'Pravarkyudu' Movie Review..

Film: Pravarkyudu

Rating: 3/5

Cast: Jagapathi Babu, Priyamani, Brahmanandam, Sunil, Hamsa Nandini, CVL, Chalapaathi Rao and others
Music: M M Keeravani
Lyrics: Chaitanya Prasad
Cinematography: Surender Reddy
Editing: M R Varma
Choreography: Raju Sundaram, Kalyan, Vidya
Produced by: Ganesh Indukuri
Story, screenplay and directed by: December 4, 2009

What’s it about!

Sasi (Jagapathi Babu) is professor of Zoology at Harvard University. He returns to India and looks for alliances for his wedding but doesn’t like anyone in particular. A friend tells him that he is looking for Shailaja (Priyamani), his girlfriend during college days in every girl. Now the movie goes back to the college days. During P.G studies, he likes Shalija, a simple girl, but refuses to admit his love and they part ways due to misunderstandings. Now, she is a principal at all women’s college, a very strict disciplinarian at that. Sasi joins her college as lecturer in an attempt to win her back. How he convinces her and wins her love after 10 years and what tricks does he follow for it is rest of the movie all about.

Analysis

With Pellaina Kottalo, which starred Jagapathi Babu and Priyamani, writer Madan turned director and he won praise for that film. To repeat the same magic, he has made Pravarkyudu with the same couple. The basic plotline - two lovers who drifted ways for various reasons finding the true love 10 years later, sounds good on paper. But the execution of the film is not that smooth like the concept. Only second half and climax sequences are convincing in this film as director Madan fails to handle his theme perfectly. On the whole, the film is okay but it could have been better if the length is trimmed and more comedy is included. Rich production values and big budget for a Jagapathi Babu’s film has given the movie good ‘color’, though!

Performances

Jagapathi Babu as a college professor looks good. His performance in the climax scenes evokes right mood. But as college student, he looks odd, despite his young looks and perfect costumes. National award winning actress Priyamani shows off her real talent. Hamsa Nandini is sexy. Especially in some scenes, she looks stunning and enticing. Brahmanandam’s comedy is okay. But Ali and Sunil are wasted.

One of the major plus points of the film is its cool looks thanks to good cinematography by Surender Reddy and rich production values by Ganesh Indukuri. The other major drawback is uninspiring music by M M Keeravani. None of the songs are lilting. As writer Madan is talented, but as director he still needs to hone skills. In many scenes, the writer in him dominated the director. And also dodged on unnecessary scenes which is nothing but waste of money for producers.

Bottom-line!

Second half especially the climax sequences are strengths of Pravarkyudu. Although it has interesting plot line but it could have been better if handled in better way. On the whole, it is okay movie.

'Amaravathi' Movie Review..

Film: Amaravathi

Rating 2.75/5

Cast: Bhumika, Sneha, Gadde Sindhura, Tarakaratna, Allari Ravi Babu, and others
Dialogues: Nivas
Music: Sekhar Chandra
Cinematography: Sudhakar Reddy
Editing: Shankar
Art: Narayana Reddy
Fights: Kanal Kannan
Produced by: Ananda Prasad
Banner: Bhavya Creations
Story, screenplay and directed by: Ravi Babu
Release Date: Dec 03, 2009

What’s it about!

The film is set in Mutyala Revu. Amaravathi (Bhumika) and Seenu (Tarakaratna) are childhood buddies but are separated once they become adults as Amaravathi's father doesn't like his daughter becoming close with this low class guy. Seenu is completely obsessed with Amaravathi. Years later, a series of killings happen. A serial killer is on the prowl to snatch babies from womb of pregnant women. Seenu is the prime suspect and is arrested by Special Task Force police officer Venkat (Ravi Babu) and his associate Kiran (Gadde Sindhura). Even after his arrest, murders continue to happen. And it is revealed that the killer’s next target is Venkat’s pregnant wife Lata (Sneha). Who is that serial killer and what is his motive is told in eerie manner in the later sequences.

Analysis

After much-liked thriller Anasuya and critically acclaimed Nachchavule, director Allari Ravi Babu comes up with this thriller - Amaravathi. Although there are many similarities between his Anasuya and this Amaravathi, this latest thriller’s storyline and some scenes are hard to digest. A killer snatches babies from the womb from several pregnant women when they are in last stages of pregnancy. Such cruel acts are also shown by the director visually. Such extreme scenes might faint weak-hearted. Despite some good thrilling moments, some suspenseful scenes, not everyone can stomach horrific acts like babies taken away from womb. Although it starts off well, and holds attention in many parts, on the whole, the movie is too gore and puts you off.

The film is technically sound with rich visuals and good artwork. Yet, the atmosphere and police vans all look unnatural - where did you find such hi-tech task force setup, ultra dressing style for cops, posh vehicles in Andhra Pradesh?

Performances

Bhumika as Amaravathi is okay. She hardly has footage in the film but does her job perfectly. Sneha as Ravi Babu’s wife is adequate. Although there is no proper ‘lead hero’ Ravi Babu acts as such in major part of the film as upright task police officer and he carries it off well. Tarakratna, for the first time plays negative role, is decent. Gadde Sindhura as cop scores among all the actors.

Sudhakar Reddy brings rich look to the film with his topnotch camera work. Ravi Babu seems to have inspired by several Hollywood and Korean thrillers and included them well in his screenplay. Ravi Babu keeps the suspense element till the end by his screenplay but scares the audiences with his ‘extreme’ script. Music and dialogues are okay.

Bottom-line!

Amaravathi is certainly not for the weak-hearted as it is hard to digest some ‘extreme scenes’. Although it has some interesting scenes, on the whole, it fails to impress like his earlier thriller ( Anasuya).

Aarya-2 Movie Review

Release Date:27/11/ 2009

Rating :3.5/5

Starring : Kajal Agarwal, Navadeep, Shraddha Das, Santosh Sahu, Arya and others

Music: Devi Sri Prasad

Written and directed by: Sukumar

Producer: Aditya Babu

Story :

Allu Arjun and Navadeep are thick friends and from their childhood they compete in everything they face in life together. Navadeep always wants to be a step forward than Bunny (Allu Arjun) and is always competes with him in activities like studies, games, music, dance, and so on. But as expected Allu arjun wins finally and stays always a step forward than Navadeep.

Both the childhood friends get into a corporate company and the happening life is well displayed on screen. Incidentally, Kajal Agarwal enters the life of both the friends and the two falls in love with her in the first sight. Shraddha Arya also shares the screen space along with the heroine of course. There is a surprise character in a cameo role in this film

Navadeep expresses his love to his friend Bunny and asks him to help him out in the love matter. Allu Arjun sacrifices his love and with his funny and intellectual tricks helps Navadeep impress Kajal Agarwal.

Finally the big day arrives, and Allu Arjun finds that Kajal Agarwal is in love with him and not his friend Navadeep. Then the suspense element strikes the spine of the audiences. But in order to know that who will marry whom, please visit the theatres as soon as possible.

Arya 2 starring Allu Arjun and the pettie beauty 'Kajal Agarwal' in the lead cast is said to be a very high budget movie and is sure to break the box office records.

