Movie Review - Autonagar Surya (Telugu) - The philosophy behind a rebellion!!

Autonagar Surya is not just an underdog’s struggle to build an egalitarian society; it’s a striking enunciation to motivate people to shun their mold and thrive for a Utopian land that’s buried in the dark underbelly of crime and injustice. 

The first few minutes of the film paints a grisly picture with its serious tone in both writing and execution. The writer–director makes a pronounced statement and throws open the premise and the climax. Yes, the climax. You know the protagonist and the antagonist and the ultimate battle between good and evil. Deva Katta follows up this opening section with a description of the savage society. He sets up the concept of ‘Survival of the fittest’ and fleshes out his characters around it. The true grave nature of the film is augmented again from around the half way mark and this time the hero paves a new path after a rain-soaked brawl.

Autonagar Surya is a film in one-man-against-the-system genre, which inevitably takes the shape of a revenge drama where the hero is required to grow in his endeavor alongside pulling the curtains over the evil stakeholders who cross his path. The storyline is routine and as old as mountains. So to avoid any complaints for its vintage feel the story is comfortably set in the 80s. A small of group of people helmed by the hero gets on a journey to innovate and flourish. However, these inventions couldn't win laurels because of a mafia, which casts an evil eye on their intellectual properties. 

As the gritty Surya, Naga Chaitanya picks yet another role that’s brooding with anger. The audience will root for his intelligence and rugged approach to fight the evil elements. His character gets a boost from Deva Katta’s writing which presents Chaitu with some ‘mass’ moments. The dialogues rendered by him make him a definitive force to reckon with.

The film provides ample scope for its supporting cast members as they shine as bright spots in every act. Samantha’s role has some moments that fill the air with romance, but it lacked the depth to complement the script. The fact that Samantha is approached for such a role is disappointing. Another sore thumb is Brahmanadam, who couldn’t manage to tickle even after getting a share of a song and dance number.

Deva Katta’s screenplay is mostly well intended as he successfully draws the audience into Surya’s world and outlines the map for a gripping drama in the second half. But, as the film passes the interval, it fizzles out with a cliched flow of events, which’s not this director’s material. He also designates few characters for a definite purpose, like one is placed to add fuel to the already burning problem of caste consciousness. At times, these blow out of proportion and fail to bring out the true intent of the storyteller.    

There aren't any big twists in the tale, so it opens the gates of prediction. And few sub-plots feel like force fit plug-ins, which the story could have survived without. In addition to adding to the run time, the stretched romantic track, comic scenes and high dose of action sequences take away some of the film’s grip. The songs suffer because of bad placements and the violence quotient is also quite high. The film also culminates into a weak climax that spoils the fun.

Autonagar Surya is a thoughtful exploration of the world we live in. Albeit many film-makers have discussed such concepts at length on celluloid, Deva Katta’s true grit and true-to-life narrative style draws a clear distinction to set the momentum for the film that lingers on your mind for a long time. The dialogues and instigating questions – asked in the film – are a clarion call for the system to mend its ways before the ultimate damage is done.

The film is quite resolute in its objective, is moderately detailed, is engrossing for its most part and is charmingly acted as well. This gripping portrayal of guts and gumption may not go down too well with certain folks for its philosophical nature and preaching mode of the narration. However, it pulls through as a pretty tense drama. 

My Rating: Expectation - 8/10; Reality - 6/10

This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.
An edited version of this piece can be found here.

Movie Review - Oohalu Gusagusalade (Telugu) - Avasarala meets Allen!!

Picture this… The lead characters of the film get introduced by talking to the camera. There’s an unknown person trying to probe more into their lives. May be a film noir touch, but that’s predominantly a Woody Allen approach on screen. There’s a book, may be an autobiography, of Allen in the hero’s library. Wait, that’s not all. One movie poster shows a Telugu version of Annie Hall with Srinivas Avasarala sharing the credits with Allen. Now, that’s an obsession with the master and his craft. Director Srini Avasarala strikes gold on his debut by pulling off a Woody Allen-esque ensemble. The whispers speak a lot and churn three sparkling characters in Oohalau Gusagusalade, which has its heart at the right place.

