tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88174884447374330122024-03-16T06:40:17.064+05:30Inside the CelluloidA place to discover new cinema and rediscover classic masterpieces.Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.comBlogger133125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-2781977445223219852015-10-09T22:02:00.001+05:302015-10-09T22:03:35.822+05:30Movie Review - Rudhramadevi (Telugu) - An epic biopic!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><i><span style="color: #990000;">Rudhramadevi</span></i> is a historical drama layered with a solid story that unfolds sword fights, war strategies, cabals hungry for power and many more in its narrative course.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">The impeccable set design calls for an applause and so is the mind-blowing and mesmerizing music by Maestro Ilayaraja. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">Of all the actors, Anushka and Allu Arjun effortlessly take the cake. The latter's rendition of his lines is a killer. Chiru's voice-over and Bunny's makeover take you on a high.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">Though there are few lags and technical snags, the novel treatment to this piece of history overshadows them. The twists also pop up at right places to hold your attention.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">The film also defies some elements of science esp. when it comes to acoustics, there's an entwining rope acting as a pulley, and to add further a rope pulls the weight of a man and a horse through a closing gate. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">The editing becomes botched up as the film inches towards the climax. As all the soldiers are dressed in same uniform it's difficult to differentiate and the brothers making merry on the wall is supporting whom? Their own soldiers or Gona's army? So many questions pass by leading to incoherence in the narration. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">Gunasekhar with his army of cherry-picked cast and crew unleashes magic. His social commentary is relevant to stigmas and taboos prevalent then and now. The promising revelation towards the end of the western world learning from Indian ethos is so heart-rending. Many scenes take you through an emotional upheaval and the background music complements them quite well. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">In this Guna's magnum opus, 3D adds depth to the visual style and occasionally hits you with flying leaves and arrows. There are few 'popping out of the screen' effects.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">On the whole, the film is worth the wait and worth the watch, and stands tall as an interesting tale of history!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating</span> - <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 9/10; Reality - 7/10</span></b></span></div>
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Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-23529490670616932412015-04-18T16:29:00.000+05:302015-04-18T16:38:10.868+05:30Movie Review – O Kadhal Kanmani / Ok Bangaram – Alaipayuthey / Sakhi 2.0<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Harmless spoilers ahead!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">O Kadhal Kanmani / Ok Bangaram</span></i> is a warm welcome to the world of
Maniratnam tropes – rain and train, pain and gain, a bubbly lead pair, search
for your loved ones, a city trying to become a standalone character,
gift-wrapped visuals, refreshing music... and many more sans the heavy-duty
emotional drain that used to be a highpoint in his films – at least the ones
where LOVE took the centre stage. With this film, the director dishes out a
light-hearted version of ‘love’, tailor-made to suit the palates of the younger
generation. The end result is that your eyes are left dry and your expectations
run high and dry. </div>
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The protagonist of the film Adi
(Dulquer Salman) is a video game designer who chances upon an architect Tara
(Nitya Menen). Adi has a tight deadline to design a game called Mumbai 2.0. A
casual reference or the one that surfaces the intricacies of <i><span style="color: #990000;">OKK</span></i>, which can be safely called
Alaipayuthey 2.0 – a prequel and an upgraded version of the 2000 flick. The
film also borrows some traces from Siddharth and Trisha side of the story from <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Aaytha Ezuthu</i> </span>(<i><span style="color: #990000;">Yuva</span></i> in Telugu and Hindi). This is Mani sir trying to relive his glorious
past and recreating characters and milieu that made him a name to revere upon.</div>
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There were endearing moments in
the film between the young pair of Adi and Tara, and a stark contrast of them can
be seen when the camera swings to an older pair of Ganapathy uncle (Prakash
Raj) and Bhavani aunty (Leela Samson). Prakash Raj’s presence is subdued to an
extreme. Here, Mani tried to do a balancing act on his tight rope walk to
convince everyone. He showed the polarities of casual flings and serious
relationships, love and career, living for you and living for others et al.</div>
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The art director gets the trick
right in creating a Maniratnam ambience. There are cool office spaces that
allow you to walk-in and walk-out at your convenience and there are lodges and PG
accommodations that are aesthetically kitschy! Where else can you find such
beautifully designed set pieces? And wait; a sermon on architecture, by a doyen
in that field, for a bunch of working architects looks like a class for
freshman. </div>
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The city of Mumbai wears a
different look through the lens of P C Sreeram, but couldn’t stand as a whole
in building the chaos, tension or exuberance into the lives of the characters.
Unlike a <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Kahaani</i> </span>(Kolkata) or a <i><span style="color: #990000;">The Lunchbox</span></i> (Mumbai), here, the city
just remains as a prop. What Mani succeeds in is the way he piles many layers
of stereotypes and quashes them by unfolding something different at the end of
each scene. However, they too turn monotonous after a point.</div>
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Had it been a movie made by one
of the fresh breed of directors, I would have appreciated the content and
effort. But being a fan boy of Maniratnam and growing with his movies, l had a
truckload of expectations before I walked into the cinema. Making it visually
appealing with some cranky angles and framings, and lacing it with classical yet
refreshing music of A R Rahman is just a glimpse of the veteran film-maker I wished to see.
You won’t win brownie points just by scratching the surface and giving a
touch-and-go treatment for relationships.</div>
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Where is the soul and emotional
core of a Maniratnam love story?? To be precise, ‘Where’s the story’?</div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">OKK</span></i> has a resemblance to many Telugu films like<span style="color: #990000;"> <i>Swayamvaram</i></span>, <i><span style="color: #990000;">Orange </span></i>and <i><span style="color: #990000;">Anthaku Mundu Aa
Taruvaata</span> </i>and something like a <i><span style="color: #990000;">Cocktail</span></i>
from Bollywood. Many directors such as Gautham Menon made some better films
that operate in this format. Moreover, I presumed Mani sir would challenge the conventional
s of marriage and give us a different ending by not marrying the couple. But
the conservative personality in him came to the fore and that left me disheartened.
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In a scene, Nitya’s Tara (getting
into the shoes of Revathi’s character from <i><span style="color: #990000;">Mouna Ragam</span></i>) asks ‘Is a marriage
certificate an approval for being together?’ What happened to this thought,
which died all of a sudden, when insecurities crept in and the couple wanted to
get married?</div>
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Mani sir also said love is about
understanding and living together but not about the institution of marriage but
all this was brought to a hasty climax by marrying each other.</div>
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So, owing to all these
incoherences, Mani’s fanboy got disappointed.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">My Rating: </span><span style="color: purple; font-size: large;">Expectation – 8/10; Reality – 5/10</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-88424925132695005692014-10-18T01:49:00.002+05:302014-10-18T21:04:12.233+05:30Movie Review - Oka Laila Kosam (Telugu) - A mediocre mishmash!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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There were love stories that filled the air with romance and pain, and
then there are love stories that only bank on the salable factor by forcefully
inducing old school clichés and <i>masala</i> tropes in the narration. <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Oka
Laila Kosam</i> </span>struggles to get into the zone of the former, but nestles in
the arms of the latter. Director Vijay Kumar Konda won the hearts of many with
his first film and tries to recreate the same magic by weaving a similar fabric
replete with embellishments. However, this time the gloss stays afloat keeping
other elements at the bottom. </div>
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Time and again, we are forced upon a happy-go-lucky guy who is
self-indulgent to the core. On the day of his convocation at Indian School of Business Studies (nice name though), he professes about 'freedom' and leaves many cushy job offers for it. This spoilt brat falls head over heels for someone with the qualities of a good samaritan. One after the other, few misunderstandings pop up
and the gal tries her best to stay away from the guy. But the guy never loses hope and makes it a point to throw many gibes at the gal to the level of intolerance. </div>
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The hero also dabbles with writing and pens his love story with the title Oka Laila Kosam; if that offers some respite, so be it. However, the book gets a mention only during the start and somewhere towards the end, making it another ill-placed prop in the screenplay. After multiple episodes of 'comedy of errors', finally, an untimely twist brings things to a cinematic
conclusion paving a way for 'all’s well that ends well'. That's some effort from my end to forcefully fit in Shakespeare in this review and nothing magical of sorts happen in the film. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Oka Laila Kosam</span></i> seems
like a bag of borrowings – some from recent times and some as old as mountains. All these make it a mediocre mishmash. The visuals and few scenarios offer freshness but the director is hell bent to
Telugu-fy the screenplay with mundane treatment. Some sparks which fly in the
film’s initial run time are barely visible after interval. Only when Ali appears on screen, you muster all your energy to giggle, otherwise the film stretches like a chewing gum to test your patience. </div>
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The
three principal characters (one being a comedian) are not handled with conviction and lot of
inconsistencies creep into the narrative. Even some sub-plots protrude as sore thumbs. Adding further woes, the chemistry
between the lead pair couldn’t crackle and the jokes, at times, appear as
assortments of canned laughter. As the end credits roll, you'd be surprised to see the names of 'Satyam' Rajesh, Dhanraj, Josh Ravi, Vennela Kishore etc., and wonder where they were... err, why they were!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anup Rubens and Andrew are the real winners with their music and
camerawork respectively. The visual panache is finely coupled with few lilting
tunes and refreshing background score. Towards the end, the film gets a melodramatic tinge with an over use of emotional tracks,
but the performances fail to live up to it. Even the character incoherencies play
spoilsport in this film, which stands tall on lackadaisical writing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;">Oka Laila Kosam</span> </i><span style="text-align: justify;">harps
on a cliched plot and an age-old storytelling technique. So, it remains as a haphazard effort to paint a
coming-of-age love story on a stereotypical canvas. And, if you are looking for some 'love' or some 'story' in this love story, then you may be disappointed!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 7/10; Reality - 4/10</span></span></b></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
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Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-90895434824785012212014-10-04T19:43:00.006+05:302014-10-04T19:44:39.278+05:30Movie Review - Govindudu Andarivadele (Telugu) - A colorful canvas!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Picture this… An urbane bloke
from the most urbanized surroundings lands up at rural premises to square
things off, a family head melts like a slice of butter towards the end, a gal
unleashes her vigorous side when with friends but shifts to a different gear
when at home, a generous exchange of gibes by the lead pair, a rival family
tries to use the village for their selfish goals, a member of the house with a
villainous shade, more colors splatter on the frames than those seen in any
commercials for a paint brand, chlorophyll soaked landscapes, larger than life
sets and a magical ‘yellow’ light. That’s a warm welcome to the world of
Krishna Vamsi. </div>
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In a time tested formula; Ram Charan
plays Abhiram in <i><span style="color: #990000;">Govindudu Andarivadale</span></i>,
whose objective is to unite the family. He crosses paths of a Pawan Kalyan from
<i><span style="color: #990000;">Attarintiki Daredi</span></i>, a Jr. NTR from <i><span style="color: #990000;">Brundavanam</span></i>, a Venkatesh from <i><span style="color: #990000;">Kalisundaam Raa</span></i>, and not to forget a
Meena from <i><span style="color: #990000;">Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu</span></i>.
