Fears raised in the industry over comedy-maker Vijayabhaskar teaming up with superstar Chiranjeevi have proved well founded. Their much-hyped "Jai Chiranjeeva" turns out to be an inappropriate fusion of a revenge drama and a stale comedy.

Chiru, as the numero uno of the Telugu screen is popularly known, disappoints his huge following for a second time this year. Even his famous dancing fails to appeal as the film unfolds into a big yawn.

He plays a villager who arrives in a city to avenge the death of his young niece but his celebrated rage is submerged in the clichéd and repetitive comedy.

'Glam girl' Samira Reddy is turning out to be a jinxed actress. After her disastrous debut in "Narasimhudu", she is on the verge of denting the career of Chiranjeevi.

Bhoomika wastes her immense talent in a glorified guest role.

Arbaz Khan, Salman Khan's brother, plays the 'baddie' but prefers rhetoric to action. Other villains, Suryaprakash and Rahul Dev, try their best to salvage their roles.

Comedian Venu Madhav is tiresomely repetitive, while Brahmanandam evokes a few laughs.

Vijayabhaskar, known for comedies like "Manmadudu" and "Malliswar", should have gone for a strong plot, keeping Chiranjeevi's image in mind. But he fails to do so.

Instead, he has relied more on punch lines than on punches. Trivikram's one-liners suited stars like Nagarjuna and Venkatesh. But his bag of jokes fails to suit Chiranjeevi's image.

For producer Aswini Dutt, 2005 has proved a forgettable year, with "Jai Chiranjeeva" following the unimpressive "Balu". After three smashing hits with Chiranjeevi, Dutt was perhaps overconfident about this film.