Salute - Movie Review

Cast: Vishal, Nayanatara, Upendra, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Jeeva, Tanikella Bharani, Brahmanandam, Ali, Ravi Kale, Santhanakrishnan, Devan, Sudha Chandran, Apoorva, etc.

Dialogues: Shashank Vennelakanti
Music: Harris Jairaj
Art: Thota Tharani
Editing: Anthony
Cinematography: R.D. Rajasekhar
Action: 'Stun' Shiva
Choreography: Brinda, Suresh
Costumes: Ramana
Effects: Craig Muhma
Producer: Vikram Krishna
Direction: A. Rajasekhar
CBFC Rating: A
Date of Theatrical Release: August 14, 2008

Summary:
Salute is the story of a sincere police officer who tries to curb the domination of politicians and gives a call to the people to choose their leaders right.

What's it all about?
Satyam (Vishal) is an ACP by profession, who sticks to sincerity in duty and goes to any extent to get criminals behind bars. He is also against encounters that simply erase the criminals and the real motive or people behind them. Home Minister Kondala Rao (Kota Srinivasa Rao) tries to clear his way of opponents to become the CM at a time when the latter is in the hospital. He plans to kill his contenders for the position - Cabinet Ministers Mahadevayya (Santhanakrishnan), Chandramathi (Apoorva), and Punyakoti (Jeeva) and beckons his conman Delhi Babu (Ravi Kale) to get the job done by an outsider. Enters Prathapa Rudra (Upendra), who eventually kills Mahadevayya and Chandramathi, at which time Kondala Rao learns that he's not the killer chosen by his man! Then, he realizes that this man could be sent by Punyakoti to kill him instead! Who's this killer Prathapa Rudra then? Who sent Prathapa Rudra? Who's next in his hit list? Did Satyam put a check to Prathapa Rudra? Answers to all these questions form the rest of the story.

Performances
Cast:
Vishal is very impressive as a cop. He has taken much care in his looks and body language, and even went to the extent of shaving his head off when the story demanded. Nayanatara is more the hero's neighbor and love interest than a TV journalist. In fact, except in one dialogue and in some scenes where she holds the camera, the audience would not even know that she's a journalist! Upendra is superb in a role with negative shades. His role was applauded by the audiences more than anyone else's! Kota Srinivasa Rao is as natural as he can be as the evil-minded politician. Tanikella Bharani has a limited role as the heroine's doctor-father and Hema appears opposite Bharani. Sudha Chandran, the dancer from Mayuri, appears as the hero's mother in an insignificant role. Ali as the heroine's aide, Brahmanandam as a broker at the RTA, and Senthil in a role that he repeats from Bharateeyudu fail to generate much comedy.

Technical Departments:
The story has nothing new in it. The treatment too is laced with unnecessary scenes such as those involving the children, and has scenes that miss logic. The screenplay is generally too loose to hold the interest of the audiences throughout. Music has Harris Jairaj's signature all over. Re-recording falters sometimes. Lyrics are good for the first song nammara nEstam.... Choreography, though not the dances particularly, is good on the whole, and particularly for the second song gaDagaDagaDa... involving children, superheroes, and graphics. The last song Endammaayaa... is typically Tamil in its picturization, and that's possibly why Chiranjeevi's poster is shown in the backdrop in the starting of the song - to attract Telugu audience too! (There's also a dialogue " Megastar anTE mass...", probably for the same reason, elsewhere in the movie.) Nayanatara's sizzling performance in one of the songs may cater to the masses, but doesn't help the movie much anyway. Camerawork is impressive. Dialogues by Shashank Vennelakanti are good and thought-provoking as needed. Action choreography is interesting, though the fight sequences are shot to be long.

Notable Scenes/Dialogues:

• " Criminals-ni kaapaaDamani anaTlEdu. vaaLLani alaa tayaaru chEsina vaaLLani vadilipeTTaddu anTunnaanu... nacchitE security, nacchakapOtE encouter!" (Vishal to his colleagues)
• " chaTTamE Sikshinchaali, dEvuDE danDinchaali. chaTTamU, dEvuDU okkaTE!" (Upendra in the flashback; Vishal to his colleagues)
• " vaaDi ettu choostE aaru aDugulu. etti peTTi koTTinaa aaru aDugulE!" (about Vishal, hinting about his muscle power that can kill people.)
• " Two minutes lOpaliki rammandi amma. EdO noodles peDutundi kadaa anukuni veLLaanu." (A child artiste)
• " manam paTTukunna vaaLLE manalni paalistunTE choostU kooDaa manalO chalanam raadaa?!" (Upendra to Vishal)
• Vishal: " nee laagaa andarU aalOchistE ee dESam smaSaanamgaa maaripOtundi!"
  Upendra: " ippuDu unna paristhiti kannaa adE manchidi!"
• " smaSaanamlO paiki lEchina sagam kaalina Savaala laanTi vaaLLam, sir, manam! enni saarlu paiki lEchinaa maLLee koTTi paDukObeTTEstaaru!" (A colleague to Vishal, about the status of Police among politicians.)
• " maa paina veyyi talalu unDocchu. kaanee, mEmu lEkapOtE meeku talE unDadu!" (Vishal to Kota Srinivasa Rao)

Points to note:

• Upendra appears cleanshaved in the flashback and looks very different.
• Kota's goons don't use any bombs to kill an approver-turned aide even when Kota instructs them " enni praaNaalu pOyinaa pharavaalEdu!" Why is that?
• Don't telephone calls get cut when one of the party hangs up? How come Kota's voice is still heard over the mobile to his aide in the police station, even after Vishal who received the call has gone there!?
• When someone is trying to kill you while travelling in a car, would you not roll up your windows first?!
• The movie is dedicated to sincere cops, like Nagarjuna's Rakshana was.

Bottom Line:

While the movie does pass on the message that the people in the society should generally be more proactive, there is not much good in the film except for the hero and good camerawork and (lengthy) action episodes! Still, this is not the first movie with the exact same message! And, did the politicians, police, or public change
by the way? Why or why not? Let's ask ourselves too!

hyderabadinf rating : 3/5