Trivikram Srinivas's Midas touch has apparently hit a road block with his much hyped Telugu film starring Pawan Kalyan's Jalsa.
The film is neither an out and out Pawan Kalyan's film nor that of the ace director, who has given us some good hits in the past. While Trivikarm was successful in giving Mahesh Babu's flagging career a new lease of life with Athadu, he has failed to do the same for Pawan Kalyan.
First of all, there is no proper storyline and the screen play is totally disjointed making it seem like the director was in two minds while making the film -- one, to have his own brand of comedy which he is famous and two, to showcase Pawan Kalyan's abilities as an action hero.
This balancing act however has not paid off. For one thing, everything is shown in frivolous light, even serious subjects like law and order and naxalism are treated with scant respect. Apparently he did not do his homework.
The story is about a protagonist, Sanjay Sahu (Pawan Kalyan), an alcoholic who downs several pegs without batting an eyelid. He has a penchant for adding degrees (academics) and is in love with his colleague (Kamalinee Mukherjee). However, the girl's father is not in favour of the alliance and gets her married to another guy.
Parallel to this runs another story, that of villian Mukesh Rushi. He is a factionist who turns land grabber. He nurses an enmity towards Sanjay and the reason behind this is held back almost towards the fag end of the film.
Meanwhile Sanjay has two other girls falling for him -- Jyotsna (Parvati Melton) and Bhaghi (Illeana). The hero goes for Illeana, who is supposedly innocent to the extent of being ignorant. Sanjay is rejected once again. Incidentally Bhagi is the sister of Kamilini Mukerjee.
Meanwhile, the villain tries to corner Sanjay by kidnapping one of his cronies. However, Sanjay emerges successfully from this bind and it is at this point that another important facet of Sanjay's character is revealed -- that he was a reformed naxalite.
While one expects a decent turn to the film at this point, alas, the screenplay continues to drag.
Trivikarm's penchant to bring in comedy at every turn has failed to pay off. The travails of Sanjay and his family, hailing from a remote village are depicted in a passing manner. And the reasons for Sanjay's decision to join the mainstream are also not very clear.
Prakash Raj as the police officer appears a caricature and so is Brahmanandam, who is depicted as a head constable. The enmity between the hero and the villain is also not very well established.
Ali, Sunil, and Dharmavarapu in comedy cameos are okay. Illeana looks pretty as the rather not so bright girl, while Parvati Melton in her brief role sizzles.
Pawan Kalyan has done his job but he could have done better. His character lacks depth.
Music by Devi Sri Prasad is good and so is the choreography. The voice-over by actor Mahesh Babu is very good, too.
All in all, Trivikram's Jalsa is no great shakes. Strictly for Pawan Kalyan's hardcore fans.
Rediff Rating: 
