King – The most anticipated movie of Akkineni Nagarjuna is now out for all his fans to feast on. The month of December has always been considered as a lucky charm for Nag as his movies ‘Manmadhudu’, ‘Mass’, ‘Don’ were all Dec blockbusters. Now, it is a widely known sentiment of his among the film fraternity. On the same hope, ‘King’ the extravagantly made movie of 2008 got released worldwide on Christmas eve. This is the first time ever for a Nag movie to be released with the most number of prints. ‘King’ is an expensive highly expectant movie with a first time combination of Nagarjuna – Sreenu Vaitla & Trisha. It is produced by D.Siva Prasad Reddy on Kamakshi Kalaa Movies banner.
Story
The story starts off in Khairatabad area where Gyaneshwar (Srihari) is a vagagabond. The area is under his control and he’s the only one authorized to do settlements upon petty issues. In comes Bottu Seenu (Nagarjuna) who is a tough competitor for the established don. The new entrant takes over his area and starts settling things on his own. This act of Bottu Seenu enrages Gynaeshwar who threatens him to get out of the place and he’s the only one who is for this job. But, Bottu lends a deaf ear to his warning and carries forward. At last, Gyaneshwar has no where to go. So, as a last resort he compromises with Bottu for a 10 percent share in the profits. The deal gets done.
On a beautiful interlude in a rainy day, Bottu Seenu comes across Sravani (Trisha). He falls in love with her and makes utmost efforts to woo her heart. But, bad luck for Bottu as Sravani was already in love with a software engineer Sharath (the second Nag). Bottu gets disappointed yet a twist of fate awaits there. The girl he loved was his arch rival Gyaneshwar’s sister all the time.
Gyaneshwar dotes his sister and wants a happy life for her. He knows clearly that as he is a rowdy no one respects him if not for fear. Moreover, he never got married due to his illegal business and this in turn will surely affect his sister’s life too. So, to keep her away from his other world, he leaves her in the care of their aunt (Sana) and uncle (MS Narayana). Gyaneshwar keeps his identity under cover to protect his sister and stayed aloof from her.
Meanwhile, he gets to know Sharath’s love for Sravani. Happy over her sister’s good times, he gets them betrothed in a ceremonious occasion. Again a sudden twist reveals that Gyaneshwar has made a blunder by committing his sister with no other than the villainous Bottu Seenu. Seenu impersonates Sharath which he fails to acknowledge. So, to make things right he takes further steps to get rid off Bottu Seenu and give his sister to Sharath.
In comes the third Nag, when associates of Dasu Appaji (Jaiprakash Reddy) abducts Bottu Seenu, believing him to their ‘King’ Raja Chandra Varma (third Nag). They take him to assert his throne at Coimbatore Rajmahal. A whole lot of commotion and revenge prevails in the palace with Bottu in King’s place. In the palace stays Pooja (Mamatha Mohandas), who awaits to take revenge on King’s brother Ajay (Deepak) by murdering him.
Leaving a whole load of questions like Who’s ‘King’? In what way Sharath, Bottu Seenu and King related? Who’s Pooja and why she is revenging against Ajay? Who does Sravani get married to? And finally Where is the real ‘King’?, the plot goes forward keeping us glued to the seats. Watch ‘King’ to get your queries answered in the most entertaining way.
Performance
Nagarjuna is an actor whose expertise in portraying class as well as mass characters is wide known. ‘King’ is an apt fuel for his demeanor and bought out his versatility thoroughly in a single movie. As Bottu Seenu, he appeases the masses and the software engineer Sharath looks smart and elegant. Adding to the splendor is the ‘King’ Raja Chandra Varma who looks quite royal and impressive. His performance is laudable in all the three characters with his very own disparate style. In a scene, the soul of King lands into Bottu Seenu. Nagarjuna has displayed an extraordinary performance in this area with her slick acting skills. After a long gap, the audience did get to see vibrant steps in his dance moves.
Even though, he’s the father of a son who is debuting as a hero into cinema, nature seems to be graceful on the actor as nothing seems to have tarnished the artists charm, looks or energy.
Trisha is acting for the first time with Nagarjuna as his heroine (actually, the heroine for all the three Nag’s). She has delivered a notable performance as Srihari’s sister. Mamtha Mohandas has brilliantly etched herself in the character of Pooja, which has some negative shades.
Earlier in ‘Dhee’ Srihari played the role of Narasimham Yadav, a character of a rowdy who speaks in Telangana accent. His character Gyaneshwar in ‘King’ looks like part -2 of his earlier caricature, which he wins with his hands down. Brahmanandam as copy music director JayaSurya, has feasted with comedy.
Jaiprakash Reddy as Appaji entertained well speaking in Rayalaseema accent. Shayaji Shinde as Gopi Mohan, Ajay as Bombula Kittu, Suneel as software engineer Sharath, Venu Madhav as an assistant to Srihari, last but not least Krishna Bhagavan, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Geetha, Sudha, Surekha Vani, Rajitha, Supreeth, Kelly Dorjee as Bhagath Seth, Benerjee, Srinivas Reddy, ‘Chitram’ Seenu, AVS, Master Bharath, Surya and others have all shared screen space with worthy performances.
Technicians
In combination with Sreenu Vaitla, Devi Sree Prasad earlier composed music for films like ‘Anandam’, ‘Neekosam’, ‘Dubai Seenu’ and ‘Ready’. The tunes he composed for ‘King’ are the most fascinating part of the film. The re-recording has some great background scores.
Amongst the lyrics penned by Ramajogaiah Sastry and Sahithi, ‘Chukka Chukka Palachukke…’, ‘Nuvvu Ready Nenu Ready’, ‘King’ and the beach song are noteworthy. Story by Kona Venkat and Gopi Mohan, and the dialogues written in par along with the script by BVS Ravi are done with meticulous work.
Prasad Moorella’s has presented every frame lavishly and it looks colorfully serene. Lighting effects and 
silhouette in some scenes, along with visuals of actions parts has been done well. Action scenes directed by Ram-Lakshman; AS Prakash’s art work, MR Varma’s editing all stand as pillars to bring “king’ to new heights. The final lag in the film should have been trimmed a little and if the editor has made it taut, it would have been appreciable.
Director’s
Sreenu Vaitla with entertainment as his sole property has made ‘King’ appropriately. The movie with unpredictable twists thoroughly entertained the audience. In his best area comedy, Sreenu has bough in Nagarjuna’s style of action and churned out a entertaing movie that has been seasoned with twists and turns. Again, he has made evident that he’s the only disparate director who could bring out a movie like this.
Critcics
In a focused idea to entertain in and outm ‘King’ is made. With an exception of few pit stops that slows the narration towards the end along with the missing of few logical questions, the movie in a nutshell is a ‘King Size Entertainer’ for Nag’s fans this year. Surely, Nagarjuna’s December sentiment is going to be made evident in ‘King’ once again. The making value for SivaPrasad Reddy’s banner is also on the raise this time.
Banner: Kamakshi Kala Movies
Cast: Nagarjuna, Trisha, Mamta Mohandas,
Srihari, Chandramohan, Venumadhav & others
Direction: Srinu Vaitla
Production: D Sivaprasad Reddy
Music: Devisri Prasad