What it’s all about?
The film Mahatma is about the life of a young man who is a petty criminal. How he changes into a good human being imbibing the values of Mahatma Gandhi is the story.
The Plot:
Das (Srikanth) lives at the Gadnhi square with a group of friends. He is a small time gangster who is involved in activities like land settlements, collecting goodwill, bashing up people for money etc. Das is arrested by the police after he bashes up goon. Krishnaveni (Bhavana) is a lawyer and she helps Das come out on bail.
Das and Krishnaveni come close and they turn lovers. Krishnaveni does not approve of the wild ways of Das and tries to reform him.
Das joins the gang of MLA Dada (Jayaprakash Reddy) and wants to become a film hero. Dada instead uses him for his own political ends and Das finally realizes how selfish Dada is when he tries to usurp the poor people’s lands in order to facilitate the construction of Fab city.
Das then decided to contest against Dada as MLA. He also plans to starts his own political party. Krishnaveni manages to bring in a change in Das and he is forced to give up his violent ways and adopt the path shown by Mahatma. The film ends with Das turning into a Good Samaritan by adopting the Gandhian path of peace and non-violence.
The Actors:
Mahatma is a landmark film in the career of hero Srikanth as this is his 100th film. Srikanth has put in his heart and soul for the role in the film and he comes up with a impressive performance. Bhavana plays a upright and innocent lawyer and she is okay.
Jayaprakash Reddy does a god job as the evil MLA. Ahuthi Prasad plays a party leader and he is okay. Ram Jagan and Uttej get lengthy roles. Brahmanadam is seen in a guest role.
The Verdict:
The music is average and the film begins on a fairly promising note but peters out by the time of the interval bang. Post-interval, the film moves into a different mode and the film becomes very serious with entertainment taking a back seat.
While Mahatma it is a good film for Srikanth, it is not among the best from Krishna Vamsi. Mahatma ends up as a routine film and even a couple of item songs, including one by Charmy fail to balance the entertainment quotient in light of the serious nature of the subject and the heavy message.
