Cast: Srikanth, Meenakshi Dikshit, Vidisha
Director : Nani Krishna
Producer :Kiran Jakkam Shetty , Nani Krishna
Music Director : Chakri
Rating: 2.25/5

Family hero Srikanth is trying his hand at socio fantasy for the first time with ‘Devaraya’. Nani Krishna is the director of this movie and Chakri scored the music. The film has Vidisha and Meenakshi Deekshit in the lead roles opposite Srikanth.

Story :
Dorababu (Srikanth) is a village playboy who believes in enjoying life to the fullest. He falls in love with Swapna (Vidisha) and she too responds to his affection as she sees the good side of his nature. She tries to get Dorababu to mend his ways but her grandfather (Ranganath) is staunchly against the alliance.
As this story is going on, an archaeologist (Sivaji Raja) discovers some items belonging to Sri Kirshna Devaraya in the Godavari delta and decides to investigate the matter. With the help of Ranganath, he tries to translate an ancient diary that belongs to the Legendary Telugu King.
Some startling secrets come out in this process and everyone discovers that Dorababu has a connection with Lord Krishna Devaraya. He has some unfulfilled promises to keep and Dorababu is now required by the forces of nature to sacrifice himself for that promise. What happens next is the story of the film.

Plus Points :
Srikanth’s performance is ok in this movie. As Dorababu, he tried to imitate Megastar Chiranjeevi’s style for the comedy department. During his performance as Krishna Devaraya, he tried to imitate Sr NTR’s diction and dialogue delivery.
Vidisha is good and she may have some future in the industry if she takes care of her projects. Meenakshi Dixit is strictly average. Veteran actor Balayya, Ranganath, Sivaji Raja, M.S. Narayana, Raghu Karumanchi and Jayaprakash Reddy try their best to liven up the proceedings to a certain extent. Some visual effects and a few scenes from Krishna Devaraya’s court have been shot well.

Minus Points :
The plot of this movie has more holes than a sponge and just like a sponge soaks up water, this film will soak up the viewer’s patience. There is virtually no story in the first half and there are way too many bad songs.

The scenes are loud, poorly written and have absolutely no logic. If you had a great image of King Sri Krishna Devaraya, you will be disappointed with the way he has been portrayed in this movie.

There are too many foolish sequences in the film. In the flashback episodes, King Krishna Devaraya’s character keeps shifting between present day Telugu and ancient Telugu in the same dialogue!! The actor who is seen as Jayaprakash Reddy’s brother looks very comical with a hideous wig. The central plot of trying to build a cement factory in a place containing an ancient temple is never given its due importance.

The placement of songs is atrocious. Just when the film tries to gain some momentum, these songs appear and drive the pace right into the ground.
Some graphics sequences are very poorly executed and while that is understandable, given the low budget of the film, they should not have been attempted in the first place with such limitations.

Chakri’s music and background score make things worse. The climax simply falls flat and there is no reason for that Chandramukhi style dance (with the Chandramukhi costume) in the first place.

Technical Analysis:
Nani Krishna’s direction is poor and he does not have any grasp over the basic aspects of narration and screenplay. Editing is atrocious. Cinematography is just about ok. Veerababu’s dialogues are bad.
Like I said before, Chakri’s music is very bad and he does not lend any strength to the movie. Production values are mediocre.

Final Verdict:
Srikanth is a nice guy with a family hero image and it is sad to see him in films like this. ‘Devaraya’ is a movie that has absolutely nothing going for it. Do yourself a favour and stay away from it unless you want to watch the movie out of an academic interest to see what shouldn’t be done by a director.