Cast: Panjaa Vaishnav Tej, Sreeleela, Joju George, Suman and Radhika Sarathkumar.
Director: Srikanth Reddy
Rating: 1.5 stars
Hyderabad: Probably, young actor Vaishnav Tej wanted to join the elite list of action heroes in Tollywood but he has chosen a clichéd and stale script in ‘Adhikesava’. Earlier, such roles have been done by bigger stars like Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna who fight for a social cause, while it is too early for Vaishnav to jump the bandwagon and truly disappoint.
He looks fit but he couldn’t pull of a larger-than-life as he takes on mighty mining baron (Joju George) in Rayalaseema region and much worse is cause-where kids have to go to quarry than to school as a teacher is killed by Joju, which is the overtop and unbelievable in these times.
Hero turns barbaric and grills the drilling machine into a thug and pushes a tube light into a thug’s mouth to showcase his heroism and it is a bit hard to digest. The pathetic script starts with a temple ready to be demolished by Joju to expand his quarry zone, while the hero is shown in the city chasing a pretty girl (Sreeleela).
Director Srikanth Reddy tries to connect these two persons by making the hero the son of Suman, who has built this temple and was killed by his rival Joju. Director’s silly idea goes awry since both the issues fail to connect and look contrived. After this insipid connection, the film falls flat on its face and meanders through, leaving the audience in despair and helpless.
On the other hand, it could go down as one of the worst roles in Sreeleela’s career since she starts off as a CEO of a company and then lands in the hero's place and tries to please him, only to add more songs to enhance glam quotient and nothing else.
The film starts with Joju George killing his kin and his guests since they have come to protect a temple of Lord Shiva from being demolished. While in the city, Vaishnav Tej is shown as a jobless youth who finally finds a job in a company after Sreeleela, CEO of the company, appoints him after just one question. He falls for her pretty looks and finally manages to win her heart, but fate has other plans for his life. He has to go to Rayalaseema and has a mission to accomplish?
After winning the hearts of the audience in a self-piteous role in ‘Uppena’, Vaishnav played a lover boy in ‘Kondapolam’ but couldn’t impress. Probably bored with lover boy roles, he chose an action-driven script but it is too early for him. It took a lot of time for big heroes to gain that action star image in Tollywood. He looks fit but falls short in emotive scenes and needs to hone up his acting skills.
Sreeleela has chosen a poorly-etched role and tries to salvage it with her dancing and bubbly performance but in vain. Ace Malayalam actor Joju George who is known for brilliant performances in films like ‘Irratta’, “Joseph’ and ‘Pulimada’ is wasted a clichéd baddy role.
Radhika Sarathkumar does a good job, while Sudharshan rides on stale jokes. Less said the better about compositions of GV Prakash and cinematogra[hy is just ok.
Debutant director Srikanth Reddy takes up a stale revenge plot to arrive in Tollywood but he would soon realize his folly since films with Rayalaseema backdrop have been done-to-death in Tollywood.
