Khaleja

Raju drives a taxi in Hyderabad and cares about money and nothing else. On the road to a village, the villagers take him for the saviour they have been waiting years for. He uses it as an opportunity at first, then learns the village's real problem: a factory that is killing people. Trivikram Srinivas wrote and directed. Mahesh Babu plays Raju, Anushka Shetty the village woman. It failed to meet expectations on release and was written off commercially. Over the years that reversed; it is now among the most rewatched and quoted films in Telugu cinema. The reason for the change is the dialogue. The rhythm and wordplay of Trivikram's lines turned it into a cult item over time. The story both uses and mocks the myth of the saviour: the man is taken for a god and starts believing it himself. Mahesh Babu's comic timing is a side of him used less often in his later films. Who it is for: viewers who like Telugu mainstream cinema and dialogue-driven comedy. Who it is not for: anyone wanting tight plotting; the film is long and scattered.