Daaku Maharaaj Review: Stupid in Places, But a Blasting NBK Mass Entertainer

Daaku Maharaaj is a Telugu action drama directed by Bobby Kolli. The film stars superstar Nandamuri Balakrishna in the lead role. Read our review here (Movie Talkies).

author-image
Sameer Ahire
New Update
Daaku Maharaaj Review

Daaku Maharaaj Review

RATING - ⭐ ⭐ ✨ 2.5/5*

Daaku Maharaaj Review Movie Talkies:

It wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to call Daaku Maharaaj Nandamuri Balakrishna's Jailer. The film, just like Rajinikanth's Jailer, suffers from an outdated story and screenplay but gets the hero's mass elevation right, powered by an tremendously exciting background score. 

Chhaava controversy: Protest against the Dance Scene of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj's character at Lal Mahal

Daaku Maharaaj

Daaku Maharaaj tells the story of a Civil Engineer, Seetharam (Nandamuri Balakrishna), who tries to tackle the racket of the Thakur brothers in a remote village. The villagers are kept as slaves for one penny, which they use to obtain one vessel of water. Seetharam fails as a sophisticated engineer, so he decides to confront the Thakurs and becomes a Daaku Maharaaj—an ancient tale of a brave dacoit in the village. Some time later, he comes to work as a driver for a wealthy family to save a little girl from the last remaining Thakur, who wants to kill her and force her grandfather to clear ways for his illegal business.

Daaku Maharaaj

The film embodies that typical South mindset of a mindless entertainer that the masses enjoy. As a movie critic, it's frustrating to see camera angles trying to capture Urvashi Rautela's sexy body parts rather than her face or the character she plays (a female SI officer, believe me). It's also irritating to see the little girl and the family being overly friendly and unaware of Nanaji's actions for so long. The sudden disappearance of Urvashi and Pragya's characters in the second half is an unsolved mystery. Everything goes awry just to make the hero look heroically right. And that's all there is to enjoy in this crowd-pleasing mass action saga.

Daaku Maharaaj

Nandamuri Balakrishna gives his fans everything they want! It's a crazy mass treat for them. "Warning marne wala nahi re, maarne wala deta hai." What an insanely well-written dialogue! The entire film belongs to NBK's massy avatar, and that's what Bobby Kolli intended to do here. That's why other characters haven't received justice or enough space to make their presence felt.

Daaku Maharaaj

Urvashi Rautela disappoints as an actress but impresses with her sex appeal. The first scene highlights all her curves, and you're left thinking, "Damn, she is hot!" Dabidi Dibidi goes totally wild, and no matter how cheap the choreography looks, it's a damn sexy song. Pragya Jaiswal was underutilized, Shraddha Srinath is lackluster, and Bobby Deol appears to be sleepwalking, but he indeed portrays a deadly and cruel villain. The cute little girl, Veda, is occasionally irritating, but you can't really expect her to be a mature actor. Still, she was cute at times. Ravi Kishan, Makarand Deshpande, Rishi, Pradeep Rawat, Aadukalam Naren, and the rest of the supporting cast were strictly average.

Daaku Maharaaj

Technically, Daaku Maharaj may be a poor film, as the color grading, production design, and cinematography are not good—not even decent. The action scenes, however, are superbly designed and performed. With Thaman's background score, they reach a whole new level. Bobby Kolli has made some silly mistakes that are forgivable, considering the amount of crowd-pleasing entertainment this film delivers. Ten mistakes can be overlooked if someone delivers ten good things. Daaku Maharaj is exactly that!

Nandamuri Balakrishna Shraddha Srinath Pragya Jaiswal Urvashi Rautela Bobby Deol Daaku Maharaaj