Xtra..! (Mythili Mallirammandi)

It was during my school days when I watched the wall posters of the movie 'Xtra..!', where a glam doll is posing in different revealing costumes. The movie title caught my attention but more than that it's the lady in in the red dress who stole my heart. The trailers and snippets of movie that were telecasted during prime time on TV, increased my curiosity levels. I then started searching for her name in all the news dailies, as the Internet is not so common to have in those days. Finally, one fine day, I got to know her name from a magazine gossip column as 'Ruthika Singh', which rang melodies in my ears while pronouncing it repeatedly. She's a bombshell from North India who worked in few Bollywood films and then landed in South, mainly starring in Telugu movies. I found the DVD online a few years back but never paid attention to it as I'm busy with my own work schedules. Today, I re-watched the movie and began to dwelve into past memories. This revisit review is to see how the film and her grace lasted over these 20 long years.

What is it about?

Nani (Santosh Pawan) is a wayward youth studying in a college. He gets secretly admired by his girl bestie, but she never confesses her love towards him. He befriends with his drunken Physical Director (Kondavalasa) and tries to evade sports and games. Frustrated by their actions, the college Principal (Jayalalitha) plans to appoint new lady trainer. Mythili (Ruthika Singh) a Hindu, joins Nani's college in the name of Nisha, a Christian, as a new Physical Director. Nani gets to know regarding Nisha's true name and religion, and he wants to unfold her conspiracy. He and his gang tries to drive her off from the college by proving her to be a Hindu, but Nani starts changing his attitude towards her. When his girl bestie reveals her love towards him, he belittles her, as he has a very low opinion towards love. Upon knowing his intentions girl bestie decides to end her life. Nisha saves her and promises her that she counsels Nani to change his mind towards love. She motivates Nani about love and it's importance in one's life. He slowly starts changing and accepts her mentorship. He gets trained by her in basketball and travels to his hometown for the tournament. He loses the championship in the tournament and tries to end his life as a result of it. Nisha saves him and counsels him for future victory. Overwhelmed by her beauty and character, Nani proposes to her, shattering the dreams of his girl bestie. Shocked by his behavior, Nisha treats his love towards her, like a child's infatuation towards his teacher. But Nani is adamant and still continues to harass her in the name of love. Going by the awkward developments in this student-teacher relationship, Nisha quits her job and reveals her real name as 'Mythili', a Hindu, to the college management and students. She embarks on a journey to actual Nisha's hometown and on her way she encounters Nani who tries to commit suicide by drinking poison, when she refuses his love again. Fed up with his actions and intentions, she accepts him with a condition that they should stay together for a month to test the compatibility, in Nisha's hometown at Nisha's home. Nisha's family members treats the couple as brother and sister, instead of lovers, due to visible age gap. To Nani's surprise, Mythili's lover Prem (Vadde Naveen) visits the village, complicating the things for Nani. Prem, in turn convinces Mythili to accept Nani's proposal. He hatches a plan with village people (Brahmanandam, Krishna Bhagawan, Sudhakar and others), to make Nani realize his mistake. He then reveals to Nisha's family and the villagers, that Nisha committed suicide. She took her precious life by jumping off the building, just because Prem is in love with Mythili, and his unwillingness to share the same love with her. Mythili reveals her intentions to take Nisha's name and job was to support Nisha's family emotionally and monetarily. Upon knowing the truth from Prem about Nisha and Mythili's intentions behind the compatibility test, villagers get furious over Nani's obsession and adamant behavior. Unable to take villagers wrath, Nani halts his marriage and flees the function hall, leaving Mythili to Prem.

Performances: 

Leaving aside the stale acting by the both male leads, it's a one Woman show by Ruthika Singh. Ruthika Singh is really hot and lived up to her reputation as the Tollywood's sex symbol. Her oomph factor is visible throughout the movie. Her dance numbers "Oo Le Le", "Masaka Masaka" and "Le Le Naa Raja" are delight to watch on screen. Her dancing energy is highly vibrant. She dazzles in every costume throughout the movie, but her impersonation of Marilyn Monroe (in Red Dress) in "Le Le Raja" song, sets screen on fire. Her glamour makes the watcher sweat, especially during her skipping practice. On the comedy front, Suman Shetty, Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao, Krishna Bhagawan and Brahmanandam do entertain with their cheap comedy. 

Technical front: 

*Director Veeru K definitely knows what he wants and how a cheap adult film work out. And he stuffed the entire film with cheap double-meaning dialogues, skin show and dances. However, he failed in narrating the basic story in a clear way.

*Music by Bapu Ramana is heavily inspired by the works of other music directors ranging from Pink Floyd to Chakravathy and Ilayaraja. Most of the songs in this film have the flavor of tunes from Ilayaraja-Vamsy combination films. There are three Telugu remix songs (Vangamaku, Le Le Le Naaraja & Masaka Masaka) as well. Bits from popular English tunes were used in the background music. 

*Dialogues by MVS Haranadha Rao are adequate though there are many double entendres. *Photography by Madhu A Naidu is fair. 

*Production values of the film are mediocre.

*Artwork is Nagi Reddy is average.

My Analysis: 

Before watching this movie, it's clear in my mind that, it's B-grade flick. This is an out-and-out adult film which is strictly recommended only for men who want to have fun in ogling at skin show and dances by Ruthika Singh and hearing double meaning dialogues. Though it has a strong point which deals with younger generation suicides over silly and petty issues, makers never made it look serious on screen. This film is completely Masala entertainer basking on Ruthika's glamour. The film ran over 100 days in theaters in 6 centers in Andhra Pradesh during 2004. This is just because of Ruthika's oomph factor and her sex appeal. Just going by the nostalgia, I enjoyed watching Ruthika on screen again, and it deserves to be A-grade stuff in B-grade movies. 

Bottom line: A-grade stuff in B-grade movies.