Poolarangadu Movie Review

He surprised us as AndalaRamudu…amused us as Maryada Ramanna…And now he is back to entertain us with Poola Rangadu. Sunil the comedian turned hero never considered his heroic roles as accidents but he takes that new promotion to the next level in Poola Rangadu. Poola Rangadu is second directorial venture for Veerabhadram who earlier directed Allari Naresh’s “Aha naa pellanta”. Isha Chawla plays love interest of Sunil.

Plot: Ranga who was a realtor looses all the glory due to the recession. As a last sort of survival, he buys a 30 acre land for cheaper price. But later realizes that land is under litigation between archrivals Kondareddy (Dev Gill) and Laala Goud (Pradeep Rawath). And now Ranga has to play his wits and finally flex his muscles to get back the land and win his (V)Anitha (Isha Chawla).

Sunil rocks as Six-pack Ranga…!!

Sunil already proved that he is capable of showering smiles on our cheeks with his short stints in all the movies he did. Now his superb comedy timing is being utilized fully in Poola Rangadu. Sunil’s comedian image helped him get into the character with lots of ease. He coolly imitates NTR saying “Paanchaali pancha batruka” and Mohanbabu when explains relation between fish and fisherman and the Megastar when he dances for “Dai Dai Mummy”. What not, he leaves no stone unturned on screen to make you laugh. Other big asset that Sunil has is his fabulous dancing skills that got explored in all the songs are comparable with the best dancers we have in Telugu and finally after dragging so much he sheds his shirt to show off his six pack body which he acquires with loads of passion. That’s a complete Sunil for you in Poola Rangadu.

Isha Chawla made her debut Sai Kumar’s son Aadi’s debut movie Prema Kaavali. She is good enough in acting and it’s not her alone but her sparkling chemistry with Sunil makes her complete.

Dev Gill who excelled in Magadheera gets a full length villain role where he scores full. Ali plays friend of Sunil. Pradeep Rawath, Kota, Raghubabu, Pragathi, sudha, Satyam Rajesh etc did their job well.

Telangana Sakuntala appears in cameo.

Almost a laugh riot…

Initial 15 minutes reminds us of Maryada Ramanna where hero goes in to a village to get his ancestral property. But there hero’s role is more passive. But here Sunil is with loads of energy and does not spare a moment where he is in especially during the first half.  Director Veerabhadram efficiently takes forward the story, he prolongs funny chase scenes, builds some funny characters like the one “Bottu Seenu” who works for Dev gill and the funny master-servant scenes between Pradeep Rawath and Raghubabu and a hilarious butler English episode. 

Anup Rubens scores peppy songs which are still enhanced by Sunil’s dance. Sets and costumes should have been better considering the movie has come from good banner. Sridhar Seepana gives dialogues to Poola Rangadu. There are tons of good one-liners especially the NTR’s imitation, Funny English Hindi episode…using movie titles like Zindagi naa milegi “Dubai” ra, Dabangg etc.

Negatives now!!

Movie which runs in full pace suddenly slows down during pre-climax. Sunil becomes passive for a while and there’s so much of drama before he reveals his six-pack and climax seems only extended to show off his six packs. Let me salute to his efforts, but six packs should have been more graceful. If that entire episode was as tight as initial half, audience would have come out of theatre laughing but now we just came out with smiles…J. And seriously should some more budget needs to be allocated for songs to make them appear richer on screen. Cinematography is strictly average.

Finally…

If you liked Maryada Ramanna…then there’s definitely more in Poola Rangadu and you might love it…Sunil enhanced in multiples in his self-sequel.  For loads of unforced laughs and healthy entertainment Poola Rangadu is safe destination. Not really a never seen plot, but engages you all the way…Big Cheers Sunil…

If you notice...the movies Anadala raamudu and Poola Rangadu, both the titles used by the great ANR once.

Rating            

3.25/5

  

Agneepath Movie Review

“Agneepath”, The first biggie of 2012 and one of the awaited multi-starrer of the season has arrived this republic day and is raining records for Hrithik Roshan like never before. A remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s Yesteryear’s cult classic seems to strike the chord with the audience, in fact more than the original. 

Plot: Story opens in an island village, Mandwa which is apparently ruled by evil Kancha (Sanjaydutt). When the school master Dinanath Chauhan tries to gather villagers to revolt against Kancha, he was trapped and brutally killed. This incident implants the seeds of vengeance in his son Vijay Chauhan (Hrithik Roshan). Vijay Chauhan waits for his turn, emerges as Mumbai’s drug lord and finally reaches Kancha to avenge his father’s death!!

Actors…

Agneepath a normal revenge saga is more about the characters and performances that live larger than its plot.  

Hrithik plays the Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, an iconic name used by Amitabh Bachchan. The best part, Hrithik stays his own and has his style of portraying the same character. You see in Vijay Chauhan a man, whose life is only and only the Vengeance. Speaks less, and uses his eyes more to express the anger, pain and little joy he has in his life. Hrithik though not the best performer in the movie lives up to the role and makes the audience connect to his pain. And let me not forget young Vijay Dinanath Chauhan played by Arish Bhiwandiwala. He does commendable job for first 20 minutes.

Kancha, played by Sanjaydutt is no doubt one of the best villainous roles we have seen in Indian cinema. And Sanju baba, by looks and by dialogue more than frightens the audience doing what truly a Villain has to do. But surprisingly his presence is not extended throughout the film. After creating a strong impact in the beginning, one has to wait till the post-interval block to feel his giant presence. Never in my life waited so much to see the villain on the screen? Sanjay Dutt is the best in one word.

 Another actor who steals the first half is Rishi Kapoor with his superb portrayal of Rauf Lala, a drug lord in Mumbai. Its new character which is not there in the original and that says that this Agneepath is not entirely a remake. A Role of loving father, cunning Master, very crooked but yet looks human and finally deceived; Rishi Kapoor entertains us in every frame he is in.

