Movie : Daruvu Rating: 2.5/5 Cast : Raviteja, Taapsee, Prabhu, MS Narayana, Brahmanandam, Jayasudha, Vennela Kishore, Sayaji Shinde and others Directed by : Shiva Produced by : Boorugapalli Siva Ra Banner : Sri Venkateswara Entertainments Music : Vijay Antony Release Date : 2012-05-25                                                                   Telugu audiences have been treated with a high dose of mass masala entertainers this summer. After a string of biggies in this genre, here comes Raviteja with his trademark mass entertainer Daruvu. Raviteja is badly in need of hit now as his previous films sank without a trace. Is Daruvu up to the expectations? Can it end the miseries of Mass Raja? What is it about? Bullet Raja (Raviteja) is a petty criminal who does anything for money. He falls in love with Swetha (Taapsee), who gets engaged to a local don. When Swetha too falls for Bullet Raja, the don turns furious and kills Raja. After the death, Raja goes to Yama lokam and comes to know that Chitragupta's mistake lead to his death. Yama Dharma Raja (Prabhu) promises to send him back to earth. Home minister of Andhra Pradesh Raveendra looks pretty similar to Raja and when he dies Raja comes back to earth and takes up the responsibility as the home minister. Performances: Raviteja's energy is the saving grace for this routine film. He has carried the entire film on his able shoulders. If not for him then Daruvu would have been a torturous film to sit through. There are few scenes in which he goes overboard, but on a whole it is brand Raviteja show. Taapsee looks good but doesn't deliver a convincing performance. She needs to tone up her skills. Prabhu is Okay as Lord Yama. However, a local actor could have added value to the role and film. Jayasudha is pretty impressive. Brahmandam and MS Narayana sparkles in few scenes. Raghu Babu is loud and so is Sayaji Shinde. There is nothing worth mentioning about rest of the cast. On the Technical Front: Vijay Antony's music is pretty bad. None of the songs are impressive despite heavy beats. Background score is pathetic at best. Cinematography by Vetri is neat. Art department should be lauded for the sets in Yama Lokam. CGI and visual effects are not up to the mark. Editing could have been better. Dialogues aren't impressive. Director Siva fails to narrate the story in an interesting manner. His weak sense of humor doesn't make this a decent entertainer either. As a director Siva scores nil marks for this film. Analysis: First half of the film takes off leisurely with unfunny scenes and only gathers some pace after Bullet Raja gets killed. Film runs smoothly until interval and this is the best part of the film. Second half starts on an entertaining note and when things seem promising, the pace drops down drastically and the film drags on and on. Despite loud comedy and mildly entertaining narration, Raviteja factor does help the movie to gain the attention of masses. Daruvu may fare better in B and C centers if they are ready to watch yet another routine film with Yamalokam backdrop. It is high time for Raviteja to consider different films as he is getting monotonous and his films are turning out to be below average fare. If you are planning to watch Daruvu get yourself prepared for a pretty routine movie and then you might enjoy it a bit better than others.