Arya 2 music is scored by 'Devi Sri Prasad' Close sources say that legendary actor Kamal Hasaan`s daughter Shruthi Hasaan will be
playing the ladylove for Allu Arjun, but has been replaced by
'Magadheera' queen Kajal Agarwal.

Arya 2 also starcasts Navdeep, Shraddha Das, Siva Balaji in the lead cast and is produced by Aditya Babu.

Two hot couples are sharing the screen space in this movie one being the Allu Arjun and Kajal and the other couple being Navdeep and Shraddha Das. Arya 2 will also have an item number to allure the audience.

Allu Arjun is playing the role of a Software Engineer in this movie.

Allu Arjun`s Arya 2 Album was released by Rajamouli and VV Vinayak and the audio function brought surprises to cheer the audience with a brief dance performance.

Performances:

Like always, Allu Arjun looks stylish and oozes energy. But his character lacks fizz. Sometimes, he acts as a ‘psycho’, sometimes an ‘obsessive’ lover and sometimes Mr.Perfect. His hairstyles also keeps changing in the film. His costumes are good though. Heroine Kajal looks beautiful. Navadeep’s is very passive role and has not much scope for his role. Shraddha Das is glorified extra. Brahmanandam as HR manager cum psychiatrist provides good laughs before the interval. Erina in an item song sizzles but lacks oomph factor like a Mumait or Abhinaya Sri. Mukesh Rishi does the role of a factionist with ease. Ajay as Subbireddy is good.

Visually the film is stunning with uber cool cinematography by Rajashekar. He brings richness to the movie with his great camera work. Also the artwork by Chinna and rich production values make the film eye-pleasing. But director Sukumar fails both as writer and director this time. In a desperate attempt to be as quirky as his original film, Arya, he crosses all the limits in characterization and ends up confusing the audiences. Devi Sri Prasad’s music is good to listen but on screen only two songs – I Love You, and Baby he loves you – are pretty cool. Some dialogues like Neeku Champenta Kopam unte, Naku Chachchenta Prema undi are nice.

Bottom-line:

Arya -2 is disappointment in every other way. Director Sukumar fails both as writer and director as his plotline is confusing and his hero’s characterization is negative. The film’s hero, Allu Arjun, acts like a psycho and his obsessive love and admiration towards heroine Kajal and his friend Navadeep evoke many suspicions. Although it starts off well, second half, especially towards the climax, is contrived.

'Kurradu' Movie Review..

Movie: Kurradu
My Rating: 2.25/5
Banner: Anandhi Arts
Music: Achchu
Cinematography: Sarvesh Murari
Story: Vetri Maran
Producer: Gemini Kiran
Direction: Gunnam Sandeep
Cast: Varun Sandesh, Neha Sharma, Tanikella, Ravi Shankar, Venu, Ali, Surekha Vani, Pragathi etc
Release Date: 12th Nov 2009

Review

Story

Varun (Varun Sandesh) is a young boy who loves owning a sports bike. But his below middle class family background turns a barricade to fulfill his dream. His poor father (Tanikella Bharani) worries about his day-dreaming and irresponsible son. But after a dramatic incident his father gives him Rs 70000 to purchase bike out of his all life time savings. Varun buys a bike and enjoys. He finds a girl Hema (Neha Sharma) and both fall in love. But that bike results in turbulence in Varun’s life. What is that? That has to be seen on big screen.

Artists Performance:

Varun Sandesh : He lean and lanky and he didn’t suit for the energy levels required for the role. He needs to upgrade his dialogue delivery pattern especially while portraying the roles of this kind.

Neha Sharma looked good with naughty smile and big eyes. But she hasn’t upgraded in the matter of performance. Many of her expressions sounded artificial and sometimes lagging in dialogue.

Tanikella Bharani is ok as middle class father while Pragathi is perfect in mother role. Ravi Shankar, the popular dubbing artiste played the lead villain role in fitting manner. Others are ok.

Technically, the movie has no big thing to discuss about. The story sounds not so great as already ‘Ride’ has come on screen with similar theme.

Final Analysis:

It’s a different version of ‘Ride’. It is also inspired from the Tamil movie ‘Polladavan’. But Pollavadan has already inspired Ride. While Ride has two heroes where one is arrogant and other is the one with poor background, here the hero in Kurradu possessess both in him. The bike forms common element both in Ride and Kurradu.

On a whole, the movie has no tempo that keeps audience fix on to seats with interest. First half is ok while second half seems to have run with no punch and required emotion.

The movie may not appeal in the way it’s expected...

Aa Aaa Ee Eee Review :

Movie:Aa Aaa Ee Eee
My Rating: 2/5
Banner: Kalpana Arts
Music: M M Srilekha
Editor: Gautham Raju
Producer: Boddam Ashok Yadav
Direction: Srinivas Reddy
Cast: Srikanth, Sada, Meera Jasmine, Krishna Bhagawan, Tanikella, Kavitha, Brahmanandam, Ali, Sunil, Kovai Sarala, M S Narayana, Telangana Sakuntala etc
Release Date: 6th Nov 2009

Review

Story

Chandram (Srikanth) is an honest man and a devoted husband to Kalyani (Meera). His life takes a turn when he discovers that Kalyani has a rare disease and he has to get money. A sequence of events compels him to act as husband to Ramya (Sada) who is thought dead. However, Ramya comes back alive and now Chandram is caught between both women. What happens from there forms the rest of the story.

Artists Performance:

Srikanth : Srikanth has come up with his performance as usual and he has done these several times before so nothing new from his end. However, his presence on posters after ‘Mahatma’ would add as a crowd puller to the theatre.

Meera Jasmine : She looks cute as usual and will appeal to the lady audience. However, she must try not to come up with western outfits in song sequences and that too figure hugging ones. It just doesn’t go with her.

Sada : She is sexy and makes up for the glamour quotient in a large way. Despite wearing regular outfits, she still has that oomph in her. Performance wise, she did justice to her role.

Tanikella was standard, Sunil gave good laughs, Brahmanandam was okay, Ali was hilarious, Kovai Sarala was loud, Raghu Babu was a bit annoying, Krishna Bhagawan was witty and funny as well, M S was good, the others did as required.

Final Analysis:

The film has got every possible comedian in the Tollywood circuit but then the director has not been able to create a laugh riot out of it. The main drawback was the stale storyline which would have fitted the 80s time.

Also, the title conveys a comedy film but there is a strong dose of sentiment and melodrama which downs the enthusiasm. There is not much depth to the characters due to the weak script and there are not many moments when the audience can connect to the film.

There are few sparks of comedy here and there but overall, the film is not that appealing due to the tasteless flavor of the storyline. Except for Sada’s glamour, Sunil and Ali’s comedy, there is not much one can enjoy in this flick.

