I think it was Bairagi who said "naakkoncham nammakamivvu". All we Telugus need is a little bit of belief, or suspension thereof, especially when watching movies. Fortunately, we all oblige. We have been blessed with the infinite patience, and resilience born from waiting in the bus-stands in Telugu land.
A case in point is a recent movie I saw: pelli sandadi. Once I started believing in the Telugu magical movie land, the movie made perfect sense to me. I even enjoyed myself thoroughly, with all those song and dance sequences.
I know what you are thinking. How does this seemingly sane person, normally espousing rational views make such statements? What Kantian categorical imperative made him say that :-)?
What can I say, I am cursed -- the curse that makes me sit through mind-numbing garbage (punctuated with soothing commercials) only because something in there reminds me of a smell, a smile, a face, a place, a story that is long buried in the cranium. Aren't we all the slaves of our memories?
It is the curse that binds us to the language, the poetry, the people, and home. It shows us poetry even in the mundane words of the language. It triggers associations from the odd jumble of words. Heck, it even finds poetry in dubbed songs for us.
Of course, this poetry is defined by home, and in general, a nation (nation in a Hegelian sense). To me, it defines the essence of sensibility. For example, Urdu poetry has some sensibility, laden with richly perfumed, thinly veiled phrases. I never could get the sensibility in English poetry; to me it has the weariness of an Eliot, word magic of an Ogden Nash. It is purely cerebral.
Now, come to Telugu poetry. Having grown up there, we can perfectly understand and feel the words "chemma checka" and "hoosh kaaki". We can see the green country side with undulating pasture fields, punctuated with coconut groves, where nubile girls roam dreaming a little, befitting Telugu sensibility. And, it is poetry to us -- all the cacophony at the weddings, all that confusion, all those colorful sarees, all those gentle pranks.
May be we are all still crazy after all these years. There never was that dream land. May be it was all dry fields by the side of dusty roads. May be it was full of petty people fighting over forgotten notions, and anachronic ideas.
Still, the dream is more powerful than reality. How else can we explain the gentle tug at the heart, on listening to a Telugu song? How else can we explain why we put up with dull, boring, sentimental, repetitive, and insulting movies?
Of course, we are dreamers. We catch a wisp of our dreams, a whisper of the poetry, a glimpse of lost youth -- all in routine movies. All this becomes possible because of belief, a little bit of belief.
Type: Dubbing (Tamil) Banner: Lakshmi Ganapathi Films Cast: Vikram, Sada, Vivek, Prakash Raj, Nedumudi Venu, Nassar, VMC Hanifa, Kala Bhavan Mani, Saurabh Shukla, Charlie, Shanmuga Rajan, Mohan Vaidya and Yana Gupta (special appearance) Music: Harris Jayaraj Lyrics: Chandrabose Cinematography: S Ravi Varman & Manikandan Dialogues: Sri Ramakrishna Editing: VT Vijayan Art: Sabu Cyril Action: Peter Hynes Choreography: Raju Sundaram, Kalyan & Ahmed Khan Producers: Subramanyam & Rupesh Story - Screenplay & Direction: Shankar Theatrical release date: 17th June 2005
Ramu (Vikram) is a very picky and traditional Brahmin youngster who practices law. He gets restless if somebody fails to follow civil rules, fails to deliver good products to customers or show apathy towards fellow citizens. He wishes that somebody should come and put some sense of ownership and belongingness in the minds of fellow citizens.
Aparichitudu (Vikram) is the one that comes from hell to punish all those people who Ramu desists. He uses the punishing techniques used in Garuda Puranam (a mythological book on punishments in Hell) that gives reference to kind of punishment meted for each and every kind of sin committed. He leaves certain clues behind for the cops to find out.
Ramu loves his neighbor Nandini (Sada). But she feels that Ramu is too good a guy to share her life with. She wants a cool guy. Remo (Vikram) is modern hipster who impresses Nandini and makes her fall in love with her. A couple of cops (Prakash Raj and Vivek) are in search for the murderer. The rest of the story is all about what connects these three different characters - Ramu, Remo and Aparichitudu.
Cast: Brahmanandam, Preeti Jhangiani, Mohanbabu, M.S. Narayana, Rambha, Khushboo, Raghu Babu, N.T.R. Rao Junior, Mamtha Mohandas, Ali and others Genre: Fantasy
Previously films have been made on the relationship between Yamadharma Raju and the common man. On the list are Yamagola - in which the late NTR acted, megastar Chiranjeevi's Yamudiki Mogudu and Yamaleela - in which Ali acted. Incidentally in all these films Kaikala Satyanarayana played the role of Yama. In Yamadonga, director SS Rajamouli has attempted a different take on the same subject and has made it a socio fantasy film. In doing so he has employed the services of NTR Jr., Padmashree Mohan Babu, Priyamani and Mamta Mohandas.
A treat for NTR Jr's fans is the stars weight loss that he underwent specially for his role in the movie. He added a new hairstyle to add to this make over. With five of his previous films becoming hits, Rajamouli has dome well and has got himself a double hatrick. In the process, his three last films with NTR Jr. count too count upto a hatrick for his credit (Student No. 1, Simhadri and now Yamadonga).
