Brahmanandam: Will History Repeat?

https://www.telugu360.com/will-history-repeat-for-brahmanandam/

"Shivam" (Telugu Film Review)

My review of "Shivam":

http://www.telugu360.com/shivam-predictable-and-long/

"Kick-2" (Telugu Film Review)

My Review of the movie: Kick-2:

http://www.telugu360.com/kick-2-review-an-over-dose-of-everything/

"Brother of Bommali" (Telugu Film Review)

In a film industry dominated by male chauvinism, a team of new writers pair up with director Chinni Krishna to give a heroine-oriented role. Allari Naresh must be lauded for agreeing to share the screen with Karthika - the tall, dark and muscular daughter of yesteryears' star Radha  calls the shots all the way in a fresh story not seen in Allari Naresh films of late. 

The story goes like this: Naresh and Karthika are twins born seconds apart but they grow up differently. Contrary to the pink brain-blue brain syndrome seen in twins of a girl and a boy, Naresh and Karthika turn out to be gender-atypical extremes; Naresh is a sheepish boy and a non-confrontist. Karthika is  tomboyish, no-nonsense girl who is at once abrasive and aggressive. She is the shield protecting her elder  brother infact. Naresh falls in love with a cute girl and is about to settle down. That is when their parents force him to postpone marriage until his sister ties the knot. It is interval time and the suspense moves at fifteen nautical miles per hour with Karthika revealing she has, o wonder of wonders, fallen in love with a boy Harshavardhan Rane. The twist takes a new level post-interval when the boy Karthika falls in love with is about to marry a girl who is loved by the real villain of the film who keeps running into Allari Naresh - his name is Abhimanyu Singh - that intense-looking guy last seen in "Ram-Lila : Goliyon Ki Rasleela". The girl he is in love with is none other than the "Varudu" girl - Bhanu Mehra. With all these twists, there has to be one man who will be needed to bump the villains and straighten the gang that acquieses to the perfect marriage of hearts. Thats when Brahmanandam enters and brings the story to the end as predictably as he is good at. 

On the whole, "B/o Brahmali" is an entertainer mostly with 143 minutes of comedy and dramatic scenes of women empowerment rarely seen in Tollywood. The second half lets you down with lot of lags and needless scenes that remind you of "Kandireega" and Sreenu Vaitla's films. Yet, the film makes an impact because of freshness in treatment in the first half and the dialogues that pack a punch in ever scene. Music by Sharath Chandra shows lot of variety usually missing in his recent output. Allari Naresh has done an EVV Satyanarayana act by starring in a film scripted to back a heroine more than the hero. That heroine and the sole fulcrum of the plot is Karthika  - she may not have the looks but she carries the film right through. I found she has better screen presence than Naresh. The film has gaping holes - the familiar flaws of Tollywood plot, of tomfoolery, over-simplicity in plots, hyper-comedy situations out of common situations. But it is mostly watchable and few dialogues linger on your mind long after the din of comedy dries - like the dialogue of the heroine when faced by sexual harrassment at work. Despite the overtness of the comic effort, as a viewer, my mind rewound to the classics of EVV on the power of the feminine - like "Aame", "Chaalaa Bagundi" etc. Had this plot got made with a star like Tamanna or Samantha with a Superstar hero and got a classier treatment, the movie would have been a runaway blockbuster. Right now, it is not and we can watch it but once. But the effort deserves patronage. 

My Rating: 2.75/5

#BrotherOfBommali #Tollywood #MovieReviews

"Aagadu" (Telugu) Film Review

"Aagadu" is an alround entertainer starring Mahesh Babu which tries to erase some of the bitterneess tasted at the Box Office by the same producer trio who gave us "1-Nenokkadine". With Sreenu Vaitla, MS Guhan in cinematography and Thaman's techno-trance music on the technicals, the team cast fair and lissome Tamannah, ruling Diva Shruti Hassan in a club song and comedians Brahmanandam, MS Narayana, Vennela Kishore. Apart from a familiiar comic villain Sonu Sood who is a regular fixture in Mahesh Babu films, they cast three musketeers Prabhas Seenu, Raghu Babu and Posani in their career-best performances. The movie sizzles mostly in the 165 minutes of ubiquitous entertainment that moves at lightning speed. The audiences also laugh at all the right places. Yet, something has gone wrong in the film. Is it the story?  Characterisation? Treatment? Heroine? Over-confidence? Dialogue modulation? Lack of novelty? Lack of sentiment? Burden of expectations?

All of that and the fatigue that comes with the familiarity associated with all of Sreenu Vaitla's films. As a director, Sreenu Vaitla seems flawless because he moulds his films in the KV Reddy style of film-making that moves a story forward with all the elements of entertainment that family audiences lap up. But if you see the discography of Sreenu Vaitla after the first five films and compare them with the output of the last four - "Badshah", "Dookudu","Ready", "Dhee" they are the same - a light-hearted romance, a gang of villains, sentiment of family renuion or father-son-brother, hero using Brahmanandam to infiltrate the villain gang and tomfooling them with a fairy-tale ending. That is precisely the story in Sreenu Vaitla's films.

In "Aagadu", Mahesh Babu (Shankar) is a cop who takes revenge on the gang of villains led by Sonu Sood for separating him from his father (Rajendra Prasad) and brother and a lot that follows after that. And then eliminates each one of them in novel ways  - thats the good part of Sreenu Vaitla's screenplay. The story has a picture-perfect ending but takes you through a roller-coaster of entertainment and great comedy that ranges from top-class (like the MEK-inspired quiz show) and sub-standard (the teleshopping ad-inspired advert on Saroja Sweets).

Despite choosing some great jokes (which spare no one from Balakrishna to Chiranjeevi family  to Botsa to politicians and sportspersons) the film lacks freshness in content and treatment. This is where I doubt if the film will have the stamina at box office to beat previous records because as I reiterated in the past, Telugu audience is the smartest when it comes to detecting movies with a deja vu flavor or plot or treatment. While Tollywood doesn't make different films each time, the audience doesn't blindly consume films similar in content. This is the greatest irony of the industry which over-invests in stars and star music directors but under-invests in story-writers. Even if this film is made for the fans of Mahesh Babu, they will be the first to desert the movie after the holiday season ends - thats the cold truth which superstars and mega power stars must realise.