Ek Niranjan Movie Review

Movie: Ek Niranjan
My Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: Adithya Ram Movies
Music: Mani Sharma
Cinematography: Shyam K Naidu
Editing: M R Varma
Producer: Adithya Ram
Story, Screenplay & Direction: Mallemala unit
Cast: Prabhas, Kangana Ranaut, Sonu Sood, Tanikella, Makrand Deshpande, Mukul Dev, Posani, Ali, Brahmanandam, Brahmaji, Abhinayasri, Sunil, Venu Madhav etc
Release Date: 29th Oct 2009

Review

Story
Chotu (Prabhas) is an orphan who makes an earning by catching hold of criminals and taking commission from the police. He is also in search of his parents and keeps pampering Chidambaram (makrand) his guardian to reveal the truth since he kidnaps Chotu when he is a baby. Things change when Sameera (kangana), a music teacher enters into his life and along with her also come Johnny Bhai (sonu), Kailash (mukul) and others. What is the link between all? Does Chotu get to meet his family in the end? All this forms the rest of the story.

Artists Performance:

Prabhas: Yet another energetic performance from him but he needs to change his dialogue delivery which has become repetitive and sometime rolling. The idea of getting closer to the masses is a good thought but this doesn’t work always. He can recollect his diction for ‘Chatrapathi’ which had more punch and impact.

Kangana Though not very pretty, she has got an innocent sex appeal making her attractive. She looks just average and did justice to her character given her debut in Telugu.

Sonu Sood Interesting and entertaining performance, his sequences with Brahmaji are a highlight. He seems to be filling the gap of Raghuvaran in a large way with his body language and voice.

Brahmanandam, Ali, Abhinayasri The trio has come up with a comedy track but that has not been able to impress. Both Brahmi and Ali look stereotype. Abhinayasri looks shapely and looks seductive in few scenes.

Mukul Dev, Makrand Deshpande These Bollywood imports were not required as their characters didn’t have much to offer. Not really sure why they had to be roped in. Makrand is a highly talented actor but his caliber was not used properly.

Others like Posani, Venu Madhav, Sunil did their bit as required but not very appealing.

Tanikella Bharani and Sangeetha are ok.

Technically, the highlight in the movie is music. All departments functioned well and the production values are also impressive. The director seems to have not kept full energies in some areas of script. Hence the drop down in entertainment graph here are there.

Final Analysis:

The movie promises good entertainment in the take off but the graph suffers in the flow. The problem in the movie is with the lack of comedy carried by comedy artistes. The actual comedy was worked well with Prabhas and Sonu Sood. And it is obvious that the choice of heroine has reduced the scope of attracting family audience to theatres. It’s bluntly limited to mass audiences and as there is no potential for the movie to allure repeat-viewers, the purpose wouldn’t work completely.

First half of the movie is entertaining but the second half is disturbing to some extent. The graph has fallen down when the narration goes to Bangkok. Puri seems to be so obsessed with Bangkok in his films and hardly understands the need to roll cameras there every time. The climax gets mixed response- some feel that it’s subtle to end the movie that way but others may feel it’s incomplete.

On a whole, it’s a movie that hasn’t reached expectations although entertained to some extent.

Jayeebhava Movie Review

Movie: Jayeebhava

My Rating: 3.5/5
Banner: Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Arts
Music: SS Thaman
Cinematography: SS Thaman
Story and Dialogue: BVS Ravi
Editing: Gowtamraju
Producer: Kalyan Ram Nandamuri
Direction: Naren Kondepati
Cast: Kalyan Ram Nandamuri, Hansika Motwani, Mukesh Rushi, Asish Vidyardhi, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Chalapati Rao, Ali, Brahmanandam, Rahubabu, Raghu Karumanchi etc
Release Date: 23rd Oct 2009

Review

Story

Bhavani Shankar (Mukesh Rushi) and Narasimha (Jaya Prakash Reddy) are two warring leaders in that town. Ram (Kalyanram Nandamuri) is the son of Bhavani Shankar. He falls in love with Anjali (Hansika Motwani) when he is in abroad. After coming back to the town, they realise that they belong to two warring groups. The rest of the story is all about how Ram and Anjali play a game to unite their fathers.

Artists Performance:

Kalyan Ram Nandamuri is pretty good as Ram. His dialogue delivery improved a lot and he is looking good in casual and comedy scenes compared to his earlier movies. He underplayed his character well. Hansika Motwani offers loads of glamor in the movie without being sexy. Asish Vidyardhi is alright in a limited role. Jaya Prakash Reddy is good in certain scenes. Mukesh Rushi and Chalapati Rao are adequate. Raghubabu's comedy in this movie is good. Ali is also good. Brahmanandam has a cameo towards the end.

Technical Side:

Story of the movie is adequate. Screenplay should have been better. Direction is decent in the second half. But the director couldn't articulate story in a clear manner in the first half. The movie gets better in the latter part of the second half where there is family orientation and comedy. The characterization of hero is good. But the characterizations of Jaya Prakash Narayan and Mukesh Rushi should have been more logical and consistent to convince the audiences to believe in the proceedings of the second half. Music by SS Thaman is alright. The picturization of songs is good. The second song with graphics backdrop is nicely done. All songs are picturized with lot of care. Dialogues by BVS Ravi are adequate. Art direction is good. Cinematography by Dasaradhi Sivendra is neat. Editing should have been crisp as there is lag in the movie (runtime is more). Production values by NTR Arts are good.

Final Analysis:

First half of the move is inarticulate and uninteresting. However the movie gets better in the second half where the hero and heroine swap their houses. The comedy and entertainment is good in the last half an hour of the movie. The plus points in this movie are Kalyan Ram, Hansika and last half-an hour. On the flip side, a better screenplay and an articulated first half would have helped the film immensely. We have to wait and see how Jayeebhava works at the box office.

Siddham Movie Review

Movie: Siddham

My Rating: 3/5

Banner: Shreya Productions

Music: Amar Mohale

Cinematography: Bharani K DharanScreenplay,

Stunts $ Direction: JD Chakri

Editing: Bhanodaya

Producer: Kiran Kumar Koneru

Cast: Jagapati Babu, Sindhu Menon, Kota Prasad, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Subbaraju, Narsing Yadav, Siva Prasad etc

Release Date: 12th Feb 2009ReviewStoryDaya (Jagapati Babu) is a sincere cop and an encounter specialist. He handles his job professionally and does not hold anything personal. Salim (Kota Prasad) is his assistant who is greedy about increasing the encounters count so that he could get more publicity from the media. The city commissioner (Kota) is retired and a new commissioner takes the charge. The new commissioner has his own agenda and he discourages Daya from performing his duty in fair manner. The rest of the story is all about how Daya takes law into his hands and cleans up the mafia gang in his own indomitable style.

Artists Performance:

Jagapati Babu:

Though this character is donned by Nana Patekar in Hindi, Jagapati Babu made sure that he interprets the character well enough to give it his own shape with subtle yet strong body language. You will see a new Jagapati Babu in this film and these kinds of characters give actors immense job satisfaction.Kota Prasad (son of Kota Sreenivasa Rao) did a fine role in this film and he has it in him to become a fine actor if he chooses the roles well. His work in this film is very good. Sindhu Menon is adequate as the housewife. Kota Srinivasa Rao is perfect as a retired commissioner who supports hero. It is a different role for Narsing Yadav. The guy who did the role of Akhil is competent. Subbaraju did a small yet significant role. Mukul Dev did the role of Dubai based mafia don.

