Director H Vasu knows well that the love, friendship, and sentiment of the audience does not unite them, it is their common obsession with actor Darshan that does. And he succeeds to do just that with Viraat as with any other filmmaker of a commercial entertainer. The film proves again that the commercial formula is still in vogue and if it has a ‘brand’ like Darshan to back it, there is no shortage of sustainable mania at the theatres.
The story thinly revolves around power shortage aptly freshened up by ample doses of action, comedy and love. Viraat Prasad (Darshan) is a businessman who wants to provide a solution to the existing power problem and in consultation with the chief minister, a role played by Suhasini, he plans to build a thermal power project. Enter Surendra Singh (Ravi Shankar), an opportunist, who tries to distract the chief minister and take over the project. But the project is handed over to Viraat which does not go down well with Singh.
Balancing the friction and the action is romance involving three ladies - Keerthi (Chaitra Chandranath), Spoorthi (Vidisha Srivastava) and Preethi (Isha Chawla), who are head over heels for Viraat, but the latter chooses one among them, managing to maintain his friendship with the other two. How does he handle Singh and the thermal project and who does he select as his love runs in parallel and forms the crux of the film.
There are loopholes, but Darshan cements them. He is seen in his signature style of action, dialogue delivery and mannerism. This time the actor breezes through some dance steps for the couple of songs scored by music director V Harikrishna. The heroines are eye candy while Sumalatha, who plays mother to Darshan, and Suhasini as CM bring in good support. Sadhu Kokila and Bullet Prakash do what they do best in style. Cinematographer AV Krishna Kumar has not strained himself during the scenes, but has managed to capture some beautiful locales for the songs.
H Vasu’s directorial venture was not expected to release until C Kalyan took over, but the wait seems to be fruitful. The masala film is paisa wasool and whistle-worthy for all fans of Darshan.