The Telugu film Drona has been in the news for National-Award winning actress Priya Mani's bare-dare act in a bikini!
The film is a regular masala one; a smorgasbord of the usual ingredients, typical of Telugu cinema action, romance, songs, dance, an item number by Rakhi Sawant et al. There is not much variation from the staple elements. Director Karuna Kumar treads the oft-trodden path.
The storyline has the run-of-the-mill elements like lost and found son, mother pining for the son in absentia, a duty-bound conscientious police-officer-father, a jewellery heist and eventually the victory of good over evil.
It's only in the second half that the actual story unfolds. Drona (Nitin) runs away from home as his father (Mukesh Rishi) chides him for taking his gun. He resurfaces after a decade and lives with his parents as Chandu but does not reveal his true identity. His neighbour Indu (Priya Mani) who begins to love him finds out who he really is and reveals the fact. But here comes the twist. Nitin has a past which haunts and follows him.
Meanwhile, Sarkar (Kelly Dorjee) and his henchmen are on the hunt for Drona and his friend Bose, and they finally find Drona and put him behind bars. The mother Meenakshi (Seeta) is heartbroken and the father is duty bound. Drona then narrates his tale of how he was kidnapped by Sarkar (who also kidnapped several other young children), trained in an island, made to rob jewels etc.
There is nothing much to write home about the script. It is a motley of things and ideas. Some parts of the film defy logic and the scenes are weird. Neither the camera work nor music elevates the film. The only thing which is perhaps worthy of mention is the action. The fight sequences are well orchestrated; a lot of effort and special effects have gone into them. For example, bodies glide and suspend in mid-air. Then we have Nitin shooting at men in a helicopter all the while riding a bike.
Nitin revels in these action sequences. And it is fun to see him in them. He also shakes his leg with absolute ease. Unfortunately for him, the script does not have much to offer as far as acting is concerned.
Priya Mani is ooh la la glamorous and certainly ups the oomph quotient of the film by indulging in skin show. Kelly Dorjee seems quite out of place and rather uncomfortable while Mukesh Rishi plays a police officer for the nth time. Seeta plays the pining mother well. As for Rakhi Sawant, she doesn't set the screen ablaze with her item number.
Director Karuna Kumar's potboiler seems rather disastrous. Watch it only if you are a fan of Nitin, or if you want to see Priya Mani's bare-dare act.
Rediff Rating: 
