"Genius" (Telugu) Movie Review

“Genius” is an unconventional film in a commercial film format. When the audio was launched, it created lot of buzz when some of the acclaimed writers of Tollywood got together to announce a film that will strike a chord with different segments of society who are exploited by some stakeholders. The writers were Chinnikrishna whose claim to fame are movies like “Indra” and “Gangotri” and of course, mass dialogue writers Parachuri Brothers. The director is somebody hugely popular on the telly – Omkar or Omkar Annayya, who does dance shows with toddlers dancing to gyrating tunes in Tollywood. Omkar directed this film which has a running time of 150 minutes with a one-film hero Haavesh, his own brother Ashwin and another upcoming youngster Jeeva. The storyline is quite simple: Three characters – Haavesh (Nivas), Ashwin (Yasser) and Jeeva (Koti) they all have an obsession with a personality respectively in their areas of interest. For example, Nivas is a blind follower of Pradeep Rawat, a politician. Yasser eulogises a batsman cricketer Nizamuddin (rings a bell?). And Koti is head-over-heels with a superstar/megastar/Call what you will ¬– played by Aashish Vidyarthi. The story then moves forward on how these respective demigods idolized by the three youth become more and manipulative eventually destroying their respective lives – until the three realize they are being exploited and short-changed at every turn of their Gods’ march to mega glory. Pradeep Rawat the typical politician stabs Nivas in the back, Nizamuddin pockets Rs.20 crs in match-fixing, and Peda Babu the film star uses the fans as a ladder for success but doesn’t care a dime when the fans are in need.




That’s quite an explosive story and you can imagine what happens when a jingoistic story writer and an iconic writer-brother team of Parachuri surname gang up together to give a story that breathes fire into screen. To be fair, Omkaar has done well doing justice to the explosive theme and building the plot and characters well which itself is quite many-layered. The casting is near-perfect except for Haavesh who lacks the intensity to be the big hero; he is handsome and has a great voice and body language but is low on emotional intensity which is required to carry a film like this on his shoulders. He falters in first half but heuristically delivers in the second half as crescendo builds to a good climax. It’s the other two - Jeeva and Ashwin who have an impactful screen presence. All the three villains – Aashish Vidyarthi, Pradeep Rawat and Adarsh (Nizamuddin) make their weighty presence in the film. The two heroines are non-entities in a film of this story depth and one of them shines a bit in a song amazingly shot in Leh Lake. In order to build engagement with those who expect more glamour in the film which is deadpan serious, Omkaar inducts a heavy-dose item song with three starlets who have seen better days – Rekha (“Anandam”), Sweta Pandit (“Kotha bangaaru Lokam”) and Anita (“Nuvvu Nenu”). That song “Dibbari Dibbari” is a raunchy number on the hazards of the casting couch in films. The opening song with Raju Sundaram master is also evocative of mass appeal which connects with fans of Omkaar who expect an inkling of his choreographic flair in the films. Dialogues do stand out in some places and appear consistent with the characters. However, contrary to what is expected, Brahmanandam doesn’t get enough smiles.

On the whole, a cool attempt despite few expectations belied – in comedy, pace and casting of the heroine. It is high time a theme of this kind has been attempted in Tollywood which makes more films for the masses but fewer films with a message-orientation. In the last 75 years, Bollywood made about 9200 films. Tollywood made 6200 films while Kollywood made about 6300 films. But nowhere is the manipulation of film fans more rampant than in Tollywood – this especially happens at a level where most fans connect so emotionally well with their heroes but are often overlooked when it comes to proper guidance about their career interests and long-term life goals. Right from the time of ANR and NTR to Krishna and Shobanbabu and Krishnamraju to Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna to the new crop of Gennext superstars, it’s the fans who are being exploited in the selfish pursuit of mega success that heroes get at the cost of substantial sacrifice of the film fans. No doubt, the madness has reduced, but at a basic level – at the level where the audio is release or the coconuts are broken at the morning show or the day before the release when cutouts are mounted to suit the inflated egos of these heroes, there are still many fans who are hapless and gullible – it is their savings and their precious time and their family sacrifices which are invested into the present market value of the heroes and their clans – and the system is self-perpetuating. The wisest fans are the metro crowds and the NRI crowds who moved on in life. The examples of how heroes egg their fans to rush for first day first show tickets, some of them getting crushed, some of them committing suicides gets a lot of pathos.

