Allari Naresh's Dongala Bandi (2008) Movie Review

Film: Dongala Bandi
Rating: 1/5
Cast: Alari Naresh, Tanya, Pooja Bharathi, Kovai Sarala, Venu Madhav, Ali, MS Narayana, Dr Daggubati Ashok Kumar, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Master Bharat, Brahmanandam, Sudarshan, Jeeva, Rao Ramesh, Suman Shetty, Chitram Seenu etc
Art: Ramana
Music: Valloori Rajasekhar
Cinematography: Arun Kumar
Producer: GSK Naidu
Director: Satish Vegesna
Released On: 12th Dec 2008

This is the film that pumped in some expectations among audiences as there are many comedians. And Allari Naresh has tickled with laughs in his recent 'Blade Babji'. Hence the expectations have risen further. How far the expectations are reached? Let us peep into the details

Story:

A boring story, the tale begins with the backdrop of the Nizam era and there is a treasure that has been hidden by three thieves one among them is Okka Magadu (MS) during the Indian government takeover and the map is torn into three parts. The scene changes to the current day when two thief families one headed by Okka Magadu and the other headed by another conwoman (Kovai Sarala). Apparently, Krishna (Naresh) is the grandson of Okka Magadu and Aishwarya (Tanya) is the granddaughter of one of the thieves. Fate brings them together and they are on the lookout for the third part when Don (Venumadhav) enters the scene. He is the grandson of the third thief and even he gets to meet the other two parties through chance. What follows from there is the journey towards the treasure and whether they are successful or not forms the rest of the story.

Performance:

Allari Naresh has come up with a power packed performance but then his character has not been etched that well. He was excellent in his dance and the comedy was good. He imitated Pawan Kalyan, Prabhas, Balakrishna and Sai Kumar in a scene and spilled laughs.

Tanya has got some real good oomph and she does not have grace while dancing. Malishka is hot!! Venu Madhav was okay, Jeeva was normal, Ali was ineffective, Chitram Sreenu was nominal, Kondavalasa and Sumanth were mechanical.

The others hardly had any presence.

The director has come out with an interesting plot but then his narrative was a major disaster. The presentation was alright with some real good locations and the camera captured them elegantly. The dialogues could have been better, the script was quite weak and the screenplay was stale. Editing could have been better especially in the second half. Music was okay and there are a couple of songs worth taking home. The other departments were just about average in their contribution.

Analysis:

This is a very boring flick made in recent times. Although there are many comedians in the film, none could bring in any laugh. Only Allari Naresh could spill a few laughs that too in first half during his introduction. 'Dongala Bandi' gives an experience of crushing under its wheels. The caption of the film reads 'No Logic-Only Fun'. But the fun is also missing in this flick and second half bombed the entire film mercilessly.

The film took off very well during the first half and the imitation of 'Dhoom' and the following comedy was good but then it took a complete U turn during the second half.

It was obvious that the maker was just trying to fill the time slot so as to complete the required two hour mark. The comedy track was not at all convincing despite the presence of some of the finest comedians. Even the sex appeal of Malishka was not used rightly and she was just sidelined. The film could have been a lot better if the script was written intelligently and though there were sparks of brilliance and creativity at few points, overall the film fails to impress the audience.

The happenings of the first half raise expectations but the eventual happenings and the poor climax make way for a disaster. This will surely go down as a black one for Allari Naresh.

Source: Great Andhra