A Tiger named Chulbul and a Cat named Puli!

Two languages - two films - two superstars and two entirely different box-office outcomes. There came a Dabangg and there came Komaram Puli, two films where the heroes are policemen. Both policemen have their own style of functioning, where Salman's Chulbul Pandey is a man who will arrest criminals but make their loot 'dizapear', Pawan Kalyan's Komaram Puli will not tolerate corruption - neither will he accept a bribe nor will he allow anyone else to do so. And the box office results that these two men produced are also completely different - while Dabangg has become the biggest opener of all times, Komaram Puli is on its way to becoming one of the biggest debacles of Telugu cinema.

There is, of course, a simple difference between the two movies... Dabangg, while being the quintessential masala movie, never takes itself seriously and leaves the audience in splits while Puli on the other hand takes itself so seriously that the audience ends up guffawing during some of the most intense scenes in the flick.

Talking about Dabangg, it is a movie which blends the romance, the family angle and the action angle seamlessly. Salman's character remains consistent through the movie - quirky and completely unpredictable - and the star's undeniable charisma in such roles makes the film a pleasant watch. Salman does all the things a superstar does, flying off roofs, bashing up an army of goons single handed, bringing his family together, romancing his heroine and the local munni - and all this he does with great aplomb. As long as you are willing to keep your belief suspended, Dabangg works wonders and you will come home repeating most of the oneliners that were written to be remembered. The support cast acquits itself well and there is nary an unwanted character in the well woven flick.

Coming to Puli, the flick is everything that a flick should not be. A sincere police officer who establishes a super hitec swanky office, travels with an escort of six motorcycle men, lives in an ultra modern house and behaves completely different from your regular policeman is the protagonist. Pawan's character behaves in the most ludicrous manner possible - tough at one moment, funny the next, foolish for a very long time and verbose for the most part. A tough man speaks very little and accomplishes a lot through his actions instead. Going by that principle, Pawan Kalyan is in no way a tough man - infact, he could probably be the softest leading man ever. He has paeans and paeans of dialogue, speaking thousands of words where a few would have done the trick. The romance in the movie looks completely forced and one wonders if Puli has a twin brother acting in the romantic track - so different is the behaviour of the character in these illogical scenes. There are many scenes in the flick that go on for so long that we are left wondering if the film had an editor at all. Like a friend said - Telugu cinemaalu choodadam maaneyyaali anipinchinappudu Puli choodocchu.

This festive season, meet Chulbul Pandey and stay as far away as you can from Puli. To use Chulbul's line - Puli dekhoge tho shareer mein itne chhed hojaayenge ki confuze hojaaoge kahaan se saas le aur kahaan se paade!