Saleem review

Starring: Vishnu, Ileana, Mohan Babu, Kaveri Jha and others
Director: YVS Choudhary
Music; Sandeep Chowtha

Manchu Vishnu comes up with a new film after a long gap. His last film was Krishnaarjuna. Vishnu worked hard for Saleem. The big budget film does not exactly live up to the pre-release hype.

Story:

Saleem (Vishnu) saves a beautiful girl Sathyavathi (Ileana) from the hand of some goons. Sathya is the daughter of a rich landlord Napoleon. She has been sent away to Europe as her father feared for her safety from a rival Mukesh Rushi with whom he has a running feud. Saleem wins over the confidence of the big joint family of Napoleon and manages to stay in the house.

Saleem runs after Sathya and teases her. He also tells her that he loves her. Sathya at first does not reciprocate but strangely after some time she runs after Saleem saying that she is in deep love with him.

When Napoleon arranges Sathya’s marriage with Bharath Reddy, Saleem tries to help the family as he is moved by their close family bond and affection. Saleem exposes Bharath Reddy and kills him and his father as they have been sent by Mukesh Rushi to take revenge on Napoleon.

Napoleon then asks Saleem to marry his daughter as he can keep her happy and safe. Just when the marriage is about to take place, Sathya runs away from home. She is not happy with the life in her ancestral village and wants to marry Venkat, brother of International Don OJ (Mohan Babu) and live in Europe.

Saleem then takes it upon himself to teach a lesson to Sathya and bring her back and unite her with her parents. For this he goes to Europe and comes face to face with OJ. Saleem and OJ are bitter rivals and have an old score to settle.

Who exactly is Saleem and why is he after Sathya? Why is OJ after Saleem? Will Sathya marry Venkat or Saleem? To know the answer, watch the movie.

Performance:

Vishnu gives his best shot in the film. He gets a image makeover and looks suave and confident. He however fails to come up with the right emotions in key scenes.

Ileana as at her sexiest best in the film. She oozes glamour in each and every frame. Ileana has exposed a lot in the film and remains to be seen how far it will help in the success of the film.

Mohan Babu appears in the second half in the role of a Don. He however is not exactly that very impressive. His character has not been etched properly by the director and his role comes in as a huge disappointment for all his fans. Kaveri Jha appears in a brief role as an English teacher and she like Ileana oozes a lot of glamour. Napoleon is good as the head of the family. Mukesh Rushi is wasted in an insignificant role. Ali, Raghu Babu, MS Narayana, Jayaprakash Reddy, Prema and others are okay.

The production values are good and the music is also okay. The cinematography is very good and the lavish production values can be seen very clearly in each and every frame. Saleem however does not satisfy the audiences as the film is too long and slow moving. Director YVS Choudhary has bungled a great opportunity to come up with a winning fare.