Story:
Mahi (Priyamani) is the daughter of a millionaire Zamindar (Ranganath). Her father passes away and her relatives take advantage of her rich disposition because they then become her legal guardians. They make her a servant in her own house. In this tike of distress, she is desperately on the lookout for someone who will save her from the situation that she is in.
NTR (Raja) is a petty thief who works with an associate Ali. He sells whatever he steals to his associates - a girl (Priyamani). Suddenly Raja loses a huge amount of money because a person who employed his services passes away. Raja finally succumbs to approaching Yamadharma Raju for help. Raja approached Yamadharma while he is in a meeting with devatas. When hearing Raja's plea, he finds himself ridiculed at by the devatas.
In order to teach the thief a lesson, he decides to bring upon him Narakam. But Raja using his clever thievery ways, he steals Yamadharma's Paasam, the rope by which he punishes people. Yamadharma tries to get his Paasam back but to no avail. This causes the downfall of Yamadharma. Even in the elections, all goes in favour of young Yama aka Raja.
What follows is a bitter fight between Raja and Yamadharma during which Raja throws the Paasam back at Yama and hence loses his power. But Yama is unable top prove that Raja has done anything wrong to be punished. So he is forced to send him back to earth with the intention top get him back to Narakam after he commits a sin - on the basis of which he can punish him.
On the contrary, he falls in love with Mahi and becomes the prince Charming that she was waiting for. His love for Mahi erases his sins because he is doing good. After he sees that his plans are failing, Yamadharma comes down in the form of a pretty girl and breaks the strong relationship between Raja and Mahi. Yama then decides to take his life. But while at the steps leading to the temple of Lord Narasimha, he breaks down and begs of Yama to give him half an hour TO SAVE Mahi from her relatives.
Yama refuses him saying that he already took his life and now he cant give it back to him. Since he knows that he is going to die any moment, he decides to anyway try to save Mahi. Finally he finds himself to be able to escape with a locket that has Lord Narasimha's blessing.
Banner: MS Arts Cast: Chiranjeevi, Namrata Sirodkar, MS Narayana, Tinu Anand, Bhupinder Singh, Rami Reddy, PT Raj, Saraswatamma, Baby Keertana, Baby Meghana, Baby Muthya, Master Vamsi, Master Bharat, Master Ajay, Ramya Krishna (SA), Rajya Lakshmi (SA) and Reema Sen (SA) Music: Mani Sharma (Sri for one song) Dialogues: Satyanand Cinematography: Chota K Naidu Art: Ashok Lyrics: Sirivennela, Bhuvana Chandra, Chandrabose Choreography: Lawrence, Raju Sundaram, Raja Sekhar, Robert Stunts: Kanalkannan, Peter Visual Effects: Firefly Creative Studio Creatives for visual effects: Bapu Editing: KV Krishna Reddy Production: Edu Kondalu Story - Screenplay: MS Arts Unit Direction: Kodi Rama Krishna Producer: Shyam Prasad Reddy Release date: 15th January 2004
The Aatmalingam is situated in Himalayas that posses enormous divine powers. Once every 72 years, Akasa Ganga from sky flows into the Aatmalingam. The ones who can drink holy water of Akasa Ganga that flows through Atmalingam at that moment would become younger and remain eternal with supernatural powers.
In 1932, a youngster called Bhatia (Bhupinder Singh) attempts to get hold of Atmalingam and drink Akasa Ganga. But one of the powerful tools of God truncates his right arm. He grows up and Bhatia's (Tinu Anand) age is 99. Bhatia searches for the traces of Aatma Lingam, but in vain. The Akasaganga is slated to flow to earth for Atmalingam in 2004 again.
A professor who made a lifetime research on Aatmalingam and Akasaganga possesses vital information in a red diary and he couriers it to his student Swapna (Namrata Sirodkar) who is in USA. Swapna is forced to come back to India in search of her professor in forest areas near Uravakonda. There she realizes that her professor is killed. She takes help of Anji (Chiranjeevi). Anji (Chiranjeevi) is a good Samaritan in Uravakonda forest area. He serves the most revered Sivanna (Nagababu)- an ayurvedic specialist - and raises 4 orphans.
Bhatia's men start their hunt for Swapna During this period, Anji accidentally stumbles on 'Atmalingam' and gets it into his possession. After coming to know about it, Bhatia and his men are after Anji and Swapna. And the D Day of Akasa Ganga is fast approaching. Sivanna advises Anji that the Atmalingam should be sent back to where it belongs. Would Anji be able to send Atmalingam where it belongs? Would Bhatia succeed in remaining eternal? Watch the film to know yourself!
The film opens with a series of events that leave an astounding impact, shown in time intervals of decades about how one blood-seeking family is trying to annihilate another peace-making influential family in the land of Rayalaseema. In the process they show a kid called Indra Sena Reddy occupying the big chair of the peace making family at a tender age of 8 years.
Then the scene shifts to Varanasi, where the newly appointed UP governor Chenna Kesava Reddy (Prakash Raj) comes to visit Varanasi along with his family, which includes a beautiful daughter Pallavi (Sonali Bendre) who is studying at BHU (Banaras Hindu University).