Om Puri finally gets to play a decent role that suits his caliber. He plays Gaitonde, city commissioner very upright and clever in his acts. Zarina Wahab as Vijay’s mother too deserves applause.

Priyanka Chopra as Kaali exists for sake of some support to Vijay. Her presence has no impact but just thinking her absence might have created some space. Overall she looked good…J

What Priyanka Chopra can’t do throughout her presence, Katrina Kaif does it in her short stint. She sizzles in her bumper item “Chikni Chameli”, the best of all songs in the flick. If at all best item was given filmfare, Katrina would have deserved consecutive two!!

Revenge saga told rivetingly!!

A single line story of revenge transforms into a brilliant piece of cinema, thanks to the director Karan Malhotra who grabbed best of performances and superb inputs from his crew.

His Story telling deserves distinction. He starts off smoothly in the village Mandwa, depicting the father-son relationship, introducing us to Kancha’s cruelty followed by brutal murder of Masterji which all gives a great impact to the revenge drama that takes place later.  Vijay realizes it requires a power to beat the powerful. Enter Rauf Lala, the drug monster and Gaitonde straightforward commissioner both by different means serve as ladder to Vijay to reach his target. Except for few interruptions by Kaali (Priyanka), First half which shows Vijay’s rise to power, goes with pace, it’s all the brilliance of Rishi Kapoor.

     And it’s in later half Hrithik gets to meet his staunch enemy Kancha. While initial part of later half is occupied by some family drama, Kancha snatches it immediately and draws to the climax. The Director calls Mandwa, Lanka and Kancha the Raavan. And for those who can’t believe how an almighty and literally undefeatable Kancha can be put to an end by an ordinary hero, this reference to Ramayan serves as an answer. And you instantly bow to the man’s perseverance to seek his revenge. Apart from the tight climax fight, director is able to bring in some tears when Vijay’s sister for the first time knows about her brother and also a scene where Vijay’s mother slaps him after she invites him to the house for dinner.  

Behind the screen…  

Film story starts in year 1977 and the most part is conceived in 1992 on-screen. Production team brings to life those days with the houses, cars and auto-rickshaws etc. Cinematography by Kiran Deohans is bright and brings in various colors of Mumbai.  And an altogether different grey color scheme is chosen for Mandwa. The Screenplay is gripping and editing is crisp, should have been crispier.

Finally...

More than anything, Agneepath is story telling that is stupendously supported by its star cast, that you don’t mind revisiting the revenge saga sitting in theatre for 3 hours. Each character has got its due on the screen and they don’t allow you to think back and compare with the original. Thus Agneepath makes a significant tribute to yesteryear generation and offers a delightful watch for the current. One good Bollywood film I loved watching!!

OOSARAVELLI MOVIE REVIEW

“DUSSERA” …A Big Festival being around…It’s time for celebrations…family gatherings and finally for movies. While “Dookudu” released few days back is ruling the roost, It’s NTR’s turn to hit the box-office with new film “Oosaravelli”. Surendar Reddy of “Athanokkade”, “Kikk” directs the flick. He earlier directed NTR for “Ashok”. Tammana plays the female lead opposite Young Tiger.

Let’s check in brief what’s it all about…

Plot(Not much spoiler): Tony(NTR) a easy going guy who does petty settlements for money, comes to Hyderabad from Mumbai. He falls for Niharika (Tamanna). NTR in his acts, behave bit differently based on situations starts killing the baddies one after other with hidden motto. What’s the story behind his killing the goons? What’s the connection of the heroine with the main plot? etc are revealed as the movie proceeds!

Actors:

Whatever firstly let’s appreciate NTR, for choosing a title “Oosarvelli” rather than some general mass title to suit his image. He tries hard to come out of Angry Lad image and tries to be a lover boy for a while and act comically like RaviTeja for a while. So while he is not himself, he is just adequate for the role. Ease in dance is of course cake walk for NTR, though there’s no much scope here. But definitely his fans will miss the punch that they get through his powerful dialogues and emotions. Wish he switches back to that for his mass followers.

Tammana has got real meaty role here. She balances the glamour quotient and emotions perfectly. It’s a rare thing that Heroine has that much of screen space these days as almost 10 minutes in the later half entirely runs on her. Her acting ability comes in handy here. She is one thing to look out for in this flick. She is superb in “Niharika” song.

Payal Ghosh who is seen in “Prayanam” plays Tammanna’s friend. She shares most of her friend’s screen time. She supports the proceedings from the beginning and gains more importance towards the end.

O God, It’s too tiresome and irritating to see Prakash Raj is same old Don Ajjubhai( even his name is disgustingly boring) role  with such an idiotic same old costumes. While there is no brahmanandam here, Jaya Prakash and Raghubabu etc try to add some comedy. MS Narayana also supports them. Very few other actors like Tanikella, Shiyaji shinde and Kikk Shyam  are adequate.

So What’s the gist!!

Director Surendar Reddy tries to tell the regular revenge drama in rather twisted manner. He borrows theme of “Aarya” for first half. First half is filled with some triangular love story between NTR and Tammana and her would be( a guy plays similar role like Sivabalaji in Aarya). And there’s a side track of Jaya Prakash, don wannabe to support this love track.  For sure the comedy track, spills some laughs here and there, and the quick songs help first half to move smoothly.  

Interval Bang and initial second half reveal the actual motto of the flick. While this part is dealt fine, the actual plot or reason is definitely not that worthy or exciting to hold the flick strongly. After relevation, there’s nothing much left over for last half hour but to rush up and say a good bye.

 What are good….

