Raktha Charithra Review

RamGopalVarma… The man who is known for his farthest passion and equally famous for unending controversies will be also known for his guts from now on. His latest venture “Raktha Charithra” is true to his style as it has drawn utmost attention from various circles from political, faction and a common man and of course ordinary movie goers like wise…..

Here’s something I felt after I have seen the movie…..

Plot: Veerabhadriah a rising local leader is killed by his own master, a local MLA Narasimha Reddy…who falls prey to the conspiracy by his relative Nagamani Reddy (Kota).Veerabhadriah is survived by his two sons Shanker Ravi (Sushant) and Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi).

The Saga of Rivalry continues between the Sons of Nagamani Reddy …BukkaReddy and Pratap Ravi…that turns the village AnandaPuram an ever burning battle field….

Movie is all about Pratap Ravi’s raise to fame ….And his political bondage with Politician turned actor Shivaji Rao…

Reality Vs Cinema…..

Yes…As Raktha Charithra from the beginning was in news for it is based on real life events…It would be delight for few to identify some characters and it would be equally hatred to look at few characters…So grab some facts if u can…I read all the facts surrounding the movie but I loved the movie with its own identity and enjoyed it thoroughly …So I am not relating it to any original character!!

Actors:

Vivek Oberoi is of course RGV’s find and Varma knows the best he can get from his discovery. Vivek is real good after a continuous hiatus since his debut ‘Company’. It’s his character Pratap Ravi that is seen on the screen. He talks less but talks what’s needed….and smiles very less and grief, he delivers with his eyes…His anger speaks volumes…Overall a complete performance….

Abhimanyu Singh as Bukka Reddy lived in his role evil not just personified but multiplied by tons…This character is shown as absolute womanizer and with extreme sadism. And true more the villainy…Simpler becomes the heroism….And this worked…

Shatrugna Sinha as Shivaji Rao is absolute delight. Things get lighter and colorful with his entry. Whenever he says “Topic is over” there are cheers all over.

Kota fills the first half with energy…we are real lucky to have him…Then there are Ashish Vidyardi who kills Pratap’s father, Tanikella Bharani, Sushant (Pratap’s bro) and All Pratap’s followers …all have good screen time and did their part well.

Radhika Apte is apt as Pratap’s love…she is cute and subtle in emotions… Among others Pratap’s mother and Lady Inspector are noted well…

RGV Rocks….!!

Wow…it’s been a long time we can see Ram Gopal Varma in Ram Gopal Varma…Lately more of controversies and more of publicity stunts definitely would have created some gap at least among few of his fans…

But this is a real treat…Starting from the research on the real life aspects and converting them into cinematic content is not an easy task and needs courage in accomplishing it.

Screenplay in the movie is so tight that 2 hours just passed in my watch…Emotions are equally experienced by the audience…So whatever happening on screen turns on your basic instincts

One good thing is Varma has given a priority to every character…and such a kind gesture is possible only with sufficient homework….

Movie Flow …

Varma’s Voice over introduces you to the characters one after other…and visually shows the root cause of rivalry…Like where exactly it began…followed by series of killings.

You get settled down once Pratap Ravi’s Characters takes on the proceedings…and you actually feel relaxed and start enjoying the movie when Shivaji enters the scene….

Other departments….

Background score by Dharam-Sandeep is superb. It makes us involved. Songs written by Kaluva Sai are good and placed without disturbing the flow.

Photography is little old fashioned but suited the flick and is apt for it is time based movie…

Producers should be appreciated for this venture knowing it would have few patrons….

Ok now Drawbacks...

For Southern audience, the initial 30 minutes seems to be a dubbed version with lots of unknown faces…Kota’s presence is big saving grace…and by 31^st minute we are habituated…!!

Forgive the director as he distributed the content to Southern viewers and the actors to the North!

RGV’s Voice over appears redundant as whatever on-screen is good enough to understand the flow…

Now coming to violence, one can add it to drawback or just make it an un-avoiding factor considering the genre...Watch any Action or Faction flick…Say Simha or Indra or AnthPuram…they showcased 80% of violence this movie has…And I guess violence here is justified…But definitely not for kids.

Final Say…

Personally I hate horror genre and I swear I have not even read the review of Paranormal activity so far…Similarly Violence might not be welcomed by few…So they can stay away!