“Genius” is good in parts and is watchable once and despite the “A” certificate which is given because of the revenge-orientation of the story, it is decent. What is not well-researched is the psyche of the cricket fan and the political fan – the volunteer. Those could have been better analysed and projected. Music by Joshua Sridhar is quite soothing and I have been following his music since the movie “Prema” was released – he is a music director who is attempting to break new sound barriers without sacrificing melody which is the lynchpin of long-lasting music. I will give this movie 3 on 5 because it is reasonably well-made, holds out powerful messages that can strike a chord and has good technical, performance and family values.

"Ko Ante Koti" Telugu Movie Review

“Ko Ante Koti” is Sarvanand’s latest film directed by Anish Yohan Kuruvlla. It’s the story of a serial robber (Srihari) whose speciality is in opening any bank locker in the world. He can open these locks whether they have number combination or heavy-metal combination with multi-inch thickness. He ropes in two other characters - one a glutton who can also mash people with his obese body and two, an abettor with a broken eye and cylindrical glasses who signals to the gang in between “heist and run”. This talented trio ropes in Sarvanand during one of Srihari’s sojourns in jail. The reason? Srihari is planning the grandmother of all robberies so far. Before you wonder whether it is the Swiss Bank locker or the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (because these are the two most grandmotherly of all lockers in the world, one houses more cash than the politicians in India and Indonesia and the other stores most gold held by most central banks in the world), you are told there is one place where all the black money is kept in India itself and that is the next target after which the loot will be trifurcated, no quadrafurcated and they will all happily retire. Srihari - the gang leader baits each of the three with a thing or two dear to their hearts. Will they succeed? Will they survive the police inspector Ranjit Kumar (brilliantly played by veteran theatre actor and voice coach Vinay Varma)? And will Sarvanand get his love Priya Anand (The “English Vinglish” cutie who played Sridevi’s niece)? That’s the long story of an unsually long film which has its queer eccentricities and oftentimes humor that’s dark, obnoxious and adult-grade variety. Sometimes, the humor resembles the “Delhi Belly” profanities which grate on you, no wonder the movie got an A-grade.


In the name of experimental, obtuse humor and unwarranted twists, director Anish Kuruvilla (debut film “Avakaay Biryani”) has created a film rich in violence and crude jokes and the only thing that sustains the film is performances by Srihari, Sarvanand and stage actor Vinay Varma. For the first forty minutes, the director takes a long time to register the plot and the principal characters and gives no relief except by way of interactions between the four characters. After that, suddenly, the songs appear one after another almost in quick succession. The narrative also moves in forward play and flashback which jars the flow – such techniques will make an action drama unduly sag. Also, the film is completely unfit for family audiences and director compounds the agony by killing off some great entertainers like Chitti, PC and Inspector Ranjit Kumar. I keep reiterating that killing off the lively characters in the film is inimical to the success of any film. Even in a film like “Gambler” starring Ajith, the director Venkat Prabhu eliminates the comic characters in the film and the film met with below-par success; such actions are anti-sentiment and never received well by the audience.

The length of the film could have been better edited. Music by S K Karthick sounds better in some songs and camerawork is good. Sarvanand is a good actor but this film produced by himself is not worthy of his money and efforts. He has to build his versatility as an actor in selecting themes which enhance the range of his body language, he is getting consigned to being the metrosexual male with a thick beard, mr.cool, and a decent lover boy. If he has to make it to the next cut of mass heroes, he has to “escape gravity” to do a mass roles, the audiences will tire of his benign smiles and cool walks in background songs. Actor Raaja of “Anand” fame also went out of offers because of this monostyle acting. Fact is, Sarvanand has potential which needs better leverage. Srihari gives a  fine performance and he shows a better range of Telugu accent but his characterisation lacks consistency and mars the film in the second half. Director Anish who produced such fine films like "Anand" leaves a bad taste with this film with a lack-lustre plot thats trite and characterisations that go haywire. With regard to theatre heavyweight Vinay Varma, it is surprising he got such a brief role and gets killed; he gave some brilliant moments with his scheming looks and rich timber voice and just mouths off "Dongre" with hilarity. He certainly deserves to be noticed by Tollywood for meatier roles. On the whole, “Ko Ante Koti” is barely watchable for the jarring notes it hits, faulty screenplay and very few characters redeem the film as outlined. It deserves just 2/5.

