Formula cinema is definitely on the wane. Nevertheless, superstars, probably conflicted between making good cinema and pleasing their fans, are making do with cosmetic touches to their films. Questioning the ethos is still not a part of our collective movie-watching intelligence as is evident from the whistles and claps for inane events on the big screen.

‘Mass Maharaja’ Ravi Teja continues to tread his chosen path as a man unabashedly in love with his humble beginnings. In Nela Ticket, he along with the story overdoes it at a decibel level that will make you miss Justin Beiber’s singing. The movie pits the mercurial hero against Jagapathi Babu, the greedy-for-power-and-money antagonist. The revenge drama takes a while to unfold, but while it pretends to carry a suspense element, there isn’t really any, given audiences have seen the common-man-pretender-hero-with-a-past routine as many times as they have seen Arnab interrupt debates with his own opinions.

The ‘heroine prop’ is enacted by Malvika Sharma, whose character is so ridiculous it has the distinction of mouthing (sorry, lip-syncing) the most insane heroine dialogue of the year – “I like the kind of guy who has three buttons open in his shirt and is ever ready for a fight!” Did she understand the dialogue in the first place? If she did, she is good at controlling her laughter, for probably the only serious line she got in the movie.

Jagapathi Babu is a wonderful actor. He has aged gracefully. His gelled hair and smouldering looks scream for a character with some depth in it. Instead, all he does is scream platitudes while the hero is preaching to him. After watching him in Rangasthalam, this one was a heart-breaker. This probably is the right time for him to become picky. He doesn’t have to do the posh-villain-shallow-character trope anymore.

The movie’s soundtrack, like its side-character cast that includes Brahmanandam and Ali, is like a goods train passing through a crowded station, an annoyance – everyone’s looking at it or hearing it, no one’s noticing it. That brings us back to Ravi Teja, who while being humble enough to talk about his ‘Nela Ticket’ days, is seemingly oblivious of the passion that brought him this far in life. He made a mark because of his acting and energy in plots that surprised audiences, but the evolution you expect from such a seasoned actor is missing. These are not the movies which will bring the glory days back, for sure.

All in all, Kalyan Krishna’s mediocre effort is like an IPL timeout. It is not necessary but it happens and you just wait for it to end.