When Pallavi takes holy dip in Ganges her pearl pendant floats off and adorns the neck of a guy who is also taking holy dip. According to the mother of Pallavi, if somebody leaves something that is dear to them in the Ganges at Varanasi, his or her wishes would come true. But Pallavi does not know that the pendant reached a person called Shankar Narayan.
Shankar Narayan (Chiranjeevi) works as a taxi driver to make his living. He (removed also here) has a trusted lieutenant Valmiki (Tanikella Bharani) and a loyal assistant Giri (Sivaji). Shankar Narayan is very fond of his nephew and niece.
On seeing Shankar Narayan when he visits BHU where his niece Nandini is studying, Pallavi realizes that her pendant is adorned on Shankar Narayan's neck. Nandini and Pallavi are friends. Pallavi falls in love with Shankar Narayan, as she believes that as a 'Shivudi Aagna' (Command of Lord Shiva). She acts as a pilgrim and manages to reach Shankar Narayan's house as guest. She stays there as an orphan. The Governor is worried that his daughter is missing from University. He contacts the local mafia people and summons them to search her daughter. They report to him that she is staying in the house of a taxi driver named Shankar Narayan and she is in love with him. Then Governor uses his mafia links to abduct the family members of Shankar Narayan and transports them in a train. Shankar Narayan gets hold of a helicopter (owned by a Muslim friend Khan - played by Punit Issar) and chases the train to get back his family members.
The irritated Governor lands up at the house of Shankar Narayan with a fleet of cars carrying armed men. When he spots Shankar Narayan, he is very much surprised. He salutes Shankar Narayan and asks him about how and why is he in Varanasi. When Pallavi says that she is in love with Shankar Narayan, the Governor requests Shankar to marry Pallavi. But Shankar Narayan says that he is a responsible guy and he will have to wait till his niece Nandini is married. Then his loyal assistant Giri informs that he is in love with Nandini and Nandini also likes him.
Nandini's marriage with Giri is fixed. When Giri is about to tie the nuptial knot, a fleet of cars enter the compound with a group of villains and a beautiful girl gets down from a Mercedes. That beautiful lady comes to the podium and asks Giri to come out by calling him as Veera Reddy. The black sheep Veera Reddy under the guise of Giri comes out and joins the villain gang. Then the lady tells the crowd that Shankar Narayan is Indra Sena Reddy. And she challenges Shankar Narayan to come back to Rayala Seema.
<interval>
When asked by the crowds to tell the flashback, Valmiki starts telling the flashback.
<begin flashback>
Indra Sena Reddy is the peace-loving youngster who performs Yagnam for the rains in Rayalaseema. When he is about to complete the last day of Yagnam, the just-release Veera Kesava Reddy comes to the spot to foil Jala Yagnam. Indra kills him. As soon as he dies the clouds start becoming darker and it drizzles.
Veera Kesava Reddy has got five sons and a daughter. The elder one Veera Shankar Reddy (Mukesh Rushi) heads the five brothers. When Indra Sena Reddy rescues Veera Shankar Reddy's son from a road accident - Veera Shankar Reddy treats it as a humiliation and kills his 6-year-old son. In the mean time, her sister Sneha Latha Reddy (Arti Agrawal) arrives from states after completing graduation. She falls in love with Indra for his goodhearted deeds.
Indra realizes that Rayalaseema needs a reservoir to store the water from rains. But Veera Shankara Reddy and his brothers own the place suitable for building reservoir.
Indra convinces the collector Chenna Kesava Reddy (who later became the Governor of UP) that he would make the settlement for the land if he arranges a meet with Veera Shankara Reddy brothers. In the meeting the brothers of Veera Shankara Reddy ask to surrender all the land and houses to them and leave the Rayalaseema in exchange to their land for reservoir. As the final wish, Sneha Latha Reddy asks Indra to marry her. Indra accepts all their demands and says that he would give property immediately, then marry Sneha Latha Reddy and leave Rayala Seema only after completing the reservoir project.
You have to wait and see what exactly happens in the flashback and what follows next on the giant screen with DTS effect to get the maximum viewing pleasure.
Artists:
Chiranjeevi: Chiranjeevi is known as the greatest dancer of Telugu cinema and his dances have not been so exhilarating in his recent releases. But with Indra, Chiranjeevi is back on the track as the dancing sensation. His facial expressions and agile body movements to accentuate the exciting tunes of Mani and RP are amazing. Chiranjeevi is also known as the mass hero of Telugu cinema. But, the mass angle was amiss in the latest films. In Indra, Chiranjeevi dished out a visual treat with ferocious fights and breathtaking stunts. Chiranjeevi is probably one of those very few stars of Telugu cinema, who can excel in any aspect of acting, be it stunts, dances, emoting or comedy. He has entertained the audience with sensible and clean comedy in Indra. We have not seen Chiranjeevi utter ferocious dialogues and make the villain cringe in fear in a way the frontbencher jumps with joy. Indra is one film where he delivers powerful and reverberating dialogues with élan. To comprehend Chiranjeevi's performance, one might be at loss of words. He is simply the best and Indra once again echoes that fact.
Sonali Bendre: The lissome lass Sonali has the entire first half to dazzle. She has two songs to shake legs with the Megastar. She suited the role to tee and did her bit to perfection.
