Lakshmi Manchu, Adivi Sesh, Few Thrills & BGM Lakshmi Manchu, Adivi Sesh, Few Thrills & BGMDragged Narration, Thin Storyline, Forced Comedy, Predictable Script, Few Loopholes, Editing and First Half

Venkat (Adivi Sesh), Vijju (Madhu Nandan) are Kattam Raju (Prabhakar) protégés. Picked up randomly by the customer, who live by Kattam Raju rules and workship the ground he walks, until they kidnap a top actress Shruti (Lakshmi Manchu) who changes the direction of their life. In a short time, Shruti get cozy with the trio kidnapers and a US private detective Bhrami – man on fire (Brahmanandam). With a MMS Shruti’s mother Jyothi (Pragathi) gets the ransom amount ready, while ACP Kanakambaram (Prudhvi) takes the charge of this kidnap case. Will kidnappers get away with the ransom amount? What’s the backstory for Kidnap forms the rest of the storyline.

 Adivi Sesh and Lakshmi Manchu manage to raise above their level. Their conversation doesn’t seem aimed or rehearsed and there is no attempt to overshadow the other. Despite having the popular role, Lakshmi Manchu lets Adivi Sesh who has gentler demeanor take the front seat when required. In the climax sequences Lakshmi Manchu steals the show with her foibles and histrionics. Prabhakar (Maryada Rammana fame) and Madhu Nandan are fine in their respective roles. Brahmanandam & Pruthvi could have delivered much more with some extra focus whereas Pragathi trying to overplay in her role. Giri Babu & Annapurnamma have nothing to do in this script, editor could have easily chopped off their scenes. Sandeepthi once again a revelation in her elusive and deglamorized role of an amah and she looks perfectly apt for the role. The cameos by Nagarjuna, Simbhu, Ravi Teja, Rana Daggubati, Nani, Navdeep, Sudheer Babu and Taapsee are nicely showcased in the song.

The story of Dongaata is marginally different from the usual as here we get to see the kidnapping with couple of promising twists and two money-minded people who try beat out each other while being in the same team. So the tension is not really between kidnappers and the police, but actually between the two different kinds of people. Beside that title Dongaata rightly point outs towards the two facet people who try to hide behind the mask. The problem with the film is it simply fails to generate any kind of interest right from the start. You can feel the queasiness, and the noises in the theater just after 10 odd minutes of the movie. There is definite plot and it keeps on dragging till the end, except for couple scenes here and there. The introduction fight scene seem to inspire from Avenger’s Black Widow sequences. Both the writer and director seem to be confused in what to make, a kidnap movie, a crime thriller or a crime drama.

According to me, the USP of the movie could be the point, where Adivi Sesh character is revealed and Lakshmi Manchu tries to get back the ransom for a good cause. But this very sequence is the most underwritten part of the script. The clues are interesting, but the drama created through them doesn’t create the required excitement. As a thriller the movie is not able to bring the viewer on the edge of their seat, which is a must for any good crime movie. There are many unanswered questions in different sequences in the script. Lakshmi Manchu manages to get the note from the crook. There is no clear cut idea on, how to get back the required amount for the orphanage (As she doesn’t know the Hawala person). The call tracing sequence starts on the day of kidnap and police finds the cell signal just before the kidnapper removes the sim. Similarly a renowned private detective is fooled around and makes him arrested for a crime event. Too many liberties taken by the writer here. A film with this kind of subject surely doesn’t require any songs, but here we have more 4 tracks and that too just a fillers. Satya Mahaveer, Raghu Kunche, Sai Karthik have given a very much unexpected score with not even one exceptional track. The well shot sequences of the film (like Interval & Climax) get perfectly supported by the cinematography (Samala Bhasker) and Background score, which is surely should be considered as an achievement by the team. Editing (S R Shekar) of the film could have been crispier. The transition between the sequences in the first half were not appropriately done. Choreography of the songs by Raghu & Brinda are all right. Production Values of Manchu Entertainment Pvt. Ltd are fine.

Dongaata doesn’t really give you the content promised by its promotional drive. It does have couple of good performances and few well intended thrills depicting a slightly different plot. But with a predictable script, thin storyline and dragged narration, one majorly feels like being not served well by the climax while walking out of the theaters. Overall,  Dongaata ticks all the boxes you expect from a film belonging to this crime genre, but ends up as a RGV inspired crime films, even though that may not have been the intension. Sadly, there was potential.

Lakshmi Manchu,Adivi Sesh,Vamsi Krishna,Sai Karthik. Dongaata – Thin Plot, Promising Climax.