"Saarocharu" Telugu Movie Review

"Saarocharu" is Ravi Teja in "class appearence" (note the spelling of appearance again; just to drive home the point that most vernacular titles don't get vetted for class appeal when translating into English but thats digressing). Ravi Teja is always known for mass entertainers that make even the mundane sound raunchy. So, we were warned this is is his class appearance (correct spelling). Director Parasuram has picked up reputation for making sensible films with subtle messages. He made films like "Yuvatha" (talks about youth power and talent), "Anjaneyulu" (talks about responsible news channels). His last film "Solo" with Nara Rohit has been well-received as it shows why joint families can and must survive current nuclearisation of society. He has roped in good starcast besides Ravi Teja - Jaya Sudha, Kajol Agarwal, Richa Gangopadhyay, Srinivas Reddy, and a cameo by Nara Rohit.

The story is not very different from umpteen movies which came on finding the right life partner to connect with. Ravi Teja is asked to help his colleague Srinivas Reddy to win over a girl he is seeking. That girl's best friend is Kajol Agarwal who is obsessed with her own beauty, she is narcissistic and haughty to the point she tells it is difficult to fall in love with any man unless there are points of commonality. Soon she finds herself drawn to Ravi Teja, he tells her stories from his life and finds that he is actually married and about to divorce his wife (Richa Gangopadhyay). The story gets a bizarre twist in the middle when Ravi Teja confesses he actually made up the whole story in order to woo her as he finds her to be perfectly compatible with her. Kajol rejects Ravi Teja as she finds this deceitful. She is engaged to Nara Rohit (a cameo) and then the happy ending as she goes back to Ravi Teja. While the story is simple narrative, what is questionable in screenplay is that nowadays film-makers resort to a dishonesty on the screen by creating characters who never were meant to be. In this case, the hero created a character Richa Gangopadhyay whose life is lived out by another couple who get "love-married" and divorced. Such methods of screenplay and story-telling are actually wrong even though appear creative. This technique of showing characters which are a figment of hero's imagination was last shown in Prabhas movie "Darling" which met with average success.

But is the film good and clean despite the narrative loopholes? I think it is, thanks to director Parasuram and the characters played by Kajol Agarwal and Ravi Teja. For fans of Kajol, this is a revelation as Kajol delivers a fine performance which gives ample scope to show she can be mean and many-shaded. She steals the thunder from Ravi Teja which is not usually the case in his movies. Ravi Teja is going through the crisis that every Mass Hero goes through many times. At the peak of their careers, Dada Kondke and Govinda, after delivering record-breaking box office hits sudden make a 180 degree turn with movies that are atypical of their wont. It has to be seen whether Ravi Teja's attempt at being a decent guy with family values will appeal to the family audiences and class viewers. My guess is, Ravi Teja needn't become class-conscious as there are enough heroes in that genre.  He should continue to be mass-hysterical and madcap-oriented as he always is. As far as the film goes, its quite clean and entertaining despite the different looks. Comedy by MS Narayana in the flight fills the void created by Brahmanandam's absence. Music by Devi Sri Prasad is just average and hasn't given his best to Ravi Teja as in previous films. Parasuram attempts vaguely at the dilemmas of married couples and the blues of divorce and wastes the time in the movie with 150 minutes. Nara Rohit and Jayasudha make a commanding presence in the film despite the short length of their appearances. Richa Gangopadhyay is a star who cannot turn and may find offers deserting her. What gives the movie the best moments are Kajol Agarwal and Ravi Teja  - they have shown a different side to their personalities but I must admit you get the feeling it is more Kajol's film than Ravi Teja's. Good to be rated atleast 2.5/5.

"Dabangg 2" Hindi Movie Review

“Dabangg 2” has come right on the day the world is supposed to end according to Mayan calendar. It didn't end, the world is as bad as before and “Dabangg 2” is as boisterous and larger-than-life as “Dabanng”.  Salman Khan comes with another paisa vasool film that will give the year the smooth velvet touch that has given him the megastar boost.  Dileep Shukla, the writer who collaborated in the first film with Anurag Kashyap’s brother once again penned the story with  better emotional appeal. Arbaaz Khan a.k.a Makkhi Pandey is also the director as the original director has fallen out with the House of Khans.