The Director shows few sparks here and there…To name few, The boy meets girl scene pictured in Kashmir and the song that follows is good. The Story that follows immediately after interval is gripping and possesses some seriousness. Using RGV’s titles for villain gang, whole JP’s comedy track is adequate. “Niharika” , “Brathakaali”, “Daandiyaa” are nicely shot. “Friend ante caring” has nice situation. Tamanna looks very good throughout. Devisri Prasad composes music while Rassol Ellore handles cinematography. Two action episodes are well handled with a song background and others suffices. 

What’s All Missing…

Though the entire plot seems little twisty, It finally ends the same and depends on the same old revenge saga. Movie as such lacks hilarious comedy which is USP these days to cover up its cliches.

Finally…

Though not surprisingly fresh, Movie offers regular masala for movie goers this festival. First half, NTR’s fan base and Tamanna’s role will surely make up for a watch if in case you don’t have an option. Festival time, Huge release will help this movie for a weekend.

Rating

2.75/5

Dhookudu Movie Review

Undoubtedly most awaiting movie of the season, “Dhookudu” has come out finally. Super Star Mahesh Babu is quick this time compared to his previous hiatus before “Khaleja”. Samantha, who stole our hearts as Jessie paired up with the prince. Srinu Vaitla, known for his entertainers like “Ready” “Venki” etc directed this one. And Luckiest Music director Thaman provided rocking tunes for Dookudu.

Plot(very slight spoiler): Ajay is daring and dashing Police officer. His mission is catching a gangster Nayak(Sonu sood). In a short while, Ajay comes to know that Nayak in the past, tried to kill his father Shanker Narayan(Prakash Raj), a good leader who lived for people. How Ajay puts an end to the Gangster and his team in a dramatic way is the entire movie about. And of course some space is reserved for Ajay’s romance with cute Prashanti (Samantha).

Actors:

 Mahesh looks dashing justifying the title's slogan "Daring and Dashing"…And he without any argument steals the screen space with his stunning looks. He carries forward his comedy timing which is seen in Khaleja. While his short stint in Pokiri as Police is ever memorable, He extends that role of “Krishna Manohar” and perfectly dons it with cool one-liners and stressing the word “Police” periodically. He also wears white and white MLA role, and let me hold it as suspense the reason behind it.

And female lead opposite Mahesh definitely faces that pressure as to match the thunderous glamour of prince. Samantha looks very fresh with Mahesh. She is good in all songs…and why not in scenes, because she is seen only in songs. Chinmayi’s dubbing(dubbed for her in Ye Maaya chesaave)  did not suit Samantha in this role.

Prakash Raj plays Mahesh’s side this time as his father. The heart of movie’s plot and he brings life to that character and need to mention, very few emotional scenes between son and father gives that impact, should thank PR for it.

Mah”Esh” blesses "Parvathi" Melton with an item number…She sizzles for a while, but could not beat Mumaith’s “ippatikinka naa vayasu”. Happy day’s Sonia plays Samantha’s friend, has nothing to boast about.

MS Narayana plays role of hero-wannabe irrespective of his age. His role-play as youngsters like Ramcharan, NTR, and Balayya brought few whistles. Brahmanandam too supports him aptly with his craze for reality shows. SivaReddy get to play good role as Mimicry artist and even plays a pimp.

Sonu Sood gets big slot, but nothing different.  Nazar, Suman, Kota, tanikella, chandramohan, dharmavarapu, shafi, Ajay, subbaraju,Sudha, Shiyagi, Master Bharath…name them and you find them all here….have limited and adequate roles. Mahesh’s friends all did well while Vennela Kishore scores bit more.

Simple Revenge with Huge Drama!!

First half moves with good pace. Quick fights …Superb songs and pretty good one-liners fill the pre-interval with no gap. Cute romance thread between Sam and Mahesh looks much cuter as chemistry works perfectly. Director Srinu brings up “Reality-show” concept in to the proceedings, creating sufficient laughs. Brahmanandam handles it aptly; especially when he seeks SMS from audience is quite hilarious. First half which ends with a huge fight ( as big as climax) seem to be self-sufficient.

While Audience are content with the first, Srinu Vaitla plans for a huge second half with not much stuff but just to drag further the scenes he built in first half. He plugs in his regular drinking scene (Here Mahesh plays Balayya by beating his thighs), little confusion drama, pitching in loads of artists. While there are periodic laughter’s, there are more dull and artificial ones in between. Climax is again hilarious and ends with a sweet note highlighting the Father and son bonding.

Thaman rocks with his tunes while Kona Venkat smashes with his one-liners…

While Many one-liners like “Mind lo Fix ayithe”,”Bayam ante telini Blood” are hit with audience, there are still more in store in some scenes praising NTR and touching ANR and Krishna…where every dialogue rocked. Thaman this time did a great job and his tunes which already caught up like slow poison are still colorful on screen. “Guruvaaram March okati” “Dettadi…”…”Chulbuli” each song is good on screen and K.V.Guhan(Athadu) and Prasad Murella provides rich cinematography.

And Srinu Vaitla mixes the Cocktail…

Srinu Vaitla is in control for first half, but stuffs second one with his regular comedy giving way to some boredom. But he still maintains balance, uses Mahesh’s comedy timing aptly and rushes the film towards climax before it gets overdone. Dookudu tries to be blend of action and comedy but do not form a perfect cocktail.

Final Say

Had it been trim, and if it had an effective storyline, it would have been just great. Nevertheless, it sure satisfies Mahesh’s fans for no doubt. And it appeals to lot more crowds for the good things like songs, good comedy scenes having MS and Brahmi. And Movie as such will give paisa-vasool for it never misses being a regular masala film. So Mahesh plays safe this time and he gonna rock this festival.

Rating:

A Super First Half and an ok second make me give a 3.5/5

  

Kandireega Review...

