INTRO:

Peoples Star R.Narayana Murthy’s Poru Telangana telugu movie is about struggle and protests of Telangana people for separate Statehood. In fact it is a tribute to all those who sacrificed their lives for separate statehood of Telangana. Poru Telangana is a compilation of incidents happened in recent times. Poru Telangana talks about need for separate Telangana State and it also depicts you reasons for the current and past movements for Telangana and how people of Telangana are tightly associated with the movement.

ON SCREEN:

Poru Telangana starts with narration of protagonist Jitender Reddy (Narayana Murthy) about Telangana and Telangana struggle to a group of students. Jitender Reddy enlightens student group by saying, telangana movement is not for Jobs, and it is a movement blown out from struggle for existence. Movie talks about suicides of Handloom workers in Siricilla and Pochampally, Fluoride water victims of Nalgonda, Open Cast mines in Singareni Area, and draught in Mahaboobnagar area and also about 14F clause of 6th zone. It has episodes of all the people who sacrificed their life for formation state of Telangana, includes Srikantha Chary, Yadayya, Suman, Venu Gopal Reddy and Police Constable Krishnayya etc. It also shows you political games surrounded the cause in Telangana and Seemandhra region.

Poru Telangana Movie Review

All the actors, most of them are new faces except Narayana Murthy and Kota Shankar Rao did justice to their roles. Music and background scores are highlights and saving grace for Poru Telangana. Songs like Rajigo Ori Rajigo, Ayyonivo nuvvu Avvonivo gets your attention and are assets for this marquee.

OFF SCREEN:

Narayana Murthy has toned multiple roles, apart from being a protagonist; he is the director, music director and writer for this movie and did justice to all the departments. Cinematography could have been better and dubbing is not proper in few scenes. Budget limitations are clearly shown in production values of this movie.

FINAL TOUCH:

Poru Telangana Movie Review

Poru Telangana is sincere and bold attempt by Narayana Murthy, he wins and owns it. Though not a regular movie, Poru Telangana is must watch, tells you to fight not to sacrifice. Few speeches given by protagonist during end card of the movie are thought provoking and finally it is a gift given by Narayana Murthy to the people of Telangana who are fighting for separate statehood and the time has come to accept it.

Behind the Movie Vachchadu Gelichadu: Super hit run of Rangam has made Tamil hero Jiiva, an instant hero in Tollywood. Joining him is heroine Tapsee and director Kannan raising the expectations. Let us see, how far Jiiva has won the game this time?

In the Movie Vachchadu Gelichadu: Jeeva (Jiiva) is a professional boxer and step brother to Ramana (Nanda). They are sons of same mother but different fathers. As Ramana did not like his family, he runs away Mumbai to become a Don. Jeeva falls in love with local architect Anajana (Tapsee). Her father is killed in an encounter in the hands of Ramana.

Values of the Movie Vachchadu Gelichadu: Core intention of director Kannan was to entertain audience with a perfect blend of Romance and Action. In difference his feeble script and dingy narration tests the patience in many occasions. Muthiahs cinematography captured the locational beauty in songs while editing by Vijayan surely could have been better. Music by Thaman SS was good in songs and in background it is just mediocre. Production values of Venu Gopal are high.

Performance wise Jiiva is a charmer. He has that cool looks in romance and even in knacky action scenes, he has done a decent job. Tapsee looks glamorous as usual. Performance wise she looks to still dry down. Nanda is one of the best picks in movie. He has wonderful screen presence and is delight to watch in aggression episodes taking on Jiiva. Comedy by Santhanam is just okay. Remaining others, it is hard to remind.

Out of the Movie Vachchadu Gelichadu: For all those audience, who enter theatre with high expectations of Rangam will come to realize that its not the same show here. Kannan has deliberately killed the pace in movie. He used consistent twists in main story as a weapon to keep the audience engaged but that did not work out.

Krishnudu and Rithika team up for this soft romantic entertainer that has been directed by Ramvenki. The movie has released all over the state today and let us see how the movie fares.

What it is about: Krishna Sastry (Krishnudu) is a devout and good natured priest.He is well versed in all Hindu ceremonies as well as practices. His father Omkara Shastri (M.S.Narayana) wants to marry him off with his cousin Ambujakshi (Geeta Singh). Krishna Sastry is not interested as he falls in love with Neelima( Rithika).

Krishna Sastry tries to woo Neelima with the help of his ultra chic brother Vedam (master Bharath). Neelima and Krishna soon become thick friends. Krishna’s friend Class (Venu), who runs a death bureau, also helps him in his endeavour.

Krishna expresses his love for Neelima but she has a troubled past however and that prevents her from responding to Krishna’s love. Meanwhile, she is hounded by a guy called Suresh, who hires professional killer Ice Raj (Ali) to kill Krishna.

What is Neelima’s troubled past? Why does Suresh hound her? and Will Krishna succeed in his love.

