YAGNA is a fine example of a film that has no clue about what it wants to say. It seems that director Krishna was ‘inspired’ from Telugu film Mantra. The only thing he done is tweak the characters a bit. And getting Telugu character artistes to do the roles was a bad idea one would think, considering even their lip movements are not in sync with the dialogues.
Yagna is director Krishna alias Krishna Bramha’s second film. His earlier film Maharshi was a miserable flop at the box office. At the mahurat of Yagna, Krishna had promised a lot, but the real thing is quite a dud. Director-cum-artiste Om Prakash Rao has played a character role in this film. He has nothing to do except delivering a few bawdy dialogues and drinking beer at the drop of a hat. Priyanka, who plays the lead female role needs lessons in acting, and fast.
As far as Sri Murali’s performance is concerned, it is unfortunate that he had to work under one more unworthy director. Murali made his debut with Chandra Chakori a few years ago. It was a huge hit at the box office. However, none of his films, except the maiden one set the cash registers ringing. Murali needs to put in some thought before he accepts films with such directors if he intends to retain his place in Sandalwood. The only consolation is the cinematography by Niranjanbabu. The comedy scene by M S Narayan is directly aimed at the front-benchers.
Anji (Murali) is a ‘rowdy’, who is ready to do anything for money.
Varadaraj (Jayaprakash Reddy) assigns him to stay at a jinxed bungalow on the outskirts of Bangalore.
He agrees to stay there along with his friends. Yagna (Priyanka), a music student, comes with her friends to the same bungalow. Anji, after brief hesitatation, allows Yagna and her friends to stay with him. The suspense begins when Yagna’s friends start getting killed one by one. Anji kills Raj (Satyaprakash), a dejected lover, who used to frighten the bungalow’s inmates.
In the climax, the director reveals that Anji is a police inspector who was assigned to investigate the mysterious deaths and Yagna is the owner of that bungalow.
If you manage to sit through this film, it will be a miracle.