The movie’s length is a miracle for a Superstar film. In 128 minutes (and this includes the four minute statutory tobacco warning insertions), “Dabangg2” sizzles well especially in the first half. The story takes off just where Chulbul Pandey polishes off Chedhi Singh at Lalbagh after Chedi kills the former’s mother. Now, father Vinod Khanna and Makkhi Arbaaz Khan stay together with Chulbul Pandey (Salman) and Sonakshi. This time, its Kanpur, the Hindi heartland and the new villain is “Baccha Bhaiyya” (Prakash Raj). Chulbul being the eccentric cop with a “Dabangg” attitude, he needles the Baccha party gang of brothers enough to pick up spurs. Friction between Chulbul and Baccha builds upto bloody fights and finally the triumph of the  supercop. And of course, lots of queer comedy, Machiavellian punch lines by Chulbul, sweet romance with Sonakshi Sinha and atleast four to five incredulous fights – fights that define the superhero grade in Bollywood. On the whole, a watchable film except for a weaker second half where the climax wears off weak and soon.

Salman Khan is undoubtedly a treat to watch and has to be credited with the hugely successful characterization of Chulbul Pandey as the uber cool, super fit, wisecracking, omnipotent supercop that appeals to the rustics and the metrosexuals in multiplexes. Salman Khan has hit a purple patch in making hit films that are airlifting him into dizzy orbits out of the reach of other Khans and Kapoors. He acts in about three films every year of which most of them are remakes of  Tollywood/Kollywood superhits. And then came this homegrown lovable characterization of Robin Hood Pandey of “Dabanng” with a classic three-act model but told with an uncanny appeal intermixed with elements that the Hindi heartland folks go bonkers over. Whether it is twisting the belt buckle around the abodomen or whistling on the streets or dancing in satin shirts sans police uniform in the middle of the road, or giving cavalier repartees to the villains who try to bully you – Salman Khan has created a body language unique and machismo-enhancing of “Dabanng”.  It has all the unique elements of a super brand that has entered the second edition so  far but valued at the most ever – Rs.180 crores. That’s still a bit closer to what an average Animation movie in Hollywood budgets at but still “Dabanng 2” sizzles most of the time and doesn’t disappoint overall. When it doesn’t is when Prakash Raj looks less menacing because he hasn’t used his original voice, when the fights are too many and too long and when producer Arbaaz Khan tries to kick-ass himself.  We have to realize that all homegrown brands eventually come into their own making despite shortcomings in logic, pattern, capabilities and characterization.

“Dabanng 2” also has got some great star cast and solid performances by almost everybody. Vinod Khanna tries to redeem his characterization with some comedy, and then there are junior  and senior police colleagues to Chulbul who impress with their comedy timing. Sonakshi Sinha doesn’t dither a bit from her self-contented homemaker looks, her role is neither extra large nor refreshing as in the prequel.  “Gabbar Singh” was a successful remake of “Dabanng” but had few scenes which were reportedly bought by the makers of “Dabanng 2”. One was the Anthakshari scene which was a rage in Telugu and the other was a short scene where the policeman asks his wife not to pick up stuff for him because he believes she is not a doormat or a maid servant. As if to answer some of Salman’s strongest critics who label him as a chauvinist, Salman picks this scene straight fromj “Gabbar Singh” but drops the Anthakshari scene of singing with the criminals in Thane. That could have made a difference in second half where entertainment almost falls flat. What redeems is the breezy item song with Kareena Kapoor  “Fevicol”. Thats one heck of a number and the “Bodyguard” girl decks it up well.

