Showing posts with label Allari Naresh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Allari Naresh. Show all posts

November 11, 2014

"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

January 18, 2012

"Businessman" is indeed a hit!

Its now final - "Businessman" is a hit amongst the movies released for Sankranti in Tollywood.  ("Bodyguard" is also an average hit and has its supoort and patronage but thats not sufficient to upstage "Businessman"). And Mahesh Babu seems to be the New No.1 in Tollywood. Collections don't lie - from Rs.13 crs. gross +satellite rights of Rs.7.27 crs. It has already made money for the distributors and producers. Credit goes to both Mahesh and Puri for snatching a quick and cool hit - with tight schedule and tighter control on costs. If the trend continues this year, looks like Tollywood will be on a song because of more multli-starrers planned and faster rotation of reels between Superstars and technicians. If heroes like NTR, Mahesh, Prabhas act in 4-5 films per year and compete with the likes of Ravi Teja and Allari Naresh in more productions per annum - it is the best thing to happen for Tollywood desperate for more churnouts and more hits and more employability for its crew and cast. Last year, Tollywood saw a unique statistics. The no. of dubbed films in Telugu was 120 in 2011 whereas the no.of straight films in Tollywood were 118. That should tell how the technicians of Tollywood would have fared. Well begun is half the victory..So the tidings will be glad for another busy movie season coming up in February where many Star films are expected to release. Cheers Tollywood and Telugu Cinema.

July 20, 2010

"Shubhapradam" Movie Review: Telugu

"Shubhapradam" may not yet be the swan-song of K Vishwanath, but it is below-par. Too many good songs are wasted around a cliched story and the incessant noise the director makes about culture and tradition. He makes more points about ragging, integrity, responsibility, thrift and what not than what's possible -creates a ruckus of a script that consumes 14000 feet  - takes implausible liberties and makes unconvincing viewing. Naresh and Manjari Phadnis are the only saving grace besides Mani Sharma's enchanting music. If only Naresh's characterisation is longer and more defined, the movie could have got enlivened better. The movie appeals to the ageing society and doesn't connect with today's audience.

"Jailor" (Telugu/Tamil) Movie Review: Electrifying!

        "Jailer" is an electrifying entertainer in commercial format by Nelson who always builds a complex web of crime and police...