All spiced up!

Maheswari

Take an ordinary Telugu film. Spice it up well with masala. Add sizzling dance numbers.

And you get the ingredients of a good dish called Vamsi.

Upto more than halfway through the film, it bears more than a strong resemblance Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. The rest reminds you of Mission: Impossible 2.

If you are looking for something new, be prepared for a long hard -- might we add fruitless -- search.

The story goes thus. Vamsi (Maheshbabu, son of yesteryear actor Krishna), is a fashion designer and is selected to go to Australia for contest . There, he bumps into richie rich Shilpa (Namrata Shirodkar). The two are at loggerheads initially, but then fall in love.

Back in India, she is all chirpy, but Papa Nasser won't hear of his precious daughter marrying an ordinary chap. Calling on his underworld hotline, he despatches some goons after the hero who wastes no time in thulping them into a pulp.

Shilpa and Vamsi decide to elope and meet at a Venkateswara Temple,.

Time for the surprise: enter Arjun (Krishna), long-time enemy of Nasser. Follows some intrigue, some betrayal, a lot of anger et al.

The rest of the story is a potboiler of big stunts, flying mobikes, exploding cars, dances and fights -- just the platform for Maheshbabu. Not much scope for performance here, but it will be a treat for his fans.

Krishna has spared no expense to project his beta. But the film still disappoints.

And that arises from one basic point -- you can't quite decide whether director B Gopal intended it to be a serious film or a comedy.

One thing you can say, though -- it is a jolly good mish-mash.