What is good : The movie has some genuinely humorous moments. The comedy quotient is especially good in the second half between Krishnudu, Venu and gang. The second half is where the movie genuinely comes alive.

Krishnudu puts in another good performance as a vulnerable and sensitive obese guy. He looks cute. His innocent expressions will amuse a lot of people.

Rithika is a surprise. She turns in a pretty solid performance for a new comer and she looks lovely on screen. She oozes glamour and there is a lot of promise in this actress. If she can work a bit more on her expressions, she will do well as a heroine.

Venu, Master Bharath, M.S.Narayana,Ali and others do their bit well. The comedy takes care of a lot of the movie’s faults(more on that later).

What is bad: The movie had the chance to be a genuinely wonderful offering but it is all let down by a silly and woeful climax. The movie drags a bit in the first half and is only made bearable by a few nice comedy scenes.

Krishnudu’s movies are becoming stereotypical. The same old ‘sensitive obese guy falling for a beautiful girl’ concept has been rehashed once again. We have already seen that theme in ‘Vinyakudu’ and ‘Village lo Vinayakudu’. The character of Ambujakshi, played by Geeta Singh, is not well defined and is more of a distraction.

Some scenes and characters are very cliched and this spoils the feel of the movie. The director Ramvenki has a knack for comedy and it is best if he sticks to that.

Technical Departments: Direction is good in parts but screenplay is a big let down. This is very apparent in the first half but the good comedy in the second half covers it up to a certain extent.

Music by KM Radhakrishnan is pretty decent and a few songs are genuinely good. There is not much to be done in the choreography department when Krishnudu is the hero.

Cinematography is pretty decent but editing is jerky.

Analysis: The movie has some genuinely good and humorous moments but it is all let down by a silly climax and a slow first half. This movie would have been a very good flick if not for those cliched moments. Krishnudu’s characterization is also getting repetitive and it is getting a little too routine now. Watch it without any expectations and you might just have some fun.

123Telugu.com Rating : 2.75/5

Legend: 5 – Flawless

4 – Must Watch

3 – One Time Watch

2 – Wait for the DVD

1 – Stay Away

Release date: 22 July 2011.

123Telugu.com Rating : 3.5/5

Director : Rohit Shetty

Producer : Reliance Big Pictures

Music Director : Ajay – atul

Starring : Ajay Devgan, Kajal Aggarwal, Prakash Raj, Sana Amin Sheikh, Ashok Saraf, Sonali Kulkarni, Hemu Adhikari, Meghna Vaidya. and others…

Bollywood seems to have been enjoying the resurgence of ‘hero-worshipping’ films. Dabangg began it, Bhudda Hoga Tera Baap rode on it, and now Singham does it again, though this time the loudness is more visible. Inspired from Surya’s Tamil film with the same name, Singham has been localized neatly to suit the tastes of Noth Indian audiences.

What’s it about : Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan) is an extremely honest cop, posted fortunately in his hometown – Shivgad. His intentions are noble, and when required he can be as fearsome as his surname. These qualities floor Kavya (Kajal Aggarwal), a city bred girl visiting Shivgad. In Goa, Jayakanth Shikre (Prakash Raj), an extortionist involved with few criminal cases, gets bail on the condition that he has to go to Shivgad daily to sign. When Shikre tries to use his influence over Singham, the latter gives the former a taste of his honesty, with unasked support from his villagers. Shikre returns, and uses his influence to get Singham transferred to Colva, where Shikre rules the roost. When Singham, with the support of Kavya, takes the issues head on with Shikre, things change. What started as an issue between two strong characters, spirals into a situation which mirrors corrupt system and police ineffeciency, finally leaving it to one man to fight against it.

What is Good : Ajay Devgan, in the title role, renders a terrific performance. He is gifted with a certain fraility in his eyes that makes him extremely believable as family loving man from a village, though he sports a six-pack. Prakash Raj uses his typical mannerisms to play a loud villain, and matches Ajay’s performance. However, both Ajay and Prakash Raj are beaten by the drama that unfolds between them – they both look intense and ready to pounce on each other all the time. While Prakash Raj never gets the chance to do so, Ajay does flex his muscles doing some breathtaking stunts.

Kajal Aggarwal has a limited role, though she strikes some chemistry with Ajay Devgan. Sonali Kulkarni, Sachin Khedkar, Govind Namdeo have interesting roles and they do fair jobs too, mostly thanks to interesting dialogue and a fairly tight screenplay.

What is bad: Singham doesn’t necessarily have huge problems. The main theme oversimplifies corrpution, politics and police dynamics with populist dialogue and it doesn’t get any simpler than this. The movie works more on elevating the hero character often, by hook or croo. The climax seems to have been too haphazard, and too ideal, even by the story’s standards. However, when the masses are cheering for every punch dialogue, laughing for every antic, and whistling for most action sequences, few other things matter.