Even other films of Krishna Vamsi fall in the line of the character sketches,
conflicts and resolutions. However, every aspect of the film gets a proper
shaping with KV’s mark style and sensibilities. You may feel such kind of
emotions and expressions can’t be churned out in a daily humdrum, but the
perceptions take a detour in this entertaining throwback to other films, with its
lead performers firing on all cylinders. Though some characters get a miniscule
screen time, the casting never goes wrong.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Prakash Raj is not the regular patriarch
limping with a stick but holds a prowess of gyrating it to make a hard-hitting
statement. Jaya Sudha does lot of talking through her eyes and her climactic
breakdown is sheer brilliance. There’s an electrifying chemistry between Ram
Charan and Kajal that sets off a fiery romance laden with a sacrifice. Albeit
wearing a dark hue, Srikanth adds humor to the proceedings and acts as a key
plot driver. Kamalini looks endearing but still tries to breathe in the mould
created by Sekhar Kammula. The other bunch of actors just get their act right. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The protagonist’s character needed some
pruning to ward off few character incoherencies. He is seen as a Telugu
speaking lad in a foreign nation, but all this goes for a toss when he comes to
India. He mouths only ‘Dude’ and ‘Bro’ while talking to people. And his pretext
of entering the village to learn the nuances of agriculture never sees the
light of the day. He is only busy fighting, romancing, emoting (for lack of a
better word) and setting things right for all the members of the family.
However, the rugby playing skills of the character are used to good effect in
crucial fight sequences. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The cameraman Sameer Reddy takes a pat on
the back and also the writers for inducing the concept of mood based lighting
in the screenplay. The lighting is soft, ambient and makes a hyperbolic
pronouncement of the vibrant nature of the family. On the other side, it is
dark and surfaces the gloomy side of the villain’s house and also in the climax
when Jaya Sudha talks about the consequences that may force a family to become separated.
The ‘yellow’ light makes its presence felt in most of the frames. The music
also pumps soul into the narrative. Thanks to Yuvan Shankar Raja, we could
listen to lot of wind instruments in the background. This comes as a relief
when our movies are replete with heavy percussions. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Govindudu Andarivadale</span></i> may be an effort
to dig deep into the same genre again and again, but this time it gets a master
stroke from Krishna Vamsi on a colorful canvas. The wafer-thin storyline is
supplemented with an ensemble cast of performers, overcrowded frames and dollops
of melodrama to bring a gleam on your faces. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 8/10; Reality - 6/10</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/cDDaEWX4j1Y?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-63681249877833341112014-09-27T12:31:00.000+05:302014-09-27T12:56:05.870+05:30Movie Review - Loukyam (Telugu) - A cringe-worthy cocktail <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: justify;">What’s the difference between film-making and cocktail mixing? In the
latter, the mixologists have made mixing drinks an artful endeavor and their
adroitness of how to shake, stir and pour churns out a perfect blend. But,
alas! This skill goes missing in the film-makers who never think twice to make
a film on an age-old template. We can’t even call them ‘an old wine in the new
bottle’, ‘leave your brains at home’ etc., as these phrases, like our formulaic
films, are getting into the folds of clichés with their repetitive usage.</span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheZcRYlGsDZ9oqr8yPPE-EY9SPTQ5-Z3gw5p24RLrL7S3aHhr_ts4DH_q62adWu44jpthYdygxF8bEXGxYcerHikjSO23GNN-4qi2h5UFfd5sBw-YipGx6kcFBfMKwGF77lP2GVUQKQgA/s1600/Loukyam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheZcRYlGsDZ9oqr8yPPE-EY9SPTQ5-Z3gw5p24RLrL7S3aHhr_ts4DH_q62adWu44jpthYdygxF8bEXGxYcerHikjSO23GNN-4qi2h5UFfd5sBw-YipGx6kcFBfMKwGF77lP2GVUQKQgA/s1600/Loukyam.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Yet again our hero Venky (Gopi Chand) is a happy-go-lucky guy who is
always there to help and is very effective than any ‘Public Grievance Redressal
System’. He helps his friend to runaway with his loved one and, for this
valiant act; he earns the wrath of the girl’s family. Let’s call it a <i><span style="color: #990000;">Ready</span></i>
or a <i><span style="color: #990000;">Rabhasa.</span></i></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Hero falling in love with villain’s sister can be attributed to a <i><span style="color: #990000;">Mass</span></i>
or a <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Dhee</i>.</span> This time it tilts more towards <i><span style="color: #990000;">Dhee</span></i> as the tone is
comical. Wait, our hero asks her to spend a day with him so that he can make
her realize his love. The end result arrives in the form of a text message – ‘Hi’.
That’s strange. That’s <i><span style="color: #990000;">Mass. </span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Our hero enters the college and tries to woo the girl by pretending as a
police officer. This can trace back to a Vishal starrer <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Malaikottai</i> </span>(<i><span style="color: #990000;">Bhayya</span></i>
in Telugu). Not only that, he also learns her hobbies through a friend and
makes her dance! Even Gopi Chand’s <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Ontari</i> </span>had a similar spin-off And
when she realizes that our hero is not what he pretends to be, she asks for an
apology and the regular teasing, singing, dancing routine starts. During these
episodes, there’s lot of eye candy painted on the screen and Rakul Preet looks
drop dead gorgeous. All thanks to her styling, but she needs more meat to her
character. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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There are many illogical and unwarranted scenes in <i><span style="color: #990000;">Loukyam</span></i>, which
do no good for the screenplay rather than offering some throwback to
Gopichand’s previous films. May be the writers wanted to pick few good scenes
that may work out effectively for this hero and put the audience’s grey cells
in active mode. Yes, they need to identify which scene is from which movie.
Here, the regular mould of Kona Venkat gets a slight tweaking as the villain
and his henchmen visit the hero’s place post interval. That’s a structural
reversal. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Though the entire film looks like a bag of borrowings, the high point of <i>Loukyam</i>
comes in the form of comic playoff. Brahmanandam as Sippy and ’30 Years’ Prudvi
as ‘Boiling Star’ Babloo pack so much of humor ranging from cheesy, slapstick,
situational and lots more. The <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Legend</i> </span>spoof comes as a relief package
towards the end. So, the fact can be reiterated that the comedians can only
anchor a movie and keep it afloat amid turbulence. <i><span style="color: #990000;">Loukyam</span> </i>also tries to
blur the difference between a villain and comedian. This time around, Gopi
Chand mellows down the action quotient and stays close to the safe zone of
comedy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Loukyam</span> </i>treads a path
where comedy overpowers creativity and peels a layer of irreverence when the
hero believes that a journey to a woman’s heart is not through roses or
exchanging pleasantries but a tight slap on her face. So, where has all the respect
and susceptibility for women gone. Although few bits-and-pieces of comedy and
the film’s rich texture drives you to buy this product, a sickening blend of stale
ingredients makes it a cringe-worthy cocktail that leaves a bad aftertaste. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span><span style="color: purple;"> Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 4/10</span></b></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dpjdwp3aosg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-57231981668751363102014-09-19T16:45:00.002+05:302014-09-21T16:07:57.921+05:30Movie Review - Aagadu (Telugu) - Superstar, the showstopper!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: justify;">Director Sreenu Vytla has verve about his film-making; rich, buoyant and lion-hearted.
For the third time in a row, he gets his hero to don a cop avatar and for some
strange reason, police and their rib tickling modus operandi to deal with goons
exude a weird allurement. He ensures to make </span><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;">Aagadu</span> </i><span style="text-align: justify;">grand, potent and obligatory
like folklores, which can draw the viewers into them. This time he even goes
overboard with his allusions to Ram Gopal Varma!</span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qm5cyaWFAZJzpRVOQDOCN-RrMBE9l-LU0WANPjXODKeKLshfh_dQ-1_tN9-09POxAVJhknkT4_lN0S-iE_7Pg0e5eXeqZDWQAk8Mk0P_wrLAMlIrg2u8oAVmoqjtxaiRwTLw-A6y7Z0/s1600/Aagadu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qm5cyaWFAZJzpRVOQDOCN-RrMBE9l-LU0WANPjXODKeKLshfh_dQ-1_tN9-09POxAVJhknkT4_lN0S-iE_7Pg0e5eXeqZDWQAk8Mk0P_wrLAMlIrg2u8oAVmoqjtxaiRwTLw-A6y7Z0/s1600/Aagadu.jpg" height="200" width="400" /></a></div>
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After chewing some time for the lead character’s childhood episodes and
explaining the current status quo, the director gives a hat tip to the
Spaghetti Westerns to pull off a dusty entry for the hero, where the latter flashes
his towering machismo with a monumental fight sequence amid the dust flying in
the air. Like every other film coming out in recent times, <i><span style="color: #990000;">Aagadu</span></i>, too,
is based on a <i>masala </i>cliché: a wisecracking yet dead serious cop taking
on the evil forces that bring the clouds of gloom to a town. And this template
is fleshed out with flavorful Tollywood <i>masala. </i>This time the protagonist
wears a new attitude and gives some importance to his sidekick as they set on a
hilarious mission.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The plot of <i><span style="color: #990000;">Aagadu</span></i> belongs to a bygone era featuring a messiah of
masses and may not figure among those intense cop dramas or thrillers which
would drop the jaws or freeze the eyelids. The technicalities are adequate to
showcase decent visuals. However, the film emanates gibes and quips, and its
use of different slangs for the hero’s character amply accentuates the comic quotient.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Mahesh is a natural charmer stealing the show with his screen presence and immaculate rendition of his lines. Though, at times, I felt he missed a pause or a punctuation here and there. Tamanna makes a comely appearance with her
ethnic look. She has a very limited role and is barely visible in the second
half. Shruti Hassan sizzles in an inevitable item number. Brahmanandam and M S
Narayana put in their parts to good effect. As standalone entities, the
former’s comic episodes make you fall off your chair but don’t quite gel well
into the narration. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It hurts to frown at this film for the shades of resemblance it leaves
around and for the way it does a repetitive act of a hero making a fool out of
the comedians and the villains indulging in buffoonery rather than spreading
menace all over. The perennial problem with a Sreenu Vytla film is that the main
antagonist fails to get registered; same is the case with <i><span style="color: #990000;">Aagadu</span>.</i> Just
during the wet firecracker kind of a climax, you realize that there’s a villain
character (played by Sonu Sood) that needs to be eliminated. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The piece de resistance of <i><span style="color: #990000;">Aagadu</span></i> is the way it draws the contours
of irony by trying to overthrow stereotypical constructions staying in a
formulaic zone. Albeit Mahesh’s character ridicules the practice of infesting a
film with punch lines and one-liners, he indulges in mouthing many of them with
remarkable ease. Even though the film lacks a novel storyline and traverses in
an archetypal Sreenu Vytla zone, it doesn’t disappoint for there is a vigor that
is contagious. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
With just enough comedy and drama to anchor the sweeping spectacle of Superstar
Mahesh Babu smashing everyone and everything in sight, Sreenu Vytla’s <i><span style="color: #990000;">Aagadu</span></i>
gratifyingly reverberates commercial cinema. To complain that the scenes are
overdone and overproduced is to find fault with a kaleidoscope for having too
many colors and patterns. That’s what Sreenu Vytla’s cinema is. That’s what Sreenu
Vytla cinema needs! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span><span style="color: purple;"> Expectation - 7/10; Reality - 5/10</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/MntBRK8GNag?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b><br />
<b>An edited version of this piece can be found <a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=47904" target="_blank">here.</a></b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-91054063499132939782014-09-13T14:09:00.007+05:302014-09-13T14:24:06.243+05:30Movie Review - Anukshanam (Telugu) - Thriller sans thrills!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Anukshanam</span></i> was in the news much before its release, not just for
