Remaking a blockbuster Thani Oruvan in Telugu, hero Ramcharan pinned many hopes to strike back big in Surender Reddy direction. And so, a proven thriller script is here in the offing today for Telugu audience. Rakul Preet Singh is the heroine while Hiphop Tamizha is roped to retain the same Tamil essence in RR. Let us see, how far the team remained faithful to the remake?
Well, when the teaer was out, it did feel like he tried to do something different. So, does the remake work in Telugu?
Dhruva Story: Dhruva (Ramcharan) is honest and duty minded young IPS officer posted fresh at Organized Crime Branch. Before joining the duty, Dhruva locks his enemy as scientist cum influential businessman Siddharth Abhimanyu (Aravind Swamy), man behind many evil crimes. But, an alerted Siddharth Abhimanyu plays clever and intelligent game with Dhruva separating him from those who are close at his heart. In the process, Dhruva loses his colleague cum best IPS friend Goutham (Navadeep) and is on the verge of losing his lady love Ishika (Rakul Preet Singh). How Dhruva bounces back to bring down Siddharth Abhimanyu Empire in 8 steps is the rest?
Story is quite regular, Good Vs Bad and how good wins over bad. Rather the screenplay from Mohan Raja with continuous twists-turns in a thrilling, crisp and racy narrative overcomes the story drawback. Surender Reddy almost remained faithful to the Tamil original although a clot of commercial tinge here and there did not disturb the central nucleus. Enthusiastically bought balance between Charan and Aravind Swamy characters is the real beauty in ‘Dhruva.’ Episode by episode, we slide onto edge of seat. That is where Surender Reddy’s technical brilliance matched with the original. Dialogues by Vema Reddy are pinching at times but overall it’s an okay job. PS Vinod’s deft camera work with distinct color tones bought a much needed grandeur on screen. Editing by Naveen Nooli with sharp, flash cuts enhanced the thriller flavor. Hiphop Tamizha reworked and rehashed the same potent of BGM from Thani Oruvan which is Dhruva’s real kick ass element. Production standards from Geetha Arts are just amazing.
Ram Charan's Performance:
Ram Charan too looks better and he has undergone an amazing transformation for his role. While he drew a lot of flak for his past films, he has gone for a complete make-over and the look suits him well.
Technical Excellence:
All Surender Reddy's movies look very stylish with rich cinematography and this movie is no exception. He has extracted best work from cameraman P S Vinod of "Manam" fame.
Editing is slick, though pace of the movie and length are not right. Production values and artwork are excellent. Dialogues are precise, to the point.
Analysis:
Remakes are tough to handle. Especially remaking a movie that has been highly praised by the critics is even harder.
Tamil movie “Thani Oruvan” received great ratings and compliments. So, director Surender Reddy hasn't changed much from the original story in this remake.
In “Dhruva”, he has stuck to the basic screenplay of the Tamil movie but he unnecessarily extended the romantic track on hero and heroine which doesn’t work well with the plot.
This is a film where the villain’s character is more interesting than the hero's. However, since the film has Ram Charan in the lead, the director has tweaked the original to make hero seem powerful.
The beginning of the movie is dull, but once the hero decides to take on villain Aravind Swamy, the drama picks up pace from then on.
Every move that hero makes, the villain quashes and pushes him to give up. And that's when tables get turned. This entire process is told very engagingly. And it turns very interesting due to the charismatic presence and acting of Aravind Swamy.
Not that Ram Charan has done badly, but it is Aravind Swamy who completely dominates the show in the second half.
Despite the fact that the movie has some twists, it is basically about good person vs evil person, cop vs criminal. But the novelty in the story is the way it is staged. The cat and mouse game between the hero and villain is interesting.
The scene of importance of 8 is also explained interestingly.
Well, these are the positives. Now let's see what hasn't worked. Even though the game is interesting, it dips many a time. Scenes like Navadeep’s episode post interval and the climax portions should have been handled in a better manner as they stretch on quite a bit. This is when you feel the director could have chopped off a few scenes.
Dhruva Advantages:
Ramcharan
Aravind Swamy
Screenplay
Direction
Cinematography
Music
Interval Bang
Second Half
Dhruva Rating Analysis: Keeping away major fact that ‘Dhruva’ is a remake and remembering the words of Surender Reddy about hardships to be faced in handling hit remake, entire ‘Dhruva’ team has done a commendable job. Well polished making with depth, intensity in narration and an ensemble of good artists, ‘Dhruva’ has hit right nodes at right time. Hmm…although can’t be called a flawless execution, Surender Reddy excelled as a director with effective second half handling, a basic necessity to be called hit movie.
Although, ‘Dhruva’ takes off on a pale note with feeble scenes and unimpressive character entry (including Ramcharan), once the conflict between Charan and Aravind Swamy is established, the film never looked back. In this process, Rakul Preet Singh and Charan friends’ batch served some speed breaks. Interval bang is well designed and splendidly executed.
Into the second half, every episode leaves a stunning impact. Bug placed in Charan’s body followed by Navdeep’s death raise the emotional quotient. Songs although disturbed the flow, Surender Reddy played safe with short length songs. Pre climax and climax is again a part of magical screenplay where Aravind Swamy dominated.
