Cast: Pawan Kalyan, Keerthy Suresh, Anu Emmanuel, Khushbu and Boman Irani
Director: Trivikram Srinivas
Pawan Kalyan’s film Agnyaathavaasi released with much hype and euphoria and naturally, expectations were sky-high from this Trivikram Srinivas directorial starring Anu Emanuel and Keerthy Suresh as the two female leads.
Vinda (Boman Irani), a billionaire and founder of the A.B. group of companies, is killed by some unknown persons and prior to his death, his son is also killed in a car accident. His second wife, Indrani (Khushbu) calls Abhishikth Bhargav, Vinda’s elder son born to his first wife and living in exile. He enters the scene to save Indrani and the company and starts investigating who is behind his father’s murder. He joins as an employee and first suspects Varma (Rao Ramesh) and Sharma, (Murali Sharma) partners of the company. Eager to find out more, he becomes friendly with Surya Kantham (Anu Emanuel), secretary to Sharma and Sukumari (Keerthy Suresh), the daughter of Varma. But he realises that Sharma and Varma are not the culprits and some other big person has killed his father. The crux of the story is how he finds his father’s killers and the motive behind the murder.
Director Trivikram Srinivas is known for his popular one liners, comic scenes and emotional drama. But this film is missing some of these key elements. While Agnyaathavaasi is loosely based on the French film Largo Winch, Trivikram has not adapted it well in Telugu. The story is not convincing and the roles of the two female leads roles are not designed well.
Although some of Trivikram’s earlier films did not do well commercially, he never failed as a writer and director. But in this film, it is clear that he has not put in his best efforts. The emotional scenes are also not convincing and the two female leads, Keerthy Suresh and Anu Emanuel are completely wasted.
Pawan Kalyan makes his entry in a serious and aggressive manner, with a dialogue where he says that when he starts war for good, some people must die. But in the very next scene, he is seen trying to impress the female lead in a washroom. Overall, Trivikram’s mark is not there in this film. The fight between the two female leads in a hotel room is an utter waste of time and boring.
Performance-wise, it is Pawan Kalyan who saves the film. He is at his best after a long time and does a commendable job. Khushbu does a neat and graceful job as the mother while the two female leads Anu Emanuel and Keerthy Suresh are beautiful and good only for songs and a few scenes. The best part of the film is Rao Ramesh and Murali Sharma as Varma and Sharma. It seems these two characters are designed on the lines of Sharma and Shastri from Mayabazar. Rao Ramesh once again shows his competence in delivering dialogues and most of them are worthy of applause. Vennela Kishore provides a few laughs. Boman Irani appears in a short role, but does his work in a neat manner. Thanikella Bharani plays an important role with ease. Aadhi’s character is short and he looks good in it. The cinematography is good. Anirudh makes his debut as music director for a Telugu film, but the music is just average. The Koduka Koteswara Rao song sung by Pawan Kalyan is entertaining.
Finally, Agnyaathavaasi falls short of expectations and director Trivikram’s mark is missing. Pawan Kalyan’s superb performance may be the only thing that his fans can enjoy, as overall it is an average film.
