Cast: NTR, Trisha, Kartheeka, Venu Thottempudi, Abhinaya, Suman, Kota Srinivas Rao, Ranganath, Chalapthi Rao, Bhanu Priya,Nazzar, Ahuthi Prasad, Brahmanandam, Ali, Sampath and others

Music: M.M. Keeravani

Lyrics: Chandra Bose

Cinematography: Arthur Wilson

Art: Anand Sai

Editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao

Story, Dialogues: M. Ratnam
Producer: K.A. Vallabha

Screenplay, Direction: Boyapati Srinu

Reviewed By: Kaushik Sharma

Plot: Rama Chandra is an orphan in Hyderabad, who gives value to human life and he is against harming a person. He helps people, who are in need and makes money too. He wants to settle financially and marry a good girl. He falls in love with Ashwini(Trisha) and impresses her. Ashwini's father (Subhalekha Sudhakar) is particular about the guy's back ground and Rama Chandra begins his attempts to show that he belongs to a rich family. Further in response to an Ad, Rama Chandra approaches Raja Vaaru (Kota Srinivas Rao) and the latter adopts him. Raja Vaaru takes Rama Chandra to their Aasthaanam/Zamindari, which is facing a particular problem since 70 years and declares him as the Chinna Raja Vaaru.

What is the main reason behind Rama Chandra's adoption? How each of the main characters work towards a particular goal? And how Rama Chandra achieves it finally, in the way he believes? forms the rest of the story.

NTR: NTR is energetic. His performance was cool, as a lover boy, in the first half. NTR's role transforms to a powerful leader character as the movie progress and he performs it with ease. The most interesting aspect is that many dialogues gave hints about NTR's political entry and they received terrific applause from the audience. As usual he was good at dances, emotional scenes and fights. His dialogue delivery was impeccable.

Others: The Heroines did not have much scope in the movie. They could not contribute glamour wise too. Trisha looked older than NTR and Kartheeka was OK. Kartheeka improved in performance and dances compared to her previous movies.

Nassar was very good as the main villain.He played a complete negative character after a long time and his mannerisms, performance were terrific. He dubbed his own voice.

Rahul Dev, Sampath, Sridhar played the roles of other baddies.

Suman was excellent. Though he had lesser screen time, his presence contributed a lot to the film. Venu Thottempudi turned as a character artist with this film and he was alright. Abhinaya's performance as Hero's sister, improved a lot compared to Shambo Shiva Shambo. Ali was good as the hero's side kick. Kota and Bhanu Priya were apt. Senior character artists like Ranganath, Subhalekha Sudhakar and Chalapthi Rao were seen after a long time. They suited the roles well.Uttej was seen in a guest role, Ahuthi Prasad played a small character and Brahmanandam was wasted in the movie.

Technical Aspects: The Production values by Creative Commercials banner were on a large scale. Cinematography was good and the art work was grand. Dialogues by M.Ratnam were impressive, but lengthy at times. Editing could have been better, as there were many boring scenes.

Songs and the BGM composed by M.M.Keeravani were excellent. These are the biggest assets of the movie. 'Raju Vacchinaado..', ' Dhammu' title song, 'Vaasthu Baagundhe..' songs were choreographed and pictured well. These songs received great response at the theater. The much hyped 'Ruler..' song is not upto the expectations. Except for three fights, others were not upto the mark.

Direction by Boyati Srinu is good in parts. The way he showed enmity, vengeance and a few action episodes are novel. There is inconsistency in the screen play, which did a major damage to the movie.

Positives:

1) NTR

2) Songs and BGM

3) Novel narration at certain parts

4) Dialogues

5) A few mass elements

Negatives:

1) Boring Scenes

2) Inconsistent Screenplay

3) Weak First Half

4) Illogical romance thread

5) Less Comedy

6) Excessive violence

Analysis: The concept of faction feud and a noble intention of the Hero, is a very old one. The director tried to narrate it in a novel way, but was not successful. Script wise the movie appears to be good. But the same could not be transferred to the screen. There are many ups and downs throughout the movie. At one point of time, we feel that Dhammu is a movie made only for NTR and mainly to give an idea to the people, about his political entry. Dialogues at the beginning of the movie and mainly in the climax clearly sound so. There is nothing special in both of the halves of the movie.

This movie is made keeping the fans and masses in mind. Commercially it may be successful, but content wise it is weak.

The film makers could have taken more care in order to make it a better product.

Bottom Line: Dhammu is just an average film. Watch it for NTR's performance and songs.

Weekend Creations' Rating: 2.75/5