Agnyathavasi Is Too Cheesy To Be Ripped Off From Largo Winch: Movie Review

Starring: Pavan Kalyan, Anu Emmanuel, Keerthy Suresh, Khushboo

Directed by: Trivikram  Srinivas

Rating: *(1 star)

If  I was  the  producer-director  of  the French film Largo Winch I wouldn’t even bother to acknowledge this alleged  Wannabe Winch in  Telugu,  let alone  point out the similarities between the two films.

 The French film is  about an heir-apparent  of  a business empire returning to his family business  after his father’s murder. This Telugu ripoff is  about….well, it’s about Pavan Kalyan and his stardom. No more  no less.

The stylized actor who apparently sends his billions  of fans into an  orgasmic swoon each time he narrows his eyes to convey the sarcastic  impatience  of a man who has plenty to do in life before he slips up,is to be seen in almost  every frame  of Angyaathavaasi , reducing stalwarts  like Khushboo  and Boman Irani to mere props perched in  the  populated  plot to propel Pavan into perpetuity.

 Pavan Kalyan  plays  the self-exiled  son of  the murdered entrepreneur Boman Irani’s wounded wife Khusboo who sends a summon to her absentee son  to come help rectify the wrongs  in  his father’s  empire. The  hero’s elaborate  introduction has a kid running with  a phone towards the hills where the hero is engaged  in a furious fracas with  ferocious fractions destined to lose the fight even before it begins.

When it  is Rajinikanth  or  Pavan Kalyan the adversary is  doomed  even before the first punch.Rather than focus on the hero’s efforts  to clean out his dead father’s empire,  the plot allows the leading man to take  over the show.Pavan Kalyan presides  over  the proceedings like  an emperor in a medium-sized durbar of fawning supporters. Everyone  from the hero’s mom(Khushboo) to his two  heroines , is reduced to posturing and preening.Worse still the director Trivikram Srinivas  seems to be  in  the mood to generate humour through Pavan’s efforts to keep his dad’s empire from falling  apart.

As  the  intended humour and the torrent  of  repartees plays on,  the   films feels like the Towering Inferno without the  fire. Or a Titanic where that sinking  feeling is  the audiences’ collective  hearts protesting against the sagging plot, creaky dramas  and the  stale smelly jokes  , a lot of them aimed at  the  two heroines KeerthySuresh and Anu Emmanuel who are portrayed as  elegant  airheads. Hence all  their scenes   with  the super-hero  of  the  proceedings are accompanied  by guffaws and women-will-be-women rolling  of the eyes.

What does all this have to do with Pavan Kalyan rescuing  his  father’s empire from the corporate  vampires? Nothing, absolutely nothing. The meandering screenplay rambles on  with its pseudo-heroic rants unheedful   of  the damage it  does to the  central drama.The  villainous caucus Murali Sharma and gang,  hang around in conspiratorial huddles, trying to look sinister in contrast  with Mr Kalyan’s cool act.

 Shouldn’t an actor with Pavan Kalyan’s clout be more careful of  the projects he  takes up? Fan expectations  is  a massive responsibility.  They can’t be served  up a half-baked spurious remake  of a French film with more space for the hero than decency permits.