Strictly for the fans
Khaleja Telugu (U Cast: Mahesh Babu, Anushka Shetty, Prakash Raj Director: Trivikram Srinivas
Returning to the silver screen after a three-year hiatus, Mahesh Babu shows he has not lost lustre in luring his fans besides giving them much cause for cheer and celebration that was worth their wait. Beyond acting as a relaunch vehicle, Trivikram Srinivas’ Khaleja has nothing much to write home about. Treading the beaten track, Srinivas plays safe embellishing Khaleja with all commercial ingredients rendering it an average potboiler and riding on Mahesh’s pull power.
The director-actor duo whips up a heavy concoction for avid fans who boisterously cheer and crow as Mahesh goes about his business. Giving full play to his tailor-made role, Mahesh manages to keep Khaleja from sinking into drearydom. Playing honest cabbie — Sitarama Raju finds himself caught in nefarious activities of industrialist GK whose acts spell the village’s doom. How Raju saves the village, which looks up to him for deliverance from GK, besides romancing Shubhashini in between is the gist of sloppy saga. Khaleja is for Mahesh’s fans. Rest keep away.
