Daaku Maharaaj

IDaaku Maharaaj is a new Telugu language movie directed by Bobby Kolli and it stars Balakrishna, Pragya Jaiswal, Shradha Srinath and Bobby Deol with a cameo appearance by Urvashi Rautela. This movie tracks well with Balakrishna template where he is introduced as nobody but has a flashback where was a savior of people and he unleashes that fierceness in the climax. No surprises there. This movie was as predictable as sunrise and sunset.

While there is nothing wrong with formulaic commercial mass movies, the way this particular movie is written is an insult to the audience. The makers planned a "high elevation" scene every 10 minutes where we see Balakrishna uttering a senseless "punch dialogue" to cater to the "masses" followed by equally senseless songs with disgusting lyrics disguised as "mass numbers" all the while aided by S. Thaman's raucous background score that he lifted from Anirudh's Jailer theme "Alapara" and Hans Zimmer's Dune desert bass. Fortunately, this movie was not as loud as his other recent works so that's a concession, I guess.

While the movie shows so many objectionable scenes, especially involving little girls and women, the audience have to come accept that these form the core of a "Balakrishna Template". This is an unfortunate development where the audience make this kind of low effort scrap a commercial success. I cringed a little every time Balakrishna spanks the female lead in the movie. If that is not enough, the director Bobby Kolli made a little girl, probably a 6 year old, spank the female lead for Balakrishna in the name of "mass". Not stopping there, the liberal use of double entendres which leave no room for imagination is low even for Balakrishna's standards. The screenplay leaves no element of surprise by providing you exactly what you'd expect to happen exactly at the time you'd expect to happen.

What felt fresh, again for a Balakrishna template, was the cinematography. They were more subdued than a typical Balakrishna movie. However, the color grading was all over the place. There are scenes where excessive grunge effect was applied turning blood into a black colored liquid, again, presumably, to appease to the masses I guess.

Bottomline: This movie was a low effort scrap that caters to very specific set of audience.

Nandamuri Balakrishna has been delivering solid mass entertainers since Akhanda. With a careful approach to script selection and collaborations with young directors, he's been connecting with a new generation of audiences. Expectations were naturally high for Daaku Maharaaj, especially with director Bobby, who previously delivered a blockbuster with Chiranjeevi. The trailer, packed with slick visuals and stylish sequences, only amplified the hype.

Balakrishna looks incredibly stylish in the first half, with cinematographer Vijay Karthik's striking visuals and dark tones giving the movie a Hollywood feel. Bobby's sleek direction and fresh presentation keep the first half engaging, despite the kid-sentiment subplot feeling repetitive-it's reminiscent of Balakrishna's previous film Bhagavat Kesari. Still, the stylish execution and the mystery surrounding Balakrishna's protection of the little girl maintain interest. The baby girl, who is central to the story, delivers a commendable performance. Urvashi Rautela's role feels unnecessary, but her glamorous presence caters to mass appeal. The "Dabidi Dibidi" song is a highlight for fans. Interestingly, the real heroines don't appear until the second half, an unusual choice. The interval bang, featuring the introduction of Bobby Deol as the antagonist, is well-executed and exciting.

The second half, however, falters. The setup of oppressed common people suffering under corrupt villains has been explored in countless films like Khaleja, KGF, and even the recent Saripodhaa Sanivaaram. The storyline lacks freshness, and themes of drugs and smuggling evoke comparisons to Vikram and Leo.

Among the heroines, only Shraddha Srinath gets a somewhat meaningful role, though her sudden brotherly bond with Balakrishna's character feels unconvincing. Pragya Jaiswal's character, unfortunately, lacks depth. Similarly, Bobby Deol's antagonist feels half-baked-his confrontation scenes with Balakrishna lack the impact they should have had. Balakrishna's Daaku persona is let down by weak makeup and inconsistent character depth. While his rugged look with a bull beard stands out, his clean-shaven appearance as an engineer doesn't quite fit the intense action sequences. The transformation into the Daaku could have been more gradual and impactful. Additionally, the scenes where his followers kneel in awe feel overly theatrical.

The remaining cast does their job adequately, but many actors sadly end up as padding artists, with little to contribute to the story.

Thaman's background score is one of the movie's strongest aspects. The Daaku theme is outstanding and at times feels reminiscent of Anirudh's style, showing Thaman's versatility. His music elevates many key moments. Vijay Karthik's cinematography is another highlight. His work, as seen in Jailer, brings a unique visual flair to Daaku Maharaaj. His use of color schemes and lighting makes Balakrishna's stylish portrayal stand out, especially in the first half.

Director Bobby aimed to repackage Balakrishna for Gen Z audiences with a stylish narrative and mass-elevation moments, and he succeeded in that regard. However, the film's story and core themes feel overly familiar, lacking the novelty to truly stand out.

You can watch Daaku Maharaaj for Balakrishna's new look, his signature dialogues, and the stylish execution. Just don't expect an innovative or groundbreaking story.

I don't know if it's too much to ask a basic, decent movie, with bare minimum emotional touch, watching big hero movie from Telugu is frustrating

Balakrishna does everything in his usual style, albeit with the loudness toned down. Urvashi's Butts has got more screentime than her face, Pragya does nothing, Shraddha Srinath surprisingly has got a decent role and did well. Bobby Deol except for fighting cigarettes does nothing.

Technically, movie is super slick with solid cinematography by Vijay Karthik, rousing score by Thaman, fair work by editor Ruben, production values are fine for a Balayya film.

Coming to writer-director Bobby Kolli, don't know how he keeps churning out such half baked movies on a consistent basis, might do commercially well, but they are far from satisfactory.

BOTTOMLINE : It's neither VIKRAM nor JAILER.

The first half of the movie delivers while the second half is a bit dragged. The portrayal of balayya is new and the director added the style and flavour of lokesh kanagaraj movies.

Balayya came out of his comfort to take such risk of making a movie that could have ended a disaster if not for Bobby koli. The acting is nice and music is good.

This movie proves that balayya is never in his peak but he is his peak. The movie did not miss the commercial elements. But urvashi rautela's role was shortened and it was good that way, otherwise it would have spoiled the work. Though it may feel overdramatic sometimes it is perfect for the sankranti season to have mass movie like this.

A good movie if you can enjoy keeping the logics and all other things behind. It was better than most balayya's movies in the past ten years.

I don't understand why people are so obsessed with other movies this sankranti because people were ready to see all the things balayya use to do back then but does not want to watch him in a role where he has the scope to act good which he did.

The movie is a surprise to me. Don't listen to the negative reviews and watch it with a blank mind.

But the balayya in the first half is fire. Want more like this from balayya.

Go and enjoy the movie.

Urvashi Rautela is a flop actress and basically an item girl. They could have cast any nice South Indian heroine. She can neither act nor talk properly in interviews.

Movie is just average, nothing crazy good. Not even close to being a blockbuster. Script is okay, other actors have acted well but not earth shattering good. Dance moves are super cringe and you could get second hand embarrassment. Not suitable for kids. Just a plain movie but honestly it is a snooze fest. So yes think about it. Do you want to waste your lonely on an average film or would you rather binge watch Harry Potter at home? Most people would prefer the latter.