Arti Agrawal: Aarti has a meaty role as a stubborn individual. She is the perfect cast. She leaves her fans asking for more as she has just two songs. Thankfully, her dubbing is not done by Savitha, which gave some freshness and authenticity to her role of 'Seema Ammai'.
Other Cast: Brahmanandam, MS Narayana and Dharmavarapu Subramanyam gave very good entertainment in the first half as the crooks who cheat the pilgrims at Varanasi. Brahmanandam is simply superb. SP Balu acted as singer SP Balu. Prakash Raj is redundant with his action. Sunil performed well in his cameo role. Tanikella Bharani is also given a good role.
Technical Departments:
Story: The story of the film is based on a very good commercial point that is time tested one. Bad man trying to sabotage the good man and the good man retaliates with his kindness and when betrayed uses bloodshed and finally delivers a message that violence is bad and adheres to peace. But the only novel point in this storyline is taking water problem in Rayalaseema as the base point against the faction backdrop. Chinni Krishna has delivered the goods well.
Screenplay - Direction:This film is a B Gopal trademark film. He knows the emotions of the masses and catches the pulse accordingly. He is known for canning good action sequences and narrating flashbacks in style. He proved himself as the undisputed king at making mass films. The screenplay of the film is very tight and there is never a dull moment. We observe that B Gopal has been on back foot in the first halves of his earlier films, though he has given fine finishing in the end. But in Indra, he excelled in providing an extraordinary first half too. Indra would be a perfect birthday gift to him.(He is born on 24th of July).
Dialogues: Paruchuri brothers did a fine job in dialogue department by writing apt dialogues. They did not go overboard in ferocity section of dialogues. The best dialogues of the film come in the lead scene to climax where Chiranjeevi comes to the house of villain and dare him. There are political oriented dialogues as well for Chiru.
Choreography: Lawrance has done a fantastic job along with Raju Sundaram for this film.
Songs: Mani Sharma and RP did wonderful job for songs. The background music is also very impressive. Here is the song sequence in the film
1. Bham Bham Bhole: This lengthy song appears short on screen as it engrosses us more into it. Chiranjeevi has done slow classical steps choreographed by Lawrance. This song is shot in Varanasi backdrop. The steps done by Chiranjeevi with red dress are amazing. (Song rating 4.5/5)
2. Radhe Govinda: This song is on Chiranjeevi and Sonali Bendre, that is picturized on sets with five color themes (red, blue, green, white and yellow) and cool steps by Chiranjeevi and Sonali Bendre. There is one reference to jada in this song. And Raju Sundaram made sure that he plays around with that word and choreographed accordingly. During that word in the song, Chiru runs his fingers down on Sonali's bare back and is surprised by not seeing a jada. (Song rating 4/5)
3. Dayi Dayi Damma: This song is picturized on Chiru and Sonali in picturesque locales in Switzerland. The steps in which Chiranjeevi mocks the Veena-play is instant hit with the theater crowds. Lawrence strikes again with this song. (Song rating 4.5/5)
4. Ghallu Ghallu: This song suits the mood and pace of the film and immerses audience into the theme of the film. A nice situational song beautifully choreographed by Raju Sundaram. This song has similarities to the rain song in Hindi film Lagaan (Song rating 4.5/5)
5. Ayyo Ayyo: Chiranjeevi and Arti Agrawal danced to this song in gay abandon in Switzerland. This song is choreographed again by Lawrence and there are amazing slow and fast steps that show Chiru teasing Arti Agrawal. (Song rating 4.5/5)
6. Ammadu Appachi: This song is pictured on sets erected by Ashok. This song has total mass dances by Chiru and Arti. (Song rating 4/5)
In addition to the six songs, there is one bit song where Chiru sings in classical style in front of SP Balu, when his niece exhibits stage fear to start the song.
Photography: The photography of VSR Swamy is just normal. He did not use lighting properly in the film and you can see different light shades for different shots of same scene. He should have taken care of it. The picturization of train chase with helicopter and canning of songs is pretty good.
Production: Aswini Dutt stated in an interview with idlebrain.com that Indra would become the biggest hit produced by Vyjayanti Movies. He stuck to his word and delivered a gem of a film. It's a perfect offing from a production house that is in business for the past 25 years. Indra indeed is Aswini Dutt's way of celebrating his existence and excellence in the industry.
Negative points in the film:
1. Inconsistency in Chiranjeevi's makeup. 2. Hero kills the goons left, right and center and gives a message at end that everybody in Rayalaseema should drop violence and love peace. 3. Inconsistency in the light schemes.
