Lang: Telugu (U/A)
Film: Damarukam
Cast: Akkineni Nagarjuna, Anushka, Prakash Raj
Director: Srinivasa Reddy

Dig into Damarukam if you swear by Nagarjuna. Sporting a well-toned, robust frame, he fits the bill. If not Nagarjuna, then the SFX should work wonders.

Like Eega, in Damarukam too, the last half an hour boasts of some captivating special effects when all the action happens. An added bonus is served in the form of a svelte and sensuous Anushka.

Combining the elements of a socio-mythical fantasy and an action adventure, Damarukam is an engrossing celestial-cum-earthy spectacle, though it takes its own sweet time to build up to the denouement.

Malli aka Mallikarjuna, a cabbie, fends for himself and sister, after their parents are killed in a crash. The deaths leave Malli, a Lord Shiva devotee, hating the god of destruction. He comes across Maheshwari (Anushka) and soon falls for her.

He saves her from a deadly aghora attack, for, at the time of Panchagraha Kootami, Andhakasura, the invisible ogre, gets the power of ‘Panchabhoothalu’ and he has to marry a girl to become the emperor of the universe.

Thus begins the proverbial battle between good and evil that translates into a battle of brain and brawn, heaven and earth, and demon and the divine, on the celluloid.

Damarukam is a firework fare for the masses. The big budget movie is sure to rake in the moolah thanks to Nagarjuna’s towering presence.