Director: V.V. Vinayak
Cast: Chiranjeevi, Kajal Aggarwal, Tarun Arora, Ali, Brahmanandam, Posani and others
After nine years, Chiranjeevi returns to Tollywood with Khaidi No. 150, a remake of the Tamil hit film Kaththi, that starred Vijay. The Megastar got into politics when he was numero uno in T’wood and his last film, Shankardada Zindabad was in 2007. Khaidi No. 150, incidentally, marks his 150th film.
Kaththi Seenu (Chiranjeevi) escapes from a Kolkata prison and decides to fly to Bangkok. He soon meets Lakshmi (Kajal Agarwal) at the airport and falls in love with her. He then changes his plan and stays with his friend (Ali). While going out one day, they encounter a shootout and Seenu rushes to the spot. He then finds out that a driver who looks just like him, is in a critical condition. He rushes him to the hospital and decides to take on his identity, so that he can escape from the police.
It’s only later that he finds out that the injured man’s name is Shankar and that he has been fighting for justice on behalf of farmers of his village against a businessman (Tarun Arora). Seenu’s initial plans are to get away with the money, but after he sees a documentary on Shankar and his fight against a corporate company, he decides to fight for the farmers. The crux of the story is how Seenu brings down everyone to return the land to the farmers.
Chiranjeevi decided to do this remake because it was a message-oriented film and he wanted his comeback film to stand for a cause. Dual roles and one person stepping into another’s shoes is not a new concept and such films have been made earlier. The only interesting part here is how the director packages it with all the right ingredients. V.V. Vinayak, who earlier directed Chiranjeevi in Tagore, also a remake of a Tamil film, once again helmed the project. As this film is a remake, there is not much creativity involved, but Vinayak does a neat job of not spoiling the original. The only new thing he adds is the dose of entertainment that involves Brahmanandam. The second half of the film is serious, but the director has not been able to capture the gravity of the issue of land-grabbing.
It is a Chiranjeevi film, so naturally, he dominates every scene. The 61-year-old shows that he still has a lot of energy to dance and do action scenes. Some of the dialogues remind us that Chiranjeevi has not changed, although he has made a comeback after so long.
Though the dances are not great, even at this age, Chiru tries a few moves which stand out. Kajal is there only for songs and her role is severely limited. Raai Laxmi stands out in a special song. Ali also has a lengthy role which he essays with ease. Brahmanandam’s character is not there in the Tamil film, but was added. His comedy is routine, while Raghu Babu evokes a few laughs. The surprise element here is Ram Charan who stars in a song with his father and Kajal.
Tarun Arora as the villain does not make much of an impact. The scenes between Chiranjeevi and Tarun could have been more interesting. The dialogues are good and some of them are powerful, reflecting the present situation of farmers in Telugu states. Devi Sri Prasad provides the music and the songs are catchy. Ratnavelu’s cinematography is neat.
Khaidi No. 150 is going to be a good comeback for Chiranjeevi. The film has all the right ingredients such as dance, action, masala and also a message which fits the Megastar. The Boss is back with a bang!
