India's answer to Troy, Gladiator, and all such historical epics is not Jodha Akbar, or Asoka, its one movie which I bet not many Hindi movie watchers don;t even know about, and what a shame. I saw Magadheera, and I was bowled over, just mesmerized by the sheer quality of the movie, let me say that this is Troy + Gladiator + 300. In production quality, its nothing less, in action, it actually surpasses all those movies COMBINED, and yes, that includes 300 as well, though yes, a major war sequence is kinda lift off from 300, but then who cares as long as it is done as well as it is in Magadheera.
I have told quite a few people that for me, movies are not means of watching some real life, I am a true blue BW fan, I like the idea of escapism, I have no inhibitions taking a leap of faith, as long as the movie is entertaining, fast paced, and engaging, it took me 6 hours to watch this movie, not because I was tired, but because I was finding it impossible to not to rewind so many scenes of the movie, so many songs of the movie and watching them again and again. Yes, I am still listening to Panchandra bomma bomma, as I am writing this, though I have no idea what it means, but boy does it sound nice or what?
This movie, like any other masala movie from our land of spices, is served with everything you might need or want or expect in a typical blockbuster. It has comedy, action, romance, songs, cheese, cliched story, and some of the most improbable circumstances, but what it doesn't give you is boredom, that is if you sustain the onslaught of first 20 minutes, some worthless scenes, songs and spl appearance by Cheeranjeevi are thrown for no apparent reasons, or may be Cheeru was thinking that his cameo might increase the appeal of his son's most extravagant movie, or infact Telugu cinema's biggest (gamble?), but surely he doesn;t help one bit. But not to worry, just as Cheeru takes leave, movie starts, and then on its a complete joy ride.
So, now let me tell you about the movie. Harsha (Ramcharan) is a biker, who just drives bike, and enjoys his life, thats all he does, whether he has a job or not, how he lives, is unknown throughout the movie. Then there is sweet, and really nice looking Indira aka Indu (Kajal) who just goes to college, doesn;t really take exams though, she doesn't really give a shit to studies either, yeah, yeah, match made in heaven :D Now here is something, both, Harsha and Indu, actually are lovers from previous birth, some 400 years ago, who never were able to meet or even express their love to each other, ok she did, but he couldn't but then guys are wusses, yeah, that includes me as well, before you make any smart ass comment :P So, in this birth though have never met, but our hero gets electric shock when he touches beautiful Indu accidentally, and something tells him that he loves her, though he doesn't even know how she looks like, he just touched her, and there were sparks of love, quite literally. What follows is somewhat cheesy comedy, but still I liked it, no, that doesn't make me a cheeseball or gay :P While everything appears to be going as planned by fate, lovers separated by death in previous birth, are now about to finally get together, and surprise surprise, this time guy just couldn't stop telling how much he loves Indu. But then we are talking of a masala flick, so, just like our two lovers, even villain, Raghuveera (Dev Gill), the man responsible for their separation in previous birth, has also been reborn, and he again has obsession for our pretty Indu (I know I have over stretched the pretty ndu part, but dude, she is really pretty). At this point, our hero and villain start their rivalry again, and we are treated to the beauty master technicians and director and graphic designers have created for us, in the form of Udaipur of 1600s. What follows is non stop action, some breath taking moves, sword fighting, BLOOD, guts scattered all over, limbs flying, and yeah, BLOOD. In previous birth, Ramcharan is Bhairva, a leader of a clan which has always protected kingdom of Udaipur, and pretty Kajal is Mitravinda, princess of the kingdom. Here Gill is Ranadhev Billa, general of the forces of Udaipur. How Bhairva saves his princess from 100s of soldiers, singlehandedly, are scenes to be remembered forever, and then how he ultimately falls off the cliff while trying to just hold hands of someone he lived for, and now dying for, is again a beauty which HAS to be seen. Anyhow, we return to the present time, and this time, Harsha doesn't have to fall off the cliff to wait for 400 more years to reunite with his love.
Performance wise, what is amazing in this movie is conviction of the actors. Whether that be Ram, pretty Kajal, or Dev Gill, everyone wholeheartedly believed in their characters, and the story, no matter how improbable, thats why you never get a thought in your mind which says WTF. You, as an audience, will just flow with the energy, and effort put in by the cast and crew, and will end up loving the movie. Ram, initially, tried a lot harder than necessary to prove how good of a dancer he is, which he is pretty good, even if not HR or Shahid, but his bulky physique doesn't really let him showcase his skills, though the same physique, in action scenes, makes him look like a superhuman. And then you just can not help applauding the guy's effort in each and every scene. I can go on and on and on for the effort Ram has put in the roles, but his performance as Bhairva, in sword fighting scenes, just blew me apart. There is a scene where he is fighting 100 men all on his own, ook at him, he actually seemed like he could kill all those, his every sword move was looking like it can take someone's head away, great great performance by Ram. Pretty Kajal looks so pretty, and she acts so natural, unlike Asin in Ghajini (Hindi), she is like one face you can see for hours. Dev appears as menacing as his character requires him to be, delivers a fine performance, loud, but then he is required to be.
Songs are all good, can't say anything about lyrics, because I don't understand Telugu, but music was good. Only problem with the movie can be those 10-15 minutes of Harsha's intro and Cheeru's cameo, else everything is made to hold you to the edge of your seat.
But all said and done, what really stands out in the movie is VFX. You look at this movie, which was made for 40 odd carores, and you see limitless possibilities in Indian cinema. Whether that be the opening shot, when Bhairva is taking the leap, or Harsh jumping on his bike, or Udaigarh's beauty, or this or that, everything in the movie is spell bounding. You have to see it, because I have practically run out of words to describe what I experienced.
From my side its a must watch for everyone, spl Hindi movie audience, who are treated to god knows what. And I was wondering, if they actually decide Magadheera to remake, but then we don't have anyone in Hindi film industry who can fill in for Ram charan, so how about Ram himself? Think about this after you have seen the movie ;)
PS: watch it on as big screen as possible
Best Scenes:
