For the last two years, the Sankranthi festival has been very good for Mahesh Babu as his last two Sankranthi releases Businessman and Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimale Chettu did very well at the box office. Similarly Director Sukumar ‘s last film 100% Love starring Naga Chaitanya and Tamannaah did very well at the box office. Due to this reason, Sukumar’s latest film 1 Nenokkadine starring Mahesh Babu has been eagerly anticipated and was expected to be the third straight successful Sankranthi film for Mahesh Babu.
Few weeks back, the poster of the film also had created quite a controversy after actress Samantha had tweeted that she found the poster of the film regressive which led to fans of Mahesh Babu on social media leading a hate campaign against Samantha and the fire intensified with director Sekhar Kammula going on to support her views on the same.
All this ensured that a sufficient amount of buzz was created for the film. But does the film live up to the hype? Read on to find out more.
Mahesh Babu is a singer (or a rockstar as he is called in the film 🙂 ) who has faint memories of him being chased as a child by Kelly Dorjee and Pradeep Rawat . Thanks to a condition of memory loss, he believes that he is being chased by some people and he also believes his parents have been killed. How he finds out the truth behind his condition and the mystery behind his parents death forms the crux of the film.
Mainstream films in India for a long time (especially those featuring a big star) have been following a common template – 1 terrific entry scene for the lead hero, some kick-ass punch dialogues, some songs for the star to display his dancing skills or the lack of it maybe, a mandatory love angle featuring a pretty actress, a mean and evil villain and some fight and action scenes to complete the circle. Tollywood films are no exception to this template, except the fact navel gazing is a very vital part of Telugu films.
In the last few years esp. in 2013, the quality of Telugu films has gone down drastically wherein every other film and actor is tirelessly sticking to the same template resulting in hardly any good Telugu films being made.
With 1 Nenokkadine director Sukumar attempts a thriller which strives to be different from the usual Tollywood fare, in the process he has an arduous task at hand. While trying to make a taut thriller, he also has the task of keeping fans of Mahesh Babu happy by projecting him in his usual larger than life avatar. Sadly, while trying to strike a balance between the two, he fails big time. And this turns out to be the biggest undoing of the film. Moreover, the length of the film only adds to the monotony of the proceedings.(Apparently the film now has been trimmed by 20 minutes from its original run time of 170 minutes).
The film starts off rather well. For the first few minutes you are fairly hooked to the proceedings as Mahesh Babu fights people attacking him while he is also dealing with the condition of memory loss. But as the film progresses, it is not difficult to predict the course of events. In the due course, the film also introduces several characters, most of whom are annoying.
Several portions in the film seem unnecessary and could have been easily done away with, like that of the journalist (Kriti Sanon) following Mahesh Babu all the way to Goa and getting stranded on an island with him (which does not seem like Goa by any stretch of imagination).
Among the supporting cast members most of them seem to be present only to ham and get their paychecks. The most prominent being Sayaji Shinde and the doctor who diagnoses Mahesh Babu’s condition of memory loss. They ham in whatever little screen time they are allotted. The film has some other characters such as the annoying Posani Murali Krishna who plays a Sardar speaking Telugu and based in London 🙂 . A fine actor like Nassar continues to be wasted in stereotypical roles that hardly do any justice to his talent. Kelly Dorjee and Pradeep Rawat yet again play stereotypical villainous roles esp Kelly Dorjee.
To be honest, the identity of the villain has been smartly handled and revealed in the penultimate scenes. But by the time the film reveals this important twist in the tale, the audience is quite exhausted.
Devi Sri Prasad scores a couple of hummable numbers but they hardly stay with you after the film has ended. The film has been shot in various places such as London, Belfast and Goa and cinematographer R. Rathnavelu does capture some lovely visuals for the movie. The action scenes are executed well and are perhaps the best thing about the film.
Mahesh Babu has a remarkable screen presence as always and tries to perform to best of his abilities. However he cannot do much to salvage a rather confused script. Kriti Sanon’s role is nothing different from the usual roles which Tollywood offers to its heroines – that of a boisterous and a bubbly girl which gets irritating after a while. She also dutifully performs the navel exhibition routine. However her rather unremarkable screen presence and non existing acting skills only adds to the monotony.
Ultimately as mentioned earlier 1 Nenokkadine ends up as a rather tedious fare despite having some good scenes and ideas, as Sukumar is confused between making a good thriller and keeping fans of Mahesh Babu happy. Had the makers not inserted a lot of unwanted scenes and subplots, this could have been a much better film.
mad about moviez.in 
Fuck you asshole watch the movie again !!
