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Cast:
Tabu
Abbas
Raja
Kota Srinivasa Rao
Sunil
Surya
Chalapati Rao
Brahmaji
Raja Ravindra
MS Narayana
Melkote
LB Sriram
Vallabhaneni Janardhan
Devadas Kanakala
Raghunatha Reddy
Hema
Apoorva
Anita
Sameeksha
Credits:
Story and dialogues – KNY Patanjali
Camera – Jaya Krishna Gummadi
Editing – Sai Nagabu
Music – John P Worki
Screenplay, Direction and Producer – Chandra Siddharth
Released on: February 22, 2008
Tag Line: Though truth is bitter, degrading profession
Chandra Siddhartha had become very popular with his film Aa Naluguru, one of the best films in Telugu in recent times. However, his next film Madhu Maasam failed to reach expectations. This time, he planned a typical story and knowing fully well that nobody would come forward to experiment with such subject, he himself decided to produce the film. The story is very delicate and wafer thin and it needed a strong screenplay to run such subject. He kept on slipping and gaining grip while running the story.
Story:
Swarajya Lakshmi @ Swarajyam (Tabu) is a middle-class woman and is the wife of a crime reporter Satyamurthy (Abbas). Swarajyam always dreams of becoming rich overnight. Murthy also has similar thoughts and he uses his profession to do favours to others thereby gaining money. Once he gets information about derailment of train and the people in the nearby colonies, instead of helping the victims, loot the available money, luggage and valuables of the train passengers. Murthy, who goes there to cover the news, along with a press photographer (Sunil) also joins the people and loots the passengers. Murthy and the photographer share the booty. Murthy goes into an AC compartment and takes out two suitcases. Murthy and the lensman take away suitcases. Murthy is so greedy and he does not allow even his wife Swarajyam to enjoy the gold ornaments. Later, they come to know that there are diamonds worth Rs 500 crore in one of the suitcases of the AC coach. When Murthy is away from home, Swarajyam opens the suitcase and finds the diamonds. Knowing fully well that Murthy does not allow her to take the diamonds, she keeps the diamonds in secret place. When he asks, she tells him that there is nothing like diamonds in the box. In fact, the diamonds belong to a top politician. So, he alerts the entire police machinery. Learning the cost of the diamonds, every one wants to take them instead of handing them over to their boss or to the politician. However, she doesn't know how to sell them. Unable to bear the excitement that she has crores worth of diamonds, she goes to a car showroom and bargains about a car.
She also goes to a posh locality and enquires about the price of big bungalow. At both the places, she leaves the visiting card of her husband. This leads to suspicion and one circle inspector Surreddy (Surya) kidnaps Murthy and demands the diamonds. When he pleads ignorance, Surreddy tries to kidnap Swarajyam. By that time, the DGP kidnaps both Murthy and Surreddy with the help of his brother-in-law (Raja Ravindra). The SP (Raghunatha Reddy) calls all the goons, thieves, petty thieves and the pick-pockets and tells them to search for the box. Among them there is a clever thief called Kalavar King (Raja). He smells the rat and finds the diamonds. Knowing fully well that the police are after him and learning that Murthy is also kidnapped, he leaves the diamonds with Swarajyam. When Surreddy takes away Murthy, Swarajyam calls up their family friend and a criminal lawyer Chandra Rao (Brahmaji), whom she believes to be very honest, and reveals the entire story to him and tells him that the diamonds are with her. Chandra Rao turns crooked, takes her to her house and tries to poison Swarajyam. Incidentally, Kalavar King reaches the place and takes away the diamonds from Swarajyam when Chandra Rao is away. Accidentally, he eats the poisoned food and dies. Swarajyam takes back the diamonds and goes straight to the DIG and demands her husband with a promise to give him the diamonds. She plays tricks and escapes from the clutches of the DIG, his brother-in-law and collects the diamonds, which she keeps in the cloak-room and deposits in Lord Venkateswara's hundi. Like this, the family relieves from all kinds of problems.
The movement of the story is very interesting till the interval bang. Tabu has played her character extremely well. She is gorgeous and has been portrayed in revealing dresses and has been shown in a romantic way. Abbas is okay in his role and Sunil is okay with his comedy. All the seasoned artists like Kota, Chalapati Rao, Brahmaji and Surya did justice to their respective roles. Photography by Jayakrishna Gummadi in song sequence is a highlight. Music by John P Worki is average. Dialogues by Patanjali are good in parts.
The director, in a bid to portray the real life incidents, unintentionally degraded several professionals including, journalists, photographers, police, retired judges, and also politicians. All these people are shown in very bad light. Instead of saying that the diamonds belong to prime minister, he should have kept him as a top politician and he should have shown respect to the position. Likewise, police asking thieves to rob people and taking them to colonies for robbing is also unfair. Though it is true that such incidents generally happen in real life, it is quite improper to say truth on screen because truth will always be bitter. He should have avoided all these things.
The director, though has chose to highlight the real life incidents on the screen, he should have shown more caution instead of telling the truth straight on the face. Definitely, the film would attract the ire of many professionals including, journalists, photographers, police and retired judges. Let us wait and see how the people would receive the film.
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