Music by Sajid-Wajid and BGM by Sandeep Shirodkar are good and suiting the grammar of “Dabanng”. Music played a big part in the first part and here too, the BGM score must be a case study on how to elevate a superhero’s antics into a cult status. Dialogues are the most exceptional since whoever wrote for “The Dirty Picture”  or “Gangs of Wasseypur”.  Only those who understand Hindi well can make out except for the simple ones like “Kungfu Pandey” etc. Maybe that’s why Prakash Raj who created a laugh riot in “Singham” with his inimitable voice did not  dub his own voice. On the whole, Bollywood has got its own brand of franchisees which are surpassing Box-office takings while encashing on the mounting global appeal – “Dhoom”, “Gol Maal” and so on. “Dabangg 2” is a worthy sequel to a delightful homegrown superbrand because it has redefined Box office magic. First time, it was a sensation but this time it left a lot to be desired though, especially in the second half. For that and for the reduction of the villain to being just another piece in the Salman Khan police story from Khadi to shirtless stage in 128 minutes, it deserves 3 out of 5 – but not a point more.

"Yeto Vellipoyindi Manasu" (Telugu/ “Neethane Enn Ponvasantham”(Tamil) Movie Review

“Yeto Vellipoyindi Manasu” (Telugu) or “Neethane Enn Ponvasantham”(Tamil) is Gautam Vasudev Menon’s latest film whose audio was released many months before the release date. Reason: Maestro Ilaya Raja composed music for the film. Maestro Ilaya Raja had done exceedingly well in the songs which are already chart-toppers. Atleast four out of the seven songs are haunting, hummable and lullaby-melodious. Music-wise, Ilaya Raja has done his part in giving amazing songs for the season, but director Gautam Menon hasn’t capitalized well on the genius of the Maestro. This is because the BGM is hardly perceived in the film – about 65 per cent of the movie is on silent track showing either dialogues between the hero and heroine, hero and his family, hero and his friend – and there is lack of cinematic twists or oscillation of emotions to let music drive the rest. That is why, for fans of Ilaya Raja, the film is a disappointment- sans the songs – which are already a “hit”. As a composer, Ilaya Raja has had an outstanding record in giving memorable BGMs and RR with directors like Mani Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma, Bapu, K Balachandar, Suresh Krissna, Vishwanath, BharatiRaja, Balu Mahendra, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, Vamshi and others. It is clearly director’s fault in failing to utilize such a talent that comes rarer than a Halley’s comet. Something has gone wrong with the soundtrack, in short.




What’s the movie all about? Naani and Samantha play Varun and Nithya - two mador-each-other kids who grow up in the same school, go to the same college and have the hots for each other despite huge strata differences, so different that Nithya vacations in Australia whereas Varun goes for Annavaram. And the story continues with time lapses at different periods with many cold wars and hot patchups, without any variety. Varun wakes up one day to be career-conscious while driving some sense in Nithya too that she needs to find a purpose in life beyond him. He writes CAT exams, gets into IIM Kozhikode (where else, Kerala!) and makes his career count – and then revisits his first love – who has found a new calling. She is helping out victims of Tsunami creating a new household. Varun and Nithya overcome their egos and regain each other’s love with a happy ending. Samantha is gorgeous and cute, sometimes tries to look erotic and sensual at the same time. But her style of acting will run out of steam soon if she continues with her ibby-jibbies - girly giggles, self-conscious eye gazes and half-smiles. She is also getting into a rare trap of letting her voice-over Chinmayi dictate her body language – that will make her trapped in an alien voice without giving vent to her talent. In the golden days, you had voices like Saritha, Shilpa and Roja Ramani heighten the characters with their voices dubbed for femme fatales. But Chinmayi is a good singer but comes out dramatically different in voice over – and Samantha is an easy bait for her; here, Samantha dances to the husky and superficial voice of Chinmayi on screen. Naani is a great actor and has put in the right sincerity required for a role of this kind. He is never loud, always apt and remarkably cool.



The lighter moments in the film come when Krishnudu and Samantha’s friends appear on screen. But the movie is mostly a drag and lousy to watch. It is tediously long at 151 minutes, monologous at most times, and inspid when dialogues appear. Gautam Menon couldn’t prevent the shadow of “Yee maaya Chesaave” on the film at most places – the film is again a quasi-documentary of love from K-12 days to Career days, mostly shows dialogues between the boy and girl in the form of conflicts in ego, perceptions and attitudes, and again shows a happy ending. Unless there are more episodes of variety to project on screen from Gautam’s personal experiences, Gautam should put paid to these twilight sagas of love and return to action films or police investigation stories, which are his forte. The movie could have done better with editing, and screenplay deftness. Some of the scenes are abrupt and don't  connect with the previous ones.Lastly, he should get over the leanings of documentary film-makers; every scene comes with a subtitle: Nithya and Varun in school, Nithya and Varun at age 24 and so on. The audiences are too smarter to decipher these - if you want to show an annotated photo and video album from your personal life, show it on youtube and get more clicks but why does he have to inflict them on the audiences? On the whole, a boring and disappointing film from Mr Menon. I would rate it 1.5 on 5.