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Lol… I will watch it provided you sponsor the tickets for a show at a date, time and venue of my choice.
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I agree with your review completely Mr. Savnal. I wish people were atleast a little open minded to accept criticism instead of verbally abusing others.
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This review states either your iQ level just dropped or you are addicted to those Bollywood junk. Tadaaaaaaaa…..Problem solved 🙂
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Agree with your thoughts on the film. If the director had concentrated on making a taut thriller instead of trying to appease the fans , this would have been a good effort,. Alas, But this is a gutsy choice by mahesh babu and he should be lauded for it for trying something like this . But by early reports the film is a flop and this could very well be the end of such experiments for him. I found some parts to be really boring and dragging for a thriller and glad to hear 20 mns have been removed. Why couldn’t they have done it before the release. It was so obvious.
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Hey!MANK yes even I feel it was certainly a slightly gutsy choice by Mahesh Babu & Sukumar actually did attempt something interesting.It was very clear to me as well that the film deserved to be trimmed quite a bit in the final edit itself. What has been done now is only a post mortem attempt (though I hope it does help the film).Even in the 1st half the film drags quite a bit with the real vs unreal bit getting a little too stretched.
Good review Aditya,more or less it echoes my thoughts too. I loved the fights and the visuals and Mahesh Babu’s screen presence makes it watchable to an extent,but the film could certainly have been much better. It did have the potential for it.
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Sethu, yeah these postmortems do not help, the negative word has already spread and it will be difficult to combat them. Why did n’ they realise it before.These guys are suppose to be pros .I think mahesh is one of the best star actors we have in this country, not just in telugu with great screen presence and control over his acting and dialogue delivery.His performance in pokkiri was pure magic elevating a pedestrian movie to such wonderful heights. I very much like to see him in roles like these rather than in drivel like businessman.At least for that sake i wish this would be a success. Now something like yevadu is going to be more successful than this and that will be the end of this. Mahesh will go back to dookhudu brand of films for the next 5 years.Real pity!
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I definitely agree that at least a film like 1 Nenokkadine had a lot of promise unlike a Businessman which is bad from start to end.
And yes even I feel that Mahesh Babu is a pleasure to watch on screen,he brings alive even the weakest of scenes with his mere
presence. That’s a quality very few star-actors have in India.
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Yes the fights and the visuals were perhaps the best thing about the film. Alas the film could have been so much better.
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Yes it had potential to become a fine thriller but got messed up big time. Keeping the fans happy is one Herculean task which every director faces while directing a film with a big star. And very few directors are successful in making a film that is different from the usual fare yet manages to keep the fans of the star happy. As of now Sukumar ain’t that director. Every time there is a big star involved in a project I am sure there is some interference from his side. Maybe that could also have been one of the reasons for the film not turning out top be good.
You are right they should have a released an edited version of the film earlier itself. Dunno how much it will help to salvage the film now at the Box office.
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Solution for you problem is, STOP WATCHING BOLLYWOOD JUNK.. then u will understand this better 🙂
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Trying to keep the fans happy? How..what did Sukumar do to impress his fans?Cos I don’t think seeing their fave hero battling a psychological disorder is something that fans enjoy
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The hero does not have a psychological disorder, which is well established before the interval.
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LOL..I am sure u didn’t understand the movie..He has Psychological disorder..Remember in the 1st scene he assumes he had killed Kelly..also Nazer..How come you reviewed the movie without even understanding it
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Lol,i am sure i do not understand this stupid movie. He confuses the name of Nasser with Pradeep Rawat, which is cleared towards pre-climax. Did you miss the interval scene where he says he was acting.
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There was such wild cheering at that reveal at interval that perhaps people missed this . :-). IMO the entire goa portions should have been removed. It would have made a world of difference to the movie
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Nothing new in this movie, clearly the island portion and starting concert seems to be inspired from Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. The action scenes were okay, but not exciting or had anything new. At the end of the day, it was just another revenge drama. To many loopholes,in the film.
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concert scenes are inspired by KNPY..seriously??!! That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Well to each his own
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Well,in KHNP also the hero wakes up and concert scene,the Hero and Heroine are lost in an island.
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LOLLLLLLLLL…. ANother bollywood junkhead
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Lolz, All Bollywood Junk seems to remake of Telugu films.
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“action scenes are executed well and are perhaps the best thing about the film” lol cant stop laughing at this… I guess u have never watched any Hollywood film (i mean typical) in your life. Please check your IQ levels before commenting on anything that is superior than yours brain.
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I can see your brain is so superior by your perfect grasp over the English language (i mean typical of those who watch hollywood movies).
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