Sainikudu Telugu Movie
The high dose of pre release publicity of Sainikudu has nothing to do with its debacle. Many well-publicized movies have become hits too, like Devadasu. The blame squarely lies on two factors: the stupendous success of Pokiri that raised the hopes of people's expectation of Mahesh Babu's movies and the inferior quality of the movie Sainikudu itself. People still have scenes from Pokiri fresh in their minds. So obviously comparisons would be made and Sainikudu is way behind. Moreover not only Sainikudu doesn't measure up to Pokiri at all, it does not even count as an average movie, the technical extravaganza involved in the movie notwithstanding.
Sainikudu is an unending and boring saga of a do-gooder student – Siddharth (Mahesh Babu). Be it flood or distribution of relief supplies to flood victims Siddharth reaches out with a helping hand. The Good Samaritan encounters conflict from Pappu Yadav (Irfan Khan), a criminal turned politician. They square off for an election where Siddharth's friend (Ajay) contests against Pappu Yadav. Then Siddharth gets booked in a case that's planned by Mondi Naani ( Prakash Raj), the cousin of Pappu Yadav. Seeking vengeance Siddharth kidnaps Vara(Trisha), Pappu's would be wife, from the marriage dais. And the rest of the story is as common as potatoes in the vegetable market, there is nothing new, seasonal or even out of place.
Irfan Khan looks like a toothless tiger with his voice dubbed and his character getting subdued by the hero's from the very beginning. He never looks formidable and it is only a foregone conclusion that he would be vanquished. The romance and witty exchanges between Trisha and Mahesh Babu are stale. The plot loses reasoning many times. The only good thing about the movie is the flood scene that is shot to perfection.
Mahesh Babu and Trisha act well in whatever scenes they have been asked to. Mahesh Babu's clipped and short dialogue delivery is becoming his trademark and its working for him.
It is sad for the producer that so much of money invested in the movie and technical work has not yielded the desired result.
Too much of a good thing is also bad. It is good that the success streak of Mahesh Babu takes a break with Sainikudu. Even though he is well grounded, Sainukudu will remind him for some time to come that princes have to wait before being declared kings and his coronation ceremony is still away, though not far off.