A confusing screenplay marred this film's chances

Elder brother Allu Arjun earned a new name – 'Mallu' Arjun - for himself in Malayalam cinema industry owing to big successes with his Telugu dubbed films. Yet, his younger brother, Allu Sirish, who too aspired to earn his share of the limelight, could never make it among the A-listers of Telugu cinema, despite having the right background, a decade-long career as of present and a cushy entry into the tinsel world. That is because, such cases of star children not making it are many in Indian cinema. The reasons may be many, but the bitter fact is that the people did not find this particular star appealing enough.

A 2013 release in Malayalam- 'ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi' – starring Dulquer Salman and Tovino Thomas and squaring off against each other in the movie was not considered a great entertainer. Yet, the onscreen magic which the stars managed was reason enough for it to be considered a commercial success ultimately, earning three times its investment of Rs 4.5 crore. Using the transnational base of the story to bring in many socio-economic facts about Indian lives, the original film appealed to the politically- aware Kerala audience for sure.

Transposing the success was obviously not an easy task in Telugu, where the audience preferences are strait-jacketed and innovation-averse, as far as commercial films go. Yet Sirish, who had by then done multi-lingual films in Tamil and Malayalam may have had hopes he could pull it off. The film's director, Sanjeev Reddy, whose debut film on cybercrime was in Hindi which was remade in Telugu shouldered the burden of storytelling which was ultimately criticized as being lacklustre and the performances not considered up to the mark. No wonder, it tanked at the box-office and disappeared without a trace.

The Malayalam version helmsman Martin Prakkat too had a similar status like his Telugu counterpart as his film, a decade-old was his second venture. Yet having made a mark with his first film which had Mammotty in the lead and hitting the bull's eye, he could manage to add more films to his kitty, which was not the case with the Telugu version director. The less said about Allu Sirish and his later journey in Telugu filmdom, the better it is.