For those who prefer action over logic

By Y. Maheswara Reddy

Madhagaja is the second outing of S Mahesh Kumar as a director. He made his debut as a director with the Kannada movie Ayogya (Idiot) that was released in 2018. Though Kumar has included all the ingredients to spice up a script and engaged many actors, Madhagaja fails to meet expectations.

The script of this movie has no relevance either to Karnataka or the current situation across the country. The movie plot revolves around the water mafia in a rural area and the cremation mafia at Varanasi. Audiences will have to scratch their head while watching this movie to know the logic behind introducing the water and cremation mafias in this action-oriented movie. Too many action sequences and unnecessary characters have deprived the much required screen space for the glamorous and cute Ashika Ranganath. As far as the selection of actors is concerned, there was absolutely no need for the director to select Telugu hero-cum-villain Jagapathi Babu and yesteryear Tamil heroine Devayani. Perhaps, the director might have selected both of them just for business purposes, so that he can release dubbed versions of Madhagaja in Telugu and Tamil. Well-known character actor Ranganayana Raghu’s role in this movie, as Basava, is not convincing. He has nothing to do in this movie except show up in a few scenes.

Director Kumar has tried to bring out the best from Murali who is at his peak in action sequences but his performance in sentimental sequences is not up to the mark. His acting skills in stunt sequences are a treat for action lovers. The movie begins with enemies trying to kill a new born baby at Gajendragad and the mother (Devayani) successfully escaping with the baby boy from them and finally handing him to a nomad (Ranganayana Raghu).

This particular scene reminds us of the well-known Telugu movie Bahubali. The scene shifts to Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi where the nomad names the child as Surya (Murali). Surya is compelled to become the leader of the cremation mafia when he grows up. Circumstances compel Surya to visit Gajendragad where Bhairava (Jagapathi Babu) has been trying to help farmers from the vicious Tandava (Ramachandra Raju). What will happen to Surya and Bhairava is the rest of the story.

Cinematographer Naveen Kumar has done an excellent job behind the camera. Ravi Basrur has scored foot-tapping music. The audience has an opportunity to see director Mahesh Kumar and producer Umapathy Srinivas in a song sequence.

It is worth watching for those who crave action-oriented movies without any logic.

Ratings: 2.5 stars