the reason it’s another RGV film; but for the innovative pattern of
distribution it ventured into. With that, the premise and plot elements were
also revealed to an extent. So, the audience expects an intense thriller before
walking into the cinema. This concept may sound new on the landscape of Telugu
cinema, but has been handled differently and perfectly in other languages,
especially the crime thrillers of Malayalam. Then parallels would be rife and how
RGV managed to create discretion by holding the bits and pieces of thrills so
tautly will make it a cut above the rest. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0KKVFdN7JLUCjmzNl0weUZdb2D5yCHX7wMRqBv15sf9XSdSV1hMMkZH5gZ2WyY_ZoNz6IdPEQbDdVMJRJpb5txRmU6hZFgBiXjeokO_jx3nP3Yy0by1jne3qbeOipuGXRHSICWxtn2Kg/s1600/Anukshanam+final+release+date.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0KKVFdN7JLUCjmzNl0weUZdb2D5yCHX7wMRqBv15sf9XSdSV1hMMkZH5gZ2WyY_ZoNz6IdPEQbDdVMJRJpb5txRmU6hZFgBiXjeokO_jx3nP3Yy0by1jne3qbeOipuGXRHSICWxtn2Kg/s1600/Anukshanam+final+release+date.jpg" height="281" width="400" /></a></div>
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The movie opens with a psycho
killer taking his first victim. Then it runs on the track of a killing spree
where the number becomes insurmountable to send enough shivers down the spines
of the residents of the city. Gautham (Vishnu) is the special officer in-charge
who is on his toes to nab the criminal. Revathi, an NRI who did an extensive
research on serial killers comes to his rescue by helping him understand the
modus operandi of such people. Together, they try to get close to the killer.</div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Anukshanam</span> </i>is a rare breed of cinema, where the audience’s
preconceived notions get quashed one after the other. Some for good and some go
beyond control. The killer’s character is revealed in the first scene, so it’s
not another ‘Who done it?’ genre. The killer gets his prey so effortlessly
without any resistance, so it’s not a police story where the cops overpower
with their heroics. There is zilch of engrossing investigation or ‘connect the
dots’ spinoff or finding any traces of vital clues all through the film. A
major chunk of the film is dedicated to understanding the background of the
softcore individual who turned into a killer, rather than piling more layers of
intrigue. Don’t know whether the intention is to send the killer to a
rehabilitation centre rather than to a place of confinement. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The characters behave quite
differently than required. A journalist always goes with an overblown presentation
of cops as spectators and mere caricatures. Revathi’s character brings her
personal story to the fore, which is unwarranted. A senior cop gets the
information on phone after a gruesome act, and pops up with some
flash-in-the-pan moments during press meets. And the behavior of the Home
Minister falls on the extremes with his callous nature in this age of media
activism. The purpose of Brahmandam’s character still remains a boggling
question!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
RGV sparkles at places with his
technique. There are no unconventional camera angles and the mood and ambience
were set up meticulously for the flow of events to seep in. However, the
repetitive use of similar sounds for every genre makes it quite jarring. In a
typical RGV style, the performances by the central characters are well
conceived. Surya as the killer spearheads the film with finesse. </div>
<br />
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The movie borrows some traces
from the films of Davind Fincher and the pre-climax showdown is reminiscent of<i> <span style="color: #990000;">Se7en</span>.</i> The film’s short runtime and
adequate pace may turn into its favour. However, <i><span style="color: #990000;">Anukshanam</span></i> neither stands tall for its substance nor for the sparkling
implementation of the written material by the director to create an
earth-shattering product. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expecation - 6/10; Reality - 3/10</span></span></b></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/52xOzerRXgU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-22803755215474762162014-09-13T00:02:00.002+05:302014-09-13T07:36:37.128+05:30Movie Review - Power (Telugu) - ‘Power’less string of scrapes!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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There is a clear distinction set
for commercial-style cop stories. They have to be loud and darn loud – both in
terms of the background score that tries to elevate the scenes and also the uncanny
sounds that only find a place in such films. Of course, you can’t imagine
listening to thuds and dishums in real life scenarios.<span style="color: #990000;"> </span><i><span style="color: #990000;">Power</span> </i>wanders
around this ambit and climbs many notches in rinsing and repeating the
formulaic template of a <i>masala</i> entertainer. There’s no harm in dishing
out <i>masala</i>, but to what extent is it palatable and how to run a quality
check of the ingredients used would be a matter of concern. </div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNK9cPMDXAvWbkyYq938JKDCp953dKBiNpn-H33ejUEsltcnhdWb4xyj-E_pgq-3J68c3T_EHV2bOx4J1UWSTbMQdc5JMS9s85NE9EA2CVgpel62-BcoKVsafA54bZ2QS5-bthhzPwLc/s1600/Power-Telugu-Movie-Wallpapers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNK9cPMDXAvWbkyYq938JKDCp953dKBiNpn-H33ejUEsltcnhdWb4xyj-E_pgq-3J68c3T_EHV2bOx4J1UWSTbMQdc5JMS9s85NE9EA2CVgpel62-BcoKVsafA54bZ2QS5-bthhzPwLc/s1600/Power-Telugu-Movie-Wallpapers.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Power</i> stays on the fulcrum
with <i><span style="color: #990000;">Balupu</span></i> and <i><span style="color: #990000;">Vikramarkudu</span></i> on its extreme ends. In between,
there’s a <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Don Seenu, Julayi, Gentleman, Daruvu, Lakshmi Narasimha</i> </span>et al
trying to cling on it to get a perfect balancing act. The film explodes in
Kolkata with a high on adrenaline chase sequence chewing loads of aerial
footage. Here, Ravi Teja is Baladev Sahay – gutsy yet corrupt police officer.
Then the smoke trail leads to another place where a different Ravi Teja flashes
in a mass avatar in the form of Tirupathi. Here, he is a wannabe cop and runs from
pillar to post to get his dream job. The film shifts between these two
characters with interspersing episodes from both the places and an inevitable
flashback to fix the motive of the protagonist in a fight between good and evil.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Now, my question is simple. Why
do these movies have to be so predictable? Director K S Ravindra joins the
bandwagon of writer-turned-directors and stays close to the concoction he
churned during his fledgling days. He is reluctant to tamper with a successful
streak of mimicking the framing devices such as an honest cop (with a wife and
a young kid) at the receiving end, a mother on her death bed, a caricatured
heroine who plays a second fiddle in the flashback episode, an officer’s
subordinates with a stench of loyalty, and many more to amp up the emotional
quotient. In case of <i><span style="color: #990000;">Power</span></i>, we know what’s going to happen in the next,
and the next scene. So, we don’t have to wait for a long time for the so called
surprises to unfold on the screen. However, one or two so called twists have
been handled well. </div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Power</span></i> is a strange
regression in the context of a cop-versus-politician kind of themes. There are
some tokenistic attempts at making the hero a larger-than-life colossus. As ACP
Baladev Sahay, Ravi Teja is comical and brooding. He mixes both the shades to
surface the expressions archetypal of a cop with an ulterior motive. As
Tirupathi, he chuckles and crackles to the core by reprising his acts from <i><span style="color: #990000;">Khatarnaak</span></i>
and <i><span style="color: #990000;">Kick.</span> </i>He along with Brahmanandam tries to stir a laugh riot but
fails to pull off a <i><span style="color: #990000;">Krishna</span></i>-esque act. Even those few comic spin-offs are
clasped in a cocoon of <i><span style="color: #990000;">Balupu.</span></i></div>
<br />
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There is an ample scope to do
things right with more research put into the script, but the makers paid no
heed to it. Instead they have resorted to a big hero, colorful songs and old <i>masala
</i>tropes to fill the film’s palette. Though the characters belong to multiple
geographies, the diversity never seeps into - the story’s texture. The entire
Kolkata episode with Telugu speaking people seems like one that’s shot locally
and offers no justification. There are overt references to the uniform
reminding the police force of their duty, but the hero puts you in a confused
mode by wearing both white and khakhi clothes alternately. All these make <i><span style="color: #990000;">Power</span> </i>a powerless string
of scrapes that hinge on the template of a routine cop drama. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 4/10</span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/d_XWXeQzylM/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/d_XWXeQzylM&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/d_XWXeQzylM&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-28065331138200238392014-09-05T20:52:00.003+05:302014-09-05T20:55:15.956+05:30Movie Review - Weekend Love (Telugu) - Routine yet refreshing!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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You walk into the cinema with very low expectations, and the experience
slowly turns out to be a bagful of surprises. Then you try to cherish every bit
of it and pat on your back for your luck. But this effect becomes fleeting, and
as film inches towards the interval you mellow down your expectations. Then
again the film rises like a high tide, giving a flight to your imagination, and
switching between a smooth and a turbulent sail to reach its climactic shore.
This experience can be summed up in a phrase for a film’s title called <i><span style="color: #990000;">Weekend
Love. </span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kbw36ZP8lCNpV4eHn0VDcjOyC3ni4B1CAkMsC3vQB4Ljd4AVgdVCcXAdx0ltTYWzhkEm7iMJo2UQT9yQ5UmcCjDHtBr51cN45vE7fQNue8AoGYIQW6FT1jTlQhDpVmNJS6oNvjct9mk/s1600/weekend+love+(6).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kbw36ZP8lCNpV4eHn0VDcjOyC3ni4B1CAkMsC3vQB4Ljd4AVgdVCcXAdx0ltTYWzhkEm7iMJo2UQT9yQ5UmcCjDHtBr51cN45vE7fQNue8AoGYIQW6FT1jTlQhDpVmNJS6oNvjct9mk/s1600/weekend+love+(6).jpg" height="192" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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The film is an assimilation of many stories that form the bone of
contention for today’s youth as well as their parents. Amid all these, director
Nagu Gavara manages to cook a fine broth of a love story – an archaic one set
in a modern IT ecosystem. Ganesh (Adith) is a believer of casual flings and Sandhya
(Supriya) is inclined towards relationships that stay from here till eternity.
These two contrasting characters are colleagues in a software company. How they
fall for each other and how Sandhya becomes a catalyst for change in Ganesh’s
attitude towards life forms the rest of the story. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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There’s a clear-cut demarcation between a love story and a moralizing love
story. We have witnessed many films that revolved around both the genres. <i><span style="color: #990000;">Weekend
Love</span></i> just tries to do a balancing act between the two. The outsider’s
perception of software industry and its work culture has been elevated to next
level and at the same time few myths got quashed. The major chunk of the film
is laced with situational comedy and the quirky characters bring the house
down. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Adith marks the arrival of another commercial hero; he also says that
funnily in a scene. His dances and fights perfectly fit the bill and he shows a
lot of promise for an actor who is one movie old in Telugu. He is in his elements
and is the force behind the film. All through the film, Supriya struggles to
fix the right emotions. She tries to look her character by wearing ethnic wear,
albeit with low necklines. There’s a clear miss of a charm that defines her
fragile nature. The supporting cast gets its part right with clearly etched
roles. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Weekend Love</span></i> also has
its share of shortcomings. The scenes are so much stretched that you bleed from
boredom to watch the inevitable unfold on screen. You want to count the minutes
a bit faster to reach to the next scene. The age old tactic of a conflict
resolution mechanism has been used to full force, thus opening the faucets of
tears. Many such old school ways of film-making transform this seemingly fresh
tale of love into a string of stale additives. However, the justification to
every character with a proper arc makes this film a borderline preachy yet
perfect presentation of a story that’s ridden with attitudes and behavioral
traits of the present generation and ways to mend them before the imminent damage.