Sabbu billa, aggi pulla, kukka pilla evi kadhu kavithaku anarham..annaaru Sri Sri…alaage eega..Kandireega..teneteega..Ye eegaina cinema peru ku kaavu anarham antunnaru ippati directorlu…sare vaatillo O rakam eega..Kandireega ee Long weekend lo manalni kutteidaaniki mana mundukochindi… mana Energetic star Ram…bodhu gumma Hansika janta ga natinchina ee cinema dwaara Santosh sreenivas ane director parchiyamayyaadu…

Sare..inthaki ee kandiraga kaatu entha Ghaatu ga undo choodaam O saari..

Asalu Seenu gaadi Golenti??

  Seenu gaadente ..(adenandi ee cinema lo mana Ram peru ade) Anakapalli lo telini vadundadu…vaadi gola antha intha kaadu mari..okka mukkalo cheppalante enduku paniki raani koti yedava . Kanisam Degree kooda chadavaledani vaadi maradalu Bujji(Swathi) vaaditho Pelli ki “No” cheppadam tho aavesam gaa degree finsh cheyyataaniki City kostaadu…Manodi good luck entante…College lo Sruthi(Hansika) ani O katti laanti ammai(ante Seenu gaadi kalla tho choodali) love lo padataadu…Mari Manodi Bad luck entante …AA Sruthi ni aa oorlo pedda gunda Bhavani(Sonu Sood) pichi pichi gaa premistuntaadu!! Inthalo Sandhya(Aksha) ane Telangana pori ki Seenu meeda lovvaitadi..ikaa joosko bidda..Sandhya->Sreenu->Sruthi->Bhavani…lolli shuru!!

Seenu gaaadi batch!!

“Devadaasu” laanti energy unna character ni modati cinema lone avaleela ga chesesinaa Ram ki Seenu gaadi character chaala chimple..Seenu from Anakapalli antoo entha baari gundaalanaina chitaka baadestoo…tadwaara ammailani buttalo padestoo…migathavaarini buridi kottistoo…Dailogullo Pawan ni..Koti veshaallo Raviteja ni maripinchesi…muripinchesaadu…kakapothe koothantha kanda batti unte ..aa chesina fightlaki okintha viluva undedi!!

Ika heroine..Namitha…ooops marchipoyaa…swaari..Hansika…ammo aa baari size choosi malli Namitha gaare gurthochaaru..asale mana bakka hero gaari mundu marintha baari gaa undi Hansika ki… saaaadyamainanni ekkuva arava cinemaalu vaste baagundu manaki dooram ga untundi!!

Mana Telangana pori le, gadera bhai mana Aksha…mastugunnadi le tammi..sainma la second half mottam lolli lolli jesindanuko…naaku gitla nachindra bai..ganthe..

Cinema lo Villian ani kaadu..Second hero ani cheppochu..Sonu sood..kopam ochina …santosham ochinaa Natti gaa maatlade Bhavani character “super” ga chesesaadu…Poola chokkaalu…iddaru heroine la tho chindulu.. inkem kaavali Sonu chelaregipoyaadu…chaala scenes lo navvistoo…konnintilo Ram ni dominate chestoo cinema ki pedda pluss ayyadu…

Ardam leni scenes lo araganta, kanna aaru nimishaalu, oka scene lo alaa meriste chaalu manaki “Brahmanaandam”. “Ready” sentiment anukuntaaa..Srinivas Reddy friend laa malli chesaadu. General ga brahmi chese confuse ayye character, ee saari Raghu babu chesaadu…Chandramohan,Jayaprakash Reddy migatha vaaru parledanipinchaaru!!

Seenu maradalu gaa Color’s pilla Swaathi…kaasepu alaa kanipinchi….pallu ikilinchi, malli maayamaindi!! Lord Vinayukudu ki mana cinema Vinayakudu..ade Krishnudu ichina dubbing baagundi!!

 Katha Routiney…kaani colorful gaa undi!!

Telivaina Hero,burra leni Villian ni “Maska” kotti Heroine tho usko anadam manam “Aarya” cinema kaadnunchi choostune unnaam…inchu minchu,alaati gole modati baagam anthaa…kaakapothe Sonu character ki konchem “Neththi” petti,kaasthantha comedy petti..edo alaa alaa…modati half chaala chappa gaa bandi laaginchesaaru…

Ika second half lo second heroine entry daggarnunchi…cinema konchem saradaga anipistundi…iddaru abbailu..iddaru ammailu..perfect square create chesi…”Pellam oorelthe”..”Ready” taraha lo confusion drama tho O araganta sepu katha kaanichesaadu kotta director Santosh Srinivas. Already choosesina scenlaina…konni maatalu ..situations navvulu pooyistaayi. Aksha Telanganaa yaasa muddoste…Sonu Ammayakatvam kitakitalu pettestundi. Prati ayidu nimishaalaki avasaram unna leka poina oka character entry chestoo …peddanta saga deekunda manam anukunnatu gaa ne subham card yesesi hammayya anipinchesaadu Director.

Aata..Paata..Action..camera…

Thaman dappulu gurinchi manaki kottem kaadu kada…RaviTeja cinemaalaki pani chesina experience mahima…paatante Dappulu..daruvulu ani fix ayipoyaadu. Ye paata poorthiga ekkaka poina…Madhya Madhya lo alaa lopaliki bayataki elli raataniki vesulu baatu gaa unnai paatalu. Paapam laavu heroine valla kaabolu…second heroine ki kooda rendu songullo gentulese chance ochindi!! First half lo ne kaastantha anavasaramaina Fightlu…second half lo batikinchesaaru… Cinema colorful..ga Quality ga undi..Budgettu kooda takkuve!!

Aakari gaa..

Arava Cinemalu..ari veera bayankaram gaa  hittaipotunna rojullo…leka leka ostunna Telugu cinemaalu “dhada dhada” laadistuntunna tarunam lo , Kandireega laanti oka mostaru cinema amrutham laa anipiste aascharyam ledu…Sudi anukondi…super Timing anukondi…ee Kandireega Kaatu Ghaatu rettimpayyindi!!

