Film: Attarintiki Daredi
Rating: 3.5/5
Cast: Pawan Kalyan, Samantha, Praneeta, Nadiya, Rao Ramesh, MS Narayana, Posani, Prithvi, Sameer, Brahmaji, Sivannarayana, Raghu Babu, Ali, Kota, Brahmanandam etc
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Action: Peter Heins
Producer: BVSN Prasad
Director: Trivikram Srinivas
Released on: 27th Sep 2013

Pawan Kalyan, after the super block buster hit ‘Gabbar Singh’ and crowd pulling film ‘CGR’; and Trivikram Srinivas after delivering another super hit ‘Julayi’ have come together with ‘Attarintiki Daredi’ today. This actor-director duo has earlier given a massive hit ‘Jalsa’.  ‘Attarintiki Daredi’ has quivered the websites and TV channels a few days ago with piracy news and hence it was released in an emergency. Let us get into ins and outs of the film.

Story:
Gautam Nanda (Pawan Kalyan) is the grandson of a rich man (Boman Irani). The Nandas are the business tycoons in Milan, Italy. 80 year old Nanda asks Gautam to get back his daughter whom he necked out years ago for marrying a man not of his financial standard.  Recalling the memories of his daughter, he asks Gautam to get her as a birthday gift for him.

Thus Gautam finds a mission to get back his aunt (Nadiya), the daughter of his grandfather and sister of his father (Mukesh Rishi).  He starts his journey in search of Attarintiki Dari!

As Gautam lands in India, he attempts to get close to the family of his aunt hiding his identity. He changes his name as Siddhu and joins them as a driver. One of the daughters of his aunt Samantha falls in love with Gautam alias Siddhu. On the other hand Gautam supports and protects both his aunt and uncle (Rao Ramesh) from conspirers those wish to conquer their business.

Finally, if Gautam will be successful in bringing back his aunt to his grandfather forms rest of the story.

Performances:
Pawan Kalyan as usual a powerful crowd puller appeared with right grace and glory. He performed jovially with his trade mark dialogue delivery. The dances were not so complicated but just pleasant. In Bapugari Bomma song he dances wearing lungi receiving claps from masses.

Praneeta is beautiful with her big eyes. But she didn’t came out from her over expressiveness.

Samantha is cute and up to the requirement.

MS Narayana is ok but he must have been used more efficiently. Ali’s part brings laughs. Posani is impressive with his mass pulling appearance. His style of dialogues like, ‘nenemanna Benhur cinemani burra kathagaa chebuthunnaanaa?” bring guffaws from front benchers.

Raghu Babu is perfect in his role and Rao Ramesh could deliver right performance in right degree. Above all, Nadiya, the main actress in the film turns the heads of all with her beautiful screen presence and apt performance.

Brahmanandam brings laughs in 2nd half but some scenes on him became too lengthy. Kota is reasonable.

Analysis:
The title “Attarintiki Daredi” has the power to pull the family crowds. At the same time the content in it is appealing equally good for mass audience. Thus it stood as a product with right blend of elements those entertain both families and masses.  

Trivikram’s pen that has huge expectations met the requirement but gone overboard in some parts.  It being Pawan Kalyan’s film audiences do expect more and more from his pen. Though there are some just normal sparks here and there with respect to his dialogues in 1st half, he has shown his true mettle all over. But some dialogues and scenes where Pawan Kalyan orders to purchase the Railway Station are not in tune with the maturity levels of Trivikram. Though such scenes were conceived to show how rich the protagonist is, they are not convincing. Simlarly Ahalya-Gautamudu rehearsal scene on Brahmi-Pawan-Samantha and Ali is lengthy and boring. 

"Simham podukundi kadaa ani joolutho jada veyakoodadu raa..ade puli palakarinchindi kadaa ani pakkana nilabadi photo digaalanukokoodadu roi" is one dialogue that got huge applause equally good as it got in trailer. And some other such dialogues are:-

"Paamu paradhyananga undi kadaani padaga meeda kaaleyyakoodadu roi"

"Nenu simham laantonnabba..adi geddam geesukoledu. Nenu geesukogalanu. Anthe tedaa".

Another dialogue, “Ramudu samduram daggaraki vellaaka bridge elaa kattalo plan chesadu kaani, adivilo koorchuni plan geesukuni samduram daggariki raledu” is another line that worked well in theatre situationally.