Good Scenes:
1. The comedy episodes involving Brahmanandam and Co trying to dupe the pilgrim AVS. 2. The comedy scene between Chiru and Sonali, where Chiru tries to get hold of his pearl pendant from the sleeping Sonali. 3. All scenes involving Khan and the scene in which Chiru says 'Khuda hafeez' to Khan 4. Helicopter chasing the train and the scene in which Chiru (with a great expression in his eyes) bashes the guy, who slapped his niece. 5. The interval scene where Arti challenges Chiru. 6. The scene where Chiranjeevi comes back to villain's house with the dead kid on his shoulders and then buries the kid in the compound of villain and plants a Thulasi Mokka on it. 7. The scene in which Chiranjeevi gives everything away to villains for the sake of reservoir. 8. The lead scene to climax in which Chiranjeevi challenges the villain in a ferocious style. 9. The scene in which Arti realises her mistake and goes back to Chiranjeevi's place and the wives of villains supporting that move. 10. The end scene in which Chiranjeevi is left with two nagging girlfriends (Sonali and Arti) to chose one from
Analysis: First half is a perfect blend of mass and class elements. It's extraordinary. The interval scene gives the right finishing touch to the first half. The second half has typical B Gopal Kind of action sequences. But, at the same time the saint-like attitude and revenge seeking vigor is judiciously mixed for Indra Sena Reddy character. Second half of the film is excellent. This film is an 18 reel film, which leaves you in theater for about 2 hours and 50 minutes. But you would enjoy every moment of it. Another best thing about this film is that Chiranjeevi is shown as a 30+ guy, which adds some authenticity for the hero characterization. You can go to this film with full expectations and still you get what you want. This film is a super hit for sure. But what needed to be seen is if this film becomes industry's number one or not. Only future will tell!!
Amar (Shahrukh Khan) is on a terrorist interview assignment for All-India Radio somewhere in a northern territory, where he keeps bumping into Meghna (Manisha Koirala), which she says is not even her real name. Despite repeated attempts to get close to Meghna, all Amar really finds himself in is trouble, and after being ditched by Meghna, Amar quickly returns to his family in Delhi, to be engaged to the frank and outspoken Preity (Preity Zinta). The audience then learns that Meghna is a terrorist. Manisha's character waxes and wanes between acting human and acting for her terrorist cause, but with no real pattern or logic to her actions. One minute she will feel guilty about using Shahrukh in order that she may be incognito in Delhi, while the next minute she doesn't bat an eyelid when he's arrested or in danger. Her breakdown scenes seem extremely forced into the script, and the only reason why these scenes prove even somewhat effective is because Manisha is and remains a phenomenal actress. The sequence where she tries to cry but the tears won't come out is mind-blowing, and no other actress could have portrayed this scene as well. Her action at the very end (one that supposedly proves her love for him) seems to come out of the blue. One moment Meghna is telling her group leader how confident she feels about their terrorist plan, and the next moment she gives up the whole terrorist thing by making her final "act of love" to be with Amar. Shahrukh's character talks forever about how much he loves Manisha, but his "love" really has no reason to be anything more than infatuation and intrigue. Not once do you have reason to suspect otherwise. Again, Shahrukh does the best one can do with his role, but the redundancy and ignorant nature of the part work against him. The chase sequence towards the end shows a new, diversely intense side to Mr. Khan's acting. Preity Zinta, too, acts really well for a new-comer, and gives an excellent performance. One may say that she even resembles the late actress, Divya Bharti. She is one of those new-comers who not only has the looks, but talent too. It seems to be that the only reason why this film should be a hit is due to the formidable acting of Shahrukh Khan and Manisha Koirala. One very sadly has to face disappointment, as this is not what can be expected from a director like Mani Ratnam, who has given hit films like Bombay.
The combination of RB Choudary, Bhimaneni Srinivasa Rao and Pawan Kalyan once again proved a hit with 'Annavaram'. After receiving two or three blows, Pawan Kalyan regains his strength and resurrected once again like a thunder. As was said by the producer in some interviews, the first half was completely devoted to family drama and sentiment, while second half has complete mass elements. Though it is said that Anna (Brother) Varam (Boon), it is not a boon to the sister but his nephew by his uncle. The film is already proved success in Tamil as 'Tirupachi'. Its remake 'Annavaram' also proved a big hit.
Annavaram (Pawan Kalyan) is a village guy and he loves his sister Vara Lakshmi @ Varam (Sandhya) very much. He wants to get his sister married to a boy in a city, who has all facilities and she should be happy. To suit his taste, she gets married to a boy (Siva Balaji), who runs a canteen in a college in Hyderabad.
After their marriage Annavaram comes to the city to leave his Varam and finds that the city is full of goons. He fears threat to his sister, but could not do anything and returns. After a few days, Varam turns pregnant and she and her husband get a threat from one Gutkha Pandu. Later, Annavaram's close friend Narasimha (Venumadhav) gets Visa for Dubai and to see him off Annavaram comes to Hyderabad.
Both of them, along with Varam and her husband go to Golconda, where Narasimha gets killed by Puranapool Ganga (Lal). Varam and her husband reach village to take part in the funeral of Narasimha. Annavaram forces Varam and her husband to stay back in the village till delivery. But he moves out of the village claiming that he got a job. He straight reaches Hyderabad and starts eliminating the goons one after the other.
In the process, he gets the help of one of his friends who was a police officer called Sairam (Brahmaji), who loses his son because of Tappas Balu (Asish Vidyardhi). Annavaram changes his name as Pothu Raju and kills Tappas Balu, Gutkha Pandu, and finally Ganga. By the time Varam returns to her place the city turns clean sans any goon.
Pawan Kalyan gave the best of his performance once again. He regained all his previous mannerisms, good comedy timing and ease in action scenes and dances. Especially it looked he turned a clay in the hands of the director and moulded in the shape the director gave and that has become a major plus point for the film. Asin looked glamorous and little chirpy.
