Director S V Krishna Reddy, despite choosing a decent plot, fails to make Orey Pandu engrossing due to his predictable screenplay and pedestrian comedy.
The plot is loosely inspired by the Hindi blockbuster Koi... Mil Gaya, where Hrithik Roshan plays a mentally challenged boy who gets superhuman powers from an extra-terrestrial.
The alien in KMG is replaced by a sanyasi, who helps the hero Sachin with a blessed fruit.
Sachin wins a table tennis match, a shooting event and a boxing match to win his love (Sandala Sinha).
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Sachin failed to impress in his earlier films like Mounamelanoyi. To break the jinx, he picks a plot which was a winner in Hindi but he dilutes the effect by trying to portray himself as an action hero. It turns out as a routine revenge drama instead of a fairy-tale kind of film. However, he impresses in the first half with his child-like innocence.
Sinha looks pretty but is confused about her love. She reveals more skin than talent, thanks to a poorly etched role.
Veteran actress Bhanupriya performs her role with ease as the sobbing mother of a boy who is retarded after an accident and bursts out towards the climax when she sees the man who killed her husband. Hindi actor Sayaji Shinde is wasted in a routine baddy role while another baddy, Rajiv Kanakala, looks menacing in spurts.
Comedian Brahmanandam as a hotel manager and Venu Madhav as a hoax caller try comedy but their efforts are wasted.
Industrialist-turned-producer Girish Kumar Sanghi, who owns the leading Telugu daily Vaartha, described it as a film for people from six to 60, but it seems that the potboiler lacks the potential to impress anyone.
Music composer Anand Raj Anand may have thought he was composing for a Hindi film since most of the songs suit Hindi films. Raleva raleva has repeat value, the others sound familiar.
