Jalsa-Review

Cast - Pawan Kalyan, Ileana, Parvati Melton, Kamalini Mukherjee, Mukhesh Rushi, Prakash Raj, Tanikella Bharani, Uttej, Ali, Sivaji, Sunil, Brahmanandam, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Satyam Rajesh, Pruthvi, and others
Music – Devisri Prasad
Action – Vijay
Camera – Guhan, Rasool
Presents – Allu Ramalingaiah
Producer – Allu Arvind
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues & Direction – Trivikram Srinivas.
Banner: Geetha Arts
Date of Theatrical Release: 2nd April , 2008

Nonstopcinema Rating : 4/5


In order to earn stardom, a film artiste had to struggle a lot. After acting in some 15-20 films and after putting up some 5 to 10 years of experience in the industry, a hero could get an image of his own. But in case of Pawan Kalyan, this proved wrong. It is not just because he is the brother of Mega Star Chiranjeevi. His style and performance earned him the name. Though his first two films went unnoticed, he bagged a hit with his third film ‘Suswagatham’. Next came a blockbuster called ‘Tholiprema’. With the fourth film itself he gained the star image. After some hiccups, ‘Badri’ stood a hit. Again he resurrected himself with another blockbuster in the form of ‘Khushi’, a sensational hit in his career. This film proved the range of Pawan Kalyan and kept him on a high pedestal. Again bad luck haunted him for some time. ‘Annavaram’ which was released at the end of 2006, gave him some solace. With Trivikram Srinivas wielding the megaphone, Pawan Kalyan came out with another hit in his career through ‘Jalsa’. It is really a gala time for his fans, as the film had all kinds of elements including excellent entertainment, coupled stylish action scenes, interlaced with love thread.

It is quite surprising to note that none of the films of Pawan Kalyan caused loss to the buyers, distributors and exhibitors. Though the films get a flop talk or average and above average talk, none of his films were commercially flops. His fans continued to give him an undaunted support irrespective of the hit or flop talk. ‘Badri’ got a flop talk but it ran a silver jubilee. Most of his fans are youth and college-going students and this was the reason for fantastic openings for all his films.

Coming to ‘Jalsa’, Sanjay Sahu @ Sanjay (Pawan Kalyan) is the son of a poor farmer. While his brother died in an early age with a heart disease, his parents commit suicide after a crop loss. This forces him to take a decision to retaliate against the society and he joins Naxalites. After a fierce encounter, Sanjay surrenders to police and continues his education. He falls in love with a police officer’s (Prakash Raj) daughter Indu (Kamalini Mukherjee). He could not convince the police officer and Indu gets married to an NRI. Again, Jyotsna @ Joe (Parvati Melton) and Bhagmati @ Baagi (Ileana) enter into his life. While Sanjay rejects Joe outrightly, Baagi makes several attempts to win his love and finally succeeds. But her father did not accept the alliance, as he knows well that Sanjay is a former Naxalite. At this juncture, Damodar Reddy (Mukhesh Rushi) enters the scene as he bores grudge against Sanjay for thrashing his second son. Damodar Reddy puts a spot to Baagi and fixes her marriage with his second son. Did he succeed in performing the marriage? How Sanjay stopped that marriage? How Sanjay was able to express his love towards Baagi. Did Baagi’s father accept their marriage or not? Answers to all these questions form part of the climax.

Pawan Kalyan gave an excellent performance after a long time. He really reminded his fans the days of ‘Khushi’ and ‘Tholiprema’ in this movie. His attire everything were very simple and resembled a true college student. His comedy timing was exceptional. Really he made the audiences burst into laughter with his hilarious comedy in the entire first half. However, director Trivikram loosened his grip on the character for quite some time in the second half, but the hero turned powerful in the climax.

Ileana, Unlike her previous films, the director did not try to portray her as a glamour doll by exposing her belly button or waist. Colors Swathi voice suits her well. Her character was quite modest and she is very homely in the film with a girl in the next-door kind of image. Parvati Milton went a little overboard with her sex appeal and oomph dress and dance. Kamalini appears only in a couple of scenes and has not much role. Mukhesh Rushi as a powerful factionist justified his role. Especially, the director chose a stylish taking of scenes involving even the villain, without going for unnecessary and unwanted scenes. Prakash Raj, Ali, Sunil, Uttej and others did justice to their respective roles. Again it is Brahmanamdam who stole the show with good comedy.

Devisri Prasad, who scored music for the first time to Pawan Kalyan gave rocking tunes to all the songs. The audio remained a chartbuster for the past few weeks and almost all the FM channels continue to play the songs, which made them further popular. When it comes to choreography, not all the songs but only few were shot well. The first song in the film was adequate. Srikar Prasad's editing was crisp.

As far as action scenes, they were in true style of Trivikram Srinivas. Action scenes choreographed by Vijay were a little stylish. Camera work by Guhan and Rasool is first-rate. Director Trivikram Srinivas, who shouldered the responsibility of providing story, dialogues, screenplay and direction, succeeded in each department in parts. While the dialogues with a comedy touch were outstanding, the emotional dialogues before the interval bang was quite lengthy and powerful. Maheshbabu’s voice over is another highlight of the movie.

Though the film opened with above average talk, the success of the audio may drive people into theatres and it is beyond doubt that the openings would be extraordinary like all the earlier Pawan Kalyan’s films. No Doubt, Jalsa is the youthful film coupled with good entertainment and time pass during this summer.

Nonstopcinema Rating : 4/5