Sandhya performed excellently in sentiment scenes and Sivabalaji did justice to his role. For the first time, Nagababu and Pawan Kalyan worked together in this film. Though there are several comedians in the film they had nothing much to do to give comedy.
Songs are yet another highlight in the film. Ramana Gogula's tunes are melodious and they were choreographed in a very efficient manner. Even the action episodes were also done excellently and their timing is impeccable. Moreover, they don't look cinematic and was perfectly moulded in the screenplay to give a natural look.
Camera work is also good and the use of graphics are worth watching. Raghubabu played the sidekick of the villain and his dialogues are quite hilarious. As a whole, the film is Megaa Super Good, true to the banner's name.
Director Puri Jagannath has become an all-time favourite for everyone with Pokiri of Maheshbabu rewriting the Box Office records of 75-year-old Telugu film industry. Chiranjeevi had assigned the job of introducing his son to the Telugu film industry to Puri Jagannath and Vyjayanti Movies, the banner which is almost like a home production after Gita Arts of Allu Aravind for Mega Star's family took the responsibility to introduce him to the Telugu film industry. Aswanidutt really spent money like water for the film as a major part of the film was shot in Bangkok. Director Puri Jagannath chose a different route to introduce Ram Charan as hero. In fact, the current generation youth don't know the kind of fights with which Chiranjeevi has become popular, with karate stills and kung-fu fights. It would definitely appear novel for the youth and of course, for those who had already tasted Chiranjeevi films, they are well-known. At the same time, Puri took precautions in choreographing the songs in a most modern way.
Charan (Ram Charan) is the son of an auto driver, who gets killed by Mattanna (Asish Vidyarthi) for getting him arrested by police in a murder case. Charan's mother also gets stabbed in the incident. In order to save his mother's life, Charan agrees to go to jail for a murder which he did not do. However, after his return, Charan comes to know that his mother died. Meanwhile, Charan comes across Sanjana (Neha Sharma), the daughter of a millionaire Kartikeya (Prakashraj). Later, Charan gets a job in Bangkok as a travel guide. Accidentally, Sanjana visits Bangkok to spend vacation with her friends. In Bangkok, Charan finds that Sanjana is quite headstrong and always tries to behave like a rich girl and never treats others as fellow human beings. In Bangkok, there is a bad guy called Bittu, who tries to tease Sanjana and Charan teaches him a lesson. When all the other girls were away and Sanjana and Charan were alone, Bittu attacks them. In a bid to escape from his clutches, Sanjana and Charan gets caught in an island. There both of them understand each other well and Sanjana realises her folly and falls in love with Charan. There Charan reveals that he came to Bangkok not exclusively for a job but in search of Mattanna, who killed his father in a bid to take revenge. Learning that Sanjana was missing, Kartikeya reaches Bangkok and launches a search and finds her only to learn that she was in love with Charan. In a bid to get back his daughter, Kartikeya tells him that he would get back his mother if he is ready to leave his daughter. Charan who loves his mother most agrees to the proposal. At the time of exchange, Mattanna's men attack them and injure Kartikeya and kidnap Sanjana. In a fit of emotion, Kartikeya tells Charan to go and save his wife. Incidentally, Bittu is none other than the son of Mattanna and Charan takes his revenge and kills both of them. The story ends on a happy note.
PLUS: Ram Charan, though a debutant put up an excellent performance and those who watch his performance can't expect that this is his first film. He showed very good ease in dances and fights. Especially his movements in dance sequences were very fast and it would not be exaggerating that the choreographers failed to compose dance movements which are critical as he shook his legs with extreme ease. Next comes, the performance of Prakashraj. As usual, he dominated all the other artistes. Though his character appears negative in the beginning, it takes a good twist as a character artiste and as a loving father. Neha Sharma filled the glamour slot well and the dialogue modulation was a little different. The audiences who were hitherto got bored with the voice of Sunita, had a different voice, with a different Telugu in an American slang. The choreography of dances, action scenes were superb and it appeared everyone worked very hard to please not just Ram Charan but Chiranjeevi and the Mega Star, Power Star and Stylish Star fans. Shyam K Naidu gave the best in capturing the beautiful locations of Bangkok city and also the vast sand stretches and beach of Bangkok. Music by Manisharma is another highlight of the movie.
MINUS: Though the film has all the qualities that could attract the youth, mass audiences in general and the fans in particular, the kind of feel that Puri's films will have is missing. Especially the love thread is not of Puri's genre. The scenes in which the hero and heroine get stuck in an isolated island would have been cut to a major extent and made it crisper. Audiences could also find some difference in the Puri's style of screenplay. The relation between Asish Vidyarthi and his son Bittu in Bangkok was also not properly established. Venumadhav's role was made drastically limited.
REMARKS: Ali's character in a 'Mada' kind of role is unwarranted. The comedy track with Brahmanandam, Dharmavarapu, MS Narayana and others is just okay. As a whole the first of the film is quite youthful, while the second half is full of revenge drama. The climax fight is worth watching and reminds of old Chiranjeevi films.