Technical Departments : For someone who is known for his slapstick series Golmaal, director Rohit Shetty dispells any doubts regarding his ability to handle drama and action with Singham. He manages to get great support from cinematographer Dudley, editor Steven Bernard and a musician Amar Mohile, who keep the momentum up in Singham almost all the time. Their work gets even more noticable during the actions scenes, few of them designed by the director himself! It would have been even more thrilling if the fights were even more believable, having lesser ‘wire-removal’ work. Except for the minor disturbance in the form of two songs, both chartbusters, Yunus Sajawal’s screenplay sticks to the basics of an action-drama movie such as this. The result is a high-octane experience that manages to entertain you.

Bottomline : Singham may have some loud moments, but it has something for everyone, and even more for Ajay Devgan’s fans. Watch it.

		Release date: 25 August 2011
		123Telugu.com Rating : 3/5
		Director : Prabhu Solomon
		Producer : B Subrahmanyam, Y Rupesh
		Music Director : D. Imman
		Starring: Vidhaarth, Amala Paul, Thambi Ramiah

Prabhu Solomon’s Prema Khaidi is a compelling tale of love comprising four characters who end up facing disastrous consequences. Dubbed from a critically acclaimed Tamil film, Mynaa, Prema Khaidi has been mostly shot in the hilly region in Tamil Nadu, Kerala border near Theni and Munnar. Vidharth, Amala Paul, Thambi Ramaiah and Sethu play lead roles in the film.

What’s the story? Soori (Vidharth) and Mynaa (Amala Paul) grow up believing that they would eventually marry each other. However, Mynaa’s mother objects to this alliance since Soori is uneducated and wants her daughter to marry an educated guy who lives in Dubai. Soori attacks Mynaa’s mother over this issue and he gets arrested. All hell breaks loose when the sub-jailor, Bhaskar (Sethu) and a constable Ramaiah (Thambi Ramaiah) find out that Soori has escaped from prison. The rest of the story is about Soori-Mynaa’s unflinching love for each other which results in an extra-ordinary journey.

Prema Khaidi has interesting characterizations where each character is going through a conflict. The film opens in Bhaskar’s (Sethu) house whose wife is preparing to go meet her family for the first time after her wedding on the eve of Deepavali. She’s all the more angry that her husband puts his duty, as a sub-jailor, ahead of his family commitments. Bhaskar (Sethu) and Ramaiah (Thambi Ramaiah) are afraid that they might lose their jobs if Suri, the convict, is not caught within two days. Suri is scared that he might lose Mynaa, the love of his life, forever, if he doesn’t escape from prison and Mynaa desperately wants to be with Suri and she doesn’t approve of her mother’s plans about her marriage. Most part of the drama unfolds over a period of two days and there’s a sense of urgency and desperation in everything these four characters do or say. It’s important to understand this backdrop to appreciate that Prema Khaidi is a well-written drama and a love story, where every action has pleasant and at times unpleasant consequences.

Having said that, the film does bear some uncanny similarities with Ameer Sultan’s stunning film, Paruthiveeran starring Karthi and Priyamani. Right from the rural milieu, where family honour is fiercely protected, to the raw characterization of Suri and Mynaa, who would fight till their last breath to be in each other’s arms, have a sense of déjà vu from films like Paruthiveeran and Subramanyapuram (Ananthapuram 1980). However, Prema Khaidi has enough strength to stand on its own feet. The performances by its lead cast are fantastic and everyone get into the skin of their character. Vidharth personifies the rawness of the terrain where the film is set in and he finds his perfect companion in Amala Paul whose innocence is as pure as the uninhabited hills around Theni and Munnar. Ahh…who can forget her eyes? Calling them beautiful would be an understatement. Thambi Ramaiah delivers a solid performance which is both quirky and in the end becomes the voice of reason every time Bhaskar’s anger goes out of control. Other supporting characters are good in their well-defined roles.

Technical Departments : The film has been shot in rough terrain and Sukumar’s gorgeous cinematography adds charm to this intense love story. D Iman’s music and background score is beautiful and so is the film’s story and screenplay. Prabhu Solomon does a great job in extracting awesome performances from its lead cast and creating memorable characters.

Bottomline : A lot of us might crib about the so called overdose of Tamil nativity in films like these. However, it’s inevitable in stories which are deeply rooted in a local culture unlike urban dramas or love stories. When the gore and blood in Hollywood films is ‘well-received’, how different are films with this so called ‘Tamil nativity’? The gut wrenching climax in Prema Khaidi will definitely come under scanner. But it would be unfair to shun the film because of this reason alone. The climax is totally logical since it’s a result of an unfortunate moment where people’s anger and misunderstanding results in dire consequences. Thumbs up for Prema Khaidi. It has its heart at the right place.

123Telugu.com Rating : 3/5

Legend: 5 – Flawless

4 – Must Watch

3 – One Time Watch

2 – Wait for the DVD

1 – Stay Away

J.D. Chakravarthy, Brahmanandam and Brahmaji team up to revive the iconic ‘Money’ franchise. This movie is titled ‘Money Money More Money’ so let us see if it can bring more laughs than the original cult comedies ‘Money’ and ‘Money Money’.