Over 165 minutes, the director goes down the beaten path of entertainment pursued in "Dookudu" - the same childhood days during titles, the romance in pre-interval, heights of comedy, fights galore and the square-off with villain in interval, the item song post-interval and then Brahmanandam's key entry at climax time. Punctuation followed with boring predictability and resemblance to so many films like "Yamudu", "Singham", "Gabbar Singh" and of course, "Dookudu". Sreenu Vaitla's obsession with television shows in igniting comedy out of everything needs to end. He has the commercial sensibilities to take entertainment to the next level without diluting family-wide viewing needs. Unfortunately, he has fallen out on ego issues with writers who supported him till "Badshah" - Kona Venkat and Gopi Mohan. With a new bench of writers, what stands out is the dialogues but not the story outline.

To be fair, there are some highlights in the film. Undoubtedly, there are actors who stand out - MS Narayana (he has the best self-edited lines in the film) who steals the thunder without moving an inch from his seat except in the last scene. And then the three musketeers - Seenu, RaghuBabu and Posani. Rajendra Prasad is under-utilised; a weighty actor like him is reduced to be a poster boy father to Mahesh Babu. The scenes where Mahesh Babu remixes and tells the storylines from his previous films are hilarious and different. The best scene of comedy is the Quiz Show spoof on MEK. All the three musketeers and Mahesh Babu and Vennela Kishore outshine each other with comic voice modulations mimicking TV hosts. It runs for almost nineteen minutes and can get repeat audiences. Sonu Sood, Mumtaz and Ashish Vidyarthi fail to create impact in the film - Sonu Sood salvages a bit in the climax with his own retelling of a Panchtantra story that sort of summarises the story itself. (Maybe thats the source of inspiration for Sreenu Vaitla's creative team). Tamannah seems a misfit in the film despite her bare-all attitude. Shruti Hassan outsizzles Tamannah in one song even if they don't share screen together. One is tempted to think the pairing would have been perfect if Tamannah was restricted to an item song and Shruti was the main lead.

Mahesh Babu, despite all the limitations and fatigue in content, carries the film entirely on his shoulders. He spares no effort in taking charge of every scene where he is either leading the show or insinuating an outcome. His voice modulation is seeing an unprecedented transformation. In "Dookudu" he tries two modulations (Telangana and Andhra accents). In "Aagadu", he tries too many to remember and register. Thats a fatal flaw because the audience need time to process so many modulations and in the end you may remember only few dialogues but fail to acknowledge the effort. In an attempt to make himself a Superman in all departments, his efforts may go waste unless audience repeats to this film. It may well be a costly lesson for all heroes - don't over-invest yourself in one movie unless you plan to retire with this one. Dance movements have been more graceful for Mahesh in the film. Prem Rakshit seems to have done his job well in the three songs that had some choreography to note. Stunts have been many but only one stunt pre-interval has been good - that should have been all there is in stunts thanks to Vijayan. The rest of the stunts actually suck including the costly one shot at Bellary in the opening sequence. With all the modern technology available, today's stunt masters don't seem to get the emotion that accompanied the "dishum dishum" sounding stunts of old times - today's heroes are better at bending limbs and breaking bones but not at getting whistles. Mahesh Babu has already made a statement in "Dookudu" that he is the best in the current crop of actors in range and repertoire of acting and screen-sharing with seniors. In this film he may have overdone his bit that borders on over-confidence. What undermines his efforts is the choice of the plot and the absence of connect with the audience in the form of sentiment. It was sentiment and comedy that made "Dookudu" a blockbuster. By firing on all engines of comedy, director overlooked the role of sentiment in this film.

Thaman's music in his fiftieth film is good in parts but not in the same league. One finds the BGM score reminiscent of "Dookudu" re-recording. While two or three songs stand out for the beat, the picturisation lets the output down. Sreenu Vaitla chooses outdoor setting for both the fast songs in the film which makes it monotonous to watch. Atleast the last song should have got done in a lavish indoor setting or in Chiraan Fort  (his lucky setting for scoring a hit). On the whole, you can watch it once for Mahesh, comedy but the length and the fatigue wear you out in the second half. First half by itself should have been the length in this 165 minutes of reptitive fare. For that it doesn't deserve the top-notch rating.

My Rating: 2.75/5

#Aagadu #Tollywood #filmreviews #MovieReviews #MaheshBabu #TeluguFilms

"Manam" (Telugu) Film Review

"Manam" is a beautiful film -  a flowing tribute to ANR and his lasting legacy. In the works for over two years, the film was making news for many happy reasons until it became clear that this will be ANR's last screen appearance. Directed by Vikram K Kumar ( "Ishq" fame) and produced by Reliance Entertainment, the film has all the elements of a sugar-syrup family comedy with minimum distractions. No villain, no side-tracking comedy and no vulgarity - it has a stamp of class and well-directed sweetness all-round. There are not many families in the Indian film history which had the luxury of appearing on screen in all the 3-G glory. The last time such an act was performed, according to me, was "Kal Aaj Kal" (starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor and Ranadhir Kapoor). Now, it is the turn of ANR, Nagarjuna and Naga Chaitanya to give us a magical story of improbable origins.

The improbability is the only weakness in the plot - where Nagarjuna is the son of Naga Chaitanya and Samantha and ANR is the son of Nagarjuna and Shriya Saran. How these five people you will not otherwise meet in heaven actually get enmeshed with each other's lives in a cute inter-mixing of two love stories spread over two generations is the bone of the matter. Beyond this, it would be puerile to elaborate the story as it may snatch the thrills of watching a clean film not seen since  the likes of SVSC. The implausibility of the plot is tolerable as today's films have more illogicalities than the subtle cinematic liberty taken by the story-writer of this plot. So the illogicality is passable in the name of delectable entertainment that the film offers.

