The much awaited Nagarjuna starrer Damarukam has finally hit the screen after a lot of delays and its getting the response that it had hoped, a huge turnout of fans has been witnessed across all cities in Andhra Pradesh. But the movie according to me is too routine despite high expectations from it. The movie delay in release had upset a lot of fans and I believe they will remain that way even after watching it.
The movie on a whole may be disappointing but it starts quite captivatingly, the narration in the beginning of the movie is quite fantastic and there is brief explanation of Indian mythology and the concept of shaivism and the role of shive in the holy trilogy. I found the entire narration very interesting and enjoyed it . The acting was good but not anything close to what I expected of Nagarjuna but Ravi Shankar who plays the villain andhakasura brings in a lot lot of charm in playing evil and I should say that he has done a very good job. His style including what he wears, his voice, body language and all other aspects of his acting has been great throughout the movie. Its almost as if he outshines the superstar Nagarjuna. He is a great embodiment of evil in the movie something like the Kaancha Cheena in agneepath. Anishka’s acting has been quite tepid considering the fact that I have seen much better performances out of her in the last few years. But that is something that I usually neglect considering that she is very beautiful and she is gorgeous in this movie too. Her introductory scene which is done admist vedic chants is awesome and her beauty is very much highlighted in the songs Kanyakumari and Nesthama Nesthama, but in terms of acting it still remains a flop show. Even though I have already mentioned that Nagarjuna’s acting in this moviwe has been far from impressive his introductory sequence is very well done which I laud the screenplay for. I wonder why Nagarjuna was trying so hard to get into the skin of the character. He did get in somewhat, but over exerting yourself sometimes does not help. He is an actor who has always been dedicated to his work but in this movie he has not been upto mark. Some scenes were hilarious and dialogues have been witty and can bring out some laughs in the theatres. Devi Prasad does a very good job and the and the item numbers very really hot. But somewhat all these things does not take the movie to a level I believe would make it a something to reminiscence about. Even the great Prakash Raj wwas predictable and dull. The script does take some theme from the amish thripathi novel but it is not as complete adaptation as mr. Tripathi claims it to be. It is far from that . The plot is fine but it somewhat loses steam in the second half and thus becomes dull. Much care has been taken in the the graphics department though that will interest the lower age groups and some hardcore nagarjuna fans but not me.
Final verdict – One time watch.