"Gaddalakonda Ganesh" (Telugu) Movie Review

"GG" is a crude attempt to showcase the transformative power of cinema on hard-core criminals, if at all. Varun Tej plays the infamous and cold-blooded gangster who is chased by an aspiring Assistant Director (played by Atharvaa) to make a larger-than-life film on his life. How Good is it? It's a long 173 minute watch which has flashes of brilliance in second half and around interval bang with good performance by Varun Tej and great performance by Atharvaa (who has better screen presence). The film's chief fault is the dosage of violence and adult-content in the first half which should deter family audience and kids away and is longer by at least 25 minutes. Sans that, the film takes off in the second half with pace, energy and twists and surcharged emotions. 

What redeems the film is the build-up in the second half and the balance achieved by Harish Shankar to give equal footage to the hero of the film who wants to highlight the "villain" of the film as the hero - this rarely happens in star films. The love angle of Pooja Hegde and the remix hit from "Devata" gives good relief from the tiring violence but still the soul of the original song is not transmitted - as it happens in most remix songs. Varun looks menacing in his portrayal but could have used a standard one-liner to register mass-appeal presence - its a missed opportunity. The Mega Factory brandsters have done the right thing by anointing Varun Tej in titles as Mega "Prince" because Varun is the closest the Mega factory have to Prince Mahesh Babu. The film can pull more masses into building the market-cap for Varun Tej given the brighter second half. As it is, Varun has had better luck amongst the next-gen of Mega family and this could still achieve more. Harish Shankar has tweaked the mass elements of "Jigarthanda" and given good uplift to both Varun Tej and Atharvaa who is the real show-stealer. Music by Mickey J Meyer is forgettable and inept. Entertaining but could have been cleaner and crisper.
Rating: 2.75/5
#GaddalakondaGanesh #VarunTej #Atharvaa

"Subramanyam For Sale" (Telugu Movie Review)

My review of the film:

http://www.telugu360.com/subramanyam-for-sale-telugu-movie-review/

"Ramayya Vastavayya" (Telugu) Movie Review

"Ramayya Vastavayya" is a hummable line from one of Raj Kapoor's most famous films. It became a title for a Hindi film also earlier this year starring Shruti Hassan and a new Bollywood hero which was a remake of "Nuvvosthaanante Vaddantaana". Now, Dil Raju produces it in his banner-SVCC with NTR Jr. in a title role and Samantha and Shruti Hassan. It has been a major disappointment for those who go to Dil Raju's brand of family entertainment with a healthy touch and also for NTR fans. Harish Shankar who made "Gabbar Singh" got caught in his own elusions of grandeur and consequently made a film full of mind-numbing violence and pathetic story. "RV" will go down for Dil Raju as an aberration in his catalogue of films as he must have gone missing on the sets.

Once again, a wafer-thin line becomes fodder for 167 minutes of head-banging violence and entertainment that heckles your sensibilities. Ranjeet (NTR) falls in love with Aakarsha (Samantha) and stalks her at college. Samantha gives in to Ranjeet's overtures and invites him over to her village for attending her sister's wedding. Mukesh Rushi, her father, faces threats from two brothers who honk him with life threats often. On receiving one such call, Mukesh Rushi gets trapped into confiding into NTR about an impending life threat. This time, NTR takes them to a safer enclave but actually becomes the dreaded assasin himself killing Mukesh on the spot. Flashback: NTR and his two brothers are actually victims of Mukesh Rushi's atrocitiies; the latter eliminates most of NTR's relatives and even  his first-love called Ammulu (Shruti Hassan). The second half is all about NTR's attempts to explain the flashback to Samantha and justify the killing of Samantha's father and how he finishes them off. Such twists are not uncommon in Tollywood scripts; it appears that most of such films appear to be dug out of a dark tunnel sitting underneath the main road of entertainment. No matter how many stories come out of such dark tunnels, its a null void full of sand and mud coming out of the director's minds and we have to watch such drivel in the name of entertainment. 

Director Harish Shankar's flawed handling of the megaphone extends our pains. He succeeds in getting Dil Raju his first "A" certificate in his catalogue of family films by sprinkling "double-meaning" jokes, sadistic and atavistic violence and characterisation of a voyeuristic villain Ravi Shankar who is maniacally obsessed with sex all the time. Harish also misses out on casting mainstream comedians - and instead gets quite irritating humor from Rohini Hattangadi and others. Only Kota Srinivasa Rao gives a flash of humour in a four minute sequence.He misses milking entertainment which got him name in "Gabbar Singh" and "Mirapakay" and also diluted the emotional quotient in the film that could have got highlighted at few places. An example is, the best song of the film -"Jabilli Neetho Cheppamma..." which comes after interval. Even though the song is great and picturisation good, because Samantha yet doesn't know that NTR is the guy who knocked her dad off, the nuances of the song didn't allow NTR to get highlighted. There are many instances like that which were missed opportunities for Harish to raise the bar of emotionality. Even the dialogues penned by him didn't enhance the impact because of an over-dosage of violence and under-recovery of humour. 

