Ram Charan Teja anxious to do a film under Gowtham Menon

Ram Charan Teja expressed to the press that he would like to do a film with Gowtham Menon next year after witnessing the audio launch at Prasad Multiplex. He also said that he is a big fan of Gowtham and got inspiration by the films Khaka Khaka and Ghajani in the combination of Gowtham Menon and Surya

Kotha Bangaru Lokam Movie Review

After many years this movie has rated 4.5

Film: Kotha Bangaru Lokam

My Rating: 4.5/5

Banner: Sri Venkateswara Creations

Music: Micky J Meyer

Editing: Marthand K. Venkatesh

Lyrics: Sirivennela Seetarama Sastry, Anant Sriram, Srikanth Addala

Producer: Dil Raju

Story - Screenplay - Dialogues - Producer: Srikanth Addala

Release Date: Oct 9th, 2008

Cast: Varun Sandesh, Sweta Basu Prasad, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha, Ahuti Prasad, Brahmanandam, Rao Ramesh etc

Review:Story:Balu (Varun Sandesh) is son of lovable middleclass couple (Prakash Raj & Jayasudha). Swapna (Sweta Basu Prasad) is the daughter of a strict and rich father. Both of them study in a residential college located at a small town of Godavari district. Balu and Swapna fall in love. Swapna is withdrawn from the residential school because her father comes to know about her love. The rest of the story is all about how Balu and Swapna try to get back to each other.

Performances:

Main leads: Varun Sandesh shows improvement in this film compared to his debut in Happy Days. He suited the character of the film very well and he needs to work strongly on getting diction right. His boyish charm wins you over. Sweta Basu Prasad (award winning child actress from Iqbal film) is very good and she perfects her role with her childlike innocent look. However, there is a bit of inconsistency in the dubbing in the initial part of the film.kotha bangaru lokam

Other actors: Jayasudha and Prakash Raj play a perfect couple like they did in Bommarillu film. However, Jayasudha's role is more meaningful and vital in this film. Ahuti Prasad is good as the father of heroine. Rao Ramesh who impressed everybody in his radical portrayal in Gamyam did the key character of a lecturer in the film. He is very good though he appears to have gone little over board in the class room scenes. This film has lots of fresh faces as friends of hero and heroine. And all of them are natural and add some value to the film. Brahmanandam character offers variety.

Technical Side:Story - Screenplay - Direction: Story of the film is about parenting. This film has got an arresting narration and intelligent screenplay in the second half. The debutant director Srikanth Addala comes up with a script that offers lot of freshness. There are many scenes and situations in the film which would have gone the clichéd way, but the director makes sure that he avoids clichéd and melodramatic scenes. He could able to conceive the emotional scenes in the second half excellently. Dil Raju offers another gem of a director in the form of Srikanth Addala through Kotha Bangaram Lokam after giving us Sukumar (Arya) and Bhaskar (Bommarillu).

Cinematography: I stopped writing separate paragraphs for individual technical departments in my reviews long back. But I think Chota K Naidu's work in this film deserve a separate para. I see Tamil cinematographers ruling the Telugu film industry and wondered why Telugu cinematographers can't come up with such stuff. Today I felt really happy that Chota K Naidu gave a fitting reply to everybody that a Telugu cinematographer can come up with a fabulous stuff. The entire film is like picture postcard photography. You can take any frame in the film and send it as a postcard. The colors and lighting used for the film are highly pleasing to your eyes. The way he has shown the Godavari bridge is entirely different from what we have seen in the earlier films.

Other Sides Of The Movie:Music of the film is exceptionally great. Mickey J Meyer repeats his magic after Happy Days with this film. The background music and re-recording of the film is equally good. Dialogues by the director Srikanth Addala are very good. Marthand K Venkatesh's editing is smooth. Artwork by Prakash is nice. The CG work and the DI work by Prime Focus also deserve a special mention. Producer Dil Raju made sure that he spends lot of money and quality time on this film. He continues his marathon of classic hits after Arya and Bommarillu with this film.

Final Analysis:First of the film is decent and the second half is excellent. Like Bommarillu, this film too deals with the problem of parents and kids. In that film, they tried to balance between parents and kids, this film takes some bias towards parents as the kids in this film are doing intermediate unlike the graduates in Bommarillu. If Happy Days makes you feel nostalgic about your engineering college days, KBL will make you feel nostalgic about your intermediate days in a residential college. This film sends good message out to the society. The only thing I did not like in the entire film is that the filmmaker has shown Ahuti Prasad (father of the girl) as a bakra. Go, watch the film and pamper yourself..

Nenu Meeku Telusa Movie Review

Film: Nenu Meeku Telusa?

My Rating: 3.5/5

Banner: Sri Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures

Music: Achu Editing: Baswa Paidi Reddy

Lyrics: Sirivennela Seetarama Sastry, Veturi, Ajay Sastri

Producer: Lakshmi Manchu

Story - Screenplay - Direction: Ajay Sastri

Release Date: Oct 10th, 2008

Cast: Manoj Manchu, Sneha Ullal, Riya Sen, Nassar, P Vasu, Uttej, Sunil, Brahmanandam, Bharat, Mallikharjuna Rao, Surekha Vani etc

Review:

Story:Aditya (Manoj Manchu) has a strange disorder. His memory keeps refreshing every night he sleeps, but he wakes up with a blank mind every day. Only two people (his uncle and his personal doctor) know about his problem. He falls in a situation where he is accused of a murder. The rest of the story is all about how he rescues himself.