The main plot of the film has been adapted from the French play, Cyrano De Bergerac. The play, with a tweaked plot, has seen many adaptations; of which the notable ones are Tamil film Duet and English film The Ugly Truth. Picking a fork from many such films, director Avasarala adds all the necessary ingredients that go into a typical romantic comedy. All these are cooked on a slow fire to get the subtle taste of love, emotion and laughter that may make you fall off your chair. 

Venkateswara Rao / Venky (Naga Shourya) is a dreamer and aspires to become a television news reader to keep up his father’s legacy. However, bitten by fate he lands up in the job of Teleshopping anchor. His boss Uday (Srini Avasarala) has problems in breaking ice with women. He isn’t a glib talker so takes the help of Venky to get the things in groove. This new assignment puts Venky in the soup as it rekindles the flames from his past love story with Prabhavati (Rashi Khanna) – a practical girl with her feet on ground.

The story is simple with three characters and few locations. The first half was shot in beautiful locales of Vizag and even the studio environment in the second half is a treat to watch. The impeccable set design exudes a lot of vibrancy needed for the film. The mood lighting, soothing background score and witty dialogue do more for the scene to take wings. The clash of egos of the lead pair has been orchestrated so delicately, that you will root for both of them.

All the characters are well fleshed out, but there lies a void in Prabhavathi whose evolution, in a span of four years, as someone with a penchant for art goes missing from screen. The actors, including the supporting cast, flourish and complement the razor-sharp writing of Avasarala with their near perfect performances. Naga Shourya is a bundle of talent, Srini Avasarala plays his usual self as a horrible boss and Rashi Khanna looks uber cute with a worldly charm hidden in her smile and expressions.

Oohalu Gusagusalade has an exciting start and the flashback episode is more endearing and believable. The second half paves way for more situational humor. This is one such film where everything seems predictable but you love to see the way things will unfold on screen. You develop a liking for the conversations and the characters. Though there are few intermittent dull moments, they never hamper the narration. The film marks Srini Avasarala’s maiden steps into film-making, which have the style of sensibilities of Woody Allen. 

Few pointers for the director:

1) Jalsa was released in April 2008 and I don't know whether it had a 400+ days of theatrical run with packed houses till May 2009. Here, music director Kalyani Koduri did a cameo as a seller of black tickets.

2) In the flashback episode, Prabhavati's age was 19 years. So after four years she should be 23, and not 25 as said by her in the film. 

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

This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.
An edited version of this piece can be found here.

Movie Review - Maine Pyar Kiya (Telugu) - An apathetic love story!!

National Award winning director Pradeep Madugula lightens the screen with his second film, Maine Pyar Kiya. While his first film Billa Ranga revolved around two irreverent youngsters in a flippant tale of social activism, this one draws in a multitude of characters that tread the movie across different dimensions with their definition of love. The director shows a stark contrast from his previous film in the way he chose this story, but in an attempt to flood the canvas with more light the narration loses its heat, which kindles few emotions. The movie is based on the premise that love is an emotion and marriage is a system, and every love story need not end up in a marriage.  

The movie begins with few characters lashing a whip on the protagonist and while taking all the pain he starts narrating a back story, which pulled him into these troubles. Naveen (Pradeep Ryan) is a happy-go-lucky guy known for his offhand behavior and easy going with the fairer sex. He is a software engineer who struggles to get into a relationship with this HR manager Bhargavi (Komal Jha).

A gorgeous new recruit Shalini (Isha Talwar) causes a stir in his heart and he shifts his interest to her. There’s another side of the story where Naveen and Shalini share a not-so-good past as childhood buddies. The rest of the film surfaces some characters from the past and the causative factor for a tainted relationship between both of them.

Writer - Director Pradeep picks an old storyline and garnishes it in an urban setting with a software company and its employees in the backdrop. Most part of the first half, though pointless, ends up as a breezy, candy-floss romance. The second half wears a serious tone, and even there it showcases restrained performances are controlled emotions. The director never makes way for some melodrama to seep in.

The problem with the narration is that till the interval the audience is unaware as where the movie is heading. And even after the so called twist arrives, there’s very less fuel to keep the wagon running. On top of it, to add loads of agony to the proceedings, there’s an overstretched, excruciating gay comedy subplot involving unbearable Posani Krishna Murali.

