refreshing to see Aarya in a negative role. I would recommend this movie for ‘Diwakar’ character and also an intensive (though very short) lip-lock scene. Even the episode of Varudu & Vadhuvu looking at each other for the 1st time was electric.

Note: Allu Arjun’s movies (like: Desamudhuru, Parugu, etc) has the tendency of making profits even after getting some negative reviews. Varudu might also repeat the same as the film has it’s own positive elements to attract the family audience in the long run (summer holidays might add to that)