Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo is a film written and directed by Trivikram that has Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde playing the lead roles. It also has Nivetha Pethuraj, Tabu, Jayaram, Navdeep, Samuthirakani and others play crucial supporting roles. The film is bankrolled by Allu Aravind and S Radha Krishna under the banners Geetha Arts, and Haarika & Hassine Creations respectively.
Watching films is an integral part of any festival. But what is a proper festival film? Can a film have enough drama for families to relate? Can it have enough action scenes to excite the youth audience? At the same time, can it stay away from gruesome violence, without compromising on the action? Can the film have a convincing romantic track, and breezy songs? Can the same film, that gives you all these have comedy sequences that mostly work? If the film ticks all the above boxes, will it have a good storyline? If you're searching for that 'perfect' festival film, Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo comes the closest.
The film has a very interesting premise. Murali Sharma is a worker in millionaire Jayaram's house, and by coincidence, both become fathers on the same night. But circumstances force Murali Sharma to interchange the babies and this forms the base for a well written class conflict story. One should have been the rightful heir to multi-million property but is living life the hard way at a worker's house. The other person is raised with a silverspoon that he wasn't destined for. All this is established in the first few minutes. From then on, the film gets lighter and thereby starts soaring high.
It's an achievement of sorts that there are six songs in the film but none of them disrupt the flow. The climax fight sequence has a song that keeps running in the background. It is not your usual heavy drum music that makes the fight look intense. Rather, Thaman (music director) opts to place a folk song that seems out of place at first but blends in beautifully along with the action and Allu Arjun's style. That fight sequence alone is a testament to why Allu Arjun is called 'Stylish Star'.
Allu Arjun fits into the shoes of Bunty quite comfortably, and the character seems tailor made for him. He's terrific in both the emotional, and the well choreographed action scenes. Watch out for the action scene in the harbour that's not just innovative, but also high on entertainment. The dialogues by Trivikram is also a big plus for the film.
Among the supporting roles, Nivetha Pethuraj's character seemed underwritten. She does act well but the emotional connect is missing. The director could have avoided introducing Pooja Hegde in a slightly voyeuristic way which might not go well with a section of audience. But Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo is solid because of Allu Arjun's charisma and energy and also the writing.