Telugu Movie 'Dongala Bandi' Review

Telugu Movie 'Dongala Bandi' Review

Cast: Allari Naresh, Tanya, Ali, Kovai Sarala, Venumadhav, MS Narayana, Jeeva, Kondavalasa, Chitram Sreenu, Krishna Bhagawan, Geeta Singh, Shakeela, Rajitha, Suman Shetty, Jayaprakash Reddy, Rao Ramesh and Others.
Cinematography: S. Arunkumar.
Editing: Nandamuri Hari.
Music: Valluri Rajasekhar.
Presenter: Pandu-Indu.
Executive Producers: Naresh Uttaradhi, ChV Sharma & G. Lokesh.
Producer: GSK Naidu.
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues & Direction: Satheesh Vegesna.
Banner: GSK Network.
Release Date: 12th December, 2008.

Tanya and Allari NareshAllari Naresh and the gang of thieves are stranded in a forest, they are working their way out to unearth a chest of treasure. At dawn he finds Tanya, the heroine missing, the camera takes you to a waterfall. By now you have already understood that she is bathing and what follows is a regular dream duet. There are many predictable moments like this but what makes Dongala Bandi an interesting watch is the screenplay, the breezy, light-hearted dialogues. The impromptu screams, the zany one-liners is jarring sometimes but effectively holds the viewer's interest. Don't expect anything spectacular just pick up a bag of popcorn and watch the time pass by.


Dongala Bandi is completely focused on these thieves, so much that you have Naresh even dressed as Lord Krishna (the makhan chor) and also a pirate in the dream duet. Naresh makes his entry a la Hrithik Roshan in Dhoom II but lands straight from the drainage cover into the cop's van. At the jail he meets the other thieves and all of them decide that enough is enough, they need to strike at something big, something monumental. As destiny has it's say the respective gang of thieves bump into their grandfathers who were thieves themselves and they goad them into retrieving the treasure that once belonged to the Nizams.


All of them embark on a journey into the woods and the next hour and a half describes their encounters with the jungle elements before finally landing at a well. The movie is a ceaseless narration of the plot, even after finding the treasure the story doesn't end, there is a fracas between the groups as to who will get a bigger share. Their plans are halted when Brahmanandam who declares himself as the grandson of the Nawab fools them eventually and gives them a run for their money.

MS Narayana dresses up like Okka Magaadu and treasures the plan in his sword, his death is dramatic. Ali freaks out on his role and is on his own trip making senseless, crazy comments in English. The movie exactly is not a laugh riot but definitely there will be no dearth of laughs. Writer, director Satish shows he has a hilarious sensibility and succeeds in drawing good performance from all his artistes. Naresh proves why he is a saleable star, Tanya does her job well and fulfills the requirement of the role given to her. Rao Ramesh and Jeeva's role of brothers is weird. Ashok's role has been chopped abruptly. There are some inherent flaws but one can overlook them for the mere fact that it is a fun film filled with escapsim.