Pandit Ravi Shankar - When the Sitar fell silent.

Pandit Ravi Shankar’s life was epoch-making till the very end. He was born in Benares – the holiest of the cities and passed away at 92 in North America which now celebrates his brand of music as Indian Classical Music – nobody else exists in their eyes. Ravi Shankar has mesmerized audiences across the globe with his iconic mastery of Sitar; when he played, Sitar sounds so sonorific and fluid. It inspired many who became legends in our own times like George Harrison, daughter Anoushka Ravishankar and the splendid Prem Joshua. My own friend Ram Vakkalanka who is now settled in Canada is an accomplished Sitarist who trained under one of the Master’s direct disciples.

He was awarded every progressive award possible in the planet of music and arts – the Grammys, Oscar nominations, fourteen Doctorates, highest civilian awards in France and India. Not many musicians who are contemporaries of Pandit Ravi Shankar received the Padmas in run up to the ultimate coronation in India – Bharat Ratna. Pandit Ravi Shankar understood what the audiences wanted – whether in India, Eurasia, Far East or the opera-hungry West. That he could inspire the icons of a generation like Beatles speaks of the universal appeal of his music. My first impressions of listening to Pandit Ravi Shankar was on DD channels where he played in France, in opening game ceremonies and in famous performances at International conclaves. And then came the film “Gandhi” where I learnt Ravi Shankar scored the BGM and the songs (the few that were shown in the end). Whether it was the march of the British to prevent the Salt Satyagrahis or that haunting melody for over 13 minutes when young Gandhi travels across the country in the train where he sees everything from poverty to peasantry – those visuals were powerfully enriched by the Maestro’s outstanding music. Those days, BGMs were hard to  get so I used to record the OSTs on audio cassettes whenever “Gandhi” was aired on DD. I still get ecstatic when I listen to the music scored by Pt.Ravi Shankar. He used the right mix of melodies and orchestration as demanded in a film of that stature. It was mostly unique and Indian, and yet had the aura that anybody else would have floundered for Richard Attenborough. Even Gandhi would  have been proud of “Gandhi”’s music by  Ravi Shankar.

I always felt that Ravi Shankar had the right grasp of Indian Classical Music to embellish it further with his feel for what can blend well with Western Classical Music. He can be minimalist, subtle and classy at the same time while making the audience clamor for more. While “Gandhi” may be his finest hour in scoring BGM, he was also the natural choice for the Apu Trilogy of Satyajit Ray. The title theme for Apu in “Pather Panchali” that says it all in less than 90 seconds is one of the most memorable themes in Indian celluloid. In those days, it had the class of some of the Western masters in making a theme stick forever. Of course, Satyajit Ray never engaged Ravi Shankar after the trilogy but he had admitted in many interviews that only Ravi Shankar had the synchronization with him on the role of music in the film grammar – he felt that only Ravi Shankar understood the relationship of music to the film. Satyajit Ray never forgot what Ravi Shankar wrote for his films and probably never tried any other music directors after two failed experiments with Ustad Vilayat Khan and Akbar Ali Khan. That shows the consummate genius of Pandit Ravi Shankar in adjusting his talents to the metrics of any medium – live, recorded or in-film. There were also other musicians who became music directors for films. L Subramaniam had a dash with a few films like “Salaam Bombay”, L Vaidyanathan in “Pushpak”, Shiv-Hari (the Santoorist-Flutist duo) for Yash Chopra films. But all of them met with limited success – they had to call it a day sooner whereas Ravi Shankar scored the music as a privilege to the audience. It is like a preface to the world audiences and it is still etched well in public memory.

