Evarina chustiuntara nadiche nakshatrani
Eduroste egapadipora nene aa chitrani
Ne pandistuna rythunai chirunavvu thotalini
Paripalistuna rajunai koti gundela kotalni....
Indeed, a fitting tribute from Seetharama Sastry garu to the undisputed King of Telugu cinema - Megastar Chiranjeevi. He's one of the very few Indian movie heroes who can set cash registers ringing even with average contents. SS Rajamouli once candidly said in an interview - "To make a good movie, you need a good subject. But to make a blockbuster movie, you start with a Star". For close to 3 decades, Telugu cinema had its star, whose stardom rose to the pinnacle and at the same time had the nation sit back and take notice of Telugu movie stamina. If NTR had put telugu pride on the national map, then it was Chiranjeevi who put TFI into the national league with this movie collections.
Khaidi 150 is Chiru's own definition of one man show. You can see a 'Idar ka maal udar' Auto Johnny, 'Rough aadinche' Rajaram, 'Cheppaliani undi Gonthu vippaliani undi' Suryam and so on. He's brought his panache, his impeccable comic timing and his emotional dialogue delivery back with him after 10 long yrs. Only Jr NTR in Adhurs and Mahesh in Khaleja have come any closer to matching his timing in comedy. In Khaidi 150, Chiru with Brahmi and Ali keeps you entertained all along. Remember - Chamaku chammaku cham song from Kondaveeti Donga? There's a dance step choreographed by our Sundaram master where Chiru just wipes out his sweat using a napkin from his pocket. Quite graceful. There's plenty of that offered in Khaidi 150. No, not sweat. Its grace, you silly. Also, there's a cameo from Kajal in addition to Vinayak's and Charan's. She's in 3 songs and only songs. Kudos to DSP who elevates every frame with his thumping BGM and yes it's a known fact most of the songs are now heard more than the honks during traffic snarls in both the Telugu states. Dialogues by Sai Madhav and Parchuri Brothers are okay. Tarun Arora the antagonist is no match to our Khaidi and is probably the weakest link. All the other technicians have put in dedicated efforts to make this venture a grand memorable success.
I haven't seen the original Katthi but the basic plot by Murgadoss seems to be pretty ordinary. VV Vinayak stuck to the original but added all ancillary elements for a commercial potboiler - pinch of comedy, tablespoon of tragedy, ounces of oomph similar to what I once did in my Chemistry lab during school days with real chemicals. I got kicked out but Vinayak is being heaped with accolades for reel chemicals. Logic goes for a big toss. Sometimes, you can stand in the theater and laugh out loudly for the onscreen bloopers. They are so easy to catch like Pokémon. If you are an ardent Chiru fan you would ignore them, if not you would post memes on FB. You are free to choose your side.
So, made up your minds? Wanna watch the Return of the King? You can - without any qualms. Mundane story, few boo-boo's here and there and mass masala elements might throw you off - A sweet warning.
