Akhanda Review

Balakrishna's Akhanda is releasing in a massive manner today on December 2nd. Expectations are high on all quarters as Balakrishna and Boyapati Srinu are coming together for the third time to score a hattrick and the film being the first big-budget film releasing in theatres after the outbreak of the corona pandemic. Let us see what Akhanda offered to movie lovers and whether it breathed life into Tollywood increasing the hopes.

Story Review

Murali Krishna (Balakrishna) who is a farmer in Anantapur reforms everyone to stay away from factionalism and is highly respected in the district. Newly appointed district collector Sravanya (Pragya Jaiswal) who at first mistakes him, however, falls in love with him, and in due course both get married. In the meantime, Muralikrishna gets a shock when he finds that many get admitted to his hospital due to unknown disease and die of those symptoms. Collector Sravanya's PA (Poorna) who conducts a preliminary investigation finds out shocking truths about mining undertaken by Varadarajulu Mining Corporation headed by Varadarajulu (Srikanth). This leads to sensational developments in the lives of Murali Krishna, Sravanya, Poorna, and others and leads to the entry of powerful person Akhanda (Balakrishna). To find out the shocking developments and its connection to Akhanda, who is an aghora, enjoy Akhanda on the silver screen.

Artitsts, Technicians Review

Boyapati Srinu who tasted a disaster in form of Vinaya Vidheya Rama, teamed with Balakrishna to regain his stature. He came with a powerful mass entertainer to elevate the heroism to Balakrishna to another level. His idea to show Balakrishna in the role of an aghora is something new and it connected chords with the viewers.

He introduced Balakrishna as a messiah of the poor reforming them who lives in the clutches of factionalism. Balakrishna's traditional avatar and power-packed dialogues thrill viewers. He attracted with his look and even shed weight to delight all his fans. The first half passes in an interesting and entertaining manner with Balakrishna's heroics, romantic elements between Balakrishna and Pragya Jaiswal, and also the slow and steady buildup of villains in form of Srikanth, Kalakeya Prabhakar, and others.

Though routine elements crept in during the narration as the film progressed, the pre-interval and interval block in the runup to the introduction of Aghora and the high octane action scenes involving Akhanda and the baddies set the stage perfectly for the power-packed second half. The second half boils down to the all-out war between Akhanda and the others who want to rule the world with illegal mining. Though the scenes are routine once again, the involvement of Akhanda and his powerful dialogues relating to spirituality, Hinduism and others give a new feeling.

Again the climax and pre-climax episodes are loaded with high octane action scenes and Balakrishna as Akhanda roared in a powerful manner. Boyapati Srinu who knows how to elevate the heroism of Balakrishna to the optimum once again emerged successful in doing the same. The story is routine and has shades of his hit films like Legend and Simha and if one removes Akhanda's character from the film, it has nothing. Even the extreme violence and action scenes are lengthy and neverending. One gets a feeling that the lengthy pre-interval and interval block and pre-climax and climax block tested the patience of the viewers. However, with Balakrishna elevating the scenes with his performance, it's a treat for all his fans and masses. For all the positives, Boyapati once again came with a weak story, routine narration, and predictable screenplay. Lack of real twists and turns and the missing emotions undid the power of Akhanda.

Balakrishna made his presence felt throughout the film. Be it as a farmer and reformer Murali Krishna or as an aghora Akhanda, he showed different variations. While he showed his mass and class angle, romantic shades as Murali Krishna, as an aghora Akhanda he came with a powerful roar elevating his heroism to another level. He came with a power-packed performance and his dialogues drove fans crazy.

Pragjya Jaiswal performed her role well as a collector as a girl who falls for a good person, who takes on the baddies and who cares for her daughter. However, she just looked ok in her looks. The chemistry between Balakrishna and Pragya Jaiswal is a treat to watch and their mass song Jai Balayya and romantic song Adiga, Adiga are well shot. Srikanth made his presence felt as a baddie. He looked menacing on screen but his role turned out to be typecast.

Jagapathi Babu got a limited role and he performed well. Kalakeya Prabakhar is ok in his role as a corrupt cop. Poorna did well as the PA to the collector and Subbaraju is fine as a minister. Sai Kumar performed well as Aatma. Others performed accordingly.

Thaman's songs are good. Tunes have shades of mass and class elements and are well shot. He elevated the scenes with his background music. The cinematography of Ram Prasad beautified the film showing the rural atmosphere and also the Akhanda scenes effectively. Editing of Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao could have been better. There are many repetitive scenes and drags left in the film. Stunt choreography elevated Balakrishna's heroism to another level. Production values are good.

Advantages

Balakrishna

Powerful dialogues

BGM

Cinematography

Disadvantages

Routine Story

Missing emotions

Predictable narration

Over the top stunts

Lack of twists and turns

Length

Rating Analysis

Balakrishna and Boyapati Srinu's Akhanda generated immense interest among movie lovers. Since the duo came after scoring blockbusters like Simha and Legend. The entire industry started looking at Akhanda as it happens to be the first big-budget film releasing after the corona pandemic. Boyapati came with an out-and-out mass action entertainer and he elevated Balakrishna's heroism to another level especially in the role of Akhanda loading it with power-packed dialogues. This gives a new feel. However weak story, routine elements, predictable narration undid his efforts preventing it to be a runaway blockbuster. Considering all these points, CJ goes with a 2.5 rating for Akhanda.