Movies branded as big entertainers often fall short of a story. In ‘mass maharaja's' Daruvu, find solace in that word that is often loosely thrown up by producers before the release of every film: different. Daruvu to an extent is different. If there is one thing that's guaranteed in Raviteja's films, it's ample laughs (however crass it might be, you do end up giggling.)

In the graphical land of Yamalokam and VFX, Yamudu (Satyanarayana) hands over his reigns to his rather hot-headed son (Prabhu). The Gods of Limbo are rather afraid of Telugu men (Chiranjeevi, NTR had given Yama a hard time) Chitragupta (M. S. Narayana) is rather miffed when he is asked to stay back with Prabhu. He rewrites the fate of ‘asalu sisalaina telugu vaadu': Bullet Raja.

Bullet Raja (Raviteja) is a ‘no-gooder' goonda, who'll do anything for money. An orphan, Raja's only friend Khaja (Vennela Kishore) gives him company in carrying on the buffoonery. One of the evenings while running away from the chasing cops, Raja and Khaja barge into a venue where an engagement ceremony is taking place. Raja spots Swetha in the corniest fashion. Picture this: A bokeh background, bright blue, focus the earrings, move over to the face, voila! It's Taapsee and like all other ‘love at first sights', the actress' chirpy laughs and smiles woo his ever-ready heart. But the fiancé is none other than Harbour Babu (Sushant Singh), a powerful and angry local goon. Our hero Ravi in a vulgar display of regressive manhood declares that he loves her (he barely saw her for five minutes) and throws a kerchief on her (Yes! Just like how you grab a seat in a bus). Taapsee does nothing but pop her eyes out in shock, this feature comes out quite a lot in the rest of the film. What ensues is a run-of-the-mill romance blended into a comedy track, where we witness a dancing Vidya Balan, oops, we mean Brahmanandam. In another vulgar attempt at reinstating and pumping the chest of the Telugu abbayi, the girls falls for him the minute he rescues her from goon in a pub. A few songs later and a few ridiculous chases later, Raja meets an ill-fate at the hands of Harbour Babu. Back in Yamaloka, Bullet Raja realises he was killed before his time was up and wreaks havoc upon Yama and Chitragupta. They agree to send him back to Earth as home minister Ravindra, a corrupt man who gets killed by his partners when he decides to out them. Bullet Raja as Ravindra sets out to do well for the people and win his mother back.

While Daruvu offers many laughs, it drains your energy towards the end, when emotion and melodrama make your shifty. Add to this, a strain of regressive attitude towards the woman in her life and the constant references to Swetha as his ‘own', ‘possession' are putting off. There is nothing special about this film. If you're bored on a weekend, spare change and hit the local theatres. Passable fare with an average storyline; but hey, at least there is a story.

Keywords: Daruvu