The director tries to fill the air with few good laughs and well conceived scenes. However, they are so distanced that the fillers cause a lot of boredom. There’s a fatal flaw in the storytelling when a character opens a flashback narrative. She just reveals the climax of that episode much before it’s on. Now, this leaves the entire effort as a mere process of reinventing the wheel. 

The graph of the protagonist fluctuates throughout the film. He is neither a serious lover nor a philanderer. The character only flourishes when he triggers his atonement to set things right and culminate into a decent hero’s journey. 

The true revelation in the film is actor Satya Dev who effortlessly juggles between a young and an old, mature role. His conversational scene with Madhumitha alone pumps lot of emotion than the whole film intends to do.

The music of Maine Pyar Kiya calls for an applause. New comer Pradeep Kumar elevates the scenes, especially the romantic and emotional ones with his background score. His work is a crossover of traditional and modern. However, in many scenes the tracks have been cut off without a proper ending leaving the audience high and dry. 

Although there are 3Ps – Pradeep Madugula, Pradeep Ryan and Pradeep Kumar, they couldn’t get on board the quintessential 3 Ps – Poignancy, Performance and Perfection. 

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

This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper. 
An edited version of this piece can be found here.

Movie Review - Jump Jilani (Telugu) - String of mindless gags!!

When your reputation becomes a cast iron straitjacket, you can never come out it, or doesn’t want to come out of it. Now, Allari Naresh is also infected with a bug of dubious distinction. He lives in a cocoon believing that the audience only accepts him in typified buffoonery, but lest he knows that they got bogged with a repetitive dose of the same. His latest outing, Jump Jilani too gets into the rinse and repeat mode and hits the replay button of many of his previous films, which were much better than this one.

Jump Jilani is a remake of Tamil film Kalakalappu, which in turn is loosely based on German comedy Soul Kitchen. In Telugu version, the story is set in Nididavolu, where Sattibabu (Allari Naresh) tries to keep the fire burning in the kitchen of his famous ancestral restaurant Satyanarayana Vilas. To achieve this arduous task, he runs from pillar to post looking for money to make ends meet. He is smitten by Madhavi (Isha Chawla), a health inspector, who serves a notice to his restaurant for not maintaining proper standards.

In the meanwhile, Ram Babu – a con man and identical twin of Satti Babu – joins the family and falls for his maradalu Ganga (Swathi Deekshit). Then multiple subplots ranging from a hunt for lost diamonds to greed of someone to acquire Satti Babu’s restaurant to one-upmanship in politics get added to this main plot leading to a comedy of errors.

The main problem with Jump Jilani is that it’s a Pandora’s Box sans Hope. Just for filling the ecosystem with an overdose of laughter, director E. Satti Babu focuses more on the comic part and leaves the main plot in lurch. He tries to balance two genres of comedy by pumping loads of slapstick and creating countless quirky characters, many of those appear at the drop of the hat pulling off a blink and miss sort of roles. In other words, the movie seems like a generic product made to accommodate every comedian except Brahmanandam.

Allari Naresh does a dual role but there isn’t much of contrast between the two. They sport a different hairdo and their characters are well contrived in the beginning, but when the movie reaches interval they both act in unison leaving no strain of distinction. Isha Chawla needs to work on her expressions and histrionics whereas Swathi Deekshit never comes out of her glamorous shell.

Posani stretches his character to good effect and carries the second half of the film with poise. Though dishing out a routine fare of gags, he is crackling with great comic timing and intermittent use of double entendre. However, like in many other films, even his character falls prey to clichés of a henchman trying to apprise about hero’s intention of eloping with his would be bride, but he giving a deaf ear to it.

There are no massive takeaways in the technical departments. The music is mediocre and the glossy songs do more damage to the narrative. You can’t search for logic in a mindless comic caper but when you overdo spoofs on famous heroes and mouth rehashed versions of their popular punch dialogues, there’s nothing much one can do than to bleed from boredom. 

My Rating: Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 4/10 

This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.
An edited version of this piece can be found here.

Movie Review - Ulavacharu Biryani (Telugu) - Culinary consonance!!