Technical Departments:

This film is a remake of Hindi film 'Ab Tak Chappan'. Hence the story and screenplay is adapted from the original. Most of shot compositions are also similar. But it is very difficult to create a soul in such a serious film without any commercial padding. As a director JD Chakri succeeded in narrating the film in an interesting way. He created a constant tone to the film and did not miss it throughout the film. Though he handled the film efficiently, we could see the tempo of the film going down for 15 minutes before the climax and 15 minutes before the interval. He did not show the scene of hero being captured by cops in a proper way towards climax.Background music is nice and it is mostly taken from the tracks of Ab Tak Chappan background music. Cinematography by Bharani K Dharan is good. However, the director has used some footage from Ab Tak Chappan film for Mumbai dock episode. Dialogues of the film are realistic. But you need to carefully follow the dialogues because the there is no cinematic dramatization in the modulation and delivery of dialogues. Like in Hindi mafia flicks, this film too has many curse words. Editing is adequate. Producer Kiran should be appreciated for making such a serious film sans any commercial elements.

Final Analysis:

Siddham is a remake of Hindi film Ab Tak Chappan. The commercial elements in this film are subtle. It is like the story of Ankusam film told in a much realistic way. If Ankusam film had intense histrionics and compelling cinematic drama, Siddham film has subtlety and finesse to it. These kinds of films were never made in Telugu. Hence the common movie lovers of AP are not used to such kind of films. It is a decent effort by JD Chakravarthy and Jagapati Babu to make a film like Siddham. We have to wait and see how the regular movie lovers take this film.Write Your Comments On

Fitting Master Review

Movie: Fitting Master
My Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: EVV Cinema
Music: S Chinna
Cinematography: Prasad Babu
Fights: Ram Lakshma, Vijay
Story, Screenplay, Production, Direction: EVV Satyanarayana
Cast: Allari Naresh, Madalasa Sarma, Shayaji Shinde, Sudha, Chandramohan, Saira Banu etc
Release Date: 14th Jan 2009


Review

Story

Sampath (Allari Naresh) is an orphan who works in a gym center. He hates love between a young man and young girl and keeps on opposing that in public. This catches the attention of an arrogant rich girl Meghna (Madalasa Sharma) who challenges her friends that she could pull him in love and make him a puppet around her. Her attempts fail all the while. Then she falls in his love in real. But still he denies her. Then Meghna takes the help of her brother to convince Sampath. In a surprising incident when Meghna's brother approaches Sampath, latter kills the former. Why he killed? What are his motives? That forms the rest of the story. It ended up as an age old revenge drama.

Artists Performance:

Allari Naresh didn't leave his trade mark style of dialogue delivery and instant punches but since the film happened to be a serious flick, the scope for humor is less. But Naresh got a scope to portray seriousness and revenge this time.

Madalasa Sharma is like any other Mumbai girl. She has delivered average performance. She is there for glamour in full dose indeed.

Chandra Mohan and Sudha are there for melodrama and Saira Banu is there for a long pathetic episode. Sayaji Shinde maintained mannerism of singing songs from old films as per situation.

Others are just ok. Music is above average a couple of songs 'Tappusodara..', 'Vennelavo..' really pleased the ears.

Dialogues by Tadi Balaram and Satish Vegesna are apt and rightly grooved in.

Appearance of lyricist Vanamali before a song in his real-time character is interesting.

EVV has chosen an outdated narration, although the subject is universal.

Final Analysis:

It's like tasting sour in the name of sweet. The title 'Fitting Master' with Allari Naresh in it would obviously give an impression that it is an out and out comedy entertainer. But it is not so. It's blended with melodrama, weeps, shouts, fights and all sorts of ingredients that a serious film possesses. Although the maker of the movie attempted to give a message to today's youth those are falling in love and marrying without the consent of parents, the title and expectation didn't match. It is true that audiences those love to laugh on the occasion of festival will walk into theatres to watch this film. But they will be disappointed for watching a serious movie with scattered comedy.

And it is not a film for Allari Naresh, at this juncture. Although EVV tried to bring an image make over for Naresh, this film didn't serve the purpose as it's made with obsolete content.

The film may get some initial mileage in B, C centers but on a whole it cannot be considered a wholesome entertainer.

Maska Review

My Rating: 3/5 Punchline: two-timing Genre: Romance/Action Type: Straight Banner: Sri Sumanth Arts Cast: Ram, Hansika Motwani, Sheela, Sunil, Mukesh Rushi, Pradeep Rawat, Naresh, Brahmanandam, Paruchuri Gopala Krishna, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao, Ali, Krishna Bhagawan (single scene?), Ali (single scene?), Gundu Hanmantha Rao, Telangana Sakuntala, Seeta Music: Chakri Cinematography: Sekhar V Joseph Editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao Art: - Lyrics: Kandikonda Fights: Ram Lakshman Story: Surya Direction: B Gopal Screenplay - Producer: MS Raju Release date: 14 January 2009

Story Krish Jagarlamudi (not the Gamyam director, but hero Ram) is a spoilt brat who looks for shortcuts to earn fame and money. Unable to clear his graduation and get a job, Krish plans to love and marry a rich girl Manju (Sheela) who is going to USA. In the process he meets another girl Meenu (Hansika Motwani) and really falls in love with her. The rest of the story is all about when both these girls come to know about the cheating nature of Krish. There is also a political twist to the story. Artists Performance Ram: After Devdas, this film gives an oppurtunity to Ram to portray the entire gamut of emotions. His dances are amazing in Hare Hare Rama (1st song) and Bagdad Gajadonga (last song). He moves his body like a spring in those songs. He handles comedy department exceptionally well with the right dialogue delivery and diction. However, we do notice an uncanny resemblance to the body language of Pawan Kalyan in Ram’s performance. Heroines: Hansika Motwani did a traditional character in this film. She is pretty good. The fans of Hansika will have a whale of time in ‘Kalloki Dilloki’ song where she wore a micro mini skirt (with a low angle camera). Sheela who looks pretty traditional did the role of temptress in this film. And she is extremely glamorous with liberal exposure of her dusky skin. Other actors: Sunil did a full-length role in this film after a long gap. He is extremely good and provides lot of entertainment. After doing Kokapeta Aunty in Tulasi, Jhansi has done another entertaining role that speaks in Nellore slang. Brahmanandam did the role of a kidnapped doc and he is just average. Introduction scene of Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao is good. One does not understand what Krishna Bhagawan is doing in this film. He has one insignificant scene with a single dialogue. Ali is also wasted. Mukesh Rushi, Pradeep Rawat, Naresh, Dharmavarapu and Telangana Sakuntala are adequate. Technical departments Story - screenplay - direction: Story of the film is provided by Surya. He judiciously mixed a triangular love story with an action backdrop. Screenplay of the film is considerably good. MS Raju borrowed the Vaali screenplay where hero shows a photo of a girl to tell the story to heroine and the girl in photo meet hero in real. The thread of conversing in numbers has got good commercial payoff in the second half. The direction by B Gopal is decent in the first half. There is a bit of lag in pre-climax scenes. The hero shifting his love from Sheela and Hansika should have been shot more efficiently. The villains are projected as the most dreaded till climax and they are shown in the positive light at end. Hence there is no commercial payoff for the action/mass part of the film. Other departments: Music by Chakri is good. The picturization of the songs is excellent. But the director could not place these songs effectively into the film. The choreography for 1st song (Hare Hare) and last song (Bagdad Gajadonga) by Prem Rakshit is pretty cool. Cinematography is nice. The locations in 'Kalaganna' song are good. Dialogues by Paruchuri brothers are good. They wrote nice comedy one-liners as well as good mass dialogues. Production values by MS Raju are grand. Analysis: First half of the film is handled well and provides entertainment. You can see B Gopal kind of mass elements in the second half. The movie goes slow towards the climax of the film. The plus points of the film are Ram and first half. On the flip side, there is a bit of lag in the last half an hour of the film and more clarity is needed in love triangle. On a whole, Maska has got entertainment elements that might work at box office.