Here, the writer-director tugs at your heart strings with his incisive
dialogue. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">2.5 /5</span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dQyg6maRJiM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-41237107880614797912014-08-30T17:58:00.004+05:302014-08-30T18:01:02.526+05:30Movie Review - Rabhasa (Telugu) - The FORMULA Factor!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: justify;">If you dream to make a film with
a star and an astronomical budget, you will run a double check on most of the
things to get them in the right proportions. Many a time we see some old plots
working big on screen; there might be umpteen reasons for that, or may be no
reason. But if someone makes it a habit and calls it an industry benchmark of
repetitive use of a formula with different set of actors and a minor tweaking,
things may not come out glorified always.</span><i style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;">Rabhasa</span></i><span style="text-align: justify;"> gets into the clutches of a time-tested template that’s deeply
ingrained in the minds of audience and film-makers alike.</span><br />
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Rabhasa</span></i> is a cinematic realization of dreams of many characters – a
mother, a girl, a father, a son, two feuding families and the list is endless.
But the catch here is, only our mighty hero struggles to the core to bring
others close to their dreams. In this process, he never allows the dream
machine of the audience to watch an engaging, entertaining cinema to take-off.
He only feels his job is done if he makes the goons do a salsa in the air and
shake a leg with two blistering beauties.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Director Santosh Srinivas delves
into the story and characters without an iota of novelty. He never gave it a
thought that audience might outsmart his narrative style and predict the so
called plot twists. The campus comedy scenes in the first half remind you of <i><span style="color: #990000;">Bunny</span></i> with an unwarranted overdose of <i><span style="color: #990000;">Attantiki Daredi</span>.</i> However, the scenes
between Praneetha and Samantha don’t let any sparks to fly off and again it’s
NTR’s show all the way. <i><span style="color: purple;">Raakasi</span></i> song
in this part comes as a relief. <i> <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The second half rides high on the
emotional quotient with immense and inevitable action sequences ruling the
roost. Don’t be surprised to see a lavish spread of <i><span style="color: #990000;">Brundavanam</span>, <span style="color: #990000;">Ready</span> </i>and <i><span style="color: #990000;">Mirchi</span>.</i>
There’s a bit of Brahmanandam added to the mundane offering to make it sugary
and spicy, but that couldn’t thwart the yawn-worthy narration. NTR’s character
breaks out the trauma he’s going through all these days and the sacrifices
lined up in front of him, only in the pre-climax, but the audience never
realizes this intense drama unfolding on the screen. The movie’s template is
also home for many glaring flaws, which defy logic and make the proceedings way
too far-fetched. </div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: #990000;">Rabhasa</span></i> is a strange
regression in the context of a-man-enters-the-mansion-to-change-its-residents
kind of themes. There are some tokenistic attempts at making the hero a
larger-than-life colossus and the heroine, just a showpiece. The movie never
departs from stereotyping a female character where she is only present to fill
the blank spaces with her glamour. The supporting cast never gets their due to
display their acting prowess. They are invariably made dumb beyond their usual
levels. All this has been done under the pretext of raising the hero above all.
Is this character elevation or hero worship? </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The music fails to create the
much need zing for a commercial entertainer. S S Thaman recycles the leftovers
from his inventory and does nothing earth-shattering. The same holds good for
other technical departments. Though NTR’s performance is laudable, it is
watching him reprise many of his past outings. You may watch <i><span style="color: #990000;">Rabhasa</span> </i>if you
can drink an old wine from an old bottle and never complain about it; or if song-and-dance
numbers and overblown fight sequences are your cup of cinema, and painstakingly
accept a long show-reel of the hero for a feature film. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 7/10; Reality - 4/10</span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-11354106514765307972014-08-24T16:55:00.000+05:302014-08-24T16:57:15.937+05:30Movie Review - Nee Jathaga Nenundali (Telugu) - Obsessive-compulsive love story!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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For a long time, I have been waiting
for an old-fashioned, romantic film. I really love them. In recent times, we
hardly see pain and heartbreak getting their due credit in penning a love
story. Either the passion with which these stories are made goes missing or the
film-makers fail to induce soul into their characters. <i><span style="color: #990000;">Nee Jathaga Nenundali</span>
</i>has been touted as a poetic retelling of <i><span style="color: #990000;">Aashiqui 2</span>, </i>which in turn
was a remake of the classic <i>A Star Is Born. </i>Though it manages to pool in
all the old school tricks that go into a conflict-ridden story, it leaves you
wanting for more in terms of a better structure and resolution. <br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimx90J3aN_t_np6e2we6VfNSwVjtRpLNZQd609V8_R_Xo4wMO73ZQsw1ppnRE12gzyzTppgoWYlI0_TYBdK2az5xEHys3LFzqsGYKPUn-iNbXZg-fNjOM6jQlIurbO6GSTBL78-Rs7kvM/s1600/Nee-Jathaga-Nenundali1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimx90J3aN_t_np6e2we6VfNSwVjtRpLNZQd609V8_R_Xo4wMO73ZQsw1ppnRE12gzyzTppgoWYlI0_TYBdK2az5xEHys3LFzqsGYKPUn-iNbXZg-fNjOM6jQlIurbO6GSTBL78-Rs7kvM/s1600/Nee-Jathaga-Nenundali1.jpg" height="200" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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Raghav Jayaram / RJ (Sachiin) is
an alcoholic rock star whose career is on a decline. He bumps into Gayatri (Nazia),
sees his mirror refection, spots a talent, and breaks all hell loose to make
her a singing sensation. A misunderstanding here and there distances them, but
finally they bond together and Gayatri touches the pinnacle of glory. RJ
realizes that Gayatri’s uphill climb should not be curtailed by his
self-destructive mode, so he tries to go away from her. Here, the film takes a
cyclic pattern of the girl struggling to help the guy, but the latter indulges
in his own world of conflicts. The climax gets a tweaking, from the original, to
accommodate ‘a star is born’ culture prevalent here.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The story is not bad, just the
way it is told in an unconvincing way is. The screenplay meanders as it
progresses and doesn’t move you by an inch. We know that RJ is a ‘rock’
sensation but never get to see his heydays, and what the real problem that made
him an alcoholic is. And for God’s sake, why can’t he leave it and try to
resurrect his failing career. A few independent scenes stand out to showcase
the male psyche and its incapability to deal with downfall. However, they fail
to stitch together the emotion and the true intent of this story. Also, the
chemistry between the lead pair never graduates to a level where they can make
such sacrifices. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The performances are dismal with
Sachiin’s wooden face eclipsing others. Some scenes look believable to an
extent, but the dialogues are far-fetched. Every dialogue has been written to
paint a mawkish picture, but they are atrocious and make you laugh in
disbelief. Nobody speaks like that, even in the utmost cinematic constructions.
Again, nobody knows about the hero’s father who plays an agony aunt, err, dad
and is restricted only to telephonic conversations! </div>
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The music is the saving grace,
but for how long. We watch a film for lot many things rather than just the music.
The songs and background score are recreated from the original and few soulful
renditions become repetitive after some time. Like Gayatri who always stays with
RJ and never thinks of getting him admitted into a rehabilitation centre, the
director also focuses only on a strong sense of visual style and leaves the
script and execution in the lurch. A couple of intense scenes and the famous
‘jacket’ moment couldn’t save this film from slipping into the crevices of a
tiresome, syrupy tearjerker.</div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating: </span><span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 4/10</span></span></b></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/YKsJeH8YN1Y?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p><b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></o:p></div>
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<o:p><b>An edited version of this piece can be found <a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=45152" target="_blank">here.</a></b> </o:p></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-78169997561480859562014-08-24T16:48:00.002+05:302014-08-24T16:48:27.458+05:30Movie Review - Lovers (Telugu) - Where is the love?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Lovers</span></i> harps on a point that all it needs to make a Telugu film is a bunch of star comedians and the audience peeps only into the comic department to absolve the other sins committed by the makers. Maruthi sets his foot forward to etch few quirky characters and crowd-pleasing hilarious lines to sell his stuff in the name of cinema. If you are an ardent fan of this film-maker and well-versed with his style of offering, you may buy part of it and for those who are still searching for meaning and promise in cinema, this film distances their expectations by ages. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTWw0kCzJf5kB7pvRRK_rpokYkWUjtAlFE6ENVmaPLqbH-f3No-YNe4OmRrMxZy08ErjEsiy_gUIbP-a_qPxplNFnlTMJWhA4VcsAAZajTFvxrivdsY46Phk_PMrDo0pqbJO8hsv5QCBQ/s1600/Lovers+Telugu+Movie+Stills+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTWw0kCzJf5kB7pvRRK_rpokYkWUjtAlFE6ENVmaPLqbH-f3No-YNe4OmRrMxZy08ErjEsiy_gUIbP-a_qPxplNFnlTMJWhA4VcsAAZajTFvxrivdsY46Phk_PMrDo0pqbJO8hsv5QCBQ/s1600/Lovers+Telugu+Movie+Stills+(3).jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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The film’s flimsy storyline revolves around an insensible boy in a problematic situation because of a girl who is quirky to the core. They study together in their high school and the guy dreams of eliminating her one day. The director tries to project this as the central conflict point, but he forgets that puerile emotions and standings may not stretch for a long time. </div>
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The guy has another story of being lovelorn and going through turmoil in his relationship. When this is brought to the notice of church father, he extracts some chunks from a case study to help the boy. All this may sound ridiculous and so are the lame interval and the climax, which remains as a scar on the face of all old and new love stories. </div>
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Sumanth Ashwin struggles to find his way through the film. Is he trying to do something different, or restricted to taking brickbats from the fairer sex, or at least is he trying to act becomes the film’s bone of contention. Nanditha brings few finely carved moments with her menace and vibrancy. She is apt in her portrayal of a girl who is against flirts and stalkers. However, this director’s muse and golden goose takes a back seat after interval when there’s a heavy downpour of Sapthagiri – the madman. A couple of unwarranted blocks of comedy have been created to appease the aficionados of male-centric comedy. </div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Lovers</span></i> tries to tell so many things when there is nothing in the script. Director Harinath relied on Maruthi for the dialogues and they turn out to be lackluster embellishments. More than the comic punch lines, Sapthagiri’s over-the-top histrionics evoke laughter. The character elevations of the lead pair take a detour to accommodate few laugh-worthy and few cringe-worthy assortments. In the initial overs, JB gets the proceedings in the groove with romantic numbers, but the excitement fizzles very soon. </div>
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The film banks upon the youth’s craving for a romantic comedy and delivering things sticking to a formula. It lacks excitement, twists and drama that call for a decent viewing. Above all, <i><span style="color: #990000;">Lovers</span></i> stands as a misnomer as it becomes an arduous task to find an ounce of love in this film. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 5/10; Reality - 3/10</span></b></span></div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
<div>
<b>An edited version of this piece can be found <a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=44292" target="_blank">here.</a><span id="goog_54542076"></span><span id="goog_54542077"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_54542069"></span><span id="goog_54542070"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-44706203245348795532014-08-24T16:31:00.003+05:302014-08-24T16:33:24.618+05:30Movie Review - Anjaan (Tamil) / Sikindar (Telugu) - Heights of predictability!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In a key scene from <i><span style="color: #990000;">Sikindar</span></i>, Suriyaa steps into the shoes
of Clint Eastwood to render the Telugufied version of the most famous line from
<i><span style="color: #990000;">The Good, the Bad and the Ugly</span></i>. So,
when he says “When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk!” that seems to be a
signature moment for his style and attitude. Now, right from fixing the
characteristic traits of the protagonist to the henchmen of mafia dons, the
film embraces many western films. Although it gives an impression of <i><span style="color: #990000;">The Usual Suspects</span> </i>kind of a spin-off,
it eventually gets into the mould of a <i><span style="color: #990000;">Baasha</span>.</i>
The much revered <i>Stockholm Syndrome</i> and
a string of local mafia films also find their place in the narrative. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9EVUPJ-xNA4qHCUfZicaZFi8I4df4q-JOfeX7Oxi3vK9puNuWX3rzKXx9ieyeargdB8Vk7Y0TgTCDuYvxf8n5h2FxxbWYYm_OHVLYS_RCs42tC4_ebXeAhbWzGPbP1YQHVFRsQTNQZfQ/s1600/actor+Surya+SIKANDAR+Wallpapers+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9EVUPJ-xNA4qHCUfZicaZFi8I4df4q-JOfeX7Oxi3vK9puNuWX3rzKXx9ieyeargdB8Vk7Y0TgTCDuYvxf8n5h2FxxbWYYm_OHVLYS_RCs42tC4_ebXeAhbWzGPbP1YQHVFRsQTNQZfQ/s1600/actor+Surya+SIKANDAR+Wallpapers+(1).jpg" height="281" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><i>Sikindar</i> </span>is the story of Krishna (Suriyaa)
who comes to Mumbai in search of his brother Raju (Suriyaa). There he learns
that Raju is Raju bhai, who’s strong, fearsome and emotional, alongside finding
tons of time for bromance and romance. Raju is in stark contrast to Krishna.
