"Prasthaanam" Movie Review

Prasthaanam starring Sarvanand, Saikumar and Sandeep is impressive political drama by director Deva (Vennela ifame) and takes lot of potshots at contemporary political happenings through the intrigues within one political family. It is well shot and carries your interest largely with some wonderful satire in the first half courtesy Jayaprakash Reddy and Jeeva. But the ending is predictable and violence stark and dark. Censor cuts mar forty per cent of dialogues yet enough punches are pulled off. If Star Power was higher, the movie would have sizzled at the BO. Yet, newcomer Sandeep and Saikumar  and Sarvanand perform with aplomb and ease. Music by Mahesh Shankar is loud and its a pity one of the only melody songs is edited out to make the movie more serious in the second half.

"Darling" - Movie Review

Summer's big hero release  Darling starring Prabhas scores pretty high in entertainment quotient. Finally, Prabhas gets the much-needed facelift in dances, stunts, drama, romance and comedy  and the long-awaited hit after Chatrapathi. The movie rehashes some of the old story sequences of director Karunakiran's flagship comedy and romance scenes and even takes liberties with the audience's intelligences by bunking down some of the sequences as though they never happened. But the presentation is good and makes audience feel at home in comedy and romance. Songs, stunts and comedian Srinivas Reddy hit a new high- all three, sorry to mix them up in one sweep - do their bit in enhancinng the creative value of the film and make it worth watching. Kajol is cute while Prabhas takes the lap of honor in the film for his efforts - this will go down as his finest output in recent years.

Varudu verdict

Its difficult to pick a bone with the first half of  "Varudu" after I watched it after a busy season of marriages. This being the season of marriages - Varudu  - shines bright in the first half. There's impeccable  settings, a demure heroine, some heart-tugging dialogues and some extra-ordinary recount of the typical Telugu marriage. This  makes the movie mesmerisingly good till interval - then all hell breaks lose with the entry of Aryan - the villain. And the movie loses plot with weak characterisation, unconvincing villainy encouraged by impotent police and implausible subvention of the system by the villainy. Its here that Gunasekhar  - who does a fair effort in comeback  - goofs up. The villain part - the Ravana in the Ramayana piece of the movie - is overdone with unwarranted intensity and implausible sadism and cruelty. But for this which rankles the whole of second half, Varudu manages to strike a chord with everybody who believes in both arranged marrriages or love marriages. Allu Arjun tries hard but can't stand the onslaught of the intense-looking villain - Aryan - who charged a crore for the film. Two songs by Mani Sharma get you paisa vasool.

Missing something?

Heard that "Varudu" movie is not that great - has been made into a remix of Ramayana and Okkadu. Looks like Gunasekhar has not done much homework behind going into one set-wonders for each of his movies - the care he takes to make one grand opulent setting the centrestage and backdrop of his movies is not there in other aspects of film-making. This one may have been made for appeasing Allu Arjun.