But if you are interested in facts…and are curious …Do go for it…You will not be disappointed as movie delivers what it promises…but movie goes one sided and cleverly made in commercial hero-villain format

There is a human urge for power and wealth beneath the violence…that brings out animal in us…And there’s a humane touch and reason still beneath. And the movie has that impact on us for sure…

And there is no surprise if you look at calendar as on what day November 19 comes to gear yourself for Raktha Charithra Second edition…

Rating:

3.5/5 for RGV delivering what it promised ….Eagerly waiting for Surya on the second outing

Brindavanam Review

After Pawan Kalyan and Mahesh Babu, It’s young tiger NTR’s turn to try his luck at box-office with his latest flick “Brindavanam”. This is of course NTR’s second venture and also the second directorial of the director Vamsi Paidipally who earlier made “Munna”. Glittering factor of this Brindavanam is its Gopika’s played by hottest babes Kajal and Samantha!!

Let’s check out whether Brindavanam could bring cheers to audience this Dusshera, along with the producer “Dil” Raju who is literally waiting for a decent success after continuous debacles…!

Plot: Krishh (NTR) is happy going guy with cute family and his girl friend Indu (Samantha). Things change when Indu requests Krishh to act as a boy friend to her friend Bhumi (Kajal) and accompany her to the village to save her from marriage with her evil in-law.

And rest is just what you guess from a movie with two heroines loving the hero and their fathers fighting with each other…

Actors:

NTR …Looks cool as Krishh…His Costumes are great and he looked fresh throughout. And no intro or any paraphrase needed to explain his ease in dances…He was just rocking. I could say the best part is his dances. This time he has stepped in his uncle Venky’s shoes to endear family crowds…A family boy making everyone happy while he bears the pain…NTR showed an matured act throughout and helped the flow…But I guess we love NTR more as mass hero saying “Amma todu addanga narikesthaaa”.

Samantha who did the Magic in “Ye Maaya chesaavey” repeats the same but this time not with saree's but with colorful skirts…She is spontaneous and bubbly…Wish she had more role

Kajal. Her character is so weakened as director asked her to be sad throughout…Seriously sad of her…she just looks good in songs…

Lots of actors but only half were used!!

PrakashRaj as family head is of course good but he might have rewinded Bommarillu tape before the shoot…Watch the interval block and u will agree with me. Srihari as Samantha’s uncle (Baabai) and MukeshRishi as NTR’s father are fine.

I liked Ahuti Prasad in interval block…And there is Kota who did his best again. Ajay and Tanikella Bharani are supposed to be villains…but no one is bothered.

And Brahmanandam could not evoke much laughs may be because of predictability and routine…and same applies to Venumadhav…

There are all the ladies we have in other movies and all just walk through the house and fill the shooting spot. Pragathi as NTR’s mother has 2-3 lines to talk. What is Sitara doing in this movie…?

Baavagaaru Baagunnaraa….!!!!!!!!!!

Movie starts with regular fight sequence and a good song with Samantha. Story becomes very clear with Kajal’s entry and first half goes smoothly in village. I should mention few scenes here and there in this half are planned well.Especially the ones used to unite the families

Post Interval Samantha steps into the village and it might remind you of Rambha ‘s entry in Baavagaaru Bagunnaraa…Yes true and things move in same pattern exactly the way you think from there on with little laughs .

Srihari’s dialogue to Brahmandam “idemanna TV serial anukunnaava…premalu...aapyatalu choopettiki…teda vastey narukudey…” tells us the fact of course.

Vamsi never impresses

Director Vamsi is just passable as he is not fresh in his attempt. But he pulled off few scenes well. Screenplay is smooth. Comedy should have been much better…but it was flat Again Vamsi’s fault

Songs are very nice…And so are the Dialogues

Ok Plus points are songs. With wonderful dance moves from NTR and Gorgeous heroines beside him, every song was beautiful on screen.

“Evarevero…””Ey raja...””Chinna do vaipu...” are all bright…But Background score by Thaman is very weak.

Dialogues by Siva are nice enough. “Character kotta ga undani try chesaa…lopala Mass alaaney undi gelikithey Racha Rachey...” is received well. All the Talkative scenes of NTR are good.

Anand Sai is good in Art department with the house set. Ram-Laxman fights are ok.

Final Say:

Some family values supported by good dialogues could bring those families to the theatres.

Also Good Songs, Different NTR…cute heroines and loads of star cast would definitely ring the box-office collections till this festival season…

More important is no surprise factor…It provides what you expect (of course that is missing in some of the recent movies and so their results went wrong)

Rating:

3.25/5 for making a neat family movie of course in humdrum way. Watch it for NTR

Mahesh Khaleja Review

It’s like a Rain in the land of unending drought ….It’s like a Train in the station with awaiting crowd…

Yes it’s the Khaleja for millions of Mahesh’s fans…who eagerly are counting not just the weeks and months…but years to see their “idol” on the silver screen!!

