'Ajay' film review - starring Puneeth Rajkumar

When popular flicks are remade, comparisons are inevitable. This holds good even with 'Okkadu' (Telugu) and 'Gilli' (Tamil) which are quite popular even among Kannada audiences. For those who have seen both, 'Ajay' looks a bit dull.

How? First the story. It's is a story of a Kabbadi player Ajay (Puneet Rajkumar) who wants to join the police force through sports quota. His team manages to clinch the second position in State championship and hence, Ajay and team make it to the National championship held at Hubli. Ajay travels to Hubli. But fate plays its card. Before the match, Ajay happens to save Paddu (Anu Mehta) from the clutches of Veerabhadra (Prakash Rai) who is deeply in love with her.

Ajay doesn't know that Veerabhadra runs a parallel government in Hubli and has already killed her two brothers. Without knowing a thing about Veerabhadra, Ajay challenges him. After a small clash both Ajay and Paddu run off from Veerabhadra and Hubli. What happens next is two hours full of action drama. Wanna know the suspense? Then watch the film!

Though director Meher Ramesh retained the original screenplay, he couldn't remain sincere to the pace of the narration. The film takes off very slowly. But he did not maintain the tempo throughout. Though the second half of the film has a high voltage drama, it's not fast paced. Even technically, it won't score much. That is where it falls short with its original.

However, cameraman Vasu has tried enough to give audience some good frames particularly the action, chasing and dance sequences, which are treat to watch. Despite of the lacking factors, performances by Puneeth Rajkumar and Prakash Rai outshine the flows. Puneeth as usual is great in dance and action sequences. Prakash Rai is very ease at his performance. His dialogues in the North Karnataka accent are just superb. His 'I loves you' is an instant hit with the audience. Anu Mehta has a good role, but nothing much to expect in acting department. Nazar, Sumithra, Doddanna, Satyajith are good in their small but effective roles.

Music director Mani Sharma has given some foot tapping numbers. But it's really sad that he copied some popular Telugu tunes of his own! Last but not the least - don't miss 'Ajay' if you haven't seen 'Okkadu' or its Tamil remake 'Gilli'!

Direction: Meher Ramesh
Producer: Rockline Venkatesh
Music: Mani Sharma
Cinematography: Vasu
Cast: Puneeth Rajkumar, Anu Maheta, Prakash Rai, Nazar, Sumithra, Doddanna, Satyajith etc