What are the highlights of the film? Undoubtedly, the scenes between Nagarjuna and Samantha as some of the best supermom moments get unfolded on screen in a rarely seen combination. Then the scenes between ANR, Naga Chaitanya and Nagarjuna - the drinking scene, even if slightly overdone. Then the delicate scenes between Nagarjuna and Shriya in the rural backdrop where bucholic charms haven't erased the purity of some souls. Finally, the roaring screen chemistry between Naga Chaitanya and Samantha for the nth time which makes the film youthful. Performance-wise, Naga Chaitanya gives the best shot amongst everybody as he shares screen space with Nagarjuna and ANR for the first and last time. This is his film, not really Nagarjuna's or ANR's. Samantha and Shriya get their sunshine moments and naturally have a blast. Nagarjuna looks old but carries himself better than some of the commercial roles we are used to seeing him. He should quickly migrate to being part of more such meaningful cinema such as "Manam". ANR is seen for less than ten minutes but by making a delayed entry minutes before the interval and staying the course right till the end, he gives out a dignified performance before he bowed out. Director Vikram used the limited availability of ANR's footage deftly by spacing him to re-surface again and again until that last shot of his where he smiles and waves you goodbye.

Whichever way you look at, "Manam" is a terrific film to watch that doesn't bore you despite the over-extended goodwill messages and sweetness. Infact, the emotions in the film choke you at times and remind you of the beauty of life and the miracles that pour out of love of all kinds. Vikram Kumar is quite a talent in the way he used a venerable starcast including Brahmanandam and MS Narayana. After a long time you get a feeling of confidence of a director in showcasing his mastery with a clean narration, good performances and messages that won't embarrass you in front of your mom. Except that little cheeky jingle of why we say "ladies first", nothing is offensive in the film. What makes the film different is the treatment of the story playing out between different generations of characters and the quality of output. Music by Anup Rubens, his 25th musical score deserves a high five. All the songs are exceptionally peppy and melodious. By using three different scores for each generation of Akkineni family, Anup Rubens has shown he has a talent for matching  song composition skills with a standout BGM. The director's class also shows in his selection of team in dialogues, cinematography. Vikram Kumar sure has a fresh mind that needs more backers  - how he thinks in telling a good story better is a case study. One example, in the song "Ta...Taaa....Tatta Tattaa...." which has Nagarjuna and Naga Chaitanya shake a leg with the old clippings of ANR song, any other director could have used an item girl to add to the stomping on the floor. But by not going for the predictable, Vikram proves he is different. More power to such directors and cinema. In many ways, Vikram's style of commercial cinema reminds me of the class of Radha Mohan, the Tamil director who made many successful films for Prakash Raj.

You wished the film's length of 163 minutes were cut down but I sense some scenes of ANR were not possible because of his passing out so they had filled in with other stuff. Good to see Amala and Akhil get roped in this family drama for the records. Akhil's entry in the end gives an inkling he will also join the family business soon. No less a person than Amitabh Bachchan did a 45 second cameo as a tribute to ANR. What a way to finish off a glorious career! In as much one feels compel to judge a film, "Manam" has surprisingly few shortcomings - which I have already qualified. You will walk away with many good feelings after watching it.

My rating: 3.5/5.

"Race Gurram" (Telugu Film Review)

"Race Gurram" has come in the middle of a season that is seeing the race of our lives in election.  Directed by Surendar Reddy, "Race Gurram" gets off to a good start  but in the bid to make a blockbuster, Surendar Reddy errs on the heavier side of entertainment with too many twists in a bizarre tale that takes your head for a spin especially in the second half with logic and sanity hit out of the park. 

The story casts Allu Arjun in the title role, which means a horse trained to compete at races. But there is no justification of the title except a footage of horses at the outset and towards the climax besides a cursory mention of the qualities of horses and horsepower. The plot is about two brothers, Ram (Shaam) and Lakshman (Allu Arjun) who grow up teasing and fighting with each other, developing a strong disaffection to each other. Shaam becomes a cop while Allu becomes a vagabond. As their animosity grows stronger, Allu falls in love with Shruti Hasan who keeps her emotions masked under a tough-looking demeanor. Shaam, in one fit of a rage to level the scores with his brother needles his love story with dire results. As a tit for tat, Allu levels scores by hoodwinking his brother  about to nab gangster Siva Reddy (Ram Kishan) with solid evidence before Siva Reddy files his nomination papers for MLC. Allu lifts the police jeep and speeds away with the file unbeknownst. The villain Siva Reddy, having got wind of Shaam's intentions to nail him sends a task force to polish him off but alas, the jeep has Allu, it gets pulped by the villain's gang and thrown into the valley. Allu survives the ordeal and decimates Siva Reddy after hearing of his plot to actually kill his brother. Suddenly, Allu undergoes a paradigm shift that starts a series of confrontations with the villains. The second half shows the massive confrontation between the family of Siva Reddy and that of Allu Arjun that ends with agonizing twists and mind-numbing   concepts liberally followed from films like "Kick" (director's own),"Oke Okkadu", "Singham" and "Arya-2". 

The fundamental flaw that may go against the film itself is the story of confrontation between two brothers which is anti-sentiment. Both brothers go to any extent to undermine the other and this goes on since childhood with parents remaining mute spectators. No film with screwed up sentiment like this has ever succeeded. (Examples, "Chennakeshava Reddy", "Brothers"). Even if Ambani brothers compete with each other, they are doing it in separate homes, never under the same roof. Dragging this sentiment further, director Surendar Reddy introduces a twist before interval block of Allu waking up to the basic DNA of his brother and aligning himself with Sham to fight the villain. The story of the  brother, being a senior cop, unable to dote on his younger brother is quite a flaw that hampers the feel-good sentiment even as the narrative moves at break-neck speed. While the entire story can be summed in three lines - two brothers fighting, cop confronting a criminal and the younger brother also joining the fight, Surendar Reddy builds fat tissue after fat tissue in building the narrative, elongating the sequences and getting sloppy comedy that enumerates a jumbo starcast. 

