Trivikram Srinivas has one of the most polarizing careers as a director for me; I consider his “Athadu” a masterwork, whereas “Attarintiki Daredi” is one of the worst films I have ever seen. “Khaleja” falls somewhere in the middle, I really enjoyed its story, and it has some of director’s flourishes which I so loved in Athadu, but it also has some of the same issues I had with “Attaetintiki Daredi”. Overall though, this is a highly entertaining film with a story that is quite unique, featuring a performance from Mahesh Babu where we finally see him coming into his peak form.

There is also an extremely absurd and enjoyable story behind this film; it involves a taxi driver, a village shaman, and a evil corporation. And it was beautiful seeing all these elements coming together. Though not all the elements click together as well as they should, there was never a point in this film where I was bored or where it got predictable. That is certainly an accomplishment in a time when it seems as though every film is following a template.

“Khaleja” has the commercial aspects that you would expect to see in a mass film like this; however, each scene is filled with such quirky characters and personalities that any banalities fade away. Besides, I wasn’t exactly expecting any terribly complicated characterizations anyway.

However, I was a little disappointed with Anushka’s character who has a lot of potential to do something interesting, especially considering her connection with the main villain and so on, but nothing really happens between her. I did like her relationship with Mahesh Babu though, it’s again something that is different from what you would normally see in these films. In another Universe, I thought it would have been really interesting if the calamity that was brought upon the village could have been cured by Ficus religiosa, a plant that Anushka’s character loves even more than her family, especially since they bring in the botanist character. I thought there would have been some connection there, but alas it isn’t explored.

Mahesh’s character is great though, and he really holds the film together. There is such an energy that Mahesh infuses into the character that even the duller moments in the film are propelled by his presence. Even his interactions, and one-liners, between the other characters, especially Anushka, make up some of the best moments of the film. I wasn’t quite as happy with how they handled the whole God aspect of his character though, it comes off quite ridiculous and I wish they would have resorted to something that was a little more believable and grounded rather than making some social comment about it, which didn’t really work that well anyway.

I also wish that the whole village story-line could have been resolved better than it was, but nevertheless this is a fully enjoyable film where you can really see Mahesh and Trivikram coming together to form a film that mostly contains the better aspects of their personalities.