Devudu Chesina Manushulu Review

Behind the Movie DCM: Surely a combination of Raviteja, Ileana and Puri Jagannath looks promising. With an interesting title and good music, let us see how far Puri repeated his magic?

In the Movie DCM: Story begins with Goddess Lakshmi Devi (Kovai Sarala) requesting husband Vishnu Murthy (Brahmanandam) to narrate a story. Then Vishnu begins to show her a live love story between two orphans, one Raviteja (Raviteja) in Hyderabad and two Ileana (Ileana) in Bangkok. While Raviteja is a mediator who resolves petty issues between any two parties, Ileana is a taxi driver. 

Now, Lakshmi Devi takes the task of bringing these two personalities together with her screenplay using an ‘Arati Thokka’ thrown by a stranger Papayya (MS Narayana). This ‘Thokka’ leads to Jubilee Hills Circle Inspector Subba Raju (Subab Raju) accidentally killing Sandy, a key member in Prakashraj (Prakashraj)’s mafia gang operated from Bangkok. Prakashjaj burns to take revenge on Subba Raju. To escape from the clutches of Prakashraj, CI Subba Raju sends Raviteja to Bangkok for a settlement where our hero obviously has to fall in love with Ileana. During the final negotiations, Prakashraj asks Raviteja to give Ileana for one night pleasure which results in small misunderstandings between these new lovers. 

Taking the cue from Lakshmi Devi, now Vishnu wants a complete rewind of story and he doesn’t want that ‘Arati Thokka’ to be thrown by Papayya. So, story begins again from the first. As the beginning, CI Subba Raju and Raviteja both go to Bangkok for arbitration with Prakashraj in order to leave Sandy from Police Custody. Then it is time for taxi driver Ileana to again fall in love with Raviteja. The new twist here is Prakashraj senses a ‘Sisterly’ feeling in Ileana and he does not want her to marry a broker like Raviteja. Meanwhile, Subba Raju plays the spoilsport with Thai Police and arrests Prakashraj. Will Raviteja and Ileana get united forms the climax!

Values of the Movie DCM: The only value of this movie is Puri Jagannath’s innovative storyline which is inspired from a Tamil movie ’12 B’ of 2001 or Gwyneth Paltrow’s 1998 released ‘Sliding Doors.’ Apparently, Puri failed in presenting the same on screen. Of course there are few patches where Puri left his mark as a writer but as a director he was unconvincing. Screenplay goes haywire as we proceed into second half. Sam K Naidu’s cinematography is full of regular cum trademark Puri film camera angles. Editing by Sekhar is also habitual. Raghu Kunche’s music was good for a couple of songs and background was hilarious when he used some peculiar Thai words. SVCC and BVSN Prasad’s production values are appreciative.

Performance wise Raviteja slowed down his mass mannerisms to an extent delivering a settled act. Now and then, he went overboard but majority of time suppressive. Ileana looked glamorous and hot in songs. Prakashraj was at his general ease. Subba Raju got a lengthy character. Ali as Goli was bearable first but then became monotonous. Finally, the kind of ending Puri gave for Goili’s role is message oriented and purposeful. Brahmi and Kovai are completely in opposite shades from their conventional attitudes. While Jyothi Rana was red hot as Prakashraj keep, Fish Venkat did his part well and MS Narayana was for name sake.  

Out of the Movie DCM: Basic problem with this project is commercialization of an experimental subject. Puri scored full marks for his dissimilar thinking with a new storyline. In execution part, he was completely dilly dallying. Neither there was a feel nor did he do any well conceived scenes. Drama looks dull and boring, especially in second half. Out of universe, the brother-sister bonding developed between Prakashraj and Ileana was more cynical. Even the placement of songs was completely rubbish. The way ‘Orphan’ emotion was used throughout the movie was silly. DCM stands as one more confusing project from Puri.             

First half was far better than second half. When the exact lock in story gets revealed just before the first half, it is left for audience to visualize a much better show. In contrast, Puri lost his logic and thus magic. Commercially, it might be tough for DCM to connect with any set of audience. However, Puri will get some respite because his thought was to break a new ground by penning a single line story in two different formats which got misfired.

Cinejosh Verdict of the Movie DCM: One More Addition to Puri Theesthunna Flaapulu.

                                                                                     Reviewed by Srivaas