There aren’t too many medical thrillers and when a Telugu film directed by a first-timer releases, there is some obvious curiosity. The story begins on an interesting premise of girls being hit in a road accident, taken to various hospitals for treatment but being used as guinea pigs for innovations in surrogacy.
Strangely most of the girls die. The hero Abhi’s (Abhay) sister who is childless for a long time visits a fertility clinic; she undergoes treatment and slips into coma. This medical racket dragnet has spread all over and Abhi unknowingly becomes a scapegoat and lands in a problem. However, the onus is on him and his father (Priyadarshini Ram) to uncover the scam that has a matinee idol Sivaji (Srikanth) at the helm of affairs.
The twists, seemingly wrapped in a mélange of mystery and suspense, makes you hang on to see where it is headed but the execution falters. The screenplay is racy but the unnecessary romantic interludes, jump cuts and silly plot can test your patience. At one point I thought the film has ended, but it went on and on.
- Cast; Srikanth, Megha, Abhay
- Direction: Jai Raja Singh
- Music: Varikuppala Yadagiri
The plot, however absurd it may seem, is presented interestingly to begin with but as the story progresses, the seriousness is lost. The hero who idolises superstar Sivaji (dresses up like Rajinikant and never takes off his glasses) is crestfallen when he gets to know through a sting operation that the actor himself is into medical research and he is the mastermind behind the mass deaths of young women.
There is a back story of why the doctor makes his wife go under the knife as his first experiment. “Don’t you trust my formula,” he questions his quivering wife and she replies, “I trust you.” He considers himself another Alexander Flemming and Einstein and when a woman appears naked in front of him, he simply stares at her and gives clinical comments and advices her to take fitness seriously!
The producer seems to have left no stone unturned to ensure the look of the film. Every frame looks lavish and the music and background score are good, but one wishes a little more care in execution to give the story more credibility.
The film features a number of actors who’ve faded from limelight. There are also many junior artistes who don’t lend value to the story.
A prelude to the film shows radiation scenes during World War II when Japan is bombed and that is connected to an infertility episode in the finale. Srikant gets a tad irritating with his fetish to create a formula for woman who don’t ovulate. The concept of choosing a donor on an app with great intelligent quotient, excellence in sports and beauty and then kidnapping and conducting experiments on them and the impressed Japanese wanting a contract from him is absurd.