Story : The movie is a remake of the Hindi film ‘Darwaja Bandh Rakho’, a film directed by J.D. Chakravarthy himself. That Hindi movie itself was a remake of a Korean drama “Attack the gas station”. The story revolves around four unemployed youths (J.D.Chakravarthy, Brahmaji, Kevin Dev and Mukul Dev) who face severe monetary difficulties. After having had enough, they decide to kidnap a rich man’s daughter to make a quick buck.

They choose Maggie(Tara Alisha), the daughter of a rich builder Jagadeesh, and abduct her. They barge into the house of Khan Dada (Brahmanandam), who is a real estate magnate in business difficulties. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the kidnapping goes haywire and the gang is forced to hold out for a while to receive the money.

Trisha the sales girl (Gajala), Sankara Bharanam the pizza guy (Venu Madhav), a police constable (Rajiv Kanakala), financier Shetty (Jeeva) and a few others who make routine visits to Khan Dada’s house are also taken hostage to prevent the news of the kidnap from leaking out. The rest of the story is about how the gang of four kidnappers manage the proceedings and whether they earn the money from Maggie’s dad.

What is good : The movie will draw decent openings because of the lineage it belongs to. The films ‘Money’ and ‘Money Money’ still enjoy considerable following in Andhra Pradesh for their iconic characters and screenplay.Brahmanandam’s Khan Dada is almost a cult figure.

Some flashes of good comedy in between and towards the climax bring much needed relief. J.D. Chakravarthy and Brahmaji turn in a decent performance and Gajala looks good on screen. The short screen romance between Gajala and Brahmaji is nice.Venu Madhav tries extremely hard and manages to bring a few laughs. Kevin Dev’s histrionics are good.

Special appearances by Nagababu, Chakravarthi, Chandra Mohan and Shashank break the monotony and Shashank’s bit before the interval is a nice surprise.

What is bad : This movie has no relation whatsoever either in content or in style to the movies after which it is named. Only the names of the characters Khan Dada and Chakri are taken from the franchise. This is a totally different story.

The storyline is wafer thin and so the onus is on the comedy department to keep the proceedings lively. Sadly, they fail miserably. As I said earlier, there are a few flashes of good comedy, but they are few and far between.

Fans of the Khan Dada character will be hurt big time. This is a very different Khan Dada. Perhaps, J.D. Chakravarthy should have stayed away from naming Brahmanandam’s character that way. It is an insult to the work done by Siva Nageswara Rao and Brahmanandam in 1993 and 1995. Brahmanandam looks silly and is a big let down.

Brahmaji is a master at bringing about laughter with his understated comedy timing and Chakravarthy should have utilized him better.

Tara Alisha’s performance is atrocious and she is a major handicap for the film. Most of the time, there is zero co-ordination between her mouth and the dubbing. Rama Prabha’s attempts at comedy through her broken english sound feeble. Mukul Dev’s expressions are wooden. Asha Sanini aka Mayuri is wasted and so is Jeeva. Tamil comedian Senthil should have stayed away from this silly character.

The less said about the illogical climax, the better it is for all of us.

Technical Departments: Screenplay is a big let down. So are the dialogues. A tighter screenplay and wittier dialogues would have done wonders for this movie. Background score by Chakri is nothing to write home about and scores from earlier Telugu films are used liberally in the narrative. Cinematography keeps wavering from interesting to shoddy throughout the film.

Editing is average and production values are just about ok.

Analysis : J.D. should have stayed away from naming this movie after the ‘Money’ franchise. Neither the characters nor the style of narrative justify this decision. The audience will come in with a lot of expectations because of that name and they will be very disappointed. Perhaps, if the name was different and if the movie was promoted as a regular film, things would not have been so bad.

The movie was a failure in Hindi and it is easy to see why. What should have been a witty and fun movie turns out into buffoonery and is a stale offering. A few scenes in the climax show flashes of genuinely good humour and that hints at what a nice offering this could have been.

If you are going to watch it only because you are a fan of Khan Dada and ‘Money’, be forewarned. You will be disappointed. Watch it only if you have nothing else to do and if you have seen all the other Box Office offerings.

123Telugu.com Rating : 2.5/5

Legend: 5 – Flawless

4 – Must Watch

3 – One Time Watch

2 – Wait for the DVD

1 – Stay Away

Guruvaaram March 1 sayantram 5.40

Banner: SVR Media Pvt Ltd

Cast: Prabu Deva, Tabu, Nithya Menon, pruthvi Raj, Aarya, Genelia

Music: Deepak Dev

Producer: SVR Media Pvt. Ltd.

