Aata - Puli meedha swaari!

Aata is one of the most awaited movies this summer. Aata means game. Aata also means movie show. The movie talks more about the movie show than about playing game. The punchline for the movie is Puli meedha Swaari (ride on a tiger).

Reasons for hype:

1. Sidharth's previous movie, Bommarillu was a mega blockbuster
2. MS Raju is an ace producer. Though his previous movie, Pournami did disappoint, this was to be his comeback movie
3. DeviSri Prasad has been on a high after Bommarillu and the audio was already a hit before the movie was released
4. VN Adhitya's (manasantha nuvve fame) previous movie Boss was an average movie. But people have still not forgotten Manasantha Nuvve and expect him to recreate the magic with Aata.
5. Ileana - Her previous movie Munna is not doing well. But she is still considered lucky mascot and the most glamorous heroine in Telugu Industry now.

Sri Krishna is a movie freak who spends his entire life in watching aata (movie shows). He cries whenever the aata gets finished and eagerly waits for the next aata. Sri Krishna grows up watching aatas of different languages and genres. This 15 mins episode is used to establish hero's character and VN Adhitya used it to say how smart the hero is. This episode starts with hero shown in a cradle (sort of) in a theatre screening room and ends with a small chase-n-fight scene where grown up hero gets to demonstrate his wits. Shortly after this, heroine (in trouble) runs into hero and hero decides to help her. How he does it is the second half.

The first half goes well at a decent pace. The second half, though heavily inspired by Gudumba Shankar, is good. Vicky, the villian is introduced as a spoilt brat who doesnt have any soft corner. But the way he changes himself just for a bet isnt convincing. There are many such scenes which arent logical. I guess VN Adhitya would have envisioned an entertaining movie with a great climiax. But the climax isnt as good as he might have expected. He should have worked more on the script. At least one song in the second half can be removed to reduce the time and maintain the continuity.


Sidharth did well in the role of Sri Krishna sporting a cool hairstyle. It is good to see that non-telugu actors like Sidharth learning the language instead of resorting to non-matching lip sync during the movie and dubbing post movie. Though the pronounciation isnt perfect, it is ok. I havent seen the kind of dresses Sidharth wore in this movie. The wardrobe looked fresh and appealing. Ileana is quite glamorous in the role of Satya. There was a little scope for acting in this movie and she did it ok. Otherwise she was confined to most of the songs in the movie. Comedy by Sunil is good in parts, especially the Rajasthan Hotel episode is bound to tickle your funny nerves. The new actor who performed the role of Vicky is ok. Though he did ok, he doesnt quite look like an andhra person. He looks more like a north Indian. Jayaprakash reddy, Shayaji Shinde and others have little scope to perform.

The movie isnt a great one. It isnt quite Puli Meeda Swaari (read adventurous or thrilling). But is not boring either. It can be watched for the comedy & the music. Of course, Ileana fans wouldnt want to miss this for anything. This is ideal for category A, B, C viewers.