Telugu Review: 'Panjaa' is a must watch

Cast: Pawan Kalyan, Sarah Jane Dias, Anjali Lavania, Jackie Shroff, Adivi Sesh, Thanikella Bharani, Brahmanandam

Director: Vishnuvardhan

Pawan Kalyan always tries to be different. At the beginning of his career, he was seen as style icon, but later he moved away from formula films and started focusing on out-of-the-box ideas. His huge fan following may not like him to experiment, but Pawan Kalyan is what he is. His films carry style with less space for regular commercial ingredients.

In 'Panjaa', Pawal Kalyan sports a new look - he is seen with a beard. His looks apart, the film's strength is the stylish narration by director Vishnuvardhan, known for top class stylish Tamil films like 'Billa' and 'Pattiyal'.

This is Vishnuvardhan's first Telugu film and it does reflects his signature style. Like his Tamil film 'Billa', Vishnuvardhan ensures a great level of technical finesse in 'Panjaa'. Every sequence is as stylish as it can get.

Vinod's cinematography and Yuvan Shankar Raja's composition are impressive. But is is a Pawan Kalyan film all the way - his elegance, dialogue delivery and action sequences are a treat to watch. And the way he performs in the 'Papa Raayudu' song with Brahmanandam is amazing. In fact, it one of the many high points of the film.

On the flip side, the film moves at a slower pace in many sequences. The story is not fresh and the screenplay is old too. The placement of the title song, which is so popular, is shown after the film gets over.

Pawan plays Jai, who works for a don Bhagwan, who is from Kolkotta. Bhagwan has a standing enmity with Kulkarni, another don, but Jai protects his master like a rock.

With his astute moves Jai has been able to mastermind attacks on the opponents.

Bar dancer Jahnavi, who is in Bhagwan's group, likes Jai, while Bhagwan's son Munna, known for his atrocities, eyes her too.

But Jai likes Sandhya, a shy girl who loves nature.

Munna kills Jahnavi and it outrages Jai who kills Munna. This creates a rift between him and his boss, Bhagwan. Meanwhile the Kulkarni gang seeks revenge on Jai who takes refuge in his girlfriend' house.

Later Jai takes on the gangsters singlehandedly and eliminates all of them.

Pawal Kalyan is stylish as a performer and makes an impact with his new looks and performance. Even after 15 years, Pawan remains a style icon.

Sarah Jane Dias scores with a good performance, while Anjali does skin show. Adivi Shesh makes a good impact as an antagonist.

Jackie Shroff and Atul Kulkarni too have done well in their respective roles which have limited scope. Brahmanandam and Ali provides comedy.

The film has good art work and styling too.

Over all 'Panjaa' is a well made film, but its weakest point is the slow narration.