Sasirekha Parinayam Movie Review

Inspired by the Sesirekha Parinayam episode in the classic film 'Maya Bazar' (1957 release), creative director Krishna Vamsi envisaged the latest film 'Sasirekha Parinayam'. The movie has Tarun and Genelia sharing screen space for the first time as the lead cast. Sunkara Madhu Murali has produced the film on Karthikeya Creations banner. The film has got released on January, 1st. We present a brief review on 'Sasirekha Parinayam' that defines the pros and cons in its narrative style.
Story:
Bujjamma alias Sasirekha (Genelia) is the only daughter of Tatabbai (Ahuthi Prasad), a Jamindar in Amalapuram. Sasirekha stays with her paternal uncle Sivaji Raja and aunt Surekha Vani in Kakinada, to pursue her studies in B.Sc. Computer Science.
On a fateful day, her stern father orders her to come back to their home town urgently. After her arrival, she realizes that her marriage has been fixed with an NRI and the engagement is done. Adding to her surprise, she comes to know that her marriage is on the next day. In a frantic pace to sort it out, Bujjamma expresses her discontent over the sudden marriage arrangements and tells her mother that she wants to meet the groom. But, her father wants to get her married off at any cost.
At this juncture, the groom Abhimanyu's (Tarun) father Gopala Krishna demands them to pay the balance dowry else he warns them of halting the marriage. Displeased with the money mindedness of groom's father, Bujjamma flees away from home with her jewels.
On the way, she comes across Abhimanyu (Tarun), the supposed to be groom while leaving the town. Abhimanyu learns from his brother that the bride had run away. He tags behind Bujjamma and intros himself as Anand.
Bujjamma wants to go to her friends place in Hyderabad secretly. Learning that her uncle (mama) Subbaraju and Abbulu (Raghubabu) are searching for her, she plans to run away with Anand to reach Hyderabad. During the eloping journey, she falls in love with Anand. Did Abhimanyu, who was moving with Bujji in the disguise of Anand, reveal to her that he was the groom? Did they both reach Hyderabad safe? What happened at the end? Watch 'Sasirekha Parinayam' to get your questions answered.
Performance of Artists:
Tarun who was restricted to handsome lover boy characters, has enacted a matured role for the first time. His acting skills are plausible in the climax scenes which deserve applause. We could see a fresh new actor in Tarun with this flick.
Genelia's performance should be mentioned at this point. She bagged critical applause for her role of Hasini in 'Bommarillu', and now her style is on par with excellence. She has demonstrated a wide rage of expressions which could have been made possible by none other than her. Although she's a learner in Telugu, her synchronization with her acting in the scenes with lengthy dialogues has come out well. Genelia has once more restated with what she is best at – the bubbly jubilant girl.
Paruchuri Gopala Krishna as Tarun's father played a character that is distinct from his earlier mass roles. 'Ahuthi' Prasad who gave a good act in 'Chandamama', did well in this film. MS Narayana's even though short cameo has not failed to tickle the audience with his role of a Tax Payer.
Subbaraju, Sivaji Raja, Tulasi, Surekha Vani, Giri, performed well with in the scope of their roles.
Technicians Work:
The most widely known fact is Krishna Vamsi's films will sure have a colorful rich look in every frame. 'Sasirekha Parinayam' is no different and the director's touch is embedded all the way. Bhaskar Samala debuted as a cinematographer with this movie. The initial sequences of the film that shows the marriage activities and then a few scenes filmed near Nagarjun Sagar are beautiful and captivating. Art work by DY Satyanarayana is natural and fits aptly.
Dialogues rendered by Nagaraju who debuted as a writer with 'Gamyam', are fine. One of heroine's dialogue 'Adavallu sadharanamga premincharura, preminchadam modalupedithe jeevithantham marachiporu'. Adi mundu thelusukondra – is notable.
Music composed by Mani Sharma and the background score are not stupendous but not bad either. The song 'Ninne Ninne korukuni kusuminche…' has a good tune. 'Edo' is one more theme score that is soothing to listen to. Lyrics by Seetharama Sastry and Ananth Sriram have meaningful words.
Director's Portrayal:
Krishna Vamsi is among the list of most anticipated directors and his movies are always under high speculation. Despite its good narration, the plot has been told and re-told a number of times in cinema. Yet, his fresh presentation makes it more appealing and a good watch. The movie lacks in director's touch at certain places. So, be prepared to see it as a movie and this is not one of Krishna Vamsi's best yet.
Criticism
'Sasirekha Parinayam' has flavors of an old story in a new movie yet it doesn't fail to entertain. Talks were on about the movie being inspired from the Hindi 'Jab We Met' but excluding the runway and 'Edo' theme, it doesn't have any similarity to it. But, a lagging issue is the movie is far behind Krishna Vamsi's style. In a nutshell, keep aside your thoughts of 'Jab We Met' and don't expect a Krishna Vamsi movie. You will enjoy 'Sasirekha Parinayam' which is a wholesome family entertainer.

"Suraya S/O Krishnan" Review

Film: Surya S/O Krishnan

My Rating: 3.25/5

Music: Harris Jayaraj

Producer: Aascar Films

Direction: Gautham Vasudev Menon

Release Date: Nov 14th, 2008

Cast: Surya Siva Kumar, Simran, Divya Spandana, Sameera Reddy etc

My Review:

Surya S/O Krishnan is an emblematic Gautham Menon film which appears to be pretty close to his factual life along with a message at the conclusion. The movie has a two hour 48 minutes extensive heavy sentiment drama and has all the ingredients of anecdote, love, comedy and at last promotes non- smoking deeply, as it gives a hard slap to all the smokers who can face the cruel outcome of dreaded disease Cancer. Surya is outstanding and Simran pilfers the show with her outstanding acting skills.