Right from the title of the film, director Prakash Raj serves a cross-cultural platter to appease the taste buds. With umpteen references to the characters’ fondness to their culinary escapades, he creates a milieu for them to bond and share things that may seem to be unconventional yet soulful. This is a true accomplishment for a director who walks against the grain and shuns his regular avatar to strew some fine spices, which work to get the required flavor. 

There are also some ingredients that alter the taste, but when you have the chords of Maestro Ilayaraja to complement and compliment the cookery, the broth can’t get spoiled. Ulavacharu Biryani (remake of Malayalam hit film Salt N Pepper) tries to make a balancing act and emerges as a matured love story with loads of fun and frolic. And, it's good to see the names of Trivikram and Puri Jagannadh in the 'Acknowledgments' section. May be the former might have worked on the climax – the dialogues in which are a reflection of his typical style. 

The story is of a 45 year old archaeologist Kalidasu (Prakash Raj) – the name may be an allusion for his love towards archaic things. He is a foodie who loves to cook, and can’t stomach the fact that someone poked in his dish. He is a bachelor and that’s the reason for his uncle’s plight. A wrong call gets him close to a 36 year old dubbing artist Gowri (Sneha). She is also a single woman and they strike a friendship instantly when they learn that they share a common interest and craving for 'food'. In a predictable way, this acquaintance over phone blossoms into love. However, they can’t pull this relationship further fearing for their age. Then the onus shifts to the youngsters – Naveen (Tejas) and Meghana (Samyuktha) – to unite this pair, but they in turn pave way for comedy of errors.

Prakash Raj churns an off-beat drama and proves his mettle both as an actor and director. The way he fixes the professions of his characters surface their inner self. An archaeologist likes to excavate something precious from the earth and from people’s heart. A voice-over artist always tries to listen to her inner voice and echo others’ feelings. Then with some allegorical references he makes the proceedings interesting – be it the opening montage of food items, which salivate your hunger pangs or be it the witty dialogue at proper places.

The director juxtaposes the emotional highs and lows of the lead pair as a neatly drawn geometric figure. In the film, the characters of Kali and Gowri face similar problems and feel emptiness in their lives at the same time. It’s like them taking turns to repeat an agonizing moment. The characters are believable and appear true to life with more than able performances of Prakash Raj and Sneha. Even their short Black & White back stories add a lot to validate their penchant for 'food'.    

Though the sub-plot of an aadivasi, and the entire set-up of a company trying to exploit him, seems unwarranted; it was used effectively in the latter half to create a void in Kali’s life and what follows is an emotional outburst. The impetus from this incident helps him gather nerve to try and reconnect with Gowri. I see it as a narrative tool plugged in to bring out the best in the protagonist's character.

The first half of Ulavacharu Biryani is filled with subtle portions of humor and the second half tries to open the faucets of tears for the audience, but ends up as an over-stretched effort to get things back in place. It's just in this zone, the film loses its steam. There it also staggers to set the right tone, as it borders on mature affliction and cheeky romance. 

Ulavacharu Biryani flourishes in the technical departments where camera'woman' Preetha creates an aura that’s reminiscent of the work of veteran cinematographer P C Sreeram. The sepia shots in the songs stand out and the entire cake making episode is glorified through her lens. My personal favorite was when Gowri passes her driving test where her expression gets captured through a GoPro shot coupled with an uplifting yet playful BGM. The color grading also helped a lot in painting the frames with the right tinge. 

The music of Ilayaraja fills all the blank spaces in the film. It punctuates every scene so effectively and covers up few plot holes, which otherwise glare out of the screen. The BGMs accompany every mood and accentuate even simple scenes. You can play a naming game and create a long list of tracks those can be used for scenes of realization, angst, proposal, confrontation, and many more. At places, you get a nostalgic feel of the 80s, and few scenes are garnished with techno, jazz and archetypal string arrangements of the Maestro. The background score is a treat for Raja’s fans.

While setting an emotive groove, Ulavacharu Biryani flushes out few shortcomings, which make the film unpalatable in some parts. The 'food' side of the story is barely visible after interval. On one side, the plot thickens and fizzles in no time, and on the other, the conflict between the lead characters arises and gets resolved towards the end without a proper cinematic justification. However, the magic and music of the film leaves a good taste to relish for making it a culinary consonance. 

My Rating: Expectation - 8/10; Reality - 6/10

This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper. 
An edited version of this piece can be found here.