A scene in which Pawan Kalyan imitating Mohan Babu and in another scene Pawan’s character behaving as if he doesn’t know who Chiranjeevi is brought claps and shouts instantly but especially the latter scene may remain as controversy element down the line. The scene with Chiru goes like this:

Seeing a scene from Chiranjeevi’s Gang Leader on TV, the conversation between Pawan and MS goes like this:-

And some naughty scenes where Pawan unzips Samantha and Samantha saying, “Thinnadanthaa ikkadike potondi” holding her butt do attract masses but keeps family audiences in awe. But every thing passes without any quip due to Pawan’s aspect. 

And coming to the music part, all the songs are impressive. ‘Bapu gari Bomma’ entertains family crowds and ‘Ori Devudo’pulls the attention of masses. 'Ninnu choodagane' stands as highlight. 'Kevvu keka' parody entertains Pawan fans.

Peter Heins’ action episodes are interesting if looked at understanding cinematic liberties.

First half runs hilarious while the sentiment and right tempo builds in second half along with a few boring moments. Pawan's performance in the climax is impressive. 

On a whole, Attarintiki Daredi will be an entertaining film when entered into theatres with average expectations.

Bottom Line: Family and mass entertainer  

When an intelligent filmmaker (Trivikram) and a superstar (Pawan Kalyan) join hands, one definitely needs to compromise. We can't expect a superstar to compromise, can we? Therefore, Trivikram ends up compromising on his potential and in turn gives us an aspirational film such as "Attarintiki Daaredhi" (AD), which is shallow from the inside, but stylish on the outside. By doing so, Trivikram might add another commercial hit to his credit, but sells himself short.

An ailing grandfather (Boman Irani), two decades after disowning his daughter (Nadhiya) for marrying against his wish, feels guilty for his mistake. He requests his grandson (Pawn Kalyan) to bring her back to make amends.

Gautham Nanda (Pawan Kalyan) travels to Hyderabad, earns a place in his aunt's (Sunanda) house as a driver. There, he uses every opportunity to get closer to his aunt and earn her trust, but it doesn't take her much time to figure out his true identity. Will Gautham succeeds in his endeavour to take his aunt back to his grandfather? This is what we get to see in the rest of the film besides some romance, lots of action and occasional laughs.

For the millionth time, we are made to sit through a hackneyed story, yet we cheer for it for the simple reason that it features Pawan Kalyan. The problem with the film is that it strictly caters to the fanboys of Pawan; entertain them as much as possible even by defying logic and creativity.

When you throw in extra bucks, shoot in exotic locales, make your hero wear stylish clothes and sport an expensive ride, any film will look stylish regardless of whether it features Pawan Kalyan or not. AD is synonymous to that. It's merely ambitious, but its wafer thin story makes its interior appear superficial.

It's easy to say to watch the film with least expectations (one of the most common answers to a superstar film), but with Trivikram (known for writing brilliant films such as "Athadu" and "Manmadhudu") at the helm, there's definitely some level of expectation and when it's not met then you're bound to be disappointed. Unfortunately, Trivikram succumbs to star pressure and churns out a highly disappointing product.

Pawan Kalyan is at his best, suave and comfortable in his role that reeks of panache, but he constantly tries to please his mass following with superstar acts. We get see more of his comic as well as emotional side as he attempts to tug at our hearts with some melodrama towards the end. Nadhiya turns in a decent performance, but her role isn't much different from her last release "Mirchi". Boman Irani is miscast in a role that could have been ideally played by any Telugu artist. His role limited to a wheel chair and tragedy.

The screenplay is wobbly and Trivikram has no clue why he has cast two heroines. Pranitha is merely used to divert Pawan Kalyan's attention towards Samantha, who is impressive in her role. Brahmanandam, who is mostly used as a trump card in big-budget flicks, is brought in too late and by then I had lost interest in the film. Scenes featuring him are a laugh riot, but it's seriously late by then. Rao Ramesh gives a very refined performance and it's good to see him evolving with every film.

The music and cinematography is passable, but the film's biggest letdown was its running time. At nearly three hours, AD makes you cringe in your seats, especially with the emotional punch it delivers in the climax. (IANS)