And expectations were on the top for Trivikram directing it and seductress Anushka pairing up with him…

Now finally all is history as the movie is out and so let’s check out how well it fared…

Plot -Mahesh plays Bruce Almighty

Actually there would be many expectations that surround the comeback movie of Mahesh…and everyone has their own thought on the plot…but the actual one in mind of Trivikram is a kind of natural fantasy in lines of “Bruce almighty” or say our own “Baba”…Of course which just takes time to digest for a while…

It’s a story of Taxi Driver…who is treated as God (by the people of a village), who came to their rescue due to some signs…And how hero believes he has mission to accomplish and finally does the task is all the movie about

Actors:

MaheshBabu, Time has not withered his charm by an inch but in fact he appears even more handsome now. . It’s common usage in AP to call someone as “Mahesh Babu” to treat them as handsome. I guess not many disagree with that and it is happy to see this magnetic beehive back in town to allure all those female bees who are missing him for a while. This time he was in more ease…especially Trivikram stitched many comedy scenes around him and also on him…So this elevated his dialogue, diction and comedy timing…and in one word he has given his natural best…But Dance moves should be more better…he justifies them in only last song.

It’s always tough for his leading lady to match the glow of prince…And I guess till date only Sonali only suited him well. No doubt Anushka looked pleasing...But there is lot of inconsistency in her outfits...she looks gorgeous in few...and ranges from normal and bad in others…Over all she is ok.

Among all others Only Rao Ramesh (Villager aka Astrologer who sees God in Mahesh) and his voice gets registers more and character takes u back to Maghadheera.

And then you have Shafi who with his shouting breaks the intensity and nullifies the good that is possible...like in Chatrapathi…

And of course Prakash Raj... is the main villain but limited…he loses his hand in climax fight like he loses his ears in Pokiri fight. Brahmanandam, Ali and Sunil have limited appearances and provide us spontaneous laughs and disappear…

Dhaivam Maanusha Rupena

“Dhaivam Maanusha Rupena” is the exact theme around which the story is weaved…We treat any fellow man who helps us in need as a God…And in fact Hero in every film is an implicit God as he resolves a problem and that message is inherently told. So here the hero rescues a village from a serious problem and thus an implicitly divine… But shouting aloud the implicit fact is something that could not be registered soon with audience...at least in first go!

Movie Flow and the direction…

First half is simple and sweet. As in Malliswari, Hero, Heroine and comedian are “desert”ed…Yeah this time it is real desert and things go wrong because of heroine who is treated as Iron lady. Though the director repeats the formula, the entire episode is hilarious…and colorful.

Second half starts off on very serious note with intervention of Shafi and making Mahesh the God. But the seriousness is diluted by light narration.

Trivikram comfy zone is obvious that it comprises of his witty one liners and light narration…He entirely depended on the same and we definitely enjoy the scenes at the moment. And this time Mahesh alone handles the comedy department so well. But we are not connected with the theme.

Fights...Songs…etc etc

All the fights start off with a witty dialogue prelude and that is accepted well.

Songs are good on screen just like the music. I liked “Pilichey pedavula paina” and “Makatika…” more. “Sada Siva …” is not as expected might be because it is a transformation song…which comes as a surprise moment. Manisharma excels after long gap.

cinematography by Yashbhatt is awesome …And Styling is cool and Mahesh magnified the work. There are few locations but are good.

Things that went wrong with the expectations

It’s primarily the expectations that are piled upon the combination and it is not easy to keep them live every time...

The Basic plot is made believable partially only because of Hero’s characterization. Hero behaves very normally and is in the same mindset of audience that he is just the man but possesses divinity and decides to help the needy. But the surrounding situations exaggerate the proceedings testing our patience…

Screen play is shattered…as things are made clear in the pre climax…And funny part is inclusion of Rajasthan in the plot when the problem is in the small village in Andhra Pradesh…this confuses the audience…

Second half should have been racy enough with some action elements and more of characters as the comedy become monotonous after a while with minimal characters.

And all the characters appear on screen as if they are all running around same bush.

Final Say …Do watch it for Mahesh…

Yes it is Magic of Mahesh…His body language and the characterization looks simple but are superb. He has more dialogue this time and he entertains the audience in every moment…And he is there in almost every scene…So complete Paisa Vasool...

So fans of the combinations and Permutations of these four people “Mahesh-Trivikram-Anushka-Manisharma “should watch this for sure…for comedy and songs

And it’s basic plot and screenplay …that disturbs few…and so decision is up to you if you have to choose between many other movies like Robo and Brindavanam

Rating:

3.25 for good theme and Mahesh… While negative is narration and second half which could be made far better!!Seriously it is tough to rate a movie...and please go by positives and negatives mentioned..and judge it..:)