Story: Satya (Nagarjuna) is from Kadapa. He reaches Hyderabad city and as soon as he enters the city outskirts, he saves GK (Dev Gil) from goons. Impressed with the style of bashing the goons, GK asks Satya to work with him. Satya comes to know from GK about Peddanna (Pradeep Rawat). Satya starts eliminating Peddanna's loyalists and succeeds in killing two of them. Satya meets Sirisha (Anushka) at GK’s house and she falls in love. At this juncture, Ashta Lakshmi (Priyamani) enters the scene, with her father, mother and younger brother. They ask Satya to give them shelter. What happens next should be seen on-screen.
Performance: Nagarjuna has excelled in a mass role. Apparently, he has worked very hard as he is in dire need of a success with a volley of two or three flops/average flicks. He looks very handsome and looked like a macho man in action scenes. Brahmanandam has got a very good and lengthy role in this film and both Nag and Brahmi has delivered good comedy in the film. Anushka and Priyamani has competed with each other in exposing and Priyamani has gone a little overboard. Tanikella Bharani is brief, while Dev Gill does a spineless character. Pradeep Rawat is okay as main villain. Satya Prakash has been wasted. Venniradai Nirmala and Lata have done justice to their roles, while Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Sana, and Master Bharat has helped in tickling the funny bones of audiences. Charmme has done an item song and shown her oomph in the first song.
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Technical: Cinematography by Sarvesh Murari is excellent in the film. He has done wonders with the camera by showing Nagarjuna as a handsome figure. The camera angles, lighting in songs are extraordinary and made the songs a visual feast to the audiences.. Action scenes were also choreographed in a stylish manner and the camera work in it is worth mentioning. Tunes by Thaman S are peppy and foot-tapping and lyrics by Ramajogaiah Sastry has added flavour to the music. All the songs were choreographed well and it is a visual feast for mass audiences. Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh is also okay. Story, dialogues and screenplay by Veeru Potla are superb.
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Analysis: The film has all kinds of elements that could attract all classes of audiences and is like a full meals for the hungry Telugu audience. The movie has all the ingredients like action, romance, sentiment. Don't miss the movie.
Cast: Nagarjuna, Anushka, Priyamani, Dev Gil, Pradeep Rawat, Satya Prakash, Brahmanandam, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Supreet, Tanikella Bharani, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Venniradai Nirmala, Sana, Lata, Master Bharat, and others. Credits: Lyrics – Ramajogaiah Sastry, Music – Thaman S, Choreography – Sobhi, Raju Sundaram, Cinematography – Sarvesh Murari, Editing – Marthand K Venkatesh, Action – Vijay, Producer – D Sivaprasad Rao, Story, dialogues, screenplay and direction – Veeru Potla. Banner: Sri Kamakshi Enterprises Released on: December 24, 2010
Story : Thammudu is action romance based movie in which, Janaki and Subhash are neighbors, who are friends from childhood. They move around very closely. Subhash is a freak-out guy and Janaki cares for him a lot. Chakri is Subhash elder brother, who is very responsible and on the way to fulfill his father’s dream of becoming a kickboxing champion.
There is an age long rivalry between Model School and Govt. School in that town. Chakri, Subhash and Janaki belong to Govt. School. Rich and spoilt teenage boppers dominate the Model School. Bhupender is the gang leader of Model school and is hunted by Modern gals.
Subhash father settles the match for Chakri with Chakri’s longtime flame. As Chakri was going to get his brother home for his engagement, he was beaten up by Bhupendar and other model school guys. Chakri is so badly injured that he needs the bed rest for 3 months. In this process his father’s irritation towards Subhash multiplies.
Subhash approaches the guru of chakri to learn the art of kickboxing rest of the story is about how Subhash fullfil his father's goal
I had great expectationsfrom Rangeela, A.R. Rehman's first Hindi movie, Urimilla's first movie with a large role, and Aamir Khan's first movie since Aatank Hi Aatank (which was a flop). I don't know how much you awaited this movie, but it was on par for my expectations. Comapred to the recent movies that have been released (like Saajan Ki Bahoon Mein, Aatank Hi Aatank, Gundaraj, Veer, Ahankaar, Love in Jungle, Oh Darling Yeh Hai India, Sanam Harjai, Guddu, Hulchul, etc...) this movie ranks at the top of the list.
Mili (Urmilla) is a middle-class young woman that wishes to be an actress. She dances with the group of Saroj Khan's dancers but hasn't gotten a break yet. Muna (Aamir Khan) is an orphan that has a close relationship with her family and her. One day Muna arrives at the set of one of Mili's movies, and realizes that he loves her. Of course, Muna has the "normal troubles" to tell Mili that he loves her. One day, while at the beach, Mili starts dancing, and the famous actor comes and sees her. This famous actor is Rajkamal (Jackie Shroff) and he forces the director to sign her for his next movie "Rangeela". During the shooting of "Rangeela" she is roaming with Rajkamal but Muna feels "dissed", as he feels that Mili has become a big movie star and is right for her to marry Rajkamal. When the movie is compelted, Muna doesn't arrive at Mili's primere show and writes her a note that he is leaving the town and doesn't want to get in between Mili and Rajkamal's relationship. But Mili didn't think that she and Rajkamal had a relationship, she actually loved Muna. Meanwhile, Rajkamal fell in love with Mili, but as in most movies with Jakie Shroff as a supporting actor, he doesn't get the girl. So Mili and Rajkamal run out of the primere and get Muna. Today, Mili and Muna live happily every after in "movie land".