The starcast has Shruti Hassan as Allu Arjun's love,  Prakash Raj as Shruti's father, Ram Kishan, Mukesh Rushi and Kota Srinivasa Rao as villains, Shaam, the cop in "Kick" playing again as a cop and also Allu Arjun's brother and three ace comedians, including Brahmanandam, Jayaprakash Reddy,Ali and MS Narayana besides new-age comedy artists. There are too many distractions in the narration of the main story which make it tedious despite a whole-heartedly valiant attempt at making a blockbuster. The trouble is, when you set out to make a blockbuster, you should have checked if there are too many blocks to bust your film's chances at box office. Surendar Reddy missed wholly in this giving a free running time of 163 minutes to cover five songs, repetitive run-ins between the brothers, a comedy track with Shruti Hasan in a romantic setting and the cliched introduction of Brahmanandam as the supercop who will bring down the house of the villains, the film travels at a velocity that will gradually numb your senses in the second half.

Shruti Hasan gave her dumbest performance in years despite looking demure and cute in songs. Her role of a girl who conceals her emotions is apt for her insipid acting that oozes mannequin beauty without substance. Prakash Raj and Shaji Shinde bore you with their trite antics. Shaam comes out good in his role as the cop even if its a leaf out of "Kick" performance. Bhojpuri superstar Ram Kishan steals the thunder as a villain with comic timing. Brahmanandam tries to get the biggest laughs, he almost succeeds but how long will his stereotype magic work - the kind of role that comes in the wee minutes of climax and knocks the socks off everybody including the hero and the villains? How long will heroes and directors let him ride out this sucker punch comedy that has become staple fare? The nation needs to know!

Allu Arjun is a high-calibre star who has earned the spurs of a Style Icon with a wonderful mix of attitude, hardwork and impeccable behavior. He has also delivered cinema that moves the needle of content towards different genres and acceptability beyond the borders of Telugu Cinema. As a package of dance, metrosexuality, presentability and personality projection, he is a case study on how one can get catapulted into supertardom without conventional good looks and low-timber voice. With that kind of halo, Allu Arjun has done well in the film by himself. There are atleast three scenes where his words spell magic on screen. He emotes fluently and delivers a knock-out performance in all scenes, dances and stunts. Perhaps, with an eye on the growing Malayalam market, Allu also uses a heavy drawl in accent to emphasise words like "Devudaa" differently which gets good laughs throughout his utterances. 

But for that, and a few good laughs, the film falls short of a supergood tag because of hopeless editing, zero attention to logic and consistency and silly comedy in the name of entertainment. If the film is cut by 35 minutes, it would have been a different experience, to cut a long story short. The film is watchable once but only for a while after interval. Music by Thaman is peppy and catchy but the picturization disappoints except in "Gala Gala". This may not be Allu Arjun's worst film but this is not his best. Surendar Reddy's direction has energy but it is time for him to take a calorie count on how much of it is needed to collapse the genres of entertainment with that of action and comedy. He has failed with "Oosaravalli" and "Athidhi" and "Ashok". It's time to go back to the basics of unhurried story-telling. Despite the highs in the film - the dialogues of Allu Arjun, the heavy starcast, the clean comedy, the new villain, the lows of the film outnumber - the length, needless scenes of sibling rivalry, Brahmanandam ad nauseum, bizarre twists that are completely irrational, overdose of everything, the film deserves a rating no more than 2/5.

"Atharintiki Daaredi" (Telugu) Movie Review

"Atharintiki Daaredi" is a smashing film power-packed with terrific performances by Power Star Pawan Kalyan, Nadia, Rao Ramesh, Brahmanandam, MS Narayana and Ali. It is definitely the most awaited film of the year because it involves star director and ace wordsmith Trivikram who can make the screen dance with his style of comedy, emotions and words that stir your senses. After a long drought since Ravi Teja's film, Tollywood's magic comes back with "AD" and credit must go to the entire team that made a family entertainer dripping with action, comedy, romance and emotions. 

"Atharintiki Daaredi" is a familiar phrase in Telugu which is played with babies held up close in arms - it begins with a few poetic lines and ends with an affectionate hug that tickles the baby. The film also oozes out the ticklish tone filled with one man's quest to find a place in the hearts of the people residing in his paternal aunt's home in India.  Siddhu (Pawan Kalyan) is the heir to a billion dollar industrial empire in Milan, Italy run by his father (Mukesh Rushi) and grand-father (Bomman Irani). His grand-father has become a vegetable on a wheel-chair but his only wish in life is to see his daughter who he threw out of his home because she dared to marry someone despised by him. That couple, Nadia and Rao Ramesh, now live in India with a huge family and their pretty daughters - Samantha and Praneetha. Pawan Kalyan vows to get his aunt back to see his grandfather. How does Pawan Kalyan charm the household by first masquerading as a Chauffeur and later on, as Siddhu as his aunt already knows is the story with a narrative that runs like a non-stop comedy show with a rich assemblage of characters  - the usual characters seen in a Trivikram film except two missing members - Tanikella Bharani and Dharmavarapu Subramanyam. A major plus is the music by DSP, almost all the songs including the one sung by Pawan Kalyan are hummable with high melody score, one song that shows DSP on screen with Pawan borrows the kinky style of Ilayaraja in one "Charanam".

