PK lights up HHVM pre-release

Hari Hara Veera Mallu – Part 1: Sword Vs Spirit, with the tagline ‘battle for dharma’, was in the making for over five years. The delay was partly due to the pandemic, and later, the lead actor Pawan Kalyan taking on his role as Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The film, originally directed by Krish Jagarlamudi, changed hands midway, with A M Jyothi Krishna stepping in to see it through. The shift is visible on screen.

This period drama, blending fact and fiction, often loses its way and feels stretched.

Pawan Kalyan plays Veera Mallu, a rebel who steals from the rich and helps the poor. The film takes creative liberties to build a fictional story, leaning into the actor’s public image and his alignment with sanatana dharma.

Kalyan refers to himself as a jana sevakudu, a nod to his political outfit, the Jana Sena Party. On screen, he plays the familiar son-of-the-soil figure — a saviour of the oppressed. In the run-up to the release, the makers shared that his character drew inspiration from actor-turned-politicians NT Rama Rao and MG Ramachandran, known for championing social causes in their films.