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Stylish Star Allu Arjun has hit the screens today with ‘Julayi’. The film has Ileana as the heroine and Trivikram Srinivas is the director. The movie has been released today in a big way and a lot is riding on the film for both Allu Arjun and Trivikram. Let us see how the movie is.

Story :

Ravindra Narain (Allu Arjun) is a very smart guy who believes in making quick money. His father Narayana Murthy (Tanikella Bharani) is against this attitude and believes in hard work. Ravi crosses the path of Bittoo (Sonu Sood) accidentally, while the latter is about to commit a bank robbery to the tune of 1500 Crores. An alert Ravi teams up with Police Commissioner Raja Manikyam (Rao Ramesh) and apprehends Bittoo. This infuriates Bittoo and he swears revenge on Ravi.

A concerned Raja Manikyam sends Ravi off to Hyderabad under a witness protection program. He asks Ravi to stay in the house of his friend,ACP Sitaram (Rajendra Prasad). In Hyderabad, Ravi comes across Madhu (Ileana) and falls in love with her. While this is unfolding, Bittoo makes his own plans to extract revenge. He works with MLA Varadarajulu (Kota Srinivasa Rao) and Travels Murthy (Brahmaji) to achieve his objective.

The rest of the story is about how Ravi and Bittoo face off. Who wins in the end? What happens to Ravi’s love story? That needs to be seen on the big screen.

Plus Points :

Allu Arjun is at his energetic and stylish best in the film. His costumes are cool and his mannerisms are nice. Arjun has used Trivikram’s punch dialogues well. He has performed well in the fight sequences and his dances are brilliant as always. Once again, Allu Arjun shows why he is regarded as one of the best dancers in the industry.

Ileana looks great and has a good romantic track with Allu Arjun in the first half. Her performance has shades from her role in “Jalsa’. Rajendra Prasad is classy and shows yet again why he is such a highly respected actor. He is brilliant as ACP Sitaram. Kota Srinivasa Rao is good.

M.S.Narayana brings about a few laughs. Brahmanandam rocks as thief Brahmam. He has a brilliant episode in the second half with Hema and his mannerisms there are howlarious. Sonu Sood is good as Bittoo and he excels in both the villainous episodes as well as in funny episodes towards the climax. Brahmaji and Tanikella Bharani are alright. Rao Ramesh is decent.

Trivikram’s dialogues deserve special mention. They are outstanding and are used to great effect in the first half. The pace of the first half is very good, and the movie just breezes by with some good Trivikram mark comedy. Songs have been choreographed nicely and they gel with the tempo in the first half.

Ali and Posani make cameo appearances and they are good.

Minus Points :

The second half is a letdown when compared to the first half. The pace of the narration dips a bit. When Trivikram is at the helm, audiences expect stylish and well shot fight sequences. In Julayi, the fight sequences tend to be a little over the top . Cars crashing into each other unrealistically and Scorpios flying are not what we expect from you Trivikram sir.

Romantic track with Ileana has been left incomplete and it has not been properly tied up. Dharmavarapu is routine.

Comedy in the second half may not be easily understood by B and C center crowds as it is subtle. Also, there are some unrealistic aspects in the story line. Allu Arjun behaves like an extra constitutional authority throughout the movie. He keeps accompanying police officers and shoots criminals on the road in broad daylight. Why does the police department put up with it even though Rajendra Prasad is an ACP?

The climax sequence is routine and some of the scenes are again unrealistic. Perhaps Trivikram wanted to play to the masses. The placement of the songs in the second half could have been better.

Technical Aspects :

Cinematography is good . Editing is neat in the first half but it could have been better in the second half. Choreography is neat. Trivikram has done a good job in the first half as a director. He could have done better in the second half. As a dialogue writer though, Trivikram scores full marks. The dialogues explode like bullets and they will strike a chord with urban movie lovers.

Devi Sri Prasad’s music is good and background score is decent.

Verdict :

Julayi has a great first half going for it. Trivikram’s stamp can be seen all over it and this half makes for some great entertainment. A slightly below par second half and unnecessarily over the top sequences spoil the flavour a bit. Still, Julayi is a good watch overall. Allu Arjun and Rajendra Prasad excel in this film and you can happily catch Julayi just for them. From a commercial perspective, we have to wait and see how the movie scores in B and C centers as mass crowds might not understand some of the subtler elements in the film.

123telugu.com Rating : 3.25/5

Reviewed by Mahesh S Koneru

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