‘Shailaja Reddy Alludu’ review: Ramya Krishna brings some dignity to this dull movie

A Nagarjuna or Chiranjeevi of yesteryear could have carried such a script with their presence and star-power.
‘Shailaja Reddy Alludu’ review: Ramya Krishna brings some dignity to this dull movie
‘Shailaja Reddy Alludu’ review: Ramya Krishna brings some dignity to this dull movie
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You can be forgiven for believing that this movie will take you down memory lane – recreate the old magic of one of Nagarjuna’s movies, where he was pitted against a vicious mother-in-law in a tussle of egos. Not much of that happened in this story. Instead, you get the distinct feeling of someone hitting you with a golf club on the back of your head to stop you from falling asleep. Loud and unimaginative, Shailaja Reddy Alludu rides on a wafer-thin plotline, where every character is confused. It’s like a bunch of immature kids trying to talk adult stuff in a reality show without a Big Boss.

Chaitu (Naga Chaitanya) falls for Anu (Anu), despite her galaxy-sized ego. The straight method doesn’t work, so he uses the crooked finger. All that ego of Anu goes for a toss when Chaitu tells her he was in love with her housemaid (what’s uglier than men insulting women, women insulting women, when Anu asks why her!) And lo and behold, she comes running into his arms.

Enter Chaitu’s dad (Murali Sharma) who in order to satisfy his solar system-sized ego announces Anu and Chaitu’s engagement and wedding at his house party, at which point her background is revealed and her people take her away. Chaitu chases her to Warangal, where Shailaja Reddy (Ramya Krishna) with her universe-sized-ego is out on a mission to do justice to every woman in the village – the same woman who hasn’t spoken to her daughter for 5 years because the latter picks fine arts over becoming a doctor (a profession Shailaja Reddy had decided for her because she wanted to serve their hometown). By the time we wrap our head around this hypocritical, inconsistent, sometimes ridiculous and sometimes stupid characterisation, Chaitu is out trying to bring mom and daughter together.

There are two good things about the movie – Prudhvi Raj’s comedy and Ramya Krishna’s searing eyes. Why the director Maruthi Dasari would waste an actor like her on a silly script hinging on ‘such ego, much wow’ tomfoolery is puzzling. Couple of average fights, a couple of comic sub-plots between Vennela Kishore and Prudhvi Raj, and a couple of mediocre songs (a rare miss from Gopi Sundar) – the movie takes these tropes, adds Naresh as a mannequin and turns into something that promises fun but delivers nothing.

The ego-crushes-love and the mature-guy-makes-everyone-realise-what-they-are-missing-in-their-life is done to death in our movies. A Nagarjuna or Chiranjeevi of yesteryear could carry such a script with their presence and star-power. Not most of the modern-day actors parading as protagonists. Extravagantly loud dialogue and a mother-daughter conflict that you can barely find logic in, much less relate to, don’t do the movie any favours.

All in all, Shailaja Reddu Alludu was a yawn-fest, if you can manage to snooze the fights and loud dialogues from time to time. Ramya Krishna brought some dignity to the script with her presence but her character had a myopic, suffocating scope barely capable of coming out of the contradictions that creep in because of bad writing. A better idea than watching this movie would be to go back to one of yesteryear’s hits starring Ramya Krishna and Nagarjuna. The chauvinism, which still exists in deceptive forms after all these decades, will at least seem less pretentious.

Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.

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