Aamir Khan again proves the talent that he has as an actor; Jackie Shroff has a very insignificant role, but he does a wonderful job in it. Urmilla is excellent in a very different role ("a cat role") than her previous movies. There is a share of comedy in the movie and (good news for the family) there is minimal violence (but no blood shed)! The first six songs are excellent, the last two get boring. The best are Rangeela Re, Tanha Tanha, and Kya Kare Kya Na Kare. They also have excellent choreography, except for two numbers (Pyar Yeh Jaane Kaisa and Hai Rama) which get too repetetive. Cinemetography is outstanding and attention is paid to coloring. Direction is first class.
Ranam is a action and love Based Movie Directed by Amma Rajashekar.Maheswari (Kamna Jetmalani) is sister of Bhagawati (Biju Pataik), a mafia don in Hyderabad. Chinna (Gopichand), classmate of Maheshwari, inadvertently enters into a row with the gang members of Bhagavati, do falls in love with Maheswari. The rest of the story is all about the how Chinna resorts to a mind game on Bhagavati to win his sister.
Release Date: 22 Aug 1986 Genre: Action - Comedy Language: Telugu Certification: U
Director: Jandhyala
Producer: Bheemavarapu Buchi Reddy
Music Director: Chakravarthy
Chantabbai is action comedy based movie in which, Panduranga Rao (Chiranjeevi) who likes to be known as 'James Pond' is a bumbling private detective working for a Private Detective Agency. Bowled over by her innocence and good nature, Pandu falls in love with Jwala (Suhasini Mani Ratnam) who works as a telephone device cleaner for various businesses. Oneday Jwala is accused of murdering a businessman for diamonds and arrested, Pandu gets her out on bail and eventually finds out that his own boss (Raavi Kondala Rao) was the murderer and sends him to jail. Impressed by this, Jwala's friend, Dr. Nischala (Mucherla Aruna) requests Pandu to investigate and bring back her long last brother who was born out of wedlock to her father (Kongara Jaggayya). After some investigation Pandu introduces a young man (Chandramohan) as Chantabbai- the lost son. But another young man (Sudhakar) shows up as Chantabbai. The rest of the story is all about how Pandu solves the case and finds the real Chantabbai.
Dubai Seenu movie is a dubbed version of Telugu movie. Seenu (Raviteja) sets to go to Dubai but was cheated by a conman and lands in Mumbai instead. He sells pav bhaji for a living on the streets of Mumbai, unable to return to his native place.Madhumathi (Nayanatara), a radio jockey in Hyderabad comes to Mumbai in search of her brother.
Seenu instantly falls in love with her and even expresses it expecting a reply from her. Madhu tells him to come to the railway station on the day she was leaving to Hyderabad for an answer. An excited Seenu is about to go the station and suddenly he finds his close buddy murdered by a terrorist Jinnah Bhai (Sushant Singh). Seenu seeking revenge comes to Hyderabad in search of Jinnah. He has also another mission to meet his love interest Madhumathi.
The rest of the story is about how the hero fulfilled both his missions.
Andhrudu is a Love and Action Based Movie Directed By Paruchuri Murali.Surendra (T. Gopichand) is an honest and hot-blooded cop. Archana (Gowri Pandit) is the daughter of police commissioner. They meet accidentally and their relationship blossoms into love. Archana's father is of Bihar origin. Parents settle the match of Surendra and Archana. When they are about to get engaged, Surendra expresses his reservations due to Archana overhearing her father's conversation with his long estranged sister on the subject of Archana and Sinha marrying. Surendra takes the blame for the destroyed relationship and Archana goes back to Bihar to wed her cousin Sinha (Salim Baig). The rest of the story is all about how Surendra goes to Bihar and wins Archana back.
Nagavalli is a remake of kannada blockbuster movie "Aptharakshaka" and it is a thriller based movie, In which, Venkatesh playing a role of psychiatrist doctor.
The story is a playoff between a psychiatrist and a Goodman who try to unravel the mystery of a long dead dancer's effects on living souls.
Kalyana Ramudu (Venu) is a wedding planner, whose functions include erecting kalyana mandapam, decorating the marriage house, arranging musicians and cooking. During one such wedding function, the marriage is called off since the bridegroom elopes with a girl whom he is love with. Incidentally the bride is a dumb girl. Hence none of the relatives of that girl come forward to marry her. Kalyana Ramudu jumps into the scene and does the crisis management by asking his doctor brother (Raja Ravindra) to tie knot. Kalyana Ramudu falls in love with bride's sister Kalyani (Nikita). She also loves him but pretends herself to be in love with Rajesh, a pop singer who is also her uncle's son. Later on Rajesh reveals to Kalyana Ramudu that Kalyani is in love with Kalyana Ramudu.
When everything is going alright, the sister of Kalyani dies. Later an astrologer says to Kalyani's father that there is a curse of God on the vamsam of Kalyana Ramudu and all the women in their dynasty dies at an young age. After listening to this, Kalyani's father refuses to marry off his daughter to Kalyana Ramudu. Rest of the story is all about how all ends well!
