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EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: **1/2
"Billa" the fourth remake of seventies` thriller "Don" in
its third language (Telugu) is cleverly done in a stylish manner.
Prabhas plays the two main characters - the underworld criminal Billa and a
look-alike Ranga. He teams up with three actresses - Anushka, Hansika and
Namitha in the film.
The music is peppy, dances adequately choreographed and action appropriately
filmed on location in Malaysia.
Veteran Krishnam Raju plays Krishnamurthy, a cop on the trail of the underworld
don (Prabhas) and bumps into a small-time thief Ranga (Prabhas again) even as
the other character is laid low in cold blood. The rest of the movie has been
lifted from the two Hindi versions starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.
The corny line - "It is not only difficult to nab Don but also
impossible" - retained in appropriately translated Telugu version is lapped
up by the audience.
The original screenplay created by writer duo Salim-Javed, who altered
storytelling methods in Bollywood in the early seventies, has been retained in
the Telugu version along with its howlers but for part of the action shifting to
Malaysia - as seen in the recent Hindi and Tamil remakes of the same film.
A well established international gangster Billa after killing a ratting employee
is ensnared by the cops through the endeavours of the avenging girlfriend of the
deceased. Cops hire his lookalike Ranga to fit into the diabolically dangerous
milieu to start a remote-controlled cat-and-mouse-game to end the menace to
society.
Inevitable stunts, tongue-in-cheek dialogues, series of secret rendezvous,
raids, peppy music and several tense moments later, the climax leads the
audience to believe an incredible yarn`s end.
In double role, Prabhas is adequately credible and the three actresses are good
as well.
The proceedings make it obvious Ramesh obviously has seen the original and the
remakes dozens of times.
Scenes added in the name of Telugu nativity end up slightly slowing the pace of
an otherwise decent remake.