Trivikram has returned to a thorough family theme that shows only the non-invasive villainy for the sole purpose of showcasing Pawan Kalyan in some fabulous stunts. Otherwise, the film doesn't have villains in a conventional sense, most of the screenplay is between the central characters of Pawan Kalyan, Nadia, Rao Ramesh and Bomman Irani. That's a healthy comeback for Trivikram because that puts him miles ahead of the rest of the pack of directors who tend to be caught up with crass commercial sensibilities. A Tollywood film today runs on few pillars  - narrative that runs with a straight bat, comedy that fires on all fours, characterisation that can run its full course with consistency and distinctiness for each principal and peripheral character that shows up as minutes pass, screenplay that ties you to your seat, technical mastery over the aspects that make up the medium- cinematography, shot selection, logicality, editing, aesthetics and of course, music. Besides all these, dialogues that sync so well with the many worlds we live in daily life. In almost all these aspects, Trivikram has been a pro who is at the peak  and this film is a fine showcase to all those who want to see him taste mega success. The thing with Trivikram, I noticed from his first film (Is that a film with actor Suresh, "Praarthana" or Venu ("Churunavvutho"?) that he has this ability to weave a narrative with a built-in thermostat that guides when to explode and when to stay under a leash, it is almost like a sleeping volcano that erupts only at the cusp of a major twist or defining moment of the story. Even if his filmography in the earlier films have been occasionally nativised adaptations from Hollywood films or best-seller novels ("Manmadhudu" was a Mel Gibson film, "Athadu" was a Sylvestor Stallone film, "Nuvvu Naaku Nacchaav" was a Ben Stiller film; try google out yourselves), his films have a shelf life that ensures repeat magic on successive telecasts on TV or your own DVD re-views. In this film, Trivikram falters only with editing  - he might have had constraints in chiselling huge portions which do not add value like that club song with Mumtaaz or those long Brahmanandam tracks which could have got shorter to make a point. Clearly, 169 minutes is a bit long even if the director, to quote his own words in the film hasn't told a "story of Ben Hur in Burra Katha format". 

Trivikram has ensured every character in the film gets a line that makes them stand out. For a change, he has breathed new life into the characters of MSN and Ali. Nadia as the title character "Athagaaru" has given a stylish and dignified performance making her role one of the most nuanced "Aunt" roles in Telugu Cinema, never once loses class in her portrayal. Rao Ramesh gives another well-articulated performance, he and Pawan Kalyan together get the best lines of the film, but more on Pawan later.  Brahmanandam's performance is sometimes puerile sometimes garrulous but overall just-above average. His best laughs come in the elongated skit of Ahalya, Gautama and Indra. Between Samantha and Praneetha, Praneetha has a better screen presence and looks more gorgeous even if she appears in one song. Samantha will fade out faster than a one-trick pony at this rate of exposure, pun unintended, even if she is a lucky mascot.

Pawan Kalyan seems to have a magical chemistry with Trivikram that sets the screen on fire. As a practioner of Vipassana meditation, martial arts and Zen Buddhism, Pawan has shown a lot of class, effort and style in this role with a body language that's a hit with his fans. His dialogue delivery has been a unique trademark that pack a punch in every scene, of course penned by the director; he seems to have outgrown some of his whimsical mannerisms as he gets quite comfortable under the skin of roles of a lover boy, responsible heir and a star performer amidst other comedians. His dancing skills, surprise, have also improved considerably even if he chooses to uncomplicate his movements, its a sign of a maturing actor who is aging but at peace with his world and his body chemistry. If "Jalsa" has been voted one of the best all-time Telugu hits, then "Athaarintiki Daaredi" will be another feather for Pawan Kalyan because his contribution if the film does well will be huge. Obviously, he has developed as an actor a quixotic mixture of non-chalance, innocence, poise and confidence that can sometimes ooze out more doses but so what if the fans like him. He has experimented with choking scenes in "Teenmaar" and he repeats more in "AD" which will connect with families well. In quite a few scenes of "AD",  like in "Jalsa", Pawan shows a repertoire of improvisations in acting that make him an explosive actor almost impossible to predict. His stunts have always held out a special charm because he is a warrior of sorts in real life too. In this film, Peter Hein composes stunts but the best stunts come later, the first two stunts are wasted. There is a jingle thats already popular sung by Pawan Kalyan himself in the film thats uproarious and electrifying that comes at a particular climactic comic scene with Brahmanandam. 

"AD" bears the stamp of Trivikram and the magic of Pawan Kalyan and makes it a riot  that will make it one of the most watched family entertainers ever. It is generally clean, upholds the traditions of entertainment of Trivikram  (even if some themes recur from his earlier films) and gives a rich treat of wholesome family fare. The triumph of this film will ensure directors and producers pay special attention to family themes. At a time when Telugu pride is wounded and at an all-time low, this is a proud showcase for a fun-filled, chimerical entertainer that makes you cry and laugh out loud.  My rating: 4.25/5

"Something Something" (Telugu Film Review)

Some stars hitch-hike their way to stardom doing the same star-turn again and again and hope for re-alignment of luck or fortune. Little do they realise that fortune favors the brave or the new or those who try out different roles. Atrophy sets in sooner for actors who play the same kind of roles. Siddharth is the star to talk about in this film "Something Something", his screen roles are less than half as exciting as his off-screen romantic tracks, maybe he should make a film on that like "Autograph Memories". This film is no different.  "Something Something" is a story borrowed from the film "Choti Si Baat".

 Kumar is an IT Geek who can't talk to girls, let alone woo them. Everyone in his office has a fling or two and are having a blast in office. Into this office steps in Hansika, the trainer. Kumar (Siddharth) lightens up, loosens his libido and makes many false starts to converse with the girl. Somebody advises that he needs the expert guidance of Premji (not Aziz Premji, just love Guru Premji). Premji (Brahmanandam) enters and starts his tutorial with Kumar. He succeeds, despite competition in the fray and all that. He gets paid by the minute and the hour like some Intellectual Property lawyer of Amarchand Mangaldass & Co. It is this chemistry between Brahmi and Siddharth that gets some genuine good laughs and punchy one-liners.

The only twist in the film is at break-time where Premji learns that Hansika is his own niece. He decides to move into reverse gear and starts a campaign that will antagonise Kumar. This is the part that is dreary and deadpan. Entertainment reaches a crescendo in the first half but fails to sustain the momentum in the second half making it an average film on the whole. Comedy with Brahmi and others is above-average and intensely situational; its been a long time since he is enmeshed with the main storyline and shows up till the end. But age is not on his side and had it been a younger comedian like Venu Madhav or Srinivas Reddy or even Sunil, the output would have been fiery and effective. Music by Sathya is new-sounding and not uniformly melodious. Director Sundar hasn't done his best in crispening the film. What peppers the film with a weak storyline are special appearances  by Rana Daggubati and Samantha, his current hearthrob.  Hansika is happy to be dressed like a princess who keeps looking at her own image in the mirror, she cannot act. On the whole, Siddharth tries to rope in the magic of Brahmanandam (Santhanam in Tamil) to turn his luck on. But this is unlikely to be a big draw in Telugu because he has no role to kill for and the film is just about average despite being a clean entertainer which families can watch. 2.5 out of 5 is my rating.

