'Dohchay': Fails to rob hearts

By Haricharan Pudipeddi

Film:

"Dohchay"; Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Kriti Sanon, Pooja Ramachandran, Posani Krishna Murali, Brahmanandam, Saptagiri and Ravi Babu; Director: Sudheer Varma; Rating: **1/2 With a title like "Dohchay", which means 'to rob', you expect a movie to do more than just entertain. Such expectations were riding high on this film right from the moment it was announced, since it was coming from the director who gave Telugu audiences a sensational movie like "Swamy Ra Ra", which was a critical and commercial hit and opened the floodgates to a genre that was considered underrated. Half way into "Dohchay", a crime comedy that doesn't do justice to both the genres, the high expectations are reduced to half, and by the end of the movie, you wish Sudheer had smartly worked on a sequel to his first film, which by the way, someone else is making. The movie comes with the star baggage of Chaitanya, and though Sudheer has tried his best to not let it come in the way of the story, it does, and to some extent, makes the whole effort look like it was another attempt to please a star and cash in on his popularity. Maybe Sudheer wanted to use this opportunity to springboard into the big league of successful commercial directors. The star baggage refers to the need to cast a beautiful heroine, Kriti Sanon, even if it means she has no purpose. These were the compromises Sudheer didn't have to worry about in his first movie, but here, for having chosen to work with a star, it comes neatly wrapped with the big commercial tag. It's tough to shake off the "Swamy Ra Ra" hangover in "Dohchay", which unfortunately fails to rob our hearts.