What's it about!

Athidhi (Mahesh Babu) is an orphan in Delhi. A wealthy family consisting of a young couple and a child gives him shelter and raises him as their kid. One day, the couple gets killed by a psycho and but the crime is wrongly imposed on Athidhi and he gets imprisonment. Their kid Amrita (Amrita Rao) hates Athidhi for this. 14 years later, destiny brings Athidhi and Amrita together and they fall in love. On other hand, a wave of kidnaps swept through Hyderabad. Kaiser masterminds the kidnaps but no one knows his real identity. When Athidhi has to face him when his lover is kidnapped, the drama unfolds in different way.

Analysis

Amidst high expectations, Mahesh Babu's Athidhi is here. Director Surender Reddy who is known for presenting movies in very stylish manner has teamed up with superstar Mahesh Babu for Athidhi.

The film as expectedly is very stylish in presentation. Without doubt, Athidhi is technically far superior movie than any of the recent films. Spellbinding visuals, trendy editing pattern, amazing action sequences and handsome hero on screen performing are film's major highlights. Heavily inspired by Hollywood movies - Man On Fire and Usual Suspects, the movie is mixed bag. Those who like films that have good technical values and action dramas will love it. For others it might look heavy.

Cinematically speaking, the director has shown creativity in the execution of some scenes - both in stunt episodes and emotional scenes but fails in three departments - script, music and comedy.

The action sequences are superbly shot. Especially the chasing scene in the second half where Mahesh goes on a bike to save his heroine is mind-boggling.

Despite very lengthy and heavy violence and lack of good entertainment, it manages to hold due to director Surender Reddy's presentation. Like in all Surender Reddy's movies (Atanokkade and Ashok), second half goes haywire.

All said and done, its content and lengthy second half are biggest flaws. Songs are too weak. The last three songs come at wrong time. Climax looks never-ending with marathon of action sequences.

Performances

Post Pokiri, Mahesh Babu's popularity rocketed to sky level. For Athidhi too, he has gone for complete makeover and looked dashing, trendy and handsome than ever. In one word, Mahesh Babu rocks in Athidhi. His performance and style is awesome. Amrita Rao is beautiful. She is very modern and carries off her character well. The chemistry between Amrita and Mahesh is also good but the romantic scenes between them are not that interesting. New villain Murali Sharma in a different role surprises with his performance. He also looks fresh and very menacing. There is little comedy but Brahmanandam and Sunil bring good laughs. Ashishi Vidyardhi, Venu Madhav and others are okay. Kota does a politician with ease.

Technically, the film is brilliant. All the kudos to cinematographer Sameer Reddy. His camera angles in the film are so innovative. The color combination and lighting effect he has achieved in the introductory fight sequence is praiseworthy. His work is topnotch. Editing by Gowtham Raju is so good. The film has almost 1 hour 15 minutes of action episodes, so Stun Shiva gets the maximum mileage. His work is splendid but some episodes are too routine.

Choreography by Raju Sundaram, a regular of Mahesh's films, is not that first rate. Manisharma's songs are big letdown except two - introductory song and "Disturb Cheyyaku.."

Director Surender Reddy once again proves that he is one of the few directors in Telugu who can present a film in very trendy way. He is first-rate technician but he should concentrate more on script.

Bottom-line

Athidhi is very stylish movie. Mahesh Babu's debonair looks, stylish presentation and superior technical values make up the lack of entertainment and other lacunea. Despite its own share of flaws, on the whole, it is an average movie.

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1. Man On Fire: The basic thread of Kidnap drama in the film is based on Man on Fire (2004).

2. Usual Suspects: The 'surprise' villain element in the movie is straight lift from Usual Suspects. Even the villain name in Usual Suspects is also Kaiser.

3. Gladiator: In Climax, heroine appearing while hero fighting and dreaming is similar to Gladiator. And there are also traces of 300.