Performances:Manoj Manchu: To do a film like 'Nenu Meeku Telusa?' is a brave and risky decision for a guy like Manoj Manchu who has a supporting father and his own banner. Manoj Manchu comes up with a neat performance as a guy suffering from recurring amnesia. His comedy timing is superb and his dialogues gel well with the concept of the film. The risky jumps he has done during the 8 and half minute chase sequence are excellent. His imitation of Mohan Babu and Ravi Teja got tremendous applause.Riya Sen did the role of current love interest of hero. She is pretty good. Sneha Ullal is nice as the college love of the hero. Nassar plays the role of hero's uncle. Brahmanandam entertains as a fashion designer with the punch line 'what the frock!' Sunil is adequate. Surekha Vani's 'Sri Lakshmi Ganapati Films' commentary is entertaining.

Technical Side:The basic plot of the film is slightly inspired by a Hollywood film called 'Clean Slate (1994)'. It is very thin story line and films of this type of story lines should have been told in duration of one and half hour. Since this movie is aimed for two and half hours of duration, the director had to insert some subplots and prolonged flashback which has very little relevance to the main story line. Screenplay of the film is adequate in the first half, but needs improvement in the second half. Direction of the film is good in parts. The director could able to narrate a serious plot in the first half by injecting humor through hero's characterization. The following things are good in the film –

1. The way hero's character is introduced and established.

2. 8 and half minutes exciting yet hilarious chase sequence in the first half.

3. Manoj imitating Mohan Babu.

4. The picturization of enno enno song

5. The Brahmanandam's title rolling scene

The following things should have been taken care of:

1. Hero records his voice in an audio cassette and plays in a tape recorder. And if the tape is gspoiled, the entire exercise is futile. In this modern age, we have the facility of digital recording and computer. The audio tapes of hero are also stored in cassette format in doctor's office. (Probably the director used it for the screenplay convenience.)

2. The chase sequence is superb. But it has nothing to do with the main story of the film.

3. The friend's characters are introduced elaborately in the flashback format. But what do the friends have to do with story of the film? A song followed by a couple of scenes and confrontation would have been fine for the flashback episode.

Other Sides Of The Movie:Music of the film is good. The songs that standout in the film are title song and enno enno. Cinematography of the film is nice. But the colors used are very unnatural. The entire flashback episode has bleaching effect which does not look good. The editing cuts are too sharp and they disturb your eyes. The chase sequence composed by Manoj and Tim Robbins is superb. CG work is nice. Production values are good.

Final Analysis:First half of the film is decent. The tempo in the second half goes down. The climax of the film is alright. The plus points of the film are Manoj's performance and story idea. The negative points are length of the film and unnatural colors. This kind of story should be narrated in 1 and half hours. In order to make this film a two and half hour runtime film, the director had to add more sub plots and extend the flashback. On whole, Nenu Meeku Telusa? is strictly a multiplex film and is meant for elite audiences who look out for the 'out of the box' films. The general crowd might not like it. But the team of NMT must be appreciated for breaking the shackles of doing routine and formulaic films in order to do a different film.

Thriller Three to hit theatres on October 16

Sekhar Suri who had earlier tried his hands successfully on a thriller ‘A film by Aravind’ is now poised to attempt on yet another project titled ‘Three’. Jointly produced by Phaniraj and GS Babu, this movie stars Rishi, Rajeev Kanakala and Shanti Chandra as male leads and debutant Urvashi Sharma as female lead. This nonstop thriller is all about a reality game which turns very dangeruous resulting in terror filled atmosphere with just three characters remaining in the end of the game. The terror effects have been further terrified with the handwork of Vijay Kurakula, the music director which is essential for such movies. With a short delay the movie is expected to hit the theatres on October 16 instead of October 9.

Parachuri Brothers bereaved

It is learnt that father of Parachuri brothers, Parachuri Raghavaiah (89) passed away at Vijayawada this morning. Parachuri brothers immediately left to Vijayawada on knowing the news.
Ragalahari pays deep condolences to the bereaved family members and prays the Almighty to give peace to the departed soul.

Sumanth as Vijay IPS

Hero Sumanth – Chandini starrer ‘Vijay IPS’ is being made on the police backdrop. Director E Hanumantha Rao designed the story in such a way that every Police Officer should feel responsible by enforcing the law and order, keeping the peace, preventing the crimes and so on. According to producer Kumar, this thought provoking movie will be an inspiration to today’s generation. Hero Sumanth for the first time will be seen in the role of Police Officer. The movie is being made under the banner Visakha Talkies, produced by Natti Kumar. Lalith Suresh provides the music while A Raja handles the camera. Other casts supporting the main lead are Vijay Kumar, Jayaprakash Reddy, Satyanarayana, MS Narayana, LB Sriram, Jhansi, Annapoorna, Jayalalitha and others.