Rating…

3/5..    ABCDEF….ee seenu gaadu yama Taffu…

 

Dhada Review

Young Yuvasamrat Nagachaitanya is quick to come back this year for second time with his new flick “Dhada” after hitting the bull’s eye with 100% Love for summer. He pairs with lucky mascot Kajal.  New comer Ajay Bhuyan handles the direction and movie produced by Akkineni’s almost the home banner Kamakshi films.

Let’s check out if Chai really about to make the box-office shiver with his Dhada…

Plot: Viswa (Naga Chaitanya) just completes the graduation in USA. He lives with his brother who loves him the most. He falls for a rich but lonely girl Ria (Kajal) and in parallel messes up with a cruel don RD (Rahul Dev) who runs a huge sex racket and other illegal stuff in Las Vegas. How he wins his lady and puts an end to the villain is all “Dhada” about!!

Actors:  

 Nagachaitanya...(Let’s go with his pet name chai to make it simpler going forward)…so far was seen in pretty cool zone just romancing the girls either in colleges or going around trees tries to do action-oriented stuff this time. Well if you just look at chaitu leaving aside the things around…he improves a lot in dances…steps up to the next level in romance scenes…But there’s still a lot of space for improvisation in all other regular scenes. He could gel well with action sequences with good physique and lure his lady fans with cool looks and costumes that suit him the best.

Its relief for people who are bored watching Kajal in choodidhaars...as she sheds some inhibitions and increases the glamour quotient in songs there by heating up the surroundings for a while. But her sober character remains the same in this movie too and off-song, her hair-do just irritates us. Over all, just loved her in the songs than never before.

Rahul Dev puts up decent act. Kelli Dorge the helicopter boy does his favorite past time here too. Tamil actor Sriram though played pivotal role looked very dull throughout. Samiksha who is seen as his wife is adequate.

Brahmanandam, Ali are forcefully forced to enhance the torture…so it is just additional pain to what we see on screen. Mukesh rishi as Kajal’s father had meaningless role.

Simple plot screwed by jumping screenplay!!

Well the story is rather simple one, Boy meets girl for songs and he beats up bad guys in frequent intervals and he feels emotional for his family. And the movie is exactly made up of few scenes each for the Heroes romance, fights and family which come one after other every 10 min. And there is neither perfect sync nor fun element that ties these repetitive scenes.

“Dhada” is actually Ajay Bhuyan’s second, while his first film “Houseful” is still mugging in boxes for long time. He did not come up with any surprises and he is fine with scene by scene. But while summing up the things together, they are not in order. Nor there is effective camerawork or engaging background score that sets up interest for the audience.  


While First half flows ok which ends with a simple twist in hope for better second. Second looses track by the time we get to extended climax.

Songs are the savior….

In this bumpy ride, songs come to our rescue in regular intervals…All the songs composed well by Devi Sri Prasad are still colorful on screen. “Hello Hello Laila” which is chartbuster is superbly pictured (although the song creeps in for no reason). “Bhoome gundranga” and “Telugu Bengali” throw light on Chai’s effort in dances. Let’s cheer him for that. “Deewali Deepani” shows the sensuous side of Kajal.  So songs are the best part of the entire film and One scene where Chaitu asks Kajal for date using set of photographs adding up to say “What About A Date” seemed little innovative.

Finally…

Well if only for looking at chai as to how he could handle action genre, He has done his job well. But sad he is not amply supported by technical team. People looking only for Chai’s looks, Kajal’s glamour and colorful songs should just sit through the movie patiently and wait for that, 5 minutes when song plays.


More effort on screenplay and trimming the dragging parts would have made a crispier and better film.

Rating:

2.25/5. Dhada ...going up title might not shiver the box-office but should get good openings for Hero's good track record and for Dhada big direct Telugu release after a gap

Hindi Singham Review

Here comes yet another remake of south Indian cinema “Singham” that hit the screens this week. Thanks...It’s not Salman this time, But AjayDevagan who exhibits his 6-pack for this Cop-flick. Rohit Shetty of Golmaal directs this flick and Prakash Raj who played the villain in the Original repeats the same here. Original had Tamil top star Surya as hero.

Plot: Jaykanth Shikre (Prakash Raj) …a ruthless Kidnapper-smuggler controls the Goa city with political and police support. And BajiRao Singham (AjayDevagan) an honest inspector in a small village treats his fellow villagers as his own family and enjoys their love and respect. What happens when destiny makes these different poles clash while Singham is transferred to the city where he is all alone?

Actors:

AjayDevagan left no stone unturned to fit the role of Cop. Though he has done it before in Gangajal, He leaves his signature firmly on Singham with his new toned body, sharp eyes and powerful dialogues. Though there were few unintended laughs when he tried doing few dance moves imitating Salman and while jumping with invisible ropes every now and then, overall it is remarkable effort.

PrakashRaj is the show stealer…Witty punch lines seemed wittier than in script, thanks to his slang that blends Tamil with Hindi. A commanding villain could elevate the hero and Prakash as JayaKanth Shikre effortlessly accomplishes his task. And Bollywood is freshly enjoying this great actor who proved a lot in south.

Kajal Aggarwal, who rarely acted with heroes of age 40+ in south cinemas and always enjoyed dancing in handful of songs in each film in south, has barely got a role in her awaited Bollywood dream. I wish, but not sure if someone notices her!!

Other actors who played other cops, Prakash Raj’s side-kick etc, wicked politician all acted decently.

High octane Cop Flick…

  Yes, there is seriously anything we have never seen so far, That Singham brings for us. Indeed we have seen all this much before in 80’s. But again…It’s the impact that a film has on you, while watching it counts.  Singham has many such situations which boil your blood and a common audience just wants to get up from his seat and kick the villain and here Devgan does the same on behalf of us. Thus this Tom and Jerry fight between Jaykanth Shikre and BajiRao Singham was made thoroughly engaging during the latter half.  And unlike Dabangg which is more of family drama, Singham has a broader canvas involving police and politicians.

