Positives.
1. Story.
Though this movie's concept is familiar, the potential of some characters such as Nataraj (played by Sarathkumar) and Raju aka Raazu (played by Aravind Swamy), and their arcs make this a great story on paper. However, due to the messy, half-baked screenplay and the poor execution by Venkat Prabhu, the potential of this movie gets diluted making this movie feel like lost potential.
2. Visuals.
Despite the cinematography not enhancing the movie and even though there are some aspects of the production design, setting, and the lighting in some parts of the movie that are out of place, the visuals, for the most part the visuals look good.
Negatives.
1. Music.
The music of the movie is very mediocre. Neither does it sound good nor does it help enhance the emotions of the movie. Along with that, apart from Timeless Love-which was beautifully and aptly picturized IMO-none of the other songs are picturized well as the choreography was normal, the cinematography, specifically the blocking-there was a lot of generic and still blocking in the songs-was mediocre, and the editing-although was slightly different some times-was also generic so much so that it'll probably remind you of intro and duet songs of many movie set in a college backdrop. Due to this, the song picturizations were very generic and boring, Coupled with this, due to the director adding many unnecessary commercial elements to this movie, pretty much all the songs were unnecessary in the proceedings. Coming to the BGM, the BGM wasn't great at all. It didn't sound great or make the audience feel tensed throughout the movie, which it should've done for an action movie like this. And what do great mass BGMs do? They make the audience feel like badasses too, but none of the movie's BGMs did that.
2. Editing.
Due to the bad editing, there isn't an organic flow between many scenes, especially in the first 45 minutes. Along with that, in the action sequences, the editing could've helped made the movie more exhilarating if there were more quick cuts instead of just the usual slo-mo shots, but since that's not the case, the movie's action sequences seem boring and generic.
3. Screenplay.
The structure of this movie goes like this. The director introduces the movie's main character, Shiva (played by Naga Chaitanya), then shows us his life, who he loves, and the conflicts and relationships between him and other characters before introducing the main conflict of the movie. Though it's understandable that the director took this decision to get us to care about Shiva and Revathi (played by Krithi Shetty), the director stretches this part of the movie for around 30-45 min. When it should've been shorter. Due to the length of the first act, we don't care about the aforementioned characters enough to be engaged in the movie later on. Later on into the movie, there are many logical issues throughout the screenplay and some stupid jokes that dilute the tension. Along with that, Venkat Prabhu stretches some scenes for way too long slowing down the pacing even more making the screenplay of the movie even messier. Coming to the characters, Nataraj and Raju are characters that I thought were different than your usual antagonists, but that's only on paper, Shiva and Revathi were characters which needed more emotional connect for us to be engaged with them on their journey, as they're generically written, and other important characters such as CM Dakshayani (played by Priyamani) and Shiva's father (played by Gopuraju Ramana) were very underwritten and as a result, some scenes become diluted. Also, there were many unnecessary commercial elements in the movie that became speed-breakers and made the slightly unbearable at times.
4. Direction.
Despite the poorly written screenplay, if Venkat Prabhu had directed the movie well, the movie probably would've been an average watch if not a decent one. However, that's not the case. Due to many decisions he took throughout the movie, such as the decision to not cut too much in action sequences, add commercial elements in the story, and to get Sarathkumar to dub with his own voice, ruined the movie quite a bit. If you want to go about it a bit deeper, many action sequences could've used better direction and editing, but due to the decision aforementioned, the action sequences become less exhilarating and a bit boring. Coming to the performances, the director brought mediocre performances from pretty much everyone, including Aravind Swamy. Though this may be due to the writing, everybody gave average performances that weren't good enough to engage us in the movie or even try to save it.
Overall: This movie, which is probably one of Venkat Prabhu's weakest works, could've been a lot better if the writing and technical aspects were as good as the visuals.
1. Story.
Though this movie's concept is familiar, the potential of some characters such as Nataraj (played by Sarathkumar) and Raju aka Raazu (played by Aravind Swamy), and their arcs make this a great story on paper. However, due to the messy, half-baked screenplay and the poor execution by Venkat Prabhu, the potential of this movie gets diluted making this movie feel like lost potential.
2. Visuals.
Despite the cinematography not enhancing the movie and even though there are some aspects of the production design, setting, and the lighting in some parts of the movie that are out of place, the visuals, for the most part the visuals look good.
Negatives.
1. Music.
The music of the movie is very mediocre. Neither does it sound good nor does it help enhance the emotions of the movie. Along with that, apart from Timeless Love-which was beautifully and aptly picturized IMO-none of the other songs are picturized well as the choreography was normal, the cinematography, specifically the blocking-there was a lot of generic and still blocking in the songs-was mediocre, and the editing-although was slightly different some times-was also generic so much so that it'll probably remind you of intro and duet songs of many movie set in a college backdrop. Due to this, the song picturizations were very generic and boring, Coupled with this, due to the director adding many unnecessary commercial elements to this movie, pretty much all the songs were unnecessary in the proceedings. Coming to the BGM, the BGM wasn't great at all. It didn't sound great or make the audience feel tensed throughout the movie, which it should've done for an action movie like this. And what do great mass BGMs do? They make the audience feel like badasses too, but none of the movie's BGMs did that.
2. Editing.
Due to the bad editing, there isn't an organic flow between many scenes, especially in the first 45 minutes. Along with that, in the action sequences, the editing could've helped made the movie more exhilarating if there were more quick cuts instead of just the usual slo-mo shots, but since that's not the case, the movie's action sequences seem boring and generic.
3. Screenplay.
The structure of this movie goes like this. The director introduces the movie's main character, Shiva (played by Naga Chaitanya), then shows us his life, who he loves, and the conflicts and relationships between him and other characters before introducing the main conflict of the movie. Though it's understandable that the director took this decision to get us to care about Shiva and Revathi (played by Krithi Shetty), the director stretches this part of the movie for around 30-45 min. When it should've been shorter. Due to the length of the first act, we don't care about the aforementioned characters enough to be engaged in the movie later on. Later on into the movie, there are many logical issues throughout the screenplay and some stupid jokes that dilute the tension. Along with that, Venkat Prabhu stretches some scenes for way too long slowing down the pacing even more making the screenplay of the movie even messier. Coming to the characters, Nataraj and Raju are characters that I thought were different than your usual antagonists, but that's only on paper, Shiva and Revathi were characters which needed more emotional connect for us to be engaged with them on their journey, as they're generically written, and other important characters such as CM Dakshayani (played by Priyamani) and Shiva's father (played by Gopuraju Ramana) were very underwritten and as a result, some scenes become diluted. Also, there were many unnecessary commercial elements in the movie that became speed-breakers and made the slightly unbearable at times.
4. Direction.
Despite the poorly written screenplay, if Venkat Prabhu had directed the movie well, the movie probably would've been an average watch if not a decent one. However, that's not the case. Due to many decisions he took throughout the movie, such as the decision to not cut too much in action sequences, add commercial elements in the story, and to get Sarathkumar to dub with his own voice, ruined the movie quite a bit. If you want to go about it a bit deeper, many action sequences could've used better direction and editing, but due to the decision aforementioned, the action sequences become less exhilarating and a bit boring. Coming to the performances, the director brought mediocre performances from pretty much everyone, including Aravind Swamy. Though this may be due to the writing, everybody gave average performances that weren't good enough to engage us in the movie or even try to save it.
Overall: This movie, which is probably one of Venkat Prabhu's weakest works, could've been a lot better if the writing and technical aspects were as good as the visuals.