"Badshah" film review (Telugu)

Badshah" heralds the second big season of Tollywood with a swooshing sound of big-scale entertainment in the school of direction of Sreenu Vaitla and his style of family values - atleast four villains and seven side-kicks, a bigger family of character actors, a hero who is never bigamous, a heroine who falls for the hero easily only to be beguiled, an epic, almost explosive spraying of comedy scenes usually inter-linked with the story by the one and only Brahmanandam. This pattern of film-making has been remarkably patented by Sreenu Vaitla especially from the film "Ready" till "Dookudu". Each time, the under-currents were the same only the backdrop changed.  

In "Badshah", he tries to salvage NTR Jr.'s chequered career so far to give him a new cut-out which may go down well with his fans. He lets him keep the reel name his grandfather gave him - N.T.Rama Rao and weaves plenty of screenplay twists to make a career-high for him although it appears tedious at times. 

160 minutes should be an editor's delight but hardly a viewer's delight. Since the editors must have gone napping and Sreenu Vaitla makes films in the conventional three-act format, he cannot get to the main point without moving linearly from the previous watermarks in the frames he releases for us to make a sense of all the drama and melodrama. He needs something different everytime to make audiences drool over his largely endearing universal brand of entertainment, so this time he gives NTR switch into two variations: One, as a police officer who infiltrates a mafia from Italy to Macau and later, as a wedding planner in India who spoils the party for his lover about to marry someone else. Lot of characters get thrown in to pad up the whole storyline till the end - collapsing all the elements and the emotional highs and lows Sreenu Vaitla wants us to experience including some meaningless and boring stunts - the worst in NTR's films. 

Is the film watchable? For a large part yes and thats because of the devastating comedy scenes between MS Narayana and NTR and Kajol in the first half and later, between Brahmanandam and Nazar and MS Narayana in the second half. If you thought "Dookudu" was the ultimate in Brahmanandam comedy, seriously, watch "Badshah". Brahmanandam steals the thunder yet again in one of his most boisterous performances till date. MS Narayana, Vennela Kishore and Nazar too add to the outstanding comedy track in the film which are the sole highlight of the film. Kajol Agarwal is fading out fast and probably getting burnt out with her ho-hum expressions. NTR Jr. gets his best shot at dialogue delivery in just one or two scenes and excels in dance sequences. His Telangana accent is better than the slick expressions as a Mafia Don. Like many heroes hungry for box-office success in the past, NTR Jr. pulls out all the stops to make himself count amongst the contenders for the top slot. He ropes in the best comedy duo Brahmi and MSN to sizzle with their rapturous chemistry, a vintage medley of old NTR clubsongs (, and some splendid locations to give audience the variety even though the story itself is not that novel and an in-form SS Thaman to score trendy music (though forgettable). He even ropes in two stars and a superstar to bring him  luck - Actors Siddharth and Navdeep in brief roles and Mahesh Babu to give the commentary. Sreenu Vaitla does a clean job in his KV Reddy style of film-making  - a rollercoaster ride of emotions but lags at a lot of places. Writers Gopi Mohan and Kona Venkat give some memorable lines. Sreenu Vaitla should know that every director who relies on excessive screenplay and comedy without variety hits a glass ceiling one day. It happened with great directors of comedy genre like Jandhyala, EVV, Krishna Reddy, Siva Nageshwar Rao and Mouli. "Badshah" may be a paisa vasool film for now but if Sreenu Vaitla doesn't re-invent himself, he is a few films away from becoming ad nauseum. NTR Jr. should relax if this film becomes a hit for all the sweat equity - it is not his sweat but so what it nudges him to better days still. I rate it 3.5 on 5 for the hilarity of Brahmanandam.

"Mirchi" Telugu Film Review

“Mirchi” is a home production of Prabhas – produced by his brother Pramod. Directed by K.Siva, a writer who debuts with this film. “Mirchi” starts off like a conventional masala film with predictable fare and storyline but later unfolds a full-blooded family drama with a happy ending. It seems Prabhas has selected the right script after the disastrous “Rebel” which took megalomania to new heights.




The story begins in Milan, Italy where Prabhas rescues Richa Gangopadhyay from a gang of “roadies”. Prabhas falls in love with Richa but she is unsure how it turns out as her family back home in Palnadu is a bevy of factionists who live off blood smirks and bloody revenges – starting with her brother Subba Raju. Prabhas befriends Subba Raju who lives in Hyderabad living as a tenant of Brahmanandam. He changes Subba Raju and then moves to Palnadu to change the rest of the gang. Pretty average story. What liberates the movie is “dude” Prabhas with his altered body language and swashbuckling dressing to get new following. Dialogues by Director Koratla Siva are better than many mass films till date. The film has some good entertainment in the first half with Brahmanandam who is settling in as a comedy star tagging alongside hero - he knows what her is upto but not the gang, that’s his characterization lately. Prabhas is opting for family hero image with good mass following – he has the looks, the macho body and the original six pack and the cool looks. Anushka shines better than Richa Gangopadhyay even if she makes a surprising entry in second half – in flashback. It’s the second half that drags with lazy editing - 158 minutes is too much for a film of this sort.



Right from the times of NTR to Krishna to Chiranjeevi, the mass-hero space is up for grabs for anyone who can muck up the maximum adulation from masses and sometimes classes. Prabhas, like a few other superstars, has got the original mass appeal and a faithful fan base thanks to his uncle Krishnam Raju. Now, he just needs to innovate for more innovative scripts like Mahesh Babu and keep up the tempo. If NTR Jr. also joins the gang, they became the worthy trio with dynastic charishma and good face value (without plastic surgery and thirty one stitches that simian superstars get themselves into). They don’t need props like heroines and comedy gang to make 50-day runners. All they need is to invest in solid stories and make clean entertainers. The rest can be turned into gold from their stardust. Music by DSP is average. 3 out of 5 – not a super film but watchable for clean entertainment.