Whether it was solo performances or jugalbandis or a collaborative exercise with a bigger orchestra, Panditji was unique and uncomprising. He  was credited to introduce many firsts  in public performances – first to give the Tabla player a solo, first to make program notes, first to introduce sound checks (which spawned an entire industry in sound recordings and arrangements), first to introduce “friendly combats”.  I have attended a live performance of Panditji and his daughter Anoushka RaviShankar in HICC Hyderabad a few years back – and he was as magical as ever with fingers that were still stringing beautifully. Unlike many other musicians of contemporary fame, he knew  when to stop, when to make it sound spontaneous, when to annotate his music, when to let the others get full limelight and when to chastise an audience if they are found to be listless.

Though I have not read his first book “My music, my Life”, I had the fortune to get hold of his second book , more of a memoir “Raaga Malika”. What an exquisite and charming book set in lovely and musical font with elegant layout and exciting photo albums. It had also got a wonderful narrative of Ravi Shankar’s journey to greatness. I am of the opinion that Ravi Shankar had gone where few other Indian musicians had travelled because he was a complete musician presentable in full  - articulate in English, intelligent, charming and famously flirtatious with the ladies, replete with all the etiquette and manners of fully accomplished Indian musicians, and always representing India at her best. At age 92, when he passed away on a day that wont come in another hundred years, he lived the most eventful life that any musician would die for. His output across classical and fusion music must have reverberated across every acoustic auditorium around the world. Panditji, you have left a legacy of love, music and daughters who will carry on your name to greater heights. R.I.P

"Krishnam Vande Jagadguru" Telugu Movie Review

“Krishnam Vande Jagadguru” is quite a resonant title taken from a Sanskrit Sloka in Bhagavatam. It has Rana  Daggubati who hasn’t yet tasted Box Office success and casts Nayanatara in her first glam role after “Srirama Rajyam”. Director Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi is known for themes which are seldom dwelled upon on celluloid. In “Gamyam” he talks about being a humanist instead of a hedonist and enjoying the journey more than the destination in life. In “Vedam” he talks about the essence of right living and right thinking taking stories of five different people and blending them in the climax to drum up  the broad message of Vedas. It broke new ground in presentation and clearly remains a unique film of sorts  - in genre, theme and vivacity. “KVJ” his current, therefore, built a crescendo of expectations  - it has the implicit backing of the king of script-judgements D Suresh Babu, and all the paternal support that comes with such backing – theatres, distribution, the works. It is touted to be the real launch film of Rana. Does it deliver? Maybe, but it’s a mixed bag, according to me.

The story is quite explosive. Loosely borrowed from the famous “Surabhi” Nageswar Rao character. The patriarch of Surabhi theatre  (Kota Srinivasa Rao) runs the troupe with new generation of artists who show mixed commitment to the craft. One of them is BTech Babu (Rana) who is the “manasa putra” of Kota Srinivasa Rao, he is 6’3”tall, handsome, built like a planet and pulls off any role from the mythologies from Abhimanyu and Ghatotkachha to Narasimha and Krishna Avatars. He is the only hope for Kota to enact his magnum opus “Krishnam Vande Jagadguru” in Bellary Mines but BTech Babu has plans to study in US. Crest-fallen, Kota  dies. Shaken by Kota’s death and his past, BTech Babu re-dedicates himself and unites the troupe to  carry on the tradition. This takes him to Bellary where he falls in love with Nayanatara (an investigative documentary film-maker on mining scam). He also meets with the real baddies of Bellary – Murali Sharma and Milan Gunajee and finds more economic and social arson leading to imbalances in the surroundings of Bellary. Then the climax in a filmy way where Btech Babu pounces on the real villain who disturbed his ecosystem: While playing Narasimha Avatar, he pounces upon the villain (find out yourself) and eventually lets the displaced villagers give a fire exit to the villain.  

