Cast: Aniesh, Anaswara Rajan, Vennela Kishore, Kalaiyarasan, Elango Kumaravel, Mukesh Rishi, Brahmaji

Crew: 
Presented by King Nagarjuna
Written by Manasa Sharma, Mahesh Uppala
Music by S Thaman
Cinematography by Raja Mahadevan
Editing by Koti K
Directed by Mahesh Uppala
Produced by Venky Kudumula

Aniesh debuted with Itllu Arjuna and he received massive support from King Nagarjuna, Jr. NTR and Ram Charan. They endorsed his efforts to play a mute character. S Thaman gave his best score in recent times. Venky Kudumula debuted as producer and Mahesh Uppala as a director. The movie released on 13th November after long delays. Let's discuss about the movie in detail. 

Plot: 

Arjun (Aniesh) is a mute kid but his father (Mime Gopi) is a thief. Arjun grows under his wing as a person who is skilled in robbery and gets arrested during young age. He continously remains under high police surveilleance and suspicion. He falls in love with Keerthi (Anaswara Rajan) who stays a flat above his house. Entire society marks Arjun and his father as thieves but Arjun never leaves as he wants to just find one glance of Keerthi and talk to her closely at least once. 

Keerthi finds her mother's attitude suffocating as she thinks playing according to society rules is the best. She wants to party, club and enjoy life but fears her mother too much. When her mother goes to training to Delhi and then plans to shift to US, Keerthi takes the opportunity to escape and live with freedom. Arjun becomes her go-to in helping her maintain the facade.

Meanwhile, Peddanna (Mukesh Rishi) gang tracks a pen drive for Rs.1000 crore transfer and his son is killed by his own henchman (Kalaiyarasan). Who robbed the pen-drive? What is the connection of all this to Arjun? Watch the film to know more. 

Analysis: 

Aniesh is very confident and matured in his performance as Arjun, who is differently abled and cannot talk. His dedication is visible in every micro moment. He learnt sign language, pulled off fun comic timing without talking, danced like a dream with grace and he is able to make audiences feel what he is trying to convey without words. He is a talent to look forward and his agility in fight scenes is also commendable. 

Anaswara Rajan got a very common "heroine" dumb character but she managed to perform well in it. Her chemistry with Aniesh stands out as well. Kalaiyarasan, Mukesh Rishi, Vennela Kishore, Elango Kumaravel are good but Vennela Kishore punches could have been much better. Writing wise film takes many convenient twists and goes into a zone of complacency at places sticking to cliches. 

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Much better effort in bringing the twists together and building undercurrent tension would have worked wonders for the film. Mahesh Uppala is talented in framing and composing shots as there are many meta references, framing devices that he used to elevate the feel. But he could have trusted leading characters and designed them even better. Certain shots and frames excite a cinephile yet many seem to have been composed in a random manner. 

The characters other than leads needed to be too larger-than-life for Aniesh to shine even better. At places, it feels like for the sake of comedy, the scenes have been diluted down further. Even the impossible tasks needed a certain build up rather than just giving feel like a game as if player entered a new level and suddenly, we are offered new information and task. 

S Thaman did his best work in recent times as his songs and score are very good. Cinematography stands out as the composition of many frames is very fresh for TFI. Editing feels very random with several sequences feel over edited or re-written on edit table. Overall, Aniesh and Anaswara Rajan with Thaman's score make this romantic thriller a good watch. 

Positives: 
Aniesh's matured performance
Anaswara Rajan's cuteness
S Thaman's songs and BGM
Techncial values
Production values

Negatives:
Writing could've been better
Some set-up and pay-off feel little random
Undercurrent tension needed to be built better

Bottomline: Aniesh impresses with his talents and Itllu Arjuna becomes an easy watch. 

Rating: 2.5/5 

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