Direction and other stuff…

   Rohit Shetty did a quite many modifications in the script first to suit the nativity and then made it really racy and crispier than the original. And poor girl Kajal has to face the brunt, as her screen presence is nullified in the process. While the first half has nothing much but to establish the characters leisurely, movie catches the pace in the second and runs firmly till the end. Climax should have been bit better.

Farhad-Sajid score well for dialogues written for both Singham-Shikre while Screenplay by Yunus Sajawal is much better than the original. Nothing to speak about the songs, but back ground score given by Ajay-Atul is appreciable

Final Say…

So this is Devagan’s Dabangg in one word…while Singham offers nothing stunning or refreshing, It neither let’s you down. But will definitely satisfy your senses if you are in for an action.

Rating…

Let’s go with 3 stars

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

  The story of 3 guys, I guess it all started with “Dil chahtha hai” and the numerology goes on continuing from “3 Idiots” to very recent “Delly Belly” and Let’s not count the countless crap comedies with three guys leading them. And now we are again there this week with “Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara” ….and here our “3” played by Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol and Farhan Akthar and the movie is directed by Farhan’s sister, Zoya Akthar who earlier directed “Luck by chance”.

Plot: When Kabir (Abhay Deol) is engaged to Natasha (Kalki Kochlein…Remember Chandramukhi in Dev D), He with his two good friends...Arjun(Hrithik) and Imran(Farhan) who are collectively called as 3 musketeers set on to a much awaited bachelor trip(Idea probably derived from Hangover) to Spain. This fun trip where each has a fearful sport they like and other two are bound to play it, helps them discover themselves!!

Actors and Characters…

Hrithik plays Arjun…a financial broker for whom money means everything. Role really does not need much of him as it goes very smooth with subtle emotions and moreover his fans will be happy to see him cool on screen. And he meets Laila, played by Katrina. She loves to live the life to the fullest and choose to work as Deep sea diving instructor for some time every year.  Stunning looks...Simple sentences…make her absolutely comfortable like at home.

Abhay Deol as Kabir gives a balance of jovial and matured act. He, who seems capable of controlling his friends, is himself not very sure about his love life. Kalki Kochlein fits the bill for the short role.

Farhan Akthar plays vivacious chap among three…his romantic encounters with Nuria (played by Spanish actress Ariadna Cabrol) are witty. He keeps us engaged throughout with a loud role while the poetic lines he spills in frequent intervals are good.

Nasiruddin shah played a guest…not so memorable.

España está espléndida...

Haha the heading means “Spain is splendid”. What that makes this very predictable journey a very refreshing one is the back-ground chosen for it. Full credit goes to cinematographer Carlos Catalan for bringing the picturesque locations of Spain, live and raw on to the screen. Deep sea diving in Costa Brava…Sky diving in Sevilla...Tomatino festival and Running of the bulls in Pampalona …every episode gives us a good feel. Though the fears of the three friends are similar and lesson learnt after each sport is same…It’s just the wonderful work by Carlos that glues us to the screen…

Lets Sum up other things….

Hrithik-Katrina….sure this beautiful pair is much awaited and we are lucky at last to have them here…And chemistry is rocking as expected. Music too goes according to numerology that is “Trio” Shanker Ehsaan Loy…No big surprises but “Senorita” sounds sweet while all others are good on screen. Screenplay is quick in the first while slows down in the second half, but is good enough to sustain the interest. One big disappointment is, there are neither too loud laughter’s nor the heartrending moments, But then the perfect timing between the 3 musketeers bonds the audience to the movie to make it cool one-time watch if not “Dobara”

Rating…

Will Slightly deviate from "3" factor ....and will love to go with "3 and Half" stars

  

180 Movie Review

After two debacles in the row, Siddardh comes back with new movie 180. This time he brings his mentor Jayendra as the director, while cuties Nithya menon and Priya Anand pair up with him. Let’s check out if luck favors this Lover boy.

Story(Slightly spoiler!! check before you read this section):  Mano (Siddardh) comes to Hyderabad for a short stay. Vidya (Nithya Menon), A press photographer is fascinated by happy going nature and cute antics of Manu. Their relationship turns into love quickly. But Manu who is diagnosed with a disease (No guesses what it is –obviously cancer) has just 180 days (6 months) to live. On top of it, Manu is already married to Renu (Priya Anand). So what’s the end to this tragic saga is left for your guesses!!

Actors:

Siddardh plays two shades … as a happy going guy in the first part and facing the agony in the second. He is very comfortable playing the first as that was always his comfort zone.

Priya Anand is one solid plus in the film. She excels in all ways…The way she mimics; her costumes and her own dubbed voice are all perfect. She should get some more films.

Nithya Menon seems to be a few film wonder. It’s just a half cute face with No heroine stuff. May be she playing girl falling damn easily for a boy and then running behind him for no reason still irritates us.

Old man who played Siddard’s house owner spills few laughs. Geetha plays his wife. Tanikella plays Priya Anand’s father. Siddard’s friend did decent act.

Everything in slow motion!!

The pain begins with the hero’s intro song where we see everything in not just dragging but killing slow motion. And movie follows the similar slow motion while revealing the two similar love plots one in Hyderabad and other in USA. Interval bang is placed without revealing much...by then the patience is lost. But a minute curiosity of whether your guesses about the twist to be revealed would be right or not still remains. But the later half though makes your guesses right but proves you wrong for choosing this film, thanks to the torturous twist that’s revealed.

 Few Songs in first half are just drum beats that are pictured even slowly especially the title song and a song that’ starts as “AJ Avo”. There’s a child labor episode, but it too lacks the realistic approach. While Love plots with no novelty wastes the first half, overdose of tragedy sinks the second.