The former strikes heavily with a dazzling look and hairdo, whereas the latter
is meek and struggles way too hard to trace the whereabouts of his brother. </div>
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Samantha plays the role of the daughter of the city’s police commissioner who
misinterprets mafia goons to be good Samaritans and falls for Raju. In another
irritating episode, Raju and his friend Chandu (Vidyut Jamwal) lock horns with
Imran bhai (Manoj Bajpai). This drops both of them in a life-changing situation
and what follows is a predictable turn of events. No cookie to guess what
happens to Krishna’s quest. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Now that the plot is revealed,
it’s time to showcase the glaring plot holes. Director Lingusamy tries to keep
all his cards close to chest till interval to make way for an earth shattering
twist and he does the same for the climax. However, he forgot that he triggered
the predictometer at the start of the film, and the audience is booing the so
called twists miles before they appear on screen. If the film-makers call these
as twists, then their definition of twists is definitely flawed. This makes you
think that is this coming from a person who is known for taut narration in his
movies. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEillHIfmekS1xG3rvR8BgGxiRLV1iJndQAnNW1TWvmEUNAsye8xRoTJ4f79Q3b27ow5R5yiIChufZrrDN9yHSydwhWpahA9NMGP_TBHqCJP8zdU3BoeaTy2ShIQ8yw-ExLo8IQcIlf6fbc/s1600/Samantha-Sikandar-HOT-HD-Pics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEillHIfmekS1xG3rvR8BgGxiRLV1iJndQAnNW1TWvmEUNAsye8xRoTJ4f79Q3b27ow5R5yiIChufZrrDN9yHSydwhWpahA9NMGP_TBHqCJP8zdU3BoeaTy2ShIQ8yw-ExLo8IQcIlf6fbc/s1600/Samantha-Sikandar-HOT-HD-Pics.jpg" height="200" width="400" /></a></div>
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Yuvan Shankar Raja tries to
salvage the damage done by the writer – director. The background score,
especially during the character transformations is experimental, but the songs
fall in the line of definitive loo breaks. Santosh Sivan’s cranky camerawork
and yellowish DI give a different look to Mumbai. However, it leaves you
wanting for more in terms of setting the right texture for the film. The
compositions aren’t dark enough to accommodate the grim nature of the script.
Editing by Anthony gives a flow to the narration and properly plugs in few allegorical references, but many repetitions and unwarranted subplots make it unpalatable.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="color: #990000; text-align: justify;"><i>Sikindar</i> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">tries to stay afloat as a revenge
drama, but lacks both. The entire setup for the second half proves to be
baseless, when every scene offers no justification culminating into a slipshod
pay off. The film offers nothing new, nothing entertaining, nothing spectacular
in its 3 hour long run time and just remains as an old wine in an antique
bottle with kitschy adornments.</span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 8/10; Reality - 3/10</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/PlpOHTxhNsY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><br /></b>
<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 10.65pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b>An edited version of this piece can be found <a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=44293" target="_blank">here.</a></b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-6928495765643088832014-08-10T15:48:00.005+05:302014-08-10T15:51:23.582+05:30Movie Review - Geethanjali (Telugu) - More comedy, less horror!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fce5cd; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Mid-way
through <i><span style="color: #990000;">Geethanjali</span></i>, I told myself
there better be a good reason why I’m watching a film that’s failing repeatedly
to offer what it has promised. So, this film dusts and tests the horror film
template of a haunted house and a ghost, which has adorned the Indian cinema
for ages. To that it adds a layer of comedy to make the proceedings not so
serious and scary. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Few films, in the recent past, such as <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Pizza</i> </span>have revisited a similar structure but there things worked
because of jump-scares and the big ‘twist’ towards the end. If the twist appeases
your cranial cells, you may deduce reasons why the rest of the film makes sense,
and if it doesn’t, the entire film ends up being a bland assortment of scares. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpkOHaBnhSaBWeShHmJaXqr8a8Nv3E7MDcFw7oWqC3mtQOhyphenhyphenZug7qVxPnm43j3FEnJNQ5fPPaxe9vBp_ifM9KmhiM_xNeAu5QI7nTZ-emuzYYq9uSycSPOM8RvgPD6uGDMpaXXn-CybN0/s1600/Geethanjali_Movie_Latest_Posters(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #fce5cd; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpkOHaBnhSaBWeShHmJaXqr8a8Nv3E7MDcFw7oWqC3mtQOhyphenhyphenZug7qVxPnm43j3FEnJNQ5fPPaxe9vBp_ifM9KmhiM_xNeAu5QI7nTZ-emuzYYq9uSycSPOM8RvgPD6uGDMpaXXn-CybN0/s1600/Geethanjali_Movie_Latest_Posters(5).jpg" height="175" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fce5cd; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The movie
sparks off with the struggle of a wannabe director Srinu (Srinivas Reddy) to
make it big in the tinsel town. Srinu finds a producer for his film and starts
narrating a story of another struggling film-maker who gets swindled by two people.
The characters in Srinu’s story move to a haunted apartment and trouble mongers
them. Things have been manipulated cleverly to give the sense of a ghost lying
there, although the comedy in this part overpowers the spine-chilling moments.
There’s Anjali (Anjali) brought into the plot, who befriends Srinu for an
ulterior motive. All the characters don a mysterious shade and what they are
aiming for is brought to light after the interval. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fce5cd; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fce5cd; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The
filmmakers use every horror trick from the textbook. They sprinkle many dots
all around and try to connect them. Few get connected and few defy all the
logic. The only thrill the audience may get is the wonderment when they come
close to the pattern picked by the director to connect these dots. And once the
crucial twist unfolds in the second half everything boils to a predictable <i>Om Shanti Om</i> kind of a climax. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">That
being said, </span><i><span style="color: #990000;">Geethanjali</span> </i><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">is watchable
for two things – the comedy that pops up in bits and pieces and the impeccable
camerawork that breathes life into the narrative. The frames, weird angles and
lighting create an aura that’s reminiscent of an RGV film.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></span></i></span>
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #990000;">Geethanjali</span></span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> stays
miles away from being a horror flick. It does not have its story in place and
leaves lot of loose ends. I presume the writer and the director deliberately
chose not to watch the other films made in this genre. So, if you have any
preconceived ideas of how a horror-comedy shapes out to be, this one brings
everything to life on screen. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">If you belong to a section of audience who
willingly pay to get scared, this offers you nothing in the chills and thrills
department. It’s a curious case of the writer’s inability to build a spooky
setup on an intelligent premise. </span>The film undoes what it starts with and
marginally redeems towards the end. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 4/10</span></b></span></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
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<b>An edited version of this piece can be found <a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=43476" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">here.</span></a></b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-18809397547492676122014-08-08T16:41:00.001+05:302014-08-08T16:52:36.672+05:30Movie Review - Galipatam (Telugu) - A new age love story!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In recent times, Telugu cinema has witnessed some new age love stories. They
were either too trendy or too far-fetched to be plausible, and it’s needless to
say about oodles of double entendre that fill the film’s template. Many
operated in the mold of commerciality and the truth, which such movies wanted
to convey, was hidden deep under multiple layers of gloss.<span style="color: #990000;"> <i>Galipatam</i></span>
tries to break that jinx with a fresh treatment of love, marriage, family and
how far can anyone go in resurrecting their strained relationships. All these
were brought to good effect with a subtle dose of sugar and spice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiPUCkE9bxOsLeuD_uuRLJdFo2ArcBtM2F_4cxWnN_3w0JLEpsOzRNJeWv8WNiM2nc6mYL5ehlVGKIbk6tSQI-XjEdEtrmW9C6dMnv7U4P_arJ_i2iHZDY1skjNXZEJdQjr0QvEConF2E/s1600/Galipatam+Movie+First+Look+Posters+(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiPUCkE9bxOsLeuD_uuRLJdFo2ArcBtM2F_4cxWnN_3w0JLEpsOzRNJeWv8WNiM2nc6mYL5ehlVGKIbk6tSQI-XjEdEtrmW9C6dMnv7U4P_arJ_i2iHZDY1skjNXZEJdQjr0QvEConF2E/s1600/Galipatam+Movie+First+Look+Posters+(5).jpg" height="187" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">Karthi
(Aadi) and Swathi (Erica Fernandes) get into the wedlock recently. For the
world, they are the best couple, but on the flipside, they are brimming with
indifferences and marital woes. The story slides back to their past where
Karthi has a fling with Parineeti (Kristina Akhheva), which couldn’t last long
owing to their contrasting viewpoints about the institution of marriage; and
Swathi has a staunch admirer in the form of Arav Reddy (Rahul Ravindran), whose
loves gets rejected as the former is a non-believer of love and is inclined
towards an arranged marriage. The rest of the story is about the overplaying
emotions, twists and turns in their life’s journey and how they deal with it.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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At times,<span style="color: #990000;"> <i>Galipatam</i></span> suffers with a heavy Bollywood hangover. There
are some shades of films such as <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Shaadi Ke Side Effects, Desi Boyz, Love Aaj
Kal</i> </span>et al. Some scenarios may give you a feeling of déjà vu and the youth
may instantly connect and emote with this film, and few dull moments get a
proper seasoning to look alive and kicking. The film culminates into a heated
and over-stretched debate of clash of generations and their attitudes. Just at
this place, it inches into a preaching zone but the director adeptly pulls it off
to dish out an unconventional ending. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguH0FFmIDB2vJfoVbGX24-5Ju8EL50nTI3UDd5G6MjumcHtGrzzIDFw-3gKu9_aUswOPl8V37lPvDXGf7c_X134skLD-bt8MspAa_wROIQrrf_3muHkatJrFvKBSM0p0ppsXGM-sjPaUA/s1600/galipatam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguH0FFmIDB2vJfoVbGX24-5Ju8EL50nTI3UDd5G6MjumcHtGrzzIDFw-3gKu9_aUswOPl8V37lPvDXGf7c_X134skLD-bt8MspAa_wROIQrrf_3muHkatJrFvKBSM0p0ppsXGM-sjPaUA/s1600/galipatam.jpg" height="187" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Aadi shuns his regular avatar and flies high with a refreshing look and
restrained performance. Erica does a tight rope walk by juggling between the
roles of a comely lover and a demanding wife. She is a bundle of talent.
