Jalsa

Producers: Allu Aravind
Banner: Geeta Arts.
Star cast: Pawan Kalyan, Ileana, Prakash Raj, Brahmanandam, Mukesh Rishi, Parvati Melton, Kamalinee Mukherjee and others.
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues and Direction: Trivikram Srinivas
Music: Devi Sri Prasad.
Lyrics: Cinematography: K V Anand.
Editor: Anthony.
Release Date: 2nd April, 2008.

Story:

The movie starts off with the voice over of Mahesh Babu, he calls himself a friend of Sanjay. PAWAN KALYAN is introduced as an alcoholic and a person obsessed with education. Kamalinee Mukherjee is introduced as PAWAN KALYAN's lover, we are showed a brief scene with Prakash Raj, who is Kamalinee Mukherjee's father. In an almost unbelievable and comical fashion, the scene is carried forward into PAWAN KALYAN attending Kamalinee Mukherjee's wedding with another person. 52 weeks later, Ileana and Parvathi Melton enter his life in the form of an introduction fight to establish PAWAN KALYAN's skills.Fun and frolic follow for the next few minutes; Ileana wins PAWAN KALYAN over with the help of hilarious Sunil. In the mean while we are introduced to Mukesh Rushi and his trusted ally Tanikella Bharani. A notorious factionist who lives on settlements is Mukesh Rishi. MUKESH RISHI runs all his operations from the jail.

He is further established in a beautifully choreographed land takeover fight scene.Comedy works well between PAWAN KALYAN and Ileana, Mukesh Rishi is established in the side track, songs work well and everything seems to be going amazingly well, the anticipation of something big looming between PAWAN KALYAN and MUKESH RISHI builds expectation.Mukesh Rishi spots Pawan Kalyan for the first time in the movie; he wants to grab him but fails.

Pawan Kalyan is totally unaware of all this happening around him. Mukesh Rishi plots an execution but calls it off at the last moment stating, PAWAN KALYAN needs to suffer before this death. From here on it's a cat and mouse game, or should we just say it's a cat's game as Pawan Kalyan is forced to encounter near misses of death. In one such encounter, Ali is grabbed from the group of PAWAN KALYAN's friends and a fight follows, this is where PAWAN KALYAN reveals in an emotional state that he has had a hard childhood, which includs poverty.

Second half starts off with PAWAN KALYAN narrating a flashback about his miserable childhood and young life. This includes a brief stint with the naxalites, this is where the story starts falling off one bit at a time. The reason for PAWAN KALYAN joining the naxals is justified, but the reason why he leaves them is totally illogical, what with Mahesh Babu's voice over telling us that he had been promoted to a higher cadre in the group.

Groups of fighters start mobbing PAWAN KALYAN from nowhere and he just dismisses them, In the meanwhile the love drama takes a few twists, Ileana�s father being Prakash Raj the police officer who changed PAWAN KALYAN.

When the villain of the movie is showed in a massive powerful position, you would assume an excellent scene or two will follow between them. But nothing like that happens in the entirety of the movie, including the climax.

Review and Analysis: Not a kind of movie that makes you jump and scream for 3 hrs. The first half is good and the second half..uff..could have been much much better. Trivikram handles this one well. You and I, My heart is beating and Gallo Telinattundhe are amazingly picturised, the title track, Jennifer Lopez and Chalore Chalore are pitifully picturised with no build up to the songs at all. They just seem to pop out of nowhere. DSP has done a very good job.

Performances: Pawan Kalyan is good as he always is. His comedy works well, his fights have been choreographed well and his dance is crisp, but I must say we wanted Pawan Kalyan to dance for the song "Jalsa"rather than walk or beat up the villains. He has carried the film except for the interval scene where he doesn't justify the emotions required at the time. Ileana forms a great pair with him and the combo rocks. The rest of the cast is adequate.

Verdict: Good but could've been much better.

Rating: 6.5/10