Story
Murali Krishna (Bala Krishna) is a progressive man who reforms the people around him in the faction-ridden Rayalaseema. Varadarajulu (Srikanth) owns mining quarries. He comes to know about uranium deposits in his quarry and extracts/processes it illegally. The waste product is pumped back into earth which affects the health of the tribal people around. Just when Murali Krishna is arrested on false charges by the NIA, Akhanda (Balakrishna) comes to the rescue of the family. Rest of the story is about how Akhanda eliminates Varadarajulu and the people behind him to cleanse the system.
Artists Performance
Nandamuri Balakrishna: Balakrishna Nandamuri is known for his towering mass screen presence and terrific dialogue delivery. Boyapati who understands the mass strengths of Balakrishna has designed two characters of Murali Krishna and Akhanda very well. Balakrishna portrayed the Murali Krishna character sensibly. And he is excellent as Akhanda (aghora). Because of the sanctity and powers of Aghora, the acrobatic and extremely violent fights look justified in the film. Balakrishna has shown extreme variation in these two characters in terms of looks, dialogue delivery and body language. Balakrishna has made sure that it’s Akhanda’s show all the way.
Others: Heroine Pragya Jaiswal is decent as district collector turned wife. Srikanth tries his luck as villain in this film. He matches Balakrishna in screen presence during confronting scenes. Kannada actor Avinash plays as a match-up villain to Akhanda character and he excels. Jagapati Babu plays the role of a sadhu well. Poorna is fine as a government officer. Subbaraju is good as a loyal believer in Murali Krishna. Sravan makes his presence felt with a well-built body.
Technical departments
Story - screenplay - direction: There are two heroes and two villains in the film. Akhanda’s character is matched up against the villain who stealthily turns into a swamiji. Murali Krishna’s character is matched up against mining villain Varadarajulu. By making sure that only one of the hero's characters dominates the story at a time, director Boyapati Sreenu has concentrated on elevating the Akhanda character that enters just before interval and stays till the end of the film. Murali Krishna's character is there for the first 40% of the film and Akhanda's character gets undivided attention for the rest of 60% of the film. Boyapati Sreenu elevated Murali Krishna character as a good samaritan who tries to educate people around him towards farming and education. The director has reserved his best for Akhanda’s Aghora character. There is a lot of crude violence in the fights associated with the Akhanda character. And all that looks justified as it’s basically an Aghora character. The director has shown Varadarajulu character as a nasty and cruel person. Certain scenes (he violates the body of a mother in front of her son) look annoying. The family emotions in the film are over-dramatised. Director Boyapati Sreenu knows how to use NBK to the fullest and directs the film to cater to masses and NBK fans.
Other departments: Cinematography by C Ram Prasad is good. Camera angles and composition was done to elevate heroism. Music by Thaman deserves a high applause. Though it’s a high-decibel music, Thaman has brought in that awe factor associated with Lord Shiva with his background score whenever Akhanda character appears. His background music has definitely taken the film to another level. Dialogues written for Akhanda’s character are excellent. A few of the dialogues explaining the temple’s history deserves a special mention. Editing Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao and Timmaraju is fine. Fights composed by Stun Shiva and Ram-Laxman evoke mass response in the theatre. Digital intermediate (Colour grading) is good. Art direction by AS Prakash is good. Production values by Dwaraka Creations banner are rich.
Analysis: Akhanda is a powerful character that is performed excellently by Balakrishna and directed by Boyapati Sreenu in a way masses can enjoy. Balakrishna has a certain powerful look and rawness attached to him. Boyapati has used both these attributes to maximum extent and created a unique swag to the Akhanda character. Plus points are NBK’s powerful performance as Akhanda, Boyapati’s mass elevations, Thaman’s reverberating music and good dialogues by Rathnam. On the flipside, we have a few crude/violent scenes and over-dramatised sentiment treatment. Boyapati Sreenu has just concentrated on conflict and action sequences without dwelling much into building a story arc. And Akhanda is a treat for masses and fans. It’s definitely worth a watch to see NBK’s swag as Akhanda.
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