NTR Jr. shines well in the film, his gait is ever confident, his dancing skills show greater variety and finesse (his body above torso is moving better than before) and his timing of comedy has got some impact and improvisation, fans will love his imitation of a few stars in Tollywood. After "Adurs", Chota K Naidu must get credit for showcasing NTR Jr. so well in the many shades that NTR shows up in the film. Stunts could have been shorter and less graphic in portrayal. Amongst the many stunts, one thing noticeable is that NTR comes up with a new weapon everytime - he starts with a mace ("gadha"), a hockey stick, an iron chain, a pick-axe and then guns galore...probably, this is Harish Shankar's idea to show him as the new heir to the 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Between Samantha and Shruti Hassan, Shruti steals the show in the flashback. Both Chota K Naidu and Harish Shankar seem to have got smitten by the cute girl who is getting bolder on scene. Since this is Harish Shankar's second film with Shruti Hassan, her character got etched out better than many other characters. Rao Ramesh gives another cool performance but his characterisation loses conviction in the second half. Music by Thaman SS is fine but only two songs stand out. There is lot of strain that can make us feel worn out on his music.

NTR Jr. should realise that the days of relying on family tree and thigh-clapping as a sign of machismo are over, not many heroes except those who benefit from such references are resorting to gimmicks. Veering away from violence and making entertainment as a form of team effort is the real recipe for success, not aiming to ambitiously carry the film on the hero's shoulders. Those heroes who rallied forth to undertake projects of benign entertainment are climbing up higher than reliance on hackneyed scripts and party symbols such as bicycles. My last two cents to heroes is: don't bank on directors who don't bank on solid stories. Tollywood today has a dozen heroes of bankable box office potential and has more severe competition amongst themselves than any other film industry - more competition than even entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley, if you have to build embankments to keep yourself afloat for atleast 30 films in a career, bank on variety, invest in different stories and support family entertainment. 

"Ramayya Vastavayya" reminds at times the story of "Athanokkade" without any dramatic appeal or intensity. But for a less violent and better half before interval, it gets a rating of no more than 2.5/5.

"Gabbar Singh" Movie Review (Telugu)

"Gabbar Singh" is the name of  India's most entertaining villain from the immortal movie "Sholay". It surprises me why nobody ever thought of the title "Gabbar Singh" considering the phenomenal following Amjad Khan has had for portraying that character. Pawan Kalyan has now starred in the movie "Gabbar Singh" which is a a remake of "Dabanng". Director Harish Shankar, a protege of RamGopal Varma, adapted the movie "Dabanng" and the script penned by Dileep Shukla, altered some crucial characters in the original film to suit Telugu nativities and packed a punchy and boisterous output. Its a thoroughly entertaining and hugely likeable story that will regale all audiences, especially Pawan Kalyan fans who are famished for a decade searching for that elusive hit. They've had a half-chance with "Jalsa" but now they can feast on the dollops of fun and frolic and the ruckus and laughter riot created by Pawan Kalyan almost single-handedly. I rate this movie a few notches above this year's "Businessman" because of wholesome fare and masala entertainment thats quite neat.


Of course, the story of a cop who acts like a goon must be unappealing for many in the society. But so be it - if you liked "Dabanng", you better like this one too. I even dare say, to all my Hindi friends, to try this movie - you will be pleasantly surprised at the quality of monstrous fun, action and comedy created in "Gabbar Singh". I find it as good as the original and refreshingly cooler than "Dabanng." Its a coup for a remake. Credit must go to the whole team - Editor/Dialogue-writer (Director himself)/Cinematographer/Choreographer - for a clean output. DeviSri Prasad once again scores hummable and foot-tapping songs that will set crowds  foot-loose; his BGM score-ability is also becoming an additional strength, of late. (Which makes him a sought-after BGM specialist like Mani Sharma or AR Rahman). After a long time, I found songs where Pawan was at ease in dancing as much as his other family kin, new and old. Shruti Hassan may have got lucky in the movie with the role as she doesn't have the same cuteness and star-struck appeal of Sonakshi Sinha despite donning the same costumes. She gets to sing lines in only one of the many songs. Malaika Arora, who stars in the "Kevvu Keka" looked better and dignified aftera long time - otherwise she can grate on you.

Easily, Pawan Kalyan's performance is the best and the brightest in the movie - he shines in every frame, packs a punch in every fight and dialogue and shows a remarkable resilience in lifting his own fortunes with one fiery salvo in this film. The role gives him the luxury of showing all the shades of a villain, hero, comedian and a mature character actor who can occasionally step back for others to hog the limelight. The "Anthakshari" scene with criminals post-interval will get more eyeballs than the item song - it is well-crafted and seat-shifting laughter. For all those who have given up on watching Pawan Kalyan (including myself), its time for lot of "Khushi" and some gum for this film. Dialogues by Harish Shankar sound incredibly classy while awakening massive "fan" shouts. If remakes are made like this, you can buy any originals for any price. Well done, Gabbar Singh.