Let me sum up few positives…

Balasubramaniam's Cinematography is first-class. But that needs patience to appraise it. Surely there are some good laughs here and there especially scenes with siddard’s house owner. And of course few accidental laughs that comes out of pain. I should tell you two songs “Nee Maatalo Mounam Nenenaa” excellently sung by Karthik and Swetha Menon is excellently pictured. Other song “Ninna leni vinthale choopene” is hummable. So overall music by Sharreth scores pass marks. And as I said, it’s Priya Anand that’s little saving grace. Dailogues by Umarji anuradha who penned for Ye Maaya chesaave has very little scope here. 

Final Say…

With the story that lacks no fresh point and with dragging screenplay...180 do not make a delightful watch. And now why the title 180…It takes your brain away to find that. I guess 108 should have been the apt one.

Rating…

Yeah...one more advantage of the title...It gives me the Rating = 1.80

Hollywood : Summer: X-Men-Hangover-KungFu-Pirates

Hope you guys are enjoying the summer at its best!! And this summer in Hollywood is growing excited week by week. Here’s a gist of coolest releases of early summer…

X-Men First class

Plot: This is the prequel to all X-Men series so far…where we see the origin of interesting characters of X-Men i.e.  Professor X was Charles (James McAvoy) and Magneto was Erik (Michael Fassbender) etc. How together the mutants with variety of skills prevent the World War to happen is interesting.

Goodies: Tightly woven screenplay, interesting story telling, cool performances by youngsters and above all excellent graphics make it the best installment of X-Men Series. One will be thrilled in the scenes where submarine is pulled out of sea, or Pulling back a ship with the giant anchor, Stopping millions of missiles with the Magnetic power…and what not..Everything the young mutants do is exciting and is must a delight to watch.

Rating: 4/5 Strong Go…

Kung Fu Panda -2

How can one just forget the sweet sluggishness of our dear Po? And now he is back in the sequel to save China and Kung fu from evil Lord Shen. In the process Po learns his past and realizes the inner peace. Check out how Kung fu can stop something that stops Kung fu!!

Goodies: With Jack Black dubbing for Po and Angelina Jolie dubbing for Tigress and Jackie Chan for Monkey, Kung Fu Panda 2 has sufficient dose of funny action sequences choreographed in streets of china. Frankly Second installment is not as endearing as the first part, but Po’s journey from being innocent to the winning hero who master’s inner peace with help of his friend’s the Furious Five has good chances of charming you again.

Rating: 3.25/5 Watch it at Leisure

Hangover-2

Plot: This time, our funny four Stu (Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Doug (Justin Bartha), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) head to Thailand to attend Stu’s wedding. That night, they sit over a campfire and have a beer and roasted marshmallows. And the next morning, they end up waking up in dirty hotel room in Bangkok along with Chinese gangster Chow. And the Adventurous tracking of “what happened Last Night” continues!!

What’s Good/Bad: Seriously the second installment just made in very similar fashion to encash the expectations set by the Original released 2009. This one though was not that rocking because of predictability, is still a great fun.  This time they are given company by chain smoking monkey, silent Buddhist monk, a trans-gender Prostitute and what not that keeps you engaged at its best.

Rating: 3/5  Alas!it’s a Copy of Original!!

Pirates Of Caribbean: Stranger Tides.

Captain Jack Sparrow(Johnny Depp) is back in the fourth installment, in an unexpected adventure to the “Fountain of Youth”. Joining him in the adventure are beautiful Angelica( Penelope Cruz) along with Hector Barbossa, Captain Teague and of course the entire bunch we see in the series.

Goodies: If I guess right, Half of the patrons of pirates have already lost the interest with the series while other half naturally jumps at every release. But trust me, “Stranger Tides” offers way much better than the preceding two parts. Uninvited joiners this time are mermaids,  where a lengthy action sequence where mermaids attack the pirates is mind-blowing. Then we had a romance blossoming between a trapped mermaid and a captive. Johnny Depp with the growing ease provides us more fun with his silly antics.

Rating: 3/5 Pirate Lovers should never miss it!!

That's the fun for now....See you soon!

Badrinath Movie Review

Ufff….Finally we reached the end of summer spree of movies with Badrinath that released this weekend. Badrinath which has stylish star Allu Arjun and Tamanna in the leads, and being produced by successful banner of Geeta Arts (Allu Arvind) and equally successful director VVVinayak carried enough expectations. But sometimes expectations turn out to be bigger spoilsports. Let’s see how?

Plot: Badrinath is chosen as a guardian to protect Badrinath temple by an old saint warrior Bheeshma Narayan (Prakash Raj).  Alakananda (Tamanna) who comes to the holy town Badrinath due to the threat from her maternal aunt falls in love with the hero. Now Badrinath has to choose between Alakananda’s love and his master’s faith on him?

Weakness List goes on!!

Let me list out the weaknesses of the cast and crew to explain what all went wrong…in a different style.

Ok....start with central character Badrinath. His weakness is his 10 Kilo sword he carries. When he holds that sword, he could easily pierce the bullets, cut off the limbs and arms of innumerous terrorists and factionists and even Chinese warriors.  But don’t dare to make him devoid of it, for he jumps on mountains and into rivers now, flexing his muscles.

Then comes Alakananda…beware don’t ever pronounce “Badrinath” in front of her, for there is high chance she could go into an irrelevant dream sequence. So her duty is to either scream at her enemies or get into dancing, the moment someone reminds her of Badrinath or if she feels the touch of her love.

And we have PrakashRaj if I figured him out correctly as he is fully covered by very odd white beard. His weakness is Kungfu and he does nothing except calling Badrinath now and then asking him to do some samurai stunts with his sword

The villain Kelli Dorji has a weakness of Helicopters…as he is rarely seen coming out of it and his wife has weakness of madly shouting at him.

Similar weak are comedy gang, Brahmanandam, MS and Krishna Baghwan who play tasteless sequel track to the comedy they did in Indra. Raghubabu had some handful of witty dialogues.

