KHALEJA (2010) - TELUGU

Surely, one of the most entertaining movies of recent years.

It began like this between me and Sunil (the director of my first short film Babu Kosam)

Sunil : Have you seen Khaleja

Me : No

Sunil : See it, its not understood by many but no other movie is so entertaining as this in last year or so

Then, I went and watched it online (pirated version) as its DVD was still unavailable when inquired in Music World store, and since then this is the most watched Telugu cinema (nearly 10 times in TV and online) for me in last one year and each time I sit watching, I just go till the end. 

Now, what is it that makes it so entertaining it's nothing but dialogs of Trivikram and presentation of the same by Mahesh Babu. Trivikram has proved to be a master in dialog writing and I rate him as the current best Telugu writer after his earlier films like Manmadhudu, Athadu etc... Mahesh Babu is a revelation as this is the first movie that he spoke so much, in fact his earlier performances were limited dialog oriented ones while in this one he goes full throttle and makes it entertaining just by his presence and dialog delivery. 

There are for sure flaws in the movie presentation like to tell the whole concept, just a simple scene is shown like God is there in every good heart and that makes the connection to the though difficult. Now, the silliest thing is if the most powerful business man cannot evacuate a mere 534 people from a village then who else can. Yes, barring this if we keep logic out, this becomes an enjoyable ride.

Dialog as I said earlier are its strong point and I wish this film became a big hit, its mostly misinterpreted and Mahesh being portrayed as God while even in climax he repeats he is a mere Taxi Driver "Should God come down to kill you, I am Seetarama Raju, Taxi Driver I am enough" had this been understood and scenes have been cut down to focus on main plot line instead of subverting it with romance with heroine and all, this was so very good and so very innovative. 

Songs except one are a big let down, though the background score of Mani Sharma is done, cinematography is just there and not so impressive and editing though done by Sreekar Prasad a renowned editor, is not so great as it prolongs a few scenes. 

Having said all the above, I would love to watch it again and again for Trivikram's Dialog and Mahesh's Dialog delivery. It's a rare 4/5 for a complete Telugu commercial cinema from me and I say, Watch It please.