Director Krish had picked an explosive theme of Mining loot and its effect on the underbellies affected by it. He blends it half-heartedly with the declining patronage for theatre arts with the influx of media and economic boom leading to evolving forms of crisp entertainment. He lacks the control and finesse to blend both. In 136 minutes, he shows half-hearted will to grapple with the issues of the movie. Unlike Bengali and Marathi theatre, why did Telugu theatre vanish after centuries of fantastic run? There must be reasons beyond the evident – could it be mass urbanization or media invasion? Could better improvisation of language (simplification, actually) helped? Could they have picked up shorter and more vibrant and relevant themes? Any craft dies not because of falling patronage but only because of lack of marketing initiatives and perceived value – those aspects were not properly investigated. If Annamacharya had sung several thousand keerthanas, how come only few are sung with telling noticeability by even the unitiated? Some soul-searching needs to be done by Telugu theatre why such a decline befell it  - those who don’t adapt to the changing times in technology, presentation, content, theme or relevance, they are bound to perish. Krish disappointingly, has done no justice to the relevance of this debate. Instead, he sprinkles a few powerful dialogues that art is that which wakes you up from dreams, not the dream itself. Point taken, but how does the art become sustainable, remunerative and fulfilling? Krish doesn’t answer:  If you use  language that’s not crisp or clear to the current generation, the theatre has no hope in hell. But if you make it entertaining and improvise, it can survive the odds as in cities like Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata etc. For every “Surabhi” example, we need to see why some others have succeeded like “Prithvi” or “Qadar Ali Baig theatre” or some noted English theatres. Everybody loves a good play and stage performance and I can vouch that given good presentation and content, people will go to any lengths to watch theatre, there’s no dearth of audience here.

Krish also under-utilises his own strengths in documenting social problems well in his assessment of the mining mafia. Even though so much has happened in Bellary, and Goa mining scams, some justice is happening in terms of export bans, invoking of the RTI, land acquisition laws,  etc. I don’t want to delve deep into this issue as there are other larger points of debate which can be tackled separately. Showing how mining barons terrorise the villagers is just old-school villainy. When you have the main villain as “Reddappa”, there is so much scope for bringing real-life characterization and depth to sophisticated villainy. Krish fails to deliver here as well as in the characterization of most roles in the film. Nayanatara is a documentary film-maker on the mining scams. We don’t think she is either intelligent nor capable of the task at hand in the way she is characterized; she is mostly seducing Rana, dancing with him or running with her camera in Ambassador car. And what is the connection between a CBI officer and a documentary film-maker? Do they authorize film-makers to shoot documentaries and give leads? Murali Sharma is a talented villain who continues to be short-changed in Telugu films, he had scope to give a fiery performance but is again given short-shrift. The three best characters in the film are L.B.Sriram as the safekeeper of sand, Brahmanandam as “Rampam” and Posani Krishna Murali as “Tipu Sultan” car driver. Infact, the lightest moments in the film are when Brahmanandam takes a dig at stage artists and when Posani Krishna Murali sizzles on screen with his antics.  Their screen presence electrifies for the moments they appear.

Rana  Daggubati definitely has a diction that is top of the tree and credit must be given for his awesome dialogue-delivery of tough Telugu. He looks very impressive in the roles of mythological characters especially as Abhimanyu and Narasimha but he needs to improve his looks and work on what is the best facial hairdo for a person of his hulk and height. He looked better in “Dum Maro Dum” and previous movies in terms of looks than in this movie. He probably looks better with a stubble or a beard and a moustache like Victory Venkatesh (btw,  Venkatesh has a guest appearance with Sameera Reddy in a song). But he delivers a heartful performance that may make him win more hearts. Had Krish concentrated on every scene one at a time, the intensity of Rana would have come alive because he has streaks of fiery acting like Venky. Krish has treaks of my uncle Bapu – he doesn’t allow a scene to fully develop to its potential (like they say in Telugu, “scene panda ledu”).  Music by Mani Sharma  sounds unlike him and lacks the class and masterly touch of his earlier films. I get a sense that Krish imposes his own restrictions on the music output expected for BGM and songs except in “Vedam”. The background song with SPB at about half-dozen moments of the film brings out the pathos well.  There are songs which abruptly break into the flow of the scenes - like the circus song. What mars the film also is the degree of violence – it has some scenes that you will cringe to watch like tongue-slaying and hot-water throat bath etc. Why do they show such scenes? Why compound cruelty with clarity? I understand the censors have ordered for 36 seconds of brutal violence to be cut but only 12 seconds are cut in some theatres and the rest are showing off.

On the whole, a movie with mixed-bag results and could have been better handled by Krish because he had a great opportunity. I hope he becomes deft enough to be equal to the themes he selects henceforth. I will give this movie 2.5 out of 5 as I was disappointed a bit. It is watchable more in the first half than the second.