Kristina looks promising and her histrionics justify her lovable returned-from-Canada
character. However, Rahul Ravindran’s role is limited and he fills the gaps
with an understated performance. It would have been better if they had delved
into a little more of his story. The supporting cast also fetches brownie
points as their stories turn crucial for the film.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Galipatam</span></i> is a dauntless
attempt by Naveen Gandhi to bring to the fore the grim realities of life, albeit in
a sugar-coated way. The razor sharp dialogue of Sampath Nandi brings the house
down alongside rolling few tears down your cheek. The film balances every
aspect of relationships and presents the views of everyone. The character
sketches, emotions and proper reasoning to every strange scene make it a
high-flier. Though few comic scenes are blown out of proportion, they are
plugged in to satiate the formulaic requirements of the script and clear the
air of emotions to play it to the gallery. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 5/10; Reality - 6/10</span></span></b></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dNVooCAe24Q?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-44650204350659212412014-08-03T17:07:00.002+05:302014-08-03T17:08:07.242+05:30Movie Review - Maaya (Telugu) - Fails to cast a spell..!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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National award winning director
Neelakanta always tries to walk against the grain and his quest for uncommon
storylines is never ending. If one could draw a pattern from his previous
films, he plants a disorder in his protagonists, and this has become his
obsession. However, in <i><span style="color: #990000;">Maaya</span></i> he is confused, in turn confusing audience,
whether the trace of visions that surmount the lead character is actually a
disorder or a gift. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The director picks a novel
concept of ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) – when I say novel, it’s only for
Telugu cinema because this thing has been explored in Hindi and Malayalam, and
needless to say about Hollywood. He doesn’t stop there and adds a dash of
emotional drama and elements of crime to the main plot and force-fits it in the
Tollywood storytelling template. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD41gwCHyCGBFpV7kWAci8m-nJ0YZ0v9fUyup8l9EDGNX9W0-HrxNoyjGzlYeswqpG8lM_Ja99RBl_bgYKNKWOXkGJGuy2g2gQoNo4xX9sNBlmlvkId7PLv9sgbIcrCR9RPqM0STLy0JM/s1600/Maaya-Telugu-Movie-Wallpapers-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD41gwCHyCGBFpV7kWAci8m-nJ0YZ0v9fUyup8l9EDGNX9W0-HrxNoyjGzlYeswqpG8lM_Ja99RBl_bgYKNKWOXkGJGuy2g2gQoNo4xX9sNBlmlvkId7PLv9sgbIcrCR9RPqM0STLy0JM/s1600/Maaya-Telugu-Movie-Wallpapers-02.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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The movie begins with a quote of
Sadhguru. Meghana (Avantika Mishra) is a victim of a tainted past where she
loses her mother by not paying heed to her superpower. She is a television
reporter and falls head over heels for a fashion designer Siddharth Varma
(Harshavardhan Rane), who is in town for research work on his upcoming fashion
show. Her ability to foresee deaths comes to the fore again and this time she
manages to save the probable victims. While she is on her way to propose love,
she bumps into her childhood friend Pooja (Sushma Raj) who discloses about her
relationship with Siddharth and their marriage which is on cards. A lovelorn
Meghana checks all the buttons on melodrama and also gets to see the grey
shades of Siddharth in one of her visions. Then the film leans to the side of a
crime thriller.</div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><i>Maaya</i> </span>suffers badly
because of a wrong casting call. Avantika is not made for this genre. She is
callous to most of the fearsome moments and her dubbed voice sounds more than
her age. You can’t emote to her condition as it’s not visible through her
expressions. Just a tear drop wouldn’t do. For Harshavardhan, this is arguably
the toughest role to pull off, which he does justice to an extent. The
supporting cast is a big letdown as neither Nagababu nor Jhansi could
understand the gravity of the situation and end up offering lame advices.
However, Sushma holds the pieces of the later half together and offers lot of
promise. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The first half looks like a soap
opera with television like framings. The visions of the heroine pave way to
some predictable stuff. The audience expects a <i><span style="color: #990000;">Paycheck</span></i> like spin-off
and lot of spine-chilling moments, but not even one satiates their wants. The core
concept fizzles out in the second half and the slipshod storytelling adds more
nails to the coffin. The only saving grace is the background score of Sekhar
Chandra. </div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Maaya</span></i> fails to cast a
spell on the audience. It’s a thriller sans thrill elements. The half-baked
psychological thriller devolves into a murder mystery, and the latter outshines
the concept of ESP that was marketed as the USP of the film. If you are a smart
alec you can foresee the big climactic twist and even that earth-shattering one
is a rip-off from a popular Hindi film from the 90s. Now, that’s the audience getting
a sense of ESP!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 8/10; Reality - 4/10</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-20296789131065896852014-08-01T21:20:00.002+05:302014-08-01T22:24:53.750+05:30Movie Review - Run Raja Run (Telugu) - Fun Unlimited!! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The moment of truth for director
Sujeeth has finally arrived. After making innumerable short-films, he ventures
into a full length feature for a bigger screen and a larger audience with his
flick <i><span style="color: #990000;">Run Raja Run</span>. </i>He effortlessly tries to dish out an RGV-esque cool
crime comedy, and at places even outsmarts him. This is a test for audience’s
intelligence, which the film-maker tries to poke at regular intervals. And
movies like these are a film critic’s delight. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU9pBegPOp9dPcQVYVZ08HM_y1UByxgA-8KWZMEzqrzWbd0DuvbrtQQYmc155s_b7B4hrig1SSx4GSwXYsGzcF0FFHcw0Keyq8Nqsu-ALneSOvBsevMmE_pwfdns0kEmnRJFTAuIRQyl0/s1600/Run-Raja-Run-Movie-Wallpapers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU9pBegPOp9dPcQVYVZ08HM_y1UByxgA-8KWZMEzqrzWbd0DuvbrtQQYmc155s_b7B4hrig1SSx4GSwXYsGzcF0FFHcw0Keyq8Nqsu-ALneSOvBsevMmE_pwfdns0kEmnRJFTAuIRQyl0/s1600/Run-Raja-Run-Movie-Wallpapers.jpg" height="236" width="400" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;">Run Raja Run</span></i><span style="text-align: justify;"> adopts a
divisional screenplay and both the plots run on parallel lines till the
interval. This type of narration sparks off your thinking faculty to draw some
imaginative lines connecting the dots. With your predictions you try to get
closer to the reality on screen and rack your brains as how both the tracks
merge? However, in this film many such guesses take a U-turn. One track is a
romantic comedy involving Raja (Sharwanand) and Priya (Seerath Kapoor) and the
other revolves around a series of kidnaps in the town and commissioner of
police Dilip Kumar’s (Sampath) constant efforts to bring the criminals to book. </span></div>
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The beauty of the narrative
technique is that the road taken at the beginning branches out into a different
terrain. The twists are perfectly peppered all through the film and those
popping out during the interval and the pre-climax stage keep you on the edge. The
film stands as an experiment to bring world cinema closer home in terms of
storytelling and patching up different subplots that culminate into an
emotional and expect-the-unexpected kind of climax. Don’t mistake it with a
Venkat Prabhu film, where the jokes come first and the plot much later. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ktDZphtG3VpEvfRWoauflBgUi78AbdmAdPfDfR2TH9H8QipqTm2omoV_KtK4Jo4S6ML3iI0Tyfo3QiG3cT0MBRz2ojY9bRa4PigXV2paHnyDHpheCWiYY_ztxqMhd58wnMqiD5nuvdw/s1600/Run-Raja-Run-Movie-New-Posters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ktDZphtG3VpEvfRWoauflBgUi78AbdmAdPfDfR2TH9H8QipqTm2omoV_KtK4Jo4S6ML3iI0Tyfo3QiG3cT0MBRz2ojY9bRa4PigXV2paHnyDHpheCWiYY_ztxqMhd58wnMqiD5nuvdw/s1600/Run-Raja-Run-Movie-New-Posters.jpg" height="187" width="400" /></a></div>
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Sharwanad gets a complete
makeover and surprises everyone with his great performance. He combines his
innocence from<span style="color: #990000;"> <i>Amma Cheppindi</i></span> with street smartness from <i><span style="color: #990000;">Ko Ante
Koti</span>.</i> What a fine actor he is. Seerat Kapoor is like a whiff of fresh air
and glitters with a radiant smile and twinkle in her eye. Sampath wears a comic
tinge on his rugged cop avatar and stands out with a near perfect act. Adivi Sesh pulls off his role with poise. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Director Sujeeth climbs up many
notches to make a quality caper film with a thrilling screenplay, witty
dialogue, adept camerawork, well-choreographed dance numbers, stellar
performances, and refreshing background score and music. Fortunately for him
they all come out as aces. Madhie’s cinematography is excellent in the way he
frames his romantic sequences and the manner in which he uses his camera to
travel around in frantic situations. Ghibran’s music is an integral part of the
film and it blends into the narration elevating key scenes. This composer is a
bundle of talent traversing across different sounds and tracks. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Going with Sujeeth’s past outings
as a short-film maker, <i><span style="color: #990000;">Run Raja Run</span></i> is more hilarious than expected.
First half is an entertaining marathon. The momentum dips a little in the
second half, where you also find few loose ends, but the fun and emotions are carried well. The final showdown and
emotional block stands as a high point. Though at places the film looks like a
bag of borrowings, it transcends many genre conventions and evolves as an
uncanny thriller with a right concoction of situational comedy, romance, drama
sans the physical confrontations, which are typical of a commercial Telugu
film. </div>
<br />
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<i>Run Raja Run</i> is fun and frolic meets flair and flamboyance. </div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span><span style="color: purple;"> Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 7/10</span></b></span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></span></o:p></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-33100237893481946712014-07-27T14:13:00.000+05:302014-07-27T14:31:22.587+05:30Movie Review - Alludu Seenu (Telugu) - As bad as it gets!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Many a time you see a Telugu
film, operating in the commercial zone, that resets the template and then for many
years, everyone blatantly copies its tricks of trade. So there’s a time-tested
formula, but for how long will it be forced upon the audience to test their patience.