"Julayi" Movie Review (Telugu)

“Julayi” is definitely one of the most anticipated movies of 2012. It is an acid test for more than a threesome – Director Trivikram who struggled with form in “Mahesh Khaleja” , Allu Arjun who didn’t deliver a hit for a while, Producer Daanayya who’s missing his crores and dusky actress Ileana D’Cruz who is unable to capitalize on her early successes in Tollywood. All four of them needed a hit to resurrect their fortunes . I can’t say whether it’s a hit but the movie doesn’t disappoint – it is quite a wholesome family fare that’s worth a watch.

Director Trivikram Srinivas is one of the star writers who sharpened his narrative skills to make an Olympic triple jump into the hall of fame in Tollywood with terrific screenplay sense, story-telling with verve and an ability to weave many genres into one film. Besides, he can write dialogues that tug your hearts and make  classes and masses clap. Naturally, he is so skilled at writing, screenwriting and directing that one of the three has to outshine the other two. It started to happen around the time when he stopped writing for others (except “Teenmaar” recently) and went into directing. There’s an eclectic mixture of Western cinematic sensibilities with Telugu nativities in most of his narratives where he played a pivotal role in giving a tailormade script. “Manmathudu” drew inspiration from Mel Gibson movie “What women want”. “Athadu” which is a gold standard in modern Tollywood DVD collection is inspired from “Assassins” and so on.

There was some trouble with “Jalsa” and “Mahesh Khaleja” because he was carried away by the star charishma of Pawan Kalyan and Mahesh Babu and the result was either a concoction of neo-Indian pseudo-mythologicals (like an Amish Tripathi novel) or an an urbane take on Naxalism and other economic issues. At heart, Trivikram is a socialist who is inspired by an array of writers from 1920s onwards and all his movies bear a stamp of egalitarianism, inclusive growth and a society that should benefit many not just a chosen few. In between, Trivikram can pack a punch of dialogues that spark off uproarious laughter with both senior and junior artistes. Over the few films he has made, Trivikram has graduated from making unoriginal, punny, school-boyish. joke-book-collection of snippets into more classy, ingenious and Wodehousian sense of humor that sticks. Nothwithstanding this long digression into Trivikram’s style and its origins as seen by a consummate bystander, “Julayi” is an outcome of a renewed Trivikram who has learnt from his experiments that were indulgent in the past. It shows Trivikram’s amazing sense of dialogues that are sharper, wittier and also a return to responsible film-making - a'la the likes of Sreenu Vaitla and Shekar Kammula. However, unlike Shekar Kammula, Trivikram has the ambidexterous knack of appealing to A-class audiences while giving what the masses want to see – non-preachy entertainment, plenty of action, dances and romance that sizzles.

“Julayi” is a balanced film in all of that – it has a huge starcast from Brahmanandam, Ali, Tanikella Bharani, MS Narayana and Kota to veteran Rajendra Prasad, Sonu Sood besides Allu Arjun and Ileana. The story is quite average but the narration is pulsating. Ravi (Allu Arjun) is a naïve youth who believes in making money in a non-linear route; he bets with his father one day that a 10k bundle of cash can be converted into 100k in just two hours. Obviously, Ravi had plans to bet on the IPL matches when he challenged his dad with the deal. His bravado leads him to an episodic run-in with professional killers led by Sonu Sood and Kota Srinivas Rao who plan to usurp a bank’s millions. It sets him off as a cat amongst pigeons because the villains realize that Ravi is a smart aleck who needs more than their mite to be outwitted. The ending is happier even if smaller - the hero polishes off the villains and returns to a cosy job that nets a salary of 25k per month. The message is loud and clear: – hardwork and accumulation of money through self-effort is sweeter than Manna from heaven or mad pursuit of speculative endeavours. The movie has  dramatic flashes of car chases, stunts and a sweet romance with Ileana and oodles of comedy with Rajendra Prasad, Brahmanandam and gang. Allu Arjun is clearly a striking style icon who has finally got a plot that showcases his acting prowessand a director who will give the outreach that he deserves. He is at ease with himself and with the mature starcast that shares the screen. According to me, he is the best dancer in Tollywood and his dancing skills need no attestations. In this movie, DSP’s music has given enough footage to Allu Arjun to get foot-loose. He excels himself again but the dance movements could have had a better frontal view than a sideward, silhouetted slideshow. He could have bettered there.

DSP’s music has topped the charts well before the movie and he has created just the right moods for all the songs. Picturisation of the songs could have been better for a couple of songs. The song before climax and the song before interval are quite vivid and memorable. Ileana would have wanted this movie to give a fresh lease of life. Unfortunately, her acting skills and the range of expressions never permit this – she is stubbornly stale and hopeless. The outage of glamor we saw of Ileana after “Kick”, I am afraid will continue nothwithstanding her role in this film. Rajendra Prasad stands out with a full-length performance that almost runs parallel to the hero – this should be heartening to all his fans.

One last word on the flaws of the film. Trivikram sometimes takes logic to onerously outlandish levels for one part of the story while implanting inscrutable logic to other parts. The manner in which the heist is done by the villains of a bank and their escape from custody with lot of bloodshed is illogical even as the hero Ravi tries to second-guess every move of the villain even as the police look downright dumb beats sanity out of mind. Nevertheless, Trivikram has taken the genre of entertainment to new highs with his characteristic ease of blending action and intelligent-looking plots with a rich ensemble of talent and still penning dialogues that haunt you forever. Even the best writers need better editors , Trivikram will realise– but for now, even 160 minutes of a not-so-sublime plot is good enough reason to open the champagne for those who like to see his report card. He’s earned an A not an A-plus and I will give atleast 3.5 out of 5 for the film.