Direction: Santosh Sivan

INTRO:

Award-winning writer-cinematographer-director Santosh Sivan is back with Urumi after two years of the release of Tahaan (Hindi). A Telugu version of Malayalam flick carrying the same name, it opened to positive critical reviews in Mollywood for some exceptional performances by actors and its technical values. While the ensemble of cast itself speaks in volumes about the show this historical-fantasy puts up, Sivan’s penchant for distinctive subjects and his adept at embellishing the same with artistic touch are a huge draw for the viewers. Here’s Urumi, for you!

PERFORMANCES:

Prithviraj is brilliant as a musician of these days and outstanding as a warrior representing the Vaso da Gama’s era. His flamboyance and flair in performing the two different roles is writ large in his performance, which can be tagged as his best till date. He totally justifies his characters and deserves laurels. Prabhu Deva as the companion of Prithvi in a war does his role with ease.

Genelia is the real show-stealer. She is first-rate in her acting skills and is stupendous in fights, which she carries off naturally and with prowess. In fact, words fall short to describe her. Nithya Menon proves to us time and again what she is up to – an exceptional artiste. She fits into the given role composedly, being a Malayali herself and the costumes added to her beauty. Vidya Balan and Tabu are out of this world.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS:

The cinematography makes us speechless with its fabulous camera work ever seen before in Indian cinema. Brilliantly shot, each frame adds life to the script thus making it look 10 times richer. A sense of pride gushes in my mind and heart as I tend to describe cinematography. The story is completely different and complex as well. Direction is implausible and dialogues are wonderfully written. Music by Deepak Dev is delightful and the background is incredible. Screenplay only is found to be tedious.

PLUS-POINTS:

Cinematography

Production values

Direction

Music

Background score

Picturization of songs

Performances of Genelia, Prithvi Raj & Prabhu Deva

MINUS-POINTS:

Screenplay

Complicated script

More like an art film

Confusing character names

A bit boring narration

ANALYSIS:

The film starts off with explorer Vasco da Gama landing in India. The beginning note is truly different and interesting for the Indian audience. It doesn’t interest regular commercial movie-buffs since it’s more an art film. Even so, having been canned aesthetically, Urumi can be stated as a pride factor for south Indian film industry. Santosh Sivan maintained quality throughout by focusing on minute details of all the 24 crafts, screenplay lacked the punch though. He used his insights by roping in such bright star cast who effortlessly accomplished their responsibility.

It’s true that it has a collection of dull moments as well, but such plots falls under the rarest of the rare category in Indian cinema. The tad slow narration apart, lengthy scenes and confusing names of characters leave a question mark on the face of the viewers, at times. However, marvelous cinematography makes you sit and get abstracted from the outside world. Since it has no commercial elements involved, a regular film-lover might get disappointed but the art-buffs would be treated to a visual extravaganza. Technically it is exceptional and script-wise, it is complicated. But, all the negative remarks can be overlooked for the superior quality the movie offers to us.

VERDICT:

Bejeweled with extraordinary cinematography and production values, Urumi wows the audiences. Nevertheless, slow narration pinches you every now and then. So is the case with confusing plot and names of the characters. The layman seldom has to strain his nerves to comprehend what’s happening on screen. The film also reminds you of Maniratnam’s Raavan in its making Yet, it is one of the unparalleled works I’ve watched in the recent past. It’s just that much faster screenplay and crisp scenes would have added zing to the show. Art-lovers would definitely indulge in the luxury of creativity and visual spectacle.

MY WORD:

Urumi is a visual treat, especially for art-lovers, but might not appeal to Telugu viewers!

Review Urumi:Rating:2.5/5

Mark is a film starring Sabareesh, the son of fight master Vijay, and Real Star Srihari. The movie marks the debut of Sabareesh as a hero and Vijay as director. Let us see how the movie fares.

What its About: The first point to be made is that there is no real story here. It is one big Kaleidoscope of scenes and sequences. But since it is my job to pick up the story, I will narrate it as best as I can. Vittal(Srihari) is a small time village goon who has a habit of picking up orphaned and abandoned kids and nurturing them. Over time, hardened by circumstances and people, they turn into gangsters and local dadas. Mark (Sabareesh) is one of those orphans and he quickly develops into Vittal’s right hand man.

In a series of incidents, Mark falls in love with a girl Divya (Pinky).In the age old method, the heroine ‘influences’ Mark and tries to make him a better man. This leads to clashes between Vittal and Mark and before we can digest this, a bizzare twist happens which directly pits the hero and the Boss Vittal against each other.

What is Good: I cant find one single good point here but if I really have to pick something, I would pick Pinky who looks Ok as long as she doesnt open her mouth.

What is Bad: Everything about the movie right from the first frame to the last reeks of amateurishness and a lack of clarity. It is apparent that there was no proper script. I expected atleast the fights to be decent given fight master Vijay’s impressive resume but even the action sequences are terrible. They would have been out of place even in a film from the 1990′s.