Story:

Surya (Junior Surya), son of Krishnan is a sensitively bonded guy with his parents as well as his sister. He grows up seeing his parent’s enormous love en route for each other and the fervor towards their son and daughter. The dissimilar phases of life, are well portrayed in this film as the child, teenage life, adulthood in a man’s world are well exemplified. Surya is intimately close to his father and Simran who plays the character of mother to him, motivates him for being strappingly will- powered and also to be psychologically weak sometimes.Krishnan (Senior Surya) is Surya’s Father who is a middle class man and ventures out to USA in order to fetch his true love Simran. They marry and are proud parents of two siblings. Surya and his sister as told earlier get the inspiration and lesson from their parents that nothing is impossible in this world if your allegiance and the sacredness in heart are well pure.With these values, Junior Surya gets into his adult hood with a brief love phase in his life. He falls in love with Meghna (Sameera reddy) but the love ends as soon as it is started as Meghna decides to part her ways in order to pursue her professional dreams. She prefers to chase her dreams rather than accompanying Surya. Moved by this Surya regrets to be in love with Meghna and desires for a beloved who is in lines of his mother Malini (Simran).Surya fetches a defense cop profession and is posted somewhere in Jammu and Kashmir. After a few reels of regular kidnapping and goon bashing drama, Surya’s heroic skills are well expressed. Unluckily, he is informed about his father Krishnan’s illness of cancer and leaves the base camp, to be with his family.He immediately packs and moves to his family and realizes that his father Krishnan is ill and his mother Malini is shaken by this incident. But again, Krishnan inspires his son by his strong will power and determination to invade out through his illness.Then Surya’s wife Priya (Divya Spandana) enters his life and they marry happily. But Krishnan’s illness deepens day by day and this makes him close to his grave. In a scene which is heart touching, where he tries hard to express something to his grandson, but fails to do as his Vocal Cords fail indicating the last stages of life.The complete movie is crammed with emotion and love towards a family. Furthermore the movie is loaded with a poignant drama in all scenes.Lastly, the movie tops with an acceptable climax plus this is a anticipation which must be seen on the big screen.

Performances:

Surya Siva Kumar plays the dual role of Krishnan and Surya in this film. The actor doesn’t need a certificate for his acting as he has immense talent. The senior Surya looks more promising with his make up and depicts a perfect middle aged person with lots of experience to reveal. Junior Surya plays the role of an obedient son to his father and is tinged with some love, romance and mother sentiment from the female characters.Simran plays the character of Malini who is a Pativratha to Krishnan. She plays the role with ease and takes on the limelight of this film.Priya is the character played by Divya Spandana. The character demands some love, attitude and also sometimes emotions and Divya Justifies her character as a wife to Surya.Sameera Reddy enters the life of the hero like a breeze and plays the character of Meghna. She moves around the trees with the hero and finally departs.On the total, the movie is exceedingly sloppy drama which has zero for the mass crowds.

Final Point:

Nice movie go and watch...

"Yuvatha" Review

Film: Yuvatha

My Rating: 3/5

Music: Mani Sarma

Editing: Marthand K. Venkatesh

Cinematography: Jaswanth

Lyrics: Krishna Chaitanya

Producers: Hari Tumma, Uma Prakash

Direction: Parashuram (Debut)

Release Date: Nov 7, 2008

Cast: Nikhil, Aksha, Ranadheer, Monali Choudhry, Narasimha Uthkam, Subhash, Sivanarayana, Sayaji Shinde, Narsing, Jeeva, Jayaprakash Reddy, Srinivasa Reddy, Prithvi, Giri etc

My Review:

Story:

A US-aspiring software engineer Ajay (Ranadheer), a wanna-be police turned securityman Kiran (Narasimha Uthkam), and an assistant film director Subbu (Subhash) are friends in Hyderabad trying to live their dreams. Veerababu a.k.a. Babu (Nikhil) , outcast from his uncle's family, joins them from Kesavaram village, where they were all childhood friends. Babu meets Vishalakshi a.k.a Baby (Aksha) in a strange situation, and very soon they fall in love. Subbu finally seems to have made it big, and while everyone is celebrating, an old feud fires up, leaving the would-be director with serious skull injuries. The friends, including Ajay's girl Madhavi (Monali Choudhry) and Baby, decide to pool up all sources for money for his surgery. They finally loan the amount from a merciless goon (Narsing). When he pressurizes them to repay him, they plan to rob from the security company where Kiran works, and they plan everything right, but Kiran decides to wait behind since it might hand them up all! Ajay and Babu get arrested by the police at the company, but that's after they realize someone else had already robbed all the money! Was Kiran true in his reason? What's his role in the robbery? How much does Subbu's accident really turn the story.

Performances:

Nikhil is at ease as a careless and fearless youth, but he needs to take care of his diction some more. Aksha is okay but has a short, insignificant role in the film that goes around friends. Ranaadheer, who also acted as senior student in Happy Days, has a considerably lengthy role in this film and he performs okay. His body language is stiff at times, though. Monali Choudhry is attractive but has a limited role as his love interest and the daughter of their house owner (played by Sivanarayana of Amrutham fame). Narasimha and Subhash fit in their roles well and have done good job. Sayaji Shinde as hardcore criminal Nananna who has a weak point of being a fan of Simran plays more a comedy role than that of a criminal.Narsing and Jeeva appear as comedy-oriented baddies, offering some good comedy through a part of the film. Jayaprakash Reddy as the jailer, Sreenivasa Reddy as a sentry, and Prithvi as "Krishna Manohar IPS" do a good job within the scope of their roles. Sivanarayana as the house owner is intended for comedic relief, but falls short of expectations of people who may want to compare his similar role from his much-celebrated TV show Amrutham. Hero Siddharth and Krishnudu (of Happy Days and Vinayakudu fame) appear in the end of the film, rather unnecessarily.

Analysis:

Debut director Parashuram comes up with an appreciable story line for the film. He also ensured a gripping screenplay and unveils the story carefully, maintaining elements of comedy and suspense in right proportions. In fact, it's notable that he has given more importance to the story than to the threads of romance between the two lead pairs. The taking goes in a good pace for most part; more care should have been taken in establishing the romance between the hero and heroine. Camerawork is okay, but the digital intermediatary (DI) work brings in inconsistencies pertaining to focus in a couple of scenes. Picturization of songs is okay, but it's more the lyrics that catch the attention of the audiences, and some tunes are catchy; choreography is okay too. Re-recording could have been better. Fights are choreographed in a natural style. Dialogues are very good and natural through most of the film, particularly depicting the hero's characterization. Editing is just okay. Production values are appreciable.

Final Analysis:

While the title Yuvata is not really justified for a film on friends, the film is a decent entertainer in its own stride. Good story, okay performances, catchy tunes and lyrics, and no-nonsense screenplay, garnished with light comedy through dialogues and scenes may enhance the life of the film that opened in a rather low key. The film has a good interval bang and the second half has twists that enhance the tempo.