"Daruvu" Movie Review (Telugu)

‎"Daruvu" means drumbeat - or sound of mass as the byeline says. Ravi Teja's movies always meant you switch off your brain and mobiles together. So we went expecting a couple of hours of nonstop entertainment and comedy and antics that will chill you in this scorching summer. It felt this time a bit longer. A little short of 3 hours, the movie is dripping in masala fare, comedy and entertainment. It ropes in almost all of Ravi Teja's favorite co-star comedians - Brahmanandam, Srinivas Reddy and now Vennela Kishore who pack quite a punch. To give it a family touch, Ravi Teja figures in triple roles apart from the title role of a small time thug. How does it all add up?

There's an introduction scene of the "yamalok" - Telugu audience's favorite entertainment haven outside of our planet which makes the Old Yama Satyanarayana Kaikala anoint a new Yama (Prabhu who looks good) and warn him not to take "panga" with Telugu youth; he warns of those who tried to upstage "yamalok" in the past - NTR (Yamagola), Chiranjeevi (Yamudiki Mogudu) and NTR Jr.(Yamadonga). And the story is bizarrely concocted from there with a mischief played by Chitragupta (MS Narayana). No doubt, the movie smacks of tonnages of entertainment, comedy. So, the scenes shift off speedily and sometimes jerkily - with Ravi Teja trying to give a heightened sense of performance in every frame - he does have the screen presence and the mirchmasala factor especially with his loud voice, gay mannerisms and a Telugu accent that is neither here nor there, sounding like our CM's Telugu pronunciation. But he creates a variety in roles - as Home Minister, as mass thief, and two other fleeting roles. Director Siva's sreenplay is too fast-paced and doesnt allow most scenes to registe because of uproarious output by the energy levels of the comedy gang and Ravi Teja. We know what happens when Ravi Teja and Brahmanandam share the screen. Brahmanandam does well too but the character is one that family audiences may detest - an effeminiate, gay dance master.

Director has concentrated on the entertainment aspects well but has also introduced several elements that connect with classes - mother care, anti-corruption, Karma theory, etc. This creates a big drag sometimes - you can't unwind from the profane to the profound so fast especially with an explosion of entertainment and energy. There has been less concentration on the music and heroine. Music by Vijay Anthony is loud and "dappu" only and there's not one melody song that you can remember, it is so cacophonous. I wonder if this is the same guy who scored music for "Mahatma". Tapsi, the heroine, is never important in the plot and she doesn't add the glamour also despite trying hard.

How Good is the movie? I wouldn't watch it again - despite the extra efforts and the output of comedy, the length of the movie and the lack of subtelety does get on your nerves. Finally, my take on the heritage of "yamalokam" used in Tollywood is that the audience is losing interest in the theme. While "Yamagola" and "Yamudiki Mogudu" have been hits, current generation hasn't showered applause for "yama Donga" - it was not a comparative hit. Mohanbabu also attempted the theme in "Yama jathakudu" but with less success. Maybe the theme fires well on screen if you keep it close to the knitting - but if you mix up all the themes in the world, flat will be the output. Despite limited violence and extra-ordinary entertainment, I felt stressed in the movie watching my time a number of times. Ravi Teja, may be Tollywood's Amitabh and Dada Kondke, but he neednt have tried so hard. Sometimes, you need break from entertainment too.

"Mr Perfect" - Movie Review

Mr Perfect - is a light-hearted family entertainer starring Prabhas, Kajal Agarwal and Tapsi from the makers of "Bommarillu". Director Dasarath gives a delicately-poised and cute love story on today's love dilemmas of the young on what is compatibility and all that. It reminds you of the earlier film - "Santosham" and the plot carries you to the end in a breezy fashion. Dil Raju ensures that Prabhas - the action hero - plays second fiddle to Prabhas - the romantic, do-gooder, endearing hero loved by masses and classes. Kajal gets better scope for performance and stands out. Dialogues by Abburi Ravi are effective and classy - and go straight to the heart. Music by Devi Sri Prasad is average but not outstanding. Great film to watch with family.

"Don Seenu" Movie Review: Tollywood

 

"Don Seenu" puts the ageing but antics-rich Ravi Teja in a stylised role of an improbable Don  with enough referrences to A mitabh Bacchan. It is entertaining no doubt and adds the glamour touch with Shriya, comedy with Brahmandam and Venu but the story is bunkum - and your head aches after an hour with predictable nonsense. The movie is longer by atleast two reels but what more to expect in a formulaic film for a hero who is good entertainer but dragging his feet on precarious scripts. Music by Mani Sharma is average. The content in the movie is so flippant it will not even be  remembered after three months. The trend is not encouraging...

"Vedam" Movie Review

"Vedam" is a rare treat by Director Krish which packages the gist of scriptures - human values that matter most amidst poverty and plenty through five characters who see life through five different perspectives. But all the five characters played by Nagayya (Textile weaver), Anushka (prostitute), Manoj (Rockband guitarist), Manoj Bajpai (Muslim who thinks he is treated like a terrorist) and Allu Arjun (Cable Raju who lives in slum but lives it up by lying about his lifestyle for a good cause - wooing his rich girl friend). All characterisations are done with lot of conviction and care and though the movie is lacking in entertainment, it is hard-hitting and touches your soul at times with humanity in each frame, without dialogues that sound didactic. Within 150 minutes, Krish makes his points succinctly well with enough justification in story, characters and their worlds which converge in a climax which is a bit violent. Allu Arjun outshines everybody but there are some good cameos by Posani Krishna Murali and Brahmanandam which stand out. Keeravani scores a lifetime high note in this movie with rich compositions and impressive background scores. Krish presents his movie with level-wise script and that itself is a great innovation for Telugu cinema. He also does great justice as a dialogue-writer and a screenplay-writer.He has endeavoured to give a rare delicacy to Telugu audience not used to having such storylines in commercial format. Its going to be talked about for a long time.

"Adhurs" Movie Review

"Adurs" is not all that "bevars" - an in-form NTR, in-shape two cuties, a bevy of comic villains, stylish settings in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangkok and Rome all these to prop up a hackneyed Hell0-Brother Story. What can render an otherwise life-less script from a Director VV Vinayak who usually sizzles in screenplay is a career-best performance by "lover boy" Brahmanandam. Entertaining even for KCR! 13.1.2010