#HariHaraVeeraMallu Review

#HariHaraVeeraMallu  Part 1 - Sword Vs Spirit

Telugu - 2025 - Theatre

Starring: Pawan Kalyan , Niddhi Agerwal , Bobby Deol , Kabir Bedi , Sathyaraj, Nassar , Sunil and Kabir Duhan Singh

Directed by Krish Jagaralmudi & Jyoti Krisna

Plot :In the late 1600s, during Aurangzeb’s rule, Veera Mallu, a clever thief, is sent by Abul Hassan Qutb Shah to steal the Kohinoor diamond from the Peacock Throne. But as the journey begins, his team starts to sense that Veera is hiding something. The mission isn’t just about the diamond, it’s personal. Veera has his past linked to Aurangzeb, and this heist is his way of finding it. What does he truly want with Aurangzeb, and whether he succeeded, forms the rest of the story.

Performance wise, Pawan Kalyan tries his best and does elevate few scenes but largely his performance is underwhelming. His Screen presence is terrific but there a lot of difference in his performance from scenes which were shot 5 years ago and Scenes shot recently. Niddhi Agerwal as the Heroine looks gorgeous on screen and is absolutely oozing with glamour in Taara Taara song, but beyond that she has nothing much to do in the film. Unfortunately the age gap for the romance kind of looked awkward. Bobby Deol as Aurangzeb is wasted and has Zero Impact. None of his scenes are interesting nor impactful. His role in Daaku Maharaaj felt better than this. Kabir Bedi wasted. Sathyaraj, Nassar , Sunil and Kabir Duhan Singh do their parts well but again none of them make any impact.

Technically, the film is unfortunately Bad. M.M.Keeravani tries to salvage the film with his songs and BGM but unfortunately he is unable too. Kollagotinathiro is fabulous on screen and Taara Taara are great. Good BGMs. Cinematography by Gnanasekhar V and Manoj Paramahamsa are very random and the visuals lack any soul or conviction. Frames are so random and subpar. Editing by Praveen KL was very jumpy and horrible (again not blaming the Editor, they can only edit what is shot and given to them). Horrible is an understatement for all thr VFX Shots. Even for simple shots such as Horse Riding or simple crowd shots , the Team has used to immense VFX and Face Swapping which makes the film unwatchable literally.

The film starts off with the Introduction of how Aurangzeb dethrones his Father Shah Jahan and becomes the Mughal Emperor. Then the film time jumps to Veera Mallu's entry and his roberry scenes then directly gets into the plot of romance between Panchami & Veera. While the scenes are fun to watch, the age gap between the leads makes it a bit awkward . Sunil and Nassar's comedy somewhat lands here and there but largely it doesn't. The First Half moves on a decent pace but it doesn't bore largely due to something constantly happening on screen. Kollagotinathiro song was a treat on screen with Anasuya dance. The Meka Puli Aata & Charminar Fight are stand out from the First half and the Pre Interval Twist felt unwanted. But the Interval block was pretty good .

And then came the Second Half where literally everything derailed. Right from the core plot to dialogues, everything is dumped down to such an extent that film doesn't even make sense. It was very haphazard and shabby. Except for the 5 mins of Taara Taara and 5 mins of Evaradi, I don't have anything else to talk about the Second Half.

Now let's talk about the Negatives, a huge paragraph coming up brace yourselves. The Core Plot of a Thief who is given the mission to steal the Kohinoor Diamond but has an ulterior motive sounds actually good and could've been a decent film atleast but oh boy. Right from frame one , the fakeness just laughs at the audience. Haphazard cuts and random time jumps. Like for Example: In Scene One PK is shown in a clean shaved look , and immediately on Scene Two PK has a beard ! , and how do they match it ? By putting Text saying "Few Days Later" ! Brilliant .Again in Scene Three , He is back with clean shaved look with caption "Few Weeks later" .Atleast First Half doesn't have much of VFX Shots , but the Second Half , literally seems like they have shot the entire film in a green screen studio. Everything is VFX right from Horse riding to simple mountain scenes , everything is VFX and that is terrible and unintentionally funny. The Second Half totally deviates from Kohinoor plot into something else completely. Deviation is fine as long atleast that track has to work but here that also doesn't work. The so called Battle for Sanatana Dharama against Tyranny of Aurangzeb also sounds like a good one line but atleast did they work it out ? Unfortunately no , it feels like a last minute script rehash to suit PK's Political ideology. The Tonal shift is so jarring. Even the much hyped Chokki Thana Stunt work which was choreographer by PK himself comes underwhelming. And The Climax which was overhyped feels like a complete unintentionally funny Bad VFX reel. With a Real Tornado coming all Characters flying and Protagonist & Antagonist come together and boom ! The Film ends on a abrupt note claiming to be a cliffhanger but no it's just lazy writing.

Coming to Writer Director Krish and Jyothi Krisna , I am going to assume (not sure how true it is ) , the Entire First Half was shot by Krish and Second Half by Jyothi and that difference is visible on screen. First Half was not bad doesn't mean it was great but compared to Second Half this one feels much better. The Core again I'm repeating had good potential but due to troubled production the film ended up as clumsy and haphazard. The Team has taken the Audience for granted thinking whatever comes on screen with PK , they will accept but unfortunately no the film doesn't even tries to redeem itself and instead just wanders into the depth of darkness more.

Highlights: 

1)Intro Fifhty& Charminar Fight

2) Kollagotinathiro Song, Taara Taara and Few BGMs here and there by Keeravani

Overall: Hari Hara Veera Mallu is an terrible and underwhelming film that tries to bank Pawan Kalyan's stardom alone but fails miserably due to an incoherent making and clumsy script that is even more bogged down by Horrible VFX

Rating : 1.75-2/5

Digital Rights : Amazon Prime 

Television Rights: Unsold