"Avakaya Biryani " Reveiw

Film:Avakaya Biryani

My Rating: 2.5/5

Music: Manikanth Kadri

Presented By: Sekhar Kammula

Cinematography: Shyam

Producers: Sekhar Kammula and Chandrasekhar Kammula

Direction: Anish Kuruvilla

Release Date: Nov 14th, 2008

Cast: Kamal Kamaraju, Bindu Madhavi, Rao Ramesh etc

My Review:

Story:Akbar (Kamal Kamaraju) is an auto driver in a village called Devarakonda and also works as paper boy in the early morning. He is an orphan as lost his father in childhood. He, along with other young uneducated gang lives under the rule of Masterjee (Rao Ramesh), the village head. Babar, a Muslim leader in that place wishes to divert Akbar as religious chauvinist. But Akbar follows 'love all' concept.A Brahmin family newly comes to that village in exodus from another village and resides in a house. Their plan is to start a hotel business there and also sell avakaya. Lakshmi (Bindu Madhavi), the elder daughter in that family falls in love with Akbar.How Akbar and Lakshmi unite? How the Hindu-Muslim love is accepted by Lakshmi's father who believes in strict Brahminism? How the hotel business will be started by that family? How Akbar becomes a hero in his village from mere auto driver? All these form the rest of narration.

Analysis:

It's a movie that moves in a different but slow pace. Technical brilliance is seen in making with creative cinematography, worth mentioning framing, enticing music and quality RR. The tempo of the movie and also the subject chosen for it recalls the 1990s Delhi Doordarshan TV serials like Govind Nihalani's 'Tamas', 'Malgudi Days' etc. It's a genre of movie that would be liked and disliked in equal form. In other words to say, there would be good number of audiences on both the sides. Director Aneesh tried to balance the equation between his creativity and commercial point. But on a whole at the end, it gives a 'boring feel' for some and a 'good relief' for others.The film aptly suits to hit the film festivals across the world. It has some message in it. Aneesh would have got better experience with the films those will be played in film festivals. Like Thangar Bachchan's 'Pallikoodam', where the lead role works hard for a social cause and the betterment of a place, here the lead role in 'Avakaya Biryani' also does the same. That may not be taken as the only common point between the two. The way the story is narrated with remote village backdrop, limited set of characters with typical characterizations etc.To sum up, the film has lacked in energy and audiences find it difficult to get connect to it. When story is not running at faster pace that should be filled in by comedy. Or if there is no comedy to show, the story should run. Although Aneesh has comparison with many award winning film makers, he brought some doubts in the heads of some

audiences:

How a village family goes to another remote village for livelihood? Many audiences felt that it would have been convincing had they gone to city. And again why the heroine goes to Hyderabad to sell pickles?How the village head Masterjee speaks in pure Andhra accent in Devarakonda, a Telangana village?What is the characterization of Babar? He roams as vagabond on a motor cycle for some time and dresses up like MIM leader and sits along with CM other time and appears as 'Mutton Shop Mastan' in another frame. Finally he loses himself in an auto race with hero!!!Leaving those trivial doubts aside, the film has got many concoctions that suit for Film Festivals. Religious tolerance, inter-religious love, village politics, auto race, auto driver growing as Mandal President and all. The style of narration is something different without the influences of any contemporary director. The notable minus in the movie is lack of sufficient humor and comedy. A couple scenes between village head Masterjee and an eccentric fried of hero Akbar during auto race bring laughs. Aneesh, after his blatant satire on Tollywood with 'Confessions of Film Maker' has made this commercial flick as his debut. Only a separate set of audience can patronize this movie.

Performances:

Kamal Kamaraju is ok with his physique and bearing but needs to groom in expressions and other histrionics. New girl Bindu Madhavi is ok with the character she played in the film. And she too needs to groom herself to show versatility.Music by Manikanth is good and cinematography deserves great mention. The songs 'Mamidi kommaku maa chilakammaku', 'Nannu chupe addam..' and 'Govardhanameththaadu gopalude…' have received good applause.Director would have done batter work on dialogues. The required punches were lacked on a whole leaving audiences without sufficient entertainment.

Final Analysis:

Some of us have gotten this remark forever on our report card- ‘Can Do Better’. Hopefully, Kuruvilla’s next won’t carry the same remark. There is potential. That much is obvious; we need to wait and watch. Just not Avakai Biryani-it’s not totally fullfilling.

Blade Babji movie review

Cast:Allari Naresh, Sayali Bhagat, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, Venu Madhav, Srinivasa Reddy,
Music: Koti
Dialogues: Vegnesa Satish
Cinematography: A Raja
Editing: Nanadamuri Hari
Producer: Muthyala Satya Kumar
Story :Screenplay - direction: Devi Prasad
Rating :3/5
The Film

This is a full length comedy where ordinary people attempt impossible things and get caught in a web of their own errors.

The Synopsis

Blade Babji (Naresh) is a slum dweller and a professional pick-pocket. A realtor has an eye on the slum land and to save the slum folk from the clutches of the land shark, Babji takes up the challenge of getting Rs 4Crores.


Blade Babji cinema review

Babji, along with his gang, resort to a bank robbery in Visakhapatnam and the money is hidden at a place where a house is being constructed. A situation arises whereby Babji and his gang could not come back to get the money for some time.

When Babji and gang finally come back to retrieve the stolen money, they find a full-fledged police station there. With a typical criminal trick Babji becomes part of police at the new police station, where the money looted from the bank is hidden.

From then on, a flurry of comic pitfalls is in place, as Babji and gang try to get back the loot.


Blade Babji cinema review

The Performance

The role of Blade Babji suits Naresh to a T and he gives a good performance. Sayali Bhagat is passable. All the comedians have got good roles and they succeed in giving laughs.

The Techniques

Devi Prasad did a somewhat satisfactory job with story, screenplay, dialogues and direction to get useful comedy incidents and situations, though the song sequences appear to hinder the narration.

This is a low-budget film and the average fare is evident in all technical departments including production values.

The Verdict

Blade Babji is a full length time-pass film with enough comic antics.

Hero movie review

Cast:
Nitin, Bhavana, Brahmanandam, Nagababu, Kovai Sarala, Ramya Krishna and others
Rating :2.5/5
Dialogues: Nivas
Lyrics: Anant Sri Ram, Bhaskarabhatla Ravi Kumar
Choreography: Nobel, Prem Rakshit
Fights: Kanal Kannan
Art: Anand Sai
Music: Mani Sharma
Cinematography: C Ram Prasad
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Producer: Manyam Ramesh
Director: GV Sudhakar Naidu

The Film

This is one more film, where its makers think that a few songs, dances and fights should be composed first and the gaps to be filled with some scenes so that the film’s duration clocks 120 minutes.

The Synopsis

Radhakrishna (Nitin) is just an aimless young fellow wasting his time here and there. His father Nagendra Naidu (Naga Babu) is a police officer who wants his son to join the police force. Radhakrishna’s mother (Kovai Sarala) wants him to be a film star.


hero cinima review

Suddenly, Radhakrishna is shown undergoing training in a police academy. He meets Krishna Veni (Bhavana) who is also being trained at the academy. After a couple of love-scenes and songs later a TV channel claims that Krishna Veni is a naxalite.
The rest of the story deals with unraveling the so-called secret of Krishna Veni being a naxalite.

The Performance

Nitin and Bhavane look like fish out of water, particularly if that water is called a story. Nagababu and Ramyakrishna have just gone through their motions. Kovai Sarala plays a weird role, perhaps attempting to look comic and ends up on a queer note. Even Brahmanandam is seen giving an insipid performance.

