Looking at the title of Kalyan Ram’s MLA, one might feel that it is a political entertainer, but until the latter part of the second half, you would never know why it is named so. Maybe that is why the film isn’t honest to one particular genre. It is a bit of here and there and doesn’t give you the necessary impact.
The movie brims with the typical love action story template. The hero falls in love with a girl, keeps persuading her, gets to know her problems and eventually handles them as his own issues.
A story that looks ordinary on paper turns out to be a decent movie with the right kind of casting, decoration and an interesting subplot. MLA is an attempted romantic action political flick that drags in a sort of hangover from some previous Telugu flicks.
The problem with movies like this is that it either keeps you completely entertained or makes you walk out of the theatre in weariness.
The movie is largely dialogue driven, so much that people might be able to follow the story just by closing their eyes and listening to the conversations that happen. Even though there aren’t many action scenes, even the ones that come in now and then are over the top and look way too artificial.
Kalyan Ram does a neat job as an action hero once again. Kajal Aggarwal is beautiful as ever, grabbing the attention of the viewers through her gracious screen presence and performance.
The interesting part of the film is that some of the characters in the form of Brahmanandam, Vennela Kishore, Posani Krishna Murali and a few others are not wasted as they are involved in the effective building up of the fragile storyline. Brahmanandam’s combination with Kalyan Ram has worked out well, especially in a funny courtroom sequence.
Although the songs have been placed badly in the film, they have been picturized well by cinematographer Prasad Murella. Mani Sharma’s music and BGM could have been more effective though.
MLA is a film to which you can go without expectations - it entertains you at places and lets you walk out of the theatre without taking much from it.