Movie Review - Oo Kodathaara Ulikki Padathaara (Telugu) – Creative yet clichéd Socio-fantasy!!

Imagine a baby born out of the marriage of Chandramukhi and Arundhati. You feel it’s got them all and can thrive. Alas!! The tables turn and what they deliver is a baby with congenital deformities. Now that it finds some place on earth, everyone tries to nurture it. The nature also does its part and thus evolves an amateur kid, err, plot. The kid grows into an adult, but his deformities always pull him back. That’s what happens when you are loaded with creative ideas but can’t showcase them to perfection on screen. Like many other films, Oo Kodathaara Ulikki Padathaara also falls prey to such an act of naivety. 

The movie starts with a premise borrowed from RGV / Quentin Tarantino / Sergio Leone films. Here our hero Manchu Manoj plays the role of a “Man with no name.” If that rings a bell and if you are taken to the 60s Spaghetti Western classics of Clint Eastwood, please switch off the time machine mode and come back to present. Though the premise shows a lot of promise, for that matter it can be called a promising premise, the story meanders through some uneven terrain and culminates at abyssal depths. 

OKUP gives some formulaic lessons in film-making: It does not matter how modern you are in your thoughts and outlook – a socio-fantasy should consist of antiquated paraphernalia; designer wear for men and women; swords and horses; and above all, an obligatory MAHAL!! If the director is not content with them, he will put some blood to give it a fantasy touch. 

If you remember, Nagarjuna in Manmadhudu gives a perfect recipe to make Onion Dosa. I wish the makers have made OKUP by taking some cues from that recipe, but now the final product is an oily dosa with lot of onions supplemented with bland chutney. Some creative touches, like the hero’s flashback song that generates laughter despite its gory story-telling, can be applauded but that alone can’t ward off the dark clouds mongering over the movie’s success.

There are some good shades in the film: impressive visuals; a bit of comedy; great camera work; trendy and foot-tapping music; decent performances; and loads of creative elements. But it would have been a memorable watch without certain elements: forcefully induced doses of melodrama at places; graphic violence; heavy downpour of different characters with miniscule roles; chewing gummish finale between good vs. evil.

Nandamuri Balakrishna looks elegant in his role and plays it with aplomb. It’s high time; he should cherry-pick roles that suit him rather than donning a lover boy’s role or pull some gravity-defying stunts. Hope others follow him soon. Manchu Manoj pumps loads of exuberance into the film with his witticism, and his character’s multiple hues shine all through the movie. He’s aggressive in the first half and turns submissive later doing everything to tickle your funny bone. Deeksha Seth, with her lackluster presence, consolidates her dumb-witted damsel’s spot in Tollywood. Finally Manchu Lakshmi speaks proper Telugu. May be she’s attending accent neutralization classes that helped her sail through troubled waters. 

Bottom-line: Oo Kodathaara Ulikki Padathaara is an ambitious project from Manchu entertainment but it may turn into a damp squib owing to heavy downpour of unwanted and painfully dragged elements. Watch it for its creative shades and some stupendous moments of film-making, but be ready to pay the price for a predictable plot and a thin story-line that may bore you to death.

My Rating: Expectation - 7/10; Reality - 4/10

Movie Review - Cocktail (Hindi) - Bad mix that makes you puke!!

Imtiaz Ali and Homi Adajania team up to give a (im)perfect Cocktail recipe

Ingredients: 

1) 1 male character - Women charmer loaded with witty one-liners and senseless humor.

2) 1 female character – Bland yet angelic desi fish in foreign waters: sensitive and subdued.

3) 1 outlandish female character – Party animal who resorts to a casual fling: bold and bratty.

4) 1 supporting male character – Terrific with his comic timing and shines all the time.

5) 1 supporting female character – Indian mother longing for a desi/gharelu bahu.

6) 1 supporting male character – Misfit in the script and does no good for the film.

7) 1 tablespoon – Friendship between two women, each one an extreme opposite of the other.

8) 2 teaspoons – Clichéd concept of a triangle love story with shades of doomed romance.

9) 2 tablespoons – Crackling humor that stops in the second half.

10) 1 Neon gloss coated template for a picture perfect look.

11) Amazing costumes, locations and production design.

12) Loads of artificial color (for the visuals).

The mix looks (un)impressive, but too much of it gives you a headache, so be warned.

The movie starts with some fine elements and none of the characters: Gautam (Saif), Veronica (Deepika) and Meera (Diana) appear cinematic and cardboardish. But as the film progresses, everything loses its sheen and turns stereotypic. Thus it tests your patience and reaffirms all the formulaic love stories of Bollywood.

There are some warm moments which can't be negated. The friendship between the two women gives a fresh appeal and breathes some life into the film. Dimple Kapadia’s effortless portrayal of an overbearing mother tickles the funny bone and is the saving grace of the film. Besides her, there are no real surprises or efforts from other members of the cast to keep the ball rolling.

In one of the scenes, the brash gal tries to turn homely with her culinary skills. She learns to cook mutton biryani and the thing with yogurt (she struggles to remember 'Raita') to impress her guy's mother, but the guy innocently asks her "Tumhe… Kiss cheez ke liye accept karenge?!" If there's a grin on your face, wipe that out because it won't stay long while watching this film. 

