Starring: Raviteja, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Dimple Hayathi, Arjun and Others
Producers: Satyanarayana Koneru, Ramesh Varma Penmetsa
Director: Ramesh Varma Penmetsa
Music Director: Devi Sri Prasad
DOP: Sujith Vaassudev, G.K.Vishnu
Editor: Amar Reddy Kudumula

iQlik Movies Rating: 2/5

After scoring a super success with Krack last year, Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja is now back with his new outing Khiladi. Touted to be an action thriller, this film is directed by Ramesh Varma Penmatsa. Dimple Hayathi and Meenakshi Chaudhary played the female leads in it. Khiladi has hit the screens today and we bring you the review of it.

Story:

The entire plot of Khiladi revolves around a huge amount of Rs. 2000 crores which are sent from Italy to India. A prominent politician who is the Home Minister of a state plans to use this money to become the Chief Minister.

Gandhi (Ravi Teja), who works as an auditor, gets into a soup because of this money. How does he get involved in this mess? What happens to him and his family? Why is he being framed as a criminal? These factors form the main crux of the story.

Performances:

These are tailor-made roles for Ravi Teja. He can pull these off with ease. There is nothing new offered to his character. But at some points, his role feels over-the-top. That's when things become a bit irritating for the viewers.

Both the heroines, Dimple Hayathi and Meenakshi Chaudhary, are present in the film only to serve the glamour feast. They have succeeded in showcasing their oomph factor. But content-wise, they had nothing to offer. Dimple has a bit to contribute to the story but on a wider scope, that is negligible as well. Arjun was routine in the role of a CBI officer. Anasuya was okay. Rest others like Rao Ramesh, Sachin Khedekar, Unni Mukundan and Vennela Kishore were not utilized well.

Technical Aspects:

Director Ramesh Varma's story has no pulp but he has a few good points in the screenplay. The interval block and the climax portions were written well. But those are only highlights of the movie. The rest of the film has nothing potential to offer.

Music by Devi Sri Prasad is average. He did a decent job with his background score.The cinematography by GK Vishnu and Sujith Vasudev brought a rich feel to the film. The production values are great but the editing was choppy.

Analysis:

Khiladi starts off on a very interesting note. Right after the initial scenes, we feel that a perfect action thriller is in store for us. But things fizzle out every quickly. The routine commercial elements enter and ruin the entire proceedings. Finally, the film becomes a bit interesting ahead of the interval.

When we think that the second half will be thrilling, once again director tests our patience with his formulaic scenes. Once again, he gets into the business only towards the climax. By the end of the movie, we feel like the writers wrote twists first and designed the film around it. As they were unable to chalk a good narrative, they resorted to the routine screenplay. As a result, Khiladi becomes a tedious watch.

Plus Points:
Action choreography
Songs picturization
A couple of twists

Minus Points:
Except for twists, regular screenplay throughout the film
Female lead roles
Sloppy narration

One Line Verdict: This Khiladi is not Smart but Dumb.