Performances wise, the less said the better. Watching Srihari onscreen makes you wince. It is apparent that the actor is clearly uncomfortable and I will safely bet that Srihari knew about the fate of the film while shooting for it.

Sabareesh is not fit to be a hero. He has neither the good looks nor the raw charm of an action hero. He is an unrefined and unfinished product.

Technical Departments: Cinematography is a joke and it looks as if the guy in charge of the camera was fully drunk in order to escape the nonsense that the camera was capturing.Infact, film school students can watch this film as a class project to see what mistakes to avoid while making a film.

Analysis: The movie is an insult to the intelligence of the audience and I will be shocked if this movie lasts for more than a few days in the state.

Movie : Naa Peru Shiva

Rating: 3/5

Cast: Karthi, Kajal Aggarwal, Jayaprakash, Soori

Director : Suseenthiran

Music : Yuvan Shankar Raja

Cinematography: R. Madhi

Editing : Kasi Viswanathan

Release date: August 05, 2010

Certification : U/A

Story:

Naa Peru Shiva Review

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Release date: 16 July 2011.
123telugu.com Rating : 2.5/5
Director : Nagendra Prasad
Producer : Sukumar Reddy
Music Director : Vijay Kurakula
Starring : Jagapathi babu and others…

Experimental movies are always a welcome relief, not just because they offer something new, but because they show us what is possible in cinema. When such experiments happen in Telugu films, it gets all the more exciting. Key, attempts to be an experiment but it backfires because of its innumerable limitations.

What’s it about : A total of nine candidates gather together in a closed room for what seems to be a special kind of a test. The invigilator (Jagapathi Babu) arrives, tells them that his company intends to choose only one candidate from them based on their answer for his question. He also lays certain conditions to write the answer, which look quite simple from the outside; anyone failing to meet with the conditions will be disqualified. He leaves the people locked in the room, along with a watchman, but leaves out one important thing – he never gives them any question – or so it seems. The nine candidates first have to find the right question in order to give the right answer. Together they team up to find the question, with their analysis and expertise in their subjects. But with the countdown glaring at them and with the conditions seeming too ridiculous, their true characters begin to come out and candidates start getting eliminated. Who wins, and how does the winner find the ‘question’ is the ‘key’ to this story.

What is Good : The very concept of not giving names to any of the characters in the film, and yet managing to make a film of more than 90 minutes is a laudable attempt. The fact that a popular Telugu film actor – Jagapathi Babu agreed to do a short role in this film is appreciable. He portrays the character of the invigilator with lot of seriousness. Out of most of the other actors ‘Sakshi’ Swapna manages to bring honesty to her role and the cinematographer and music director chip in decently in their respective departments. However, poor narrative, inept treatment and bad performances spoil the movie.

What is bad: The basic premise of Key is inspired from El Metodo – an Argentinian-Spanish-Italian –single room thriller-but misses the kind of intensity the latter had. Most European single room thrillers may not always have best finales, but their logic seems untouchable. The writer(s) of Key had the chance to create a claustrophobic environment, look deep into the dark side of people and come up with shocking revelations. Instead what we get is an exhibition of bookish knowledge, a discussion on possibilities, an arguably illogical solution and a moral explanation that is in complete contrast to what the movie preaches. One wonders why, even after having an actor like Jagapathi Babu in their kitty, the filmmakers couldn’t find half-decent actors. Atleast they could have done some justice to their roles. On the whole the movie never seems convincing enough.

Technical Departments : Director Nagendra’s thinking may be different, but he fizzes out on what could have been a great story to narrate. Music director Vijay doesn’t disappoint as much as the director. P.G.Vinda’s decent camera work is spoilt by some half-hearted editing. Because it is a single room thriller, Key has only one set which looks alright. Otherwise technically, there is nothing brilliant in the movie.

Bottomline : Good intentions don’t necessarily mean good actions. Key suffers exactly from it. Watch it only if you are a big patron of experiments happening in Telugu cinema.

Five minutes into the film, it becomes clear that Amayakudu is going to be packed with too many crass jokes on Krishnudu’s weight issues and melodrama about how ‘cute’ the family is. While we have had films which intelligently turned these elements into their advantage, Amayakudu is a film which is both naïve and absurd in its approach as well as filmmaking. The film follows the ups and downs of a fat but innocent guy’s life as he struggles with expressing his love.

What’s the story? Krishnudu stars as Krishna who leads a happy life thanks to his doting parents and a sister. One day he comes across Divya (Ananya) in a temple and falls in love with her. Krishna’s sister and Divya join the same college and they become good friends. She introduces him to Krishna and finds out that Krishna likes her too. When all seems to be going well, tragedy strikes the family and Krishna finds himself in a tricky situation where he has choose between his family and love.