More than entertainment, the movie watching becomes a game to find the
original movie or the scene from which it has been inspired or copied. <i><span style="color: #990000;">Alludu
Seenu</span> </i>does nothing magical than stick to the template. Don’t be surprised
when you see <i><span style="color: #990000;">Gudumba Shankar, Aadi, Cheli, Ready, Raccha, Dookudu, </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Gautami; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #990000;">Adhurs</span> – </span></i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Gautami; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and hold your breath – <i><span style="color: #990000;">Argo</span></i> </span>rolled into one. In simple terms, it’s V V
Vinayak trying to pull off a Sreenu Vytla.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEXuzqOgfQcObzyOxqVqFNsuoXhF4EWQWRmPPROnmN0iU7d05sp3fenN90HMF53kIrqpc0N0mP6QHxcg-_cwlF1TYs-UuJnhCsksdJeUvTpzxwAS8YlfddeddasKCliNSKakhb6GVKGdg/s1600/Alludu-Seenu-release-date-Pushed-to-July-25th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEXuzqOgfQcObzyOxqVqFNsuoXhF4EWQWRmPPROnmN0iU7d05sp3fenN90HMF53kIrqpc0N0mP6QHxcg-_cwlF1TYs-UuJnhCsksdJeUvTpzxwAS8YlfddeddasKCliNSKakhb6GVKGdg/s1600/Alludu-Seenu-release-date-Pushed-to-July-25th.jpg" height="286" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I feel rather than revealing the
plot, it’s better to detail the format of such films. A happy-go-lucky orphan
hero flees from his hometown. He moves to a city and bumps into a villain and
his daughter, at different instances. How cinematic! Without waiting for a
minute, he falls head over heels for her. Alongside he schemes with his sidekicks
to make some moolah.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
All hell breaks loose when he is
pitted against heavyweights in the crime world and an imminent flashback
episode seeps in post interval. Now, with the entire world turned against him,
the hero has to do so many things – get the girl, teach a lesson the villain,
regain the lost glory of his family. All this is done by oozing loads of comedy
and glamour screen. Just remember, our heroes never lose their cool and can
deal even the serious situations with silly antics. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: #990000;">Alludu Seenu</span> </i>is a routine
fare with not an ounce of freshness in it, but there are couple of jokes which
crackle and few songs which sparkle. At times, the plot tries to make sense by
touching issues such as Fluorosis problem in the district of Nalgonda. However,
they are fleeting and the required emotion couldn't get carried all through. The
music and camerawork are just in place, and nothing exceptional to write home
about them. The beautiful city of Sharjah has been restricted to shoddy CG work
that only shows the sandy deserts. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Bellamkonda Sreenivas tries to
show some promise, but only in dances and fights. I wish he learns to flex his
facial muscles. Samantha falls prey to another poorly etched role. Prakash Raj
offers no variation for both his roles. Both the characters lack a proper fixation of their behavioral traits. Samantha's Anjali, in the beginning, wants her would be husband to pass some irreverent tests, but in the later half she's ready to accept anyone! Prakash Raj's Narasimha takes off as an ingenuous person and ends up being an ingenious one. The movie showcases many fatal lapses from scripting to execution stage.<br />
<br />
And when in doubt, it’s only
Brahmanandam who can steer a foundering ship to the shore. For the sake of
entertainment, the antagonist and his henchmen are limited to a bunch of buffoons
before the hero. Why they wear glares in their homes... argh! If that’s not all, you may get into the shoes of the bride
from <i><span style="color: #990000;">Kill Bill</span></i> when you see the last song placed after a poorly
constructed <i><span style="color: #990000;">Argo</span></i>-esque dramatic escape sequence. That’s riding on the
rut of formula. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Director V V Vinayak makes a
movie that has been seen before and stretched to death, without either the
skill or spirit that distinguished its decent predecessors. <i><span style="color: #990000;">Alludu Seenu </span></i>remains
as a string of scrapes and never departures from archetypal commercial
conventions. It doesn't attempt to do anything except pass the time, which
simply isn't good enough when most of us have access to other forms of
entertainment. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The film is an epitome of too many actors and technicians laying
hands to deliver a menial mishmash of a launch vehicle for the Bellamkonda
scion. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating: </span><span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 3/10</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/zWZcu_-zPZ8/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/zWZcu_-zPZ8&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/zWZcu_-zPZ8&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>This re</b><b>view as originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>An edited version of this piece can be found<span style="color: #990000;"> <a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=41794" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-3505234930792561712014-07-13T17:38:00.003+05:302014-07-13T17:39:51.464+05:30Movie Review - Icecream (Telugu) - Another chink in RGV's armour!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Since a longtime, there has been
a question that’s making people sleepless more than the spooky elements in an
RGV film. How does he convince producers to fall in the line of fire? Many a
time we see him dishing out the same story with different cast and this time
with <i><span style="color: #990000;">Icecream</span>, </i>which is promoted as
“Fear is hot” he gets into a repeat mode with the same story that’s done to
death and the same scene that travels in a loop. That’s Varma hitting a new
low.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWbJWBNQHgnjAmXsHM_pxEFKutry7A74-oYpQJX26QjRjeaFBOJl1fHTp5g9cx5oSJNv3ZRMqzreSM77_-3YPJbucSkRdjllk8E5yqBUpsSNV-oCIo0bIISd8OuWJkSZ7a0OBDcHEuQtA/s1600/Ice-Cream-Telugu-Movie-New-wallpapers-2-646x454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWbJWBNQHgnjAmXsHM_pxEFKutry7A74-oYpQJX26QjRjeaFBOJl1fHTp5g9cx5oSJNv3ZRMqzreSM77_-3YPJbucSkRdjllk8E5yqBUpsSNV-oCIo0bIISd8OuWJkSZ7a0OBDcHEuQtA/s1600/Ice-Cream-Telugu-Movie-New-wallpapers-2-646x454.jpg" height="280" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><i>Icecream</i> </span>is yet another film that hovers on the theme of a haunted
house and a girl trying to stay put all the night amid ghosts or, as they call
in the film, illusions of ghosts. She believes them initially but later on
denies their existence and labels it as some disorder. Though the film-maker
says the story (if at all there’s any) is inspired from a real life incident,
it seems like a thread woven by taking cues from<i> <span style="color: #990000;">1 Nenokkadine</span>.</i> Renu (Tejaswi) is the gal here and she wants her
friend Vishal (Navadeep) to believe her story. So does he believe and are there
any ghosts or just illusions forms the flimsy plot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The main culprit for <i><span style="color: #990000;">Icecream</span></i> is the narrative mode that
makes it too predictable. The same mirror reflections, at times the <i><span style="color: #990000;">Psycho</span></i> shower scenes, callous supporting
cast who try to pump some fear with their expressions, and above all, an
illogical justification for the film’s title. So our protagonist has only three
things to do: take a shower, eat icecream and romance the guy – all under the
pretext of studying. When these things get into a time warp after frequent
intervals, you tend to kill yourself before the ghost kills someone on screen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
One thing to fancy about the film
is RGV’s new-found love for flowcam. This one is touted as the future of
cinematography and is aptly used in this film. There’s a seamless flow of
visuals as this cam allows for long shots. However, the uncanny camera angles
of the director stay till eternity with any technology he embraces. The visuals
are coupled with flow-sound technique, which’s another new for this film. With an impeccable sound design, most
of the simple scenes are fine tuned for an immersible experience. The credits are also done differently. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The publicity for the film was
sky high and everyone walked into cinema with loads of excitement. Alas! This
film could be another RGV product that won’t satiate his fans or regular audience
alike. If he does the same again and again, with all these chinks his armour may
soon get crushed. Every time people watch his films expecting them to be his
best works and for many, including me, there’s still a ray of hope that the
genius in this film-maker may take a rebirth. Till that time, you can stay away
from this <i><span style="color: #990000;">Icecream</span></i>, which makes you
laugh rather than scream!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 3/10</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/oNIB_N7TuMU/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/oNIB_N7TuMU&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/oNIB_N7TuMU&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>An edited version of this piece can be found <a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=40047" target="_blank">here.</a></b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-50912554125793868202014-07-13T16:35:00.001+05:302014-07-13T17:01:34.315+05:30Movie Review - Drushyam (Telugu) - A genre defying film!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: justify;">Family drama interspersed with thrilling elements may sound new or
different, at least for the Tollywood landscape. You might expect a
multi-layered thriller with many intriguing sub-plots, but all you get to see a
simple storyline in a linear format, which rides high on the drama quotient.
Some may call it a new genre or no genre, and few may term it as a
genre-defying stint. This narrative pattern has been effortlessly portrayed by
Sripriya on the celluloid in her directorial venture </span><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;">Drushyam</span>, </i><span style="text-align: justify;">which is
a remake of a Malayalam namesake.</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><i style="text-align: justify;"> </i><br />
<i style="text-align: justify;"><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMd4DTYe9RgDBwJt-kqNcatGh0lVzxyGt98NTW6KMHifEsMde9Jl7hS8LnrumHYhCcN4MuvO3EE7W5n8qfPLvdO5HUSQdEKZGdo3RsDyy6J9Z5v5kscnxa3IUTu5JaPTQWH6kkofvRJ8/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMd4DTYe9RgDBwJt-kqNcatGh0lVzxyGt98NTW6KMHifEsMde9Jl7hS8LnrumHYhCcN4MuvO3EE7W5n8qfPLvdO5HUSQdEKZGdo3RsDyy6J9Z5v5kscnxa3IUTu5JaPTQWH6kkofvRJ8/s1600/images.jpg" height="280" width="400" /></a></div>
<i style="text-align: justify;"><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Most of the key elements of the film are borrowed from the Malayalam
original. The buildings, the architecture, the production design and even the
natural surroundings are recreated to relive the same experience. So, if you
have not seen the original, this may call for a different experience, and if
you seen the Malayalam version, still it’s a great watch for the thunderous
performance of Venkatesh and Nadhiya. Though a faithful remake, this version
comes with some local baggage to appease the crowds. Moreover, it carries the
tag of an intelligent family drama, which keeps the movie afloat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Director Sripriya never let the movie slip out of her hands. The movie
goes through a heavy patchwork later on, so as to cover few dull moments and
bring the audience into the world of inevitable emotional highs and lows. The
first half takes a back seat with a relaxed narration creating the mood and
ambiance for the film and as it inches towards the interval the few characters
and convolutions pave way for a well construed mystery. The director could have
got some blame for making a frame-to-frame copy. However, the gripping
screenplay and overblown drama make you enjoy the product rather than finding
similarities and flaws. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: #990000;">Drushyam</span></i> creates a
fun-filled milieu with its lead characters that are not well educated and
belong to a middle-class family. As the film progresses, these initial
fixations help them to get a proper character arc. Venkatesh playing a naïve
Rambabu takes the path of truth and when he is drained out of all the options
to shield his family’s righteousness, he imbibes an opportunistic trait as it’s
the need of the hour. Similarly, the character of Geetha is initially adamant
to learn the truth about her son, but later on when she untangles the mesh of
events, her fragile core comes to the fore.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Despite some illogical constructions, <i><span style="color: #990000;">Drushyam</span> </i>flies high for the
way it showcases the eternal scuffle between being correct and being correct in
the books of law. It stands as a reflection of a common man in the most
uncommon scenarios – some simple and some utterly cinematic. The high point for
<i><span style="color: #990000;">Drushyam</span></i> is telling so much of a story with very few characters. All
this is backed by stellar performances of the actors and a watertight
narration. If you are looking for any other high points, then the entire film
stands tall as a high point. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 7/10</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ybJi2MOuZm4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>An edited version of this piece can be found <a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=40049" target="_blank">here.</a></b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-14098731749421574002014-07-05T13:18:00.000+05:302014-07-05T13:19:38.015+05:30Movie Review - Ra Ra Krishnayya (Telugu) - Another 'free'make bites the dust<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #990000;">Ra Ra Krishnayya</span></span></i><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
extends the legacy of freemakes or unofficial remakes in Tollywood. The main
plot and most of the scenes are borrowed from Riteish Deshmukh – Genelia
starrer <i><span style="color: #990000;">Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya</span>, </i>which in turn is an adaptation of a
Danny Boyle Rom-Com fantasy <i><span style="color: #990000;">A Life Less Ordinary</span>. </i>Good that the Hindi
and Telugu versions didn’t induce the fantasy aspect of the original. Now, you
can’t simply remake a Hindi film into Telugu, you need to customize it according
to the tastes of local audience. Just here, the film misfires giving a déjà vu
of many films that adorned this land. Even after such effort, it contains a lot
of Bollywood flavor throwing the viewers in a ‘disconnect’ mode.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cRn7-b-GctPg7SWOCG_A4ztx67_vQSODH95LNf68_rbxxQkDoYuvYOMVjNfNApHNUp8gZ69fyKl6vsiQHCHGcN5j4TGqWXbPboev6GgKrm2PiI-PCiiSYWXO6GLmKevReHqoKMSX6qk/s1600/Ra-Ra-Krishnayya-Movie-Wallpapers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cRn7-b-GctPg7SWOCG_A4ztx67_vQSODH95LNf68_rbxxQkDoYuvYOMVjNfNApHNUp8gZ69fyKl6vsiQHCHGcN5j4TGqWXbPboev6GgKrm2PiI-PCiiSYWXO6GLmKevReHqoKMSX6qk/s1600/Ra-Ra-Krishnayya-Movie-Wallpapers.jpg" height="236" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Krishna / Kittu (Sundeep
Kishan) is a cab driver in Chennai. Though they said Chennai, every location
seemed like a studio construction and most of the outdoor shoot happened in
Hyderabad. Kittu wants to grow big in life by starting a car rental service of
his own. He approaches his owner Manikyam (Tanikella Bharani) – again a guy
with an irritating Tamil accent – to get back his savings of 6 lakhs, which the
latter denies to give. Now with a fit of rage, Kittu accidentally kidnaps
Manikyam’s daughter Nandeeswari (Regina). She enjoys Kittu’s company as she is
unhappy with her father’s decision to marry her to a buffoon. Kittu and
Nandiswari travel together and plunge into some tricky situations to leave a
little scope for so called twists.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">All through the first half,
director Mahesh forcefully paints an Imtiaz Ali tinge to the happenings. A
deliberate attempt to make it a Road film goes haywire. Of course, you can’t
make a <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Jab We Met</i> </span>or a <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Highway</i> </span>with this kind of set up. So, it
ends up as a domineering girl who takes control of the situation where the
kidnapper has nothing much to do rather than follow her instructions. One can
clearly call Regina as the hero in the first half. And when the movie slides
into the second half, it’s all Jagapathi Babu who dons an avatar of a comedian.