The Techniques

GV Sudhakar Naidu should surely revert back to his bit-role acting in films rather than directing them.


hero cinima review

This film clearly shows that GV does not know the fundamentals of story telling, screenplay writing and direction. The contrived incidents are an assault on the minds of the audience.
Manisarma gave good music and Ramprasad handled the camera well, but of what use, when the film does not have a story to tell? Kannan is there because he has job to do.

The Verdict

The best place for the cans of this film to be in…is not in theatres, but the nearest trash can, because even the front benchers, for whom the film appears to have been made, should also be spared from a traumatic viewing experience.
Please forget that the film Hero by GV was ever made. It is such a colossal waste of valuable film and financial resources, in addition to invaluable time.

Keka Movie Review

Film: Keka
My Rating: 3/5
Music: Chakri
Editing: Shankar
Lyrics: Veturi, Seetarama Shastry, Chandrabose
Executive producer: K Jagadeesh Reddy
Story, screenplay, dialogues, produced and directed by: Teja
Release Date: Oct 23rd, 2008
Cast: Raja, Ishana, Anup Kumar, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, Thalaivasu Vijay and host of new actorsSurekha Vani etc

My Review:

Story:

Arjun (Raja) is a student and he meets a young beauty Sujata (Ishana) in a village. Both of them hail from Hyderabad but they come to this village on holidays where their grand parents reside. After an incident, Sujata’s grandparents take to her to the city where her parents fix marriage with a rich guy Kiran (Anup) who happens to be Arjun’s best friend. Now all these three land in same college and love between Arjun and Sujata blossoms again. When Arjun tells Kiran that he is in love with Sujata, the latter readily sacrifices for their friendship. It doesn’t look as simple as that there is twist in the tale too.

Performances:

Veteran lyricist Sirivennela Seetarama Shastry’s younger son Raja has made debut as lead hero with this movie. For a newcomer, he has done neat job. Especially he has shown the variation in his character - one with long hair and other one as trendy college going youth. Navadeep has lent voice for his role. Heroine Ishana has good figure and beauty but she needs to develop on her expressions. Raasi’s dubbing for Ishana doesn’t suit well. Anup Kumar who played the negative role is okay (Ajay provides the dubbing). Of other ‘so-called new talent’, the guy who played the role with ‘over-action’ is pain in the neck through out the movie. So much for ‘Kannanba Cutting’!

Prior to the release, the film has generated so much interest for the camerawork of P.C.Sreeram. Frankly speaking, with all due respect to P.C sir, his ‘trademark’ style is visible only in the songs. Songs by Chakri are impressive with good lyrical value. Even the picturisation of the songs are also good. Director Teja as writer and director is hardly impressive.

Analysis:

Director Teja was once a force to recon with and delivered some blockbusters. It was history and happened so loooong time ago. After a hiatus of three years, he takes up another love story with newcomers titled Keka to reinvent success for himself. But his latest attempt fails big time. It hardly has anything new to offer. With tepid screenplay, silly comedy, clichéd romantic scenes between the lead pair and dull dialogues, the film is completely flawed.

Teja is just repeating what he has done in his earlier films (in Nuvvu - Nenu, he has shown how to repair broken Telephone hand; In Jayam, he lets us know how to escape through roofk and in Keka he shows that with stethoscope one can make a speaker too! Wow!).

First half itself is futile exercise and post the interval the movie is completely lost. On the whole, Keka is a big disappointment. When the film finally ends, you feel like you've come out of battle.

Final Analysis:

Another dud from Teja! Keka fails to impress. Actually it tests the patience of the audiences with it hollow script and tepid narration. Except three songs, there is no aspect of the film that is wroth of writing about.

'Three' Review: 'Regression Subject' Wrongly Handled

Film: Three
MyRating: 1.5/5
Banner: Raj (India) Entertainments
Cast: Rajeev Kanakala, Rishi, Urvasi Sharma, Harshavardhan, Santhi Chandra, Vijayachander, Ranganath, Banerjee, Ravali and others
Music: Vijay Kurakula
Fights: Ram Lakshman
Cinematography: Senthil Kumar
Director: Shekkhar Suri
Producers: Phani Raj and G S BabuRelease date: 17/10/2008

Story:Sri Ram (Rishi) is a program maker in National Geographic Channel and he happens to meet Nisha (Urvashi Sharma), a girl who stays in a row house next to him. Nisha suffers from schizophrenia-related syndrome and listens to some eerie voice in the name of Shankar who threatens her to kill. Sri Ram introduces her to a psychiatrist Harsha (Harshavardhan) who attempts to help her to understand her problem. In the process of quest for Shankar, they realize that some past birth link is associated with the eerie voice ringing in her ears. Who is Shankar? What is the past birth link and how destiny drives Sri Ram and Harsha in their mission becomes the rest of the story.
Performances: Rishi appeared with multiple tattoos on his hands. Rajeev Kanakala's image didn't help his role to bring fear factor. Harshavardhan is the best among all who spilled some laughs and entertained in first half. Urvashi Sharma is enough to fit in a role like this. Benerjee appeared in a guest role and played in routine fashion. Coming to technical aspects, Vijay Kurakula gave good music but failed to assess the right time to give right score. His music has eaten away the clarity in dialogues many times. Cinematography by Senthil Kumar is at its best. The balloon light method is also worked well to match the horror factor. Editing is ok. Dialogues by Harshavardhan are apt and adequate. Director Sekkhar Suri wasted big time in narrating nothing and used very less time in second half to explain 'regression', which is necessary to make audience understand. The interesting aspect in the movie is the rolling titles in the end that's thought provoking to some extent-showing the past life photographs of celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, George Bush and Shahrukh Khan picked up from the book 'Born Again'


Analysis:The readers of the works like 'Many Lives Many Masters', 'Same Soul Many Bodies' and 'Messages From Masters' by Brian E Weiss, Many Mansions of Cereminara, Born Again and Edgar Cayce literature can get connected to this subject, especially the stuff in second half. Otherwise, the concept of 'regression therapy' sounds weird and unconvincing. And it is true that the people those are acquainted with this subject and books will not relish 'Three' as the conviction in second half proves feeble. The concept of 'regression therapy' boasts that the past life sinners get repentance in present life once they are regressed. But here, the hero turns villain and takes gets back his past life's cruelty and kills the people around him in present life. The subject would have dealt in other way with positive and peaceful ending. Director Sekkhar Suri has set his standards above with his film 'A Film By Aravind'. But now he failed to meet the same standards. The movie 'Three' leaves common audience in confusion. First half is dragged with no run in the story line. Second half runs swift but in confused way. Make up part is weak. Projecting Rajeev Kanakala with lip stick glued under eyes, Vijay Kurakula's over dosed sound affects those have eaten away the audibility in dialogues are the limitations in this flick. Showing Rajeev Kanakala on the wall like a batman brought laughs in theaters in stead of pumping fear. On a whole, it's a challenging attempt but ended up as a routine horror flick with mundane elements. The film would have been better if proper light was thrown on 'regression therapy' to make common audience understand. Sekkhar! If you are more convinced with 'regression subject', then better luck next time, with proper ground work and more convincing and edifying elements.

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.