Performances : Krishnudu has been cast in a handful of films as a lead hero and some of them worked because it was probably the first time that a love story was made on a fat guy and a cute girl. But with time, the jokes surrounding his weight have become banal and boring. In Amayakudu, it’s good to see that he has put in some effort in terms of his dances, which were totally unnecessary, but he never evokes the sympathy which should have been the basic purpose of the film. It’s an embarrassing film which he would probably want to forget as soon as possible. Ananya who stars as Divya comes up with a disappointing performance where she hardly makes a mark. Her character faces a unique problem where she faces the danger of ending up as her lover’s sister! Yet there isn’t even an iota of awkwardness in her expressions. Poonam Singhar’s role is brief and except for couple of scenes and songs, she doesn’t add any value to the film. Charan Raj and Rao Ramesh are totally let down by the script.

Technical Deparments : The only silver lining in this film is Manikanth Kadri’s music. Not that the songs are great, but compared to rest of the film his tunes and background score are the only noticeable elements in the film. Cinematography is alright and the film needs some serious editing. Bharati Ganesh, the director of the film, deserves applause for the way he has handled the story and screenplay. Only a man with an IQ of over 200 could have written this story which is a cluster of ill-conceived plots and sub plots. However hard one may try, it’s difficult to envision what exactly the director was thinking when he wrote the script and it’s even more surprising that he was able to convince so many people to be a part of this film. Talk about innocence!

Bottomline : Amayakudu falls way behind with everything it sets out to achieve. The innocent part of the film is its title and nothing else. Calling it boring and absurd would be an understatement. Perhaps the only thought crossing one’s mind, after watching the film, would be – why was the film made in first place? Maybe Bharati Ganesh would have an answer. Maybe even he didn’t have a clue of what he was doing. Two big thumbs down to Amayakudu. Stay away.

Nani is on a roll these days. He is turning out to be a safe and bankable actor with a tremendous ability to portray understated and novel characters. This time, Nani comes along with Sega, a tamil film which has been dubbed into Telugu and he has Nitya Menon for company once again. Let us see whether Nani is able to recreate the magic of “Ala Modalaindi” once again.

What’s it about : Sega literally means a burning flame. And that’s what the movie is all about. Its a flame burning in people and based on their characters, it can be a flame of love, loyalty, revenge, greed, lust or hatred. The story of Sega revolves around two brothers, Karthik (Nani) and his elder brother Balaji (Mutthu). The movie is a dark and intense portrayal of the lower strata of society and vices like prostitution and drugs that are now prevalent in the seedier parts of any big city. The story starts off with Karthik and Balaji’s mother on the deathbed. Their father ‘Jyothi Anna’ (Shimmore) is a thug who abuses and harasses the family. Fed up with life, Balaji’s mother commits suicide and Balaji unknowingly helps his mother kill herself. This guilt hangs over Balaji for the rest of his life and drives him towards intensely hating his father. Karthik meanwhile, is childhood friends with his neighbour Vishnu (Karthik Kumar) and Revathi (Nitya Menon). They grow up together and Karthik earns his living as a painter under Revathi’s dad and Vishnu inherits an automobile repair shop from his father. There is a nice romantic track between Revathi and Karthik.

Vishnu is projected as an easy going Casanova and he is always on the lookout for a good ‘deal’. A few chance encounters with Vani (Bindhu Madhavi), a prostitute, soon leads to a budding romance between the two.Into this scenario enters ‘Jyothi Anna’, who has now graduated from a street thug into a pimp and a drug peddler with considerable influence. Jyothi Anna stuns Vishnu with his display of money and influence and soon entices Vishnu into carrying out his shady activities.

Karthik, who dearly loves Vishnu and is ready to do anything for his sake, is soon dragged into this vortex of crime and drugs. A drug peddling mission goes bust and Karthik & Vishnu find themselves on the run from both the warring drug factions of the city, headed by Ammaji and Bai respectively.

A few twists and double crosses later, Vishnu ends up being dead and Karthik is arrested for his murder. Balaji and Revathi do not believe the accusations against Karthik and each mount their own operations to uncover the truth. Balaji goes after his father Jyothy Anna and Ammaji and learns a few shocking truths regarding the real motive behind Vishnu’s murder. The rest of the story is all about how each of the main characters quench their respective Sega (of hatred, revenge etc). Does Karthik come out clean? Is he really responsible for Vishnu’s death? Watch the movie to find out the answers. The climax shows that life comes a full circle for all the characters.

What is Good : The Characters of the movie are all very believable and are completely etched. There is not a single illogical or unrealistic sequence in the movie. The director Anjana, needs to be commended for doing a good job of nicely tying up all the loose ends of the movie in the climax in a very believable and convincing fashion. A few songs are beautifully choreographed and nicely shot. “Varsham Munduga” is a beautifully shot duet between Nitya and Nani. “Padam Vidichi” is another nicely shot song with a little hip hop choreography thrown in.

Nani renders a fine understated performance once again and needs to be commended for having the courage to take up such roles. His brilliant portrayal of Karthik is an asset to the film. He will surely be a fine actor and force to reckon with in future. Nithya Menon acts in a very unglamorous role but she turns in a fiery performance. She acts with conviction and belief in the role of Revathi.