Although it didn’t suit him to the core, he manages to pull off few gags. So he
can be called the hero there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfM0671BPFe33311D0E4PKw_5IidP0sEoy8tpgSG_HKMXQflRsDeZHBAZ3BIGDnQaIRpYm90cV7Qjtz7Rpe7G_zN08AXmWhj9nQmaHncDUsfNlgkyxj09-Xujh5AhlhlqilKIGda9K5wA/s1600/Ra+Ra...+Krishnayya+%25285%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfM0671BPFe33311D0E4PKw_5IidP0sEoy8tpgSG_HKMXQflRsDeZHBAZ3BIGDnQaIRpYm90cV7Qjtz7Rpe7G_zN08AXmWhj9nQmaHncDUsfNlgkyxj09-Xujh5AhlhlqilKIGda9K5wA/s1600/Ra+Ra...+Krishnayya+%25285%2529.jpg" height="242" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">Now the question is… What
happened to hero Sundeep? He couldn’t make his presence felt in even one scene.
The director tries a new format of story-telling wherein he rolls serious and
silly tone in once scene. Sundeep tried to lighten such scenes, but every time
the heroine or the supporting cast took away the brownie points. After a hit
like </span><i style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #990000;">Venkatadri Express</span></i><span style="line-height: 115%;">, it’s unpalatable to see this young hero in a
caricatured role which holds no promise or surprise.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Music by Achu is getting
bland with each passing film. He uses one track, with slight tweaking, for
every scene – comedy, emotion, chase et al. The way the songs are recorded
makes you go deaf for the vocals. The camera work was experimental though, as
most of the shots were taken from different angles. This was another saving
grace along with the actress Regina, who was vivacious with a worldly charm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpaqSVB8KIUm7sDVM6ioRL41SmK6tPa0ZdfTaHEaX5wyoKbqqWs7mMy5ZeVnizkibgpD77Lc4auoGXwgukCfCI4H1I8h_MrVj6OnA72joCsbQwDd-pA0w2307a4MHsz1j5iytSW5X6XE/s1600/Ra-Ra-Krishnayya-Latest-Posters1404409215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpaqSVB8KIUm7sDVM6ioRL41SmK6tPa0ZdfTaHEaX5wyoKbqqWs7mMy5ZeVnizkibgpD77Lc4auoGXwgukCfCI4H1I8h_MrVj6OnA72joCsbQwDd-pA0w2307a4MHsz1j5iytSW5X6XE/s1600/Ra-Ra-Krishnayya-Latest-Posters1404409215.jpg" height="282" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #990000;">Ra Ra Krishnayya</span></span></i><span style="line-height: 115%;">
is an unimaginative, shoddy rehash where everything is force fed to the
audience. Every character comes for a sojourn making the journey aimless. The
entire Kerala episode is blown out of proportion. The film is loaded with many
unanswered questions and in this wafer-thin plot you can never find logic. If
the director wants us to buy such a concept, then we have much better options.
Or simply, we can watch a<span style="color: #990000;"> <i>Ready</i></span> or a <i><span style="color: #990000;">Mirchi</span></i> on DVD. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 6/10, Reality - 3/10</span></b></span></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/KSRbkqwjnkQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b></span></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-90937707232282777462014-06-27T15:18:00.004+05:302014-07-01T13:01:37.546+05:30Movie Review - Autonagar Surya (Telugu) - The philosophy behind a rebellion!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;">Autonagar Surya</span></i><span style="text-align: justify;"> 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. </span><br />
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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.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Autonagar Surya</span> </i>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. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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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.<br />
<br />
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. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Ec2Cv_Q0UDWpxIxWqCQTuxtm8BCwL0of_CMV1O03NfzDY6OefaeX0bsppgQT_qWk-_Gdnz614H_eNLEX0b2zia9HMdCWchWqeLi0Vrin-xm6d2u1KWcMjWsSurFc40mCy61hPwlp5Cg/s1600/ans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Ec2Cv_Q0UDWpxIxWqCQTuxtm8BCwL0of_CMV1O03NfzDY6OefaeX0bsppgQT_qWk-_Gdnz614H_eNLEX0b2zia9HMdCWchWqeLi0Vrin-xm6d2u1KWcMjWsSurFc40mCy61hPwlp5Cg/s1600/ans.jpg" height="147" width="400" /></a></div>
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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. <br />
<br />
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.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Autonagar Surya</span></i> 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.<br />
<br />
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. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 8/10; Reality - 6/10</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/R5-zqJigeUg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b><br />
<b>An edited version of this piece can be found <u><a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=38478" target="_blank">here.</a></u></b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-70025744919809562142014-06-21T11:52:00.001+05:302014-06-23T12:40:00.263+05:30Movie Review - Oohalu Gusagusalade (Telugu) - Avasarala meets Allen!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: justify;">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 </span><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;">Annie
Hall</span></i><span style="text-align: justify;"> 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 </span><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;">Oohalau Gusagusalade</span></i><span style="text-align: justify;">, which
has its heart at the right place.</span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcZ37z9mtLzVL96MXPAmIT7EDGQocFdjSWOzyKv-vjB-Y-FeElPW8kY_hRiyczPjCqxud-TMn8MKSHO1HgQpfERiuNMINoyWEWSzshNELruDvoQw2ohW0Vh1bX7zkA-dkIuXLFHBrJecM/s1600/Oohalu-Gusagusalade-2014-Telugu-Songs-Download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcZ37z9mtLzVL96MXPAmIT7EDGQocFdjSWOzyKv-vjB-Y-FeElPW8kY_hRiyczPjCqxud-TMn8MKSHO1HgQpfERiuNMINoyWEWSzshNELruDvoQw2ohW0Vh1bX7zkA-dkIuXLFHBrJecM/s1600/Oohalu-Gusagusalade-2014-Telugu-Songs-Download.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
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The main plot of the film has been adapted from the French play, <i><span style="color: #990000;">Cyrano
De Bergerac</span>. </i>The play, with a tweaked plot, has seen many adaptations; of which the notable ones are Tamil film <i><span style="color: #990000;">Duet</span></i> and English film <span style="color: #990000;"><i>The
Ugly Truth</i>.</span> 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. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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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. <o:p></o:p></div>
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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.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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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. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9yMJnumvGyvh3z0GUSgYohtYO6Z3O5Oq9Wvj30mPqRuBkKWJ5gRjZHKgWimw72paAPQmf44VdTQKEIMjAAk7C_1cyrJGbvU-Eu4C9mPIQMcVXpJElDWUPNFvHfuDF3jVd3-uSbmCvO4/s1600/Oohalu-Gusagusalade1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9yMJnumvGyvh3z0GUSgYohtYO6Z3O5Oq9Wvj30mPqRuBkKWJ5gRjZHKgWimw72paAPQmf44VdTQKEIMjAAk7C_1cyrJGbvU-Eu4C9mPIQMcVXpJElDWUPNFvHfuDF3jVd3-uSbmCvO4/s1600/Oohalu-Gusagusalade1.jpg" height="190" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Oohalu Gusagusalade</span></i>
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. </div>
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<br />
<o:p></o:p>
<b>Few pointers for the director:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
1) <span style="color: #990000;"><i>Jalsa</i> </span>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.<br />
<br />
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. </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating:</span> <span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 5/10; Reality - 7/10</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/tnqGvrNviuo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b><br />
<b>An edited version of this piece can be found <u><a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=37719" target="_blank">here.</a></u></b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-51358298940302612402014-06-20T16:40:00.000+05:302014-06-23T10:30:46.942+05:30Movie Review - Maine Pyar Kiya (Telugu) - An apathetic love story!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: justify;">National Award
winning director Pradeep Madugula lightens the screen with his second film, </span><span style="color: #990000; text-align: justify;"><i>Maine
Pyar Kiya</i>. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">While his first film </span><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;">Billa Ranga</span></i><span style="text-align: justify;"> 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. </span><br />
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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).<br />
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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The music of <i><span style="color: #990000;">Maine Pyar Kiya </span></i>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. </div>
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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. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating: </span><span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 7/10; Reality - 4/10</span></b></span></div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/_oItqLMaVqI/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/_oItqLMaVqI&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/_oItqLMaVqI&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper. </b><br />
<b>An edited version of this piece can be found <u><a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=37718" target="_blank">here.</a></u></b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817488444737433012.post-21945725741457956402014-06-13T18:08:00.001+05:302014-06-16T16:59:12.112+05:30Movie Review - Jump Jilani (Telugu) - String of mindless gags!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: justify;">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, </span><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;">Jump Jilani</span></i><span style="text-align: justify;"> 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.</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">Jump Jilani</span></i>
is a remake of Tamil film <i><span style="color: #990000;">Kalakalappu</span></i>, which in turn is loosely based on
German comedy <i><span style="color: #990000;">Soul Kitchen</span></i>. 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.<br />
<br />
In the
meanwhile, Ram Babu – a con man and identical twin of Satti Babu – joins the
family and falls for his <i>maradalu</i> 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.</div>
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The main problem
with <i><span style="color: #990000;">Jump Jilani</span></i> 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.</div>
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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.<br />
<br />
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.</div>
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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. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">My Rating: </span><span style="color: purple;">Expectation - 6/10; Reality - 4/10 </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/gfQMYBajWfQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b>This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.</b><br />
<b>An edited version of this piece can be found<a href="http://metroindia.com/metrolifenews.aspx?id=36813" target="_blank"> here</a>.</b></div>
</div>
Raja Satishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13927772815396326775noreply@blogger.com0