Varudu verdict

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

Missing something?

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

Movie drought ends today

Finally, "Marocharitra" releases today ending the drought of big banner movies for the summer after the intermediate exams ended recently. Would be watching shortly to update on the review...And then over to "Varudu"! Talking about "Varudu", the audio has few great numbers but generally retains a repetitive tonality of Mani Sharma's earlier output.  "Aidu Rojula Pelli" may become popular but looks dangerously close to that School prayer song composed by AR Rehman in "Merupu Kalalu".  But Mani's music grows on you after the movie's release.

IPL Vs. Films in Tollywood

If you can't beat' em, join them! An old adage seems to drive a change that seemed impossible before - multiplexes screening ultra-limited-overs cricket. But for Varudu and a few other non-descript movies, Tollywood is bracing for an over-crowded summer while leaving the next few weeks over for IPL - 3 cricket. This means more trouble for Tollywood movies which are reeling under hopeless losses despite heightened creativity. Last year, out of 121 or so movies made, less than a dozen are acclaimed hits. The entire film industry seems to grope around at crawling pace - no multi-starrers, herd-like mentality in coming up with themes (One Ready movie will lead to ten Namo Venkatesa's), burgeoning budgets, astronomical film footage exposed before screening, inability to diversify and build studio films (like Navatha Arts, Bhargav Art productions, Vijaya Productions), and whimsical heroes (Mahesh Babu), heroines (Charmi?) and comedians who quote a third of the movie's budgets besides general all-round apathy for small film producers. Tollywood is at an inflection point (which we will discuss later) and the IPL season is just an excuse for Tollywood to mull over where its going.