Karthik Kumar and Bindhu Madhavi share good chemistry and turn in convincing performances in the space allotted to them. Special mention must be made of Mutthu, who portrayed the role of Nani’s brother Balaji. He has an intense screen presence and a certain vulnerability about him that is so natural. The rest of the actors are mainly from the Tamil Film Industry and do the job allotted to them.Cinematography is good. The movie is shown in a dark and realistic light as befitting the story.

What is bad: The first thing that the audience will notice is the decidedly strong Tamil flavour that the movie carries. It is a dubbed version of a Tamil film and the dubbing is not top notch. Some of the ‘realistic’ scenes depicted will not be to everyone’s liking and there is a reason why this movie has an Adult Rating.

A few more Telugu actors in the movie would have ensured a better connection with the audience here. Barring Nani, Nitya Menon and Bindhu Madhavi, there is not one single familiar face in the movie. The movie has been made on a very low budget and that is quite apparent in the low production values.

But the biggest issue most people will have is the very slow pace of the movie. The screenplay is thorough but sans any riveting excitement that is needed to elevate movies of this genre to the next level. The twists, though interesting, are a little predictable.There is next to no comedy and absolutely no commercial elements save a few ‘hot’ scenes between Bindhu Madhavi and Karthik Kumar.

Technical Departments : As mentioned earlier, screenplay is a big handicap for the movie. A little more excitement would have done wonders for the film. Joshua Sridhar’s music is average at best and while a few songs stand out, background score is nothing to write home about.

Production values are limited by the low budget. Dialogues are pretty average and are just simple translations of the Tamil version. There is not a single memorable or witty dialogue.

Analysis: Sega is a mature film that aims to cater to the multiplex crowd and has nothing for the fun seeking movie goer. There are next to no commercial elements in the movie and this makes it extremely tough for the movie to run well in B & C centers. A little comedy and a tighter screenplay would have done wonders for this movie. Go without any expectations and without expecting any entertainment and you might just appreciate Sega for its realistic portrayal of human emotions.

Even though young actor Tanish had a decent start to his career with Nachavule and Ride, he is yet to create a niche for himself. Of late he has been trying rigorously to establish himself as a ‘mass’ hero, and Kodipunju is another attempt in the same lines. Unfortunately, this one too doesn’t have enough meat for him.

What’s it about : In a typical Andhra village, Ramachandra Rao (Siva Krishna) is a traditional leader, widely respected amongst many villages for his kindness, courage and justice. Bapineedu, who yearns for the ‘village head’ chair desperately, bothers him. It is during these times that Nandini (Shobhana), daugther of Ramachandra Rao, falls for Abhimanyu (Tanish). Abhimanyu, whose entire life revolves around his mother Sitaratnam (Roja), reciprocates to the girl’s advances, of course with his mother’s permission. In the mean time, Bapineedu’s brother joins Abhimanyu’s group of friends, though his intentions seem dishonest. When Ramachandra Rao sees Abhimanyu getting too close to his daughter, he admonishes the boy and in a fit of rage, calls his mother with some improper names. Rebuked, Abhi, who is touch sensitive to issues related to his mother, challenges Ramachandra Rao that he will win over his ‘village head’ position to prove that he is worthy of his mother. How does this twist in the tale change the scenario for the young lovers, and how Bapineedu tries to manipulate this challenge for his benefit, and who wins finally form the rest of the story.

What is Good : Kodipunju’s very few good moments come from Roja, who seems to have been enjoying such roles these days. Shobhana, abliet her meagre acting skills, is easy on eyes. Tanish too tries to give decent performance, mouths strong dialouges, eventhough he looks a touch on the heavier side. Model Sridhar, who generally looks trim and proper, dons quite a unique role in a small character. M.S.Narayana generates some laughs. Apart from them, there is hardly anything worth remembering in the movie.

What is bad: The movie takes its own sweet time to establish its main problem. When the main ‘challenge’ is finally out, the second half never cares to address it at all. Sivakrishna’s character is pushed to sidelines. Instead, we are asked to bear with repetitive scenes involving the hero, heroine, Roja and Rajalaxmi. In the end a whole new twist, though expected, is added to the movie, with new characters coming in. Unfortunately, neither the cliched few dialogues nor the original moments are anywhere near entertaining.

Technical Departments : It is extremely interesting to notice that not a single department in Kodipunju offers anything special. Few moments in songs do manage to get some attention. Music too is pretty average, and so is editing. The screenplay doesn’t seem to address its core ‘challenge’ till the end, and the dialogue don’t match Tanish’s stature most of the time. Director seemed to have had too many ideas in his mind, making the movie a hotchpotch filled with family scenes, while his main theme was more action or drama oriented.

Bottomline : Kodipunju doesn’t have anything meaty to offer, inspite of its serious attempts to make Tanish a mass friendly star.