Now coming to crew!!

Biggest culprit among the crew is Story-writer Chinni Krishna who gets inspired by his own films Narasimhanaidu and Gangotri and ofcourse recent Shakti and even Indra. May be one can figure it out the reason easily as he has now become “Genius” with his weakness for TV anchor Omkar.

Then we have Vinayak bitten by Kungfu bug and thus cook this no-where plot with Gunasekhar’s style of costly background and Meher’s style of heartless making. 

Peter Heins had flying sickness I guess…as he never allowed our hero to be on the ground for the action sequences.

Allu Aravind’s weakness is his own success; he tasted with magnum-opus Magadheera. And he thus forcefully hands over the sword to his son and asks him to repeat the magic in an irrelevant plot set up in this contemporary period. 

Film has its Strengths by the way…

Allu Arjun really rocked with his stunning dance moments almost in every song. And one should appreciate his hard work put into toning his body to suit the warrior role. And Gorgeous Tamanna entertains us to the core and seriously she is one damn reason for her admirers to look at the movie.

Music by Keeravani is good for couple of songs…And I really liked the picturaization of all the songs. “Omkareswara” is beautifully choreographed giving justice to its lyrics.  “Nachuvaaraaa” is mouth watering rain song and “chiranjeeva chiranjeeva” pictured at lavish foreign locales. While “Ambadhari”,”Nath Nath” and “In the night” are shot indoor have rocking dance moments from Arjun.

I am sad and happy at the same time as my favorite number “Vasudhaara” is not used in the movie.

Art direction by Anand Sai and Cinematography of Ravi Varma offer grandeur and pleasantness. The sets are natural. Movie has some good Production values.

Finally I Conclude...

With nothing to offer with the story, Badrinath still can be watched at leisure for Allu Arjun and of course white beauty Tamanna. And for nice songs but alas they come hand in hand with annoying fights.

 Rating

I give it 2.5/5. So Half century for good things I mentioned.

Salman's Ready Movie Review

Salman Khan, after shaking the box-office last Christmas with “Dabangg” is back again with his new movie “Ready”. Nowadays he’s more inclined towards the South Indian hits…and now “Ready” too is the remake of a Telugu film with the same title. Aneez Bazmi directs this flick, while Asin pairs with Salman.

Plot:

Prem(Salman), a happy-go-lucky guy falls for Sanjana(Asin)  after few regular cat-mice fights between the couple. Sanjana is stuck between her greedy uncles who want her to marry their respective brother-in-laws to grab her property. How Prem manages to solve her problem by turning her uncle’s good with an intelligent game played with the help of Balidaan Bharadwaj(Paresh Rawal) is the entire movie about!

Sallu bhai Rocks…

Sallu goes with his lucky on-screen name “Prem Kapoor” and he’s got more time to romance his love and play around the house like in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun. He’s there in almost every scene, loud enough in his full form doing all sorts of nakras. It’s only Salman who can go to “Pee” on-screen and call“Pee-time” to declare the intermission, place his glasses to the back-collar to remind us of “Dabangg”…or not to say the least ..take off his shirt at the climax and ask the audience/Asin …”Mazaa ayaa kya..” and of course his repeating dialogue  "Life mein kabhi teen cheese ko underestimate mat karna I, Me And Myself". That’s Salman for his fans, he who holds up the film firmly till the end-titles scroll.

What about others…

Asin obviously is not Madhuri of HAHK, but she does her best to match the Prem. With not much to play, she convincingly does her role.

Paresh Rawal does a decent job, if not dominated by Salman. Huge supporting cast comprising Mahesh Manjrekar, Paresh Rawal, Sharat Saxena, Akhilendra Mishra, Aarya Babbar, Puneet Issar, and Manoj Joshi did well too.

But seriously a good female casting is missing opposite them…Likes of Kiron Kher or Fareeda Jalal would have been effective…

Luckily audiences have an item number and a cameo by Zareen Khan. AjayDevgan, Sanjay dutt, Arbaaz khan and Kangana Ranauth make a brief appearance in the beginning. So don’t be late to theatres as they vanish within first 15 min!

Dhinka chaka ….Dhinka Chaka ..

Other cool stuff in the movie are the songs…”Dhink Chaka..Dhink chakaa” composed by Devi Sri Prasad, which topped chartbusters in last month is very good on-screen too. Then we have “Character Deela” with Salman dancing with his Katrina’s look alike Zareen Khan.”Humko Pyaar hua” is soothing one.Pritam composes them

Direction and Screenplay…

Director Aneez Bazmi deviates a bit in first half to suit Salman’s stature and age of course. That leaves few blind spaces in between and Love angle of the lead pair is not much established. He sticks to the original in second half mostly, tackles the huge cast efficiently without much confusion. He gives enough space to funny one-liners to rejoice the audience in frequent intervals. But he comes up with an idiotically extended climax far from the original. And Emotions take back seat which does some damage. So overall he scores just pass marks

Let’s compare with the original(This section for Telugu friends…)

“Ready” in Telugu has budding star Ram as hero. So it’s more of story that is aptly supported by the good cast. And ace comedian Brahmanandam who plays the crucial role lifts the original to the next level, similar role played by Paresh Rawal in Hindi version is not that great as Salman takes over all the control here. So among those who saw the original, only Salman fans would like this Hindi version. Zareen and Ajay plays the cameo played by Tamanna and Navdeep in original.

Final Say

Huge but not so attractive cast, lack of depth in emotions or love scenes, few dull moments will definitely drag it badly from it becoming other “Hum Aapke Hain Kaun”. Nevertheless it is Salman’s omnipresence and chartbuster tracks and decent storyline that will help it sail the Box-office safely.

Rating

I go with 3 stars…And Thanks to Salman’s craze post “Dabangg”, it will be a hit if not a block-buster.