Operation Duryodhana 2 Movie Review

Story: Chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy dies in a helicopter crash. A senior minister in the cabinet takes it for granted that he would be the next natural choice and even accepts felicitations from his partymen. He is in for a shock when someone who has not even been a minister is nominated by the party high command to occupy the CM's chair.

Movie Review: An announcement at the beginning of the movies says what is to be shown in the movie is not directly related to any real incidents or people. The announcement was mandatory but doesn't the story sound very very familiar?

Erasu Pratap Reddy who is the law minister in chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy's cabinet turns actor with this movie. In the film, he essays the role of a chief minister - as one who is clean, has only public good in mind, and aiming to get the party back to power in the 2014 elections by taking up many welfare measures for the people.

The first half of the film can best be described as a documentary that eulogises N Kiran Kumar Reddy in the way Erasu Pratap Reddy portrays the role as CM. Erasu retains his name in the movie. The film takes special care to show the jealously of senior ministers who try to bring disrepute to the chief minister.

Home minister Venkatadri (Kota Srinivasa Rao) tries to get the chief minister into trouble. Caught with Rs 500 crore black money, the driver of the ambulance in which the money is being transported tells the police that it is chief minister Erasu's money. Erasu is keen that the truth should come out.

It's the second half that is gripping and funny. With a sniper in hand, locking himself up in a room in a huge complex, looking through a tele lens, the man who is supposed to get the crooks on their knees, is up to his game. The target is Krishna (Posani Krishnamurali). Well, the man is as funny as he can be. He is the link to a hawala agent.

Jagapathi Babu as CBI officer Ashok goes about his job in a planned manner, literally freezing Krishna to death in a public telephone booth. Krishna spills the beans about who the Rs 500 crore black money belonged to and how the senior minister had stuffed away as much as Rs 45,000 crore in Swiss banks. The chief minister is relieved that the truth has been brought out. Coming out with a `clean' tag, Erasu also advises the media not to sully anyone's image.

At one point he even wonders why the media should have wasted time for an entire week dwelling on the wedding arrangements of a filmstar's son and what the bride's attire would be.

Note: The movie is meant to project chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in good light and to enhance his image. The maverick Posani Krishnamurali keeps you engaged. He recalls that previous chief ministers like Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy and N T Rama Rao had a clean image and were not corrupt. That tells you something about what he intends to say about some others.