Jaggi Jagannatha

Simpleton Jaggi is a rag-picker and the apple of his mother's eye. He crosses paths with a rowdy named Chapati, who is harassing a young girl, Shabnam. In trademark hero fashion, Jaggi saves her and then, later falls in love with her.

However, Jaggi's tiff with the rowdy pulls him into bigger problems. A peep into the future shows that Jaggi has renounced worldly pleasures and is living in the forest with a group of Aghoris. What brought him to this state? And where is Shabnam?

Likith Raj puts up an earnest performance as Jaggi, and seems more comfortable with the action and comedy sequences than the drama. Rashmi, as Shabnam, is the conventional damsel in distress. Saikumar, Tabla Nani and Padmaja Rao too perform what their roles demand.

Jaggi Jagannatha might have seemed to be a promising entertainer. The movie largely sticks to the commercial, no-brainer entertainer formula. And while it does result in a quick-paced first half, with some interesting humour elements, the second half slows the narrative down with drawn out storylines. The song and dance sequences also need a lot more refining.

One wonders if conventional narratives like these are sufficient to keep contemporary audiences hooked. This one, however, is one of those formulaic film filled with action and drama.