Business Man (2012)

This is a total anti-hero movie where a young man named Surya comes to Mumbai to shake up the entire city. He wants to revive the mafia in Mumbai, which has been eliminated thanks to the commissioner's efforts. In the process, he earns the wrath of the police and opposing politicians. He soon starts mafia franchises all over the country and is in a position to decide even the ruling party in the national elections. There is a reason as to why he does all these things. Side by side, he is also busy romancing the commissioner's daughter who falls for him despite his dubious modus-operandi.

The reason given by Surya for the mafia to flourish, is pretty shocking. There are so many logical loopholes that conveniently favor the hero. He is all conquering, bashes goons to pulp singlehandedly and opposes an entire police battalion. The police also fear him for some strange reason despite having so many arms and ammunition.

The entire movie happens in a Telugu speaking Mumbai.

If the movie is even half bearable, it is thanks to Mahesh Babu. His dialog delivery, his totally fiery and aggressive body language, his cold looks etc etc make this movie an affair strictly restricted to his legion of fans.  The fact that this is an anti-hero movie where the lead hero doesn't have even a shade of gentlemanly qualities, earns a few more brownie points. The stunt scenes are typically extravagant and 'mass'. That's about it.

The reason for Surya to do what he does is again pretty cliched. It is personal vendetta. The love track is silly and typical of any commercial movie. The songs are mostly lackluster with Thaman shamelessly stealing the whistle tune of 'Fistful of Dollars' in the BGM. Kajal looks scorching hot and sexy. Her friend in the movie is totally irritating with her accent and lame explanations. Nasser is just a shadow of the imposing actor he was in the 90s. Prakash Raj as the villain has done a similar role in countless movies before.

VERDICT: A big disappointment on the whole, and strictly for Mahesh Babu fans. Others may ignore this over-the-top movie. 

Dookudu (2011)

My first Telugu movie and I chose to see it for Mahesh Babu alone. I was impressed by his style and the hype that he has among Telugu movie watchers. Superstar Mahesh as the title proudly proclaims and I must say this man has amazing screen presence, solid dialog delivery, decent dancing skills, good emotive skills and above all he is a superstar without a shade of a doubt.

In Dookudu he is a cop (Ajay) and while he is not busy plotting the baddies' downfall as an undercover cop, he takes care of his father (Shankar Narayana) who has just recovered from a coma. At some other times, he woos the girl he covets. There are adequate doses of drama and staged comedy. The main plot diverts quite often. When the baddies are the very same people who were responsible for backstabbing his father, it becomes more convenient for our hero. He uses brawn, lots of staged comic drama and of course some pure star power to overthrow the baddies led by Nayak.

There are some nice songs by Thaman. The movie is pretty long at close to 3 hours but Mahesh Babu holds the movie together. There is no crass comedy or skin show. It is a pretty decent movie for commercial standards. But, the action scenes are absurd. They have taken too much cinematic liberty.

Sonu Sood plays the typical Indian commercial movie villain. There are other villains too like Sayaji Shinde. Brahmanandam tries to make us laugh with his trademark style. Prakash Raj has a larger than life 'messiah' like role

On the whole, a wholesome treat for Mahesh Babu fans as we get to see him as a mass hero, a police officer, a politician, the entertainer etc. all in one movie. His punch dialogs were a rage, thanks to the subtitles, I was able to enjoy them as much as a Telugu speaking watcher.

VERDICT: Proper masala entertainer. Mahesh Babu carries the movie to the winning post.