Story

Dharma Teja (Nara Rohith) is the jailer of Rajahmundry central jail. He is a strict officer who doesn’t mind breaking law in order to do good. Charlie (Ravi Varma) is a hot-blooded diamonds smuggler who kills his step siblings. Charlie is on death row and his mercy petition is rejected by the president. He is about to be hanged in few days. Rest of the story is all about how Charlie tries to escape and how Dharma Teja outwits him!!

Artists Performance


Actors: Nara Rohith gave a controlled performance as a honest jailor. It’s a different character in his career and he made sure that he plays it to the hilt. Priya Banerjee is glamorous and acts well. Ravi Varma who gave a nice performance in a negative character in his debut in Vennela has taken almost a decade to get another role of such an intensity. He excels in villain’s role. Madhu Singampally is effective in the role of a villain. Satyadev is good as a bad guy. Vennela Rama Rao did a nice role of Jailer's assistant. Bhanu is very good as an executioner. Adivi Sesh did voiceover for a scene and Sree Vishnu danced in an item song. All other actors are cast appropriately.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: The basic story is a mind game between a jailor and a prisoner with death sentence. Debutant director Krishna Vijay has followed the basic theme of the film by not bothering about regular commercial elements we see in the movie. He has used the first half to set the plot up and had a mysterious interval block. Second half slows down a bit as the story is very little in second half. However, a nice twist towards end makes up for a placid second half. This is a decent debut for Krishna Vijay.

Other departments: Music director Sai Karthik comes up with nice songs and apt background music. Though songs are mostly shot in montage format, they become hindrance to narration for a film of this genre. Cinematography by SV Visweswar is excellent and visuals are slick. Dialogues are good. Editing by Dharmendra Kakarala is fine. Art direction by Murali Kondeti deserves a mention. Production values by the producers (Shyam Devabhaktuni, Krishna Vijay and Nara Rohith) are rich.


Analysis: First half of the film is decent. Second half is sluggish. But climax makes up for it. Nara Rohit and sensible direction are plusses of the movie. But, a sluggish second half (which is a common feature in thrillers where some unexpected twist is shown at end) is a minus. On a whole, Asura is a different attempt and will be liked by the ones who like films of different genres.