Bottom-line: Saif Ali Khan is always in the match-mismatch mode with the two women. He’s perplexed and in a perennial dilemma like most of Imtiaz Ali's heroes, and playing 32 year old young software engineer (if that can be called an oxymoron!!) who makes a pass at his high-profile client does not win him brownie points. Deepika Padukone is sparkling in the beginning, but bores you to death during her metamorphosis. Diana Penty looks pretty with conventional good looks but she lacks the oomph as an actress. From the maker of magical/musical love stories such as Jab We Met, Love Aajkal and Rockstar, here comes a lackluster script that leaves a chink in his armor.

My Rating: Expectation – 6/10; Reality – 3/10

Movie Review – David Billa (Telugu) – The dawn of stylish prequel making!!

The advent of David Billa marks the dawn of prequel making in Tamil/Telugu cinema. This is an age old phenomenon in Hollywood: Star Wars, X – Men and many more that went unnoticed amidst chaos. We have seen the previous version in 2007 and now its prequel is making waves. The director’s effort to give the viewers a refreshing ensemble got dampened with some haphazard and off-course journey in film-making. Ajith oozes style as David Billa and he nurtures the role to perfection. The way he carries his character with great poise and maturity should be a tight slap for all the aged heroes of Tollywood who still run after heroines donning lover boy, err, man roles!!

The movie opens with a strong Hollywoodish premise that sets the pace for the film. I can’t resist repeating the opening lines of Billa, "Naa jeevitham lo okko roju, okko nimisham, reeeeeeeyyyyyy, okko kshanam… Naaku nenu gaa maluchu kunnadi raa" followed by a typical “bang the goons” scene and the movie traverses into the opening credits where Billa’s childhood is depicting in the form of a pictorial. All praises to director Chakri Toleti, and his team, for their valiant effort to unleash some, hitherto unseen, creative gems.

Ajith’s David Billa is rich in character but poor in characterization. There are many loose ends that perplex the viewer and thwart his imagination. At the outset, the director made the character aimless and enigmatic; Billa always finds himself in onerous situations and at the verge of death, but emerges out effortlessly and his agility and spontaneity make things turn in his favor. In the opening scene Billa said that he carved every moment of his life, but I could not understand how chance happenings can be called premeditated ones.

If you remember, during our school days, we had this story of three fishes: Sumathi, Kaalamathi and Mandamathi. Billa is like Kalamathi, but we expect him to be Sumathi. Out-and-out display of brawn is shown and his brains always go for a toss. Director Sir, we adore our heroes, so please elevate them above fights, style and punch lines. Try to make them part of intelligentsia and show them chalking out some best laid plans for better execution of assignments like Farhan Akthar did in his Don franchisee.

Coming to the nerve centre of David Billa, the music, Yuvan Shankar Raja spreads the Godfatherish Hollywood aura with his background score. With this movie he joins the league of other international composers such as A R Rahman, Hans Zimmer and Howard Shore. The way he dabbles with serious and soulful music is worth mentioning. There will be a day we bid him adieu to start work on his Hollywood ventures. Though most of the scenes lack impact, the complimenting music makes a thumping impression on our minds. The signature tune of David Billa lingers in your mind even after the movie gets over. That's the magic of YUVAN.

Some questions that intrigue your mind:

1) When Vishnuvardhan, director of Billa (Tamil), made such a great piece of work, why the makers gave the baton to Chakri Toleti for its prequel? May be Vishnuvardhan is hibernating after the demise of Pawan Kalyan’s Panjaa.

2) How can they call it the prequel to “Billa”? Just by the tag line – "Every man has a past and every don has a HISTORY."

3) How can Billa always take hasty decisions without thinking and meticulous planning? Is it his "Never Say Die Attitude?"

4) When four screenwriters (one being a Hollywood one) work on a script, the outcome should be stupendous and not dismal. As fledgling screenwriters, our group has unearthed umpteen flaws in the script.

5) How can a person who made Eenadu (*ing Kamal Hasan and Venkatesh), and graduated from a reputed film-making school in USA, give emphasis only to style and throw the substance in drain?

Bottom-line: Watch David Billa for its aesthetic value, uber cool and stylish portrayal of Ajith. You love him for his style, looks, chutzpah and charisma. The movie shines and outsmarts other Telugu flicks in terms of acting, style, camera, exceptional use of CGI, and MUSIC. There are many creative touches in visual effects – the post interval graphics song with lots of brown color earns brownie points for the makers. But the director ran out of glue to stick different pieces of collage and failed to transform it into a seamless mosaic. If you have an ear for detail, you will enjoy the background music a lot and it leaves you wanting more. The film’s a novel effort to bring in the prequel-making culture in Kolly/Tollyland but nowhere in comparison to Hollywood flicks in terms of script, characterization and attention to detail.

P.S. Director Chakri Tholeti is the same guy who, as a child, played the role of comic photographer in K Viswanath's Sagara Sangamam.

My Rating: Expectation – 7/10; Reality – 5/10