Work and Worship!!

Hi Friends... This last day of this year, Let me share something I came across which sounded interesting and at the same time thought provoking!! It is related to the Work and Worship…

We all know that sage Narada is a great devotee of Lord Vishnu and he chants restlessly the name of the Lord “Narayana…! Narayana…!” Narada was in pride that he is the greatest devotee of Vishnu in this entire universe. Lord Sri Hari having realized his inner thought called Narada and told “Narada…you please go to a particular village and meet my devotee over there…And you know he is my true devotee!” Narada couldn’t believe this, so went on to meet the person suggested by the Lord to just disprove the fact.

The Person, the Lord Vishnu suggested is a poor peasant. Daily when he wakes up he chants the name of “Vishnu” and starts his work. All the day long, he is so busy in his work sowing seeds…farming his land etc. He comes home tired, spends some time with family. Before he goes to sleep, he chants the name of “Vishnu” and ends his day. Narada returns back and complains to Vishnu “O Lord, I chant thousand times your name daily and how can I be comparable with that farmer over there who takes your name just twice”

Lord Vishnu smiles and hands a bowl filled with Oil to Narada...and asks him with a smile “Narada…!! A small test for you!! Take this bowl of oil and make a complete round around Vaikuntam and remember that not even single drop should spill from it”.

Narada takes up the challenge and completes the task successfully. Now Vishnu asks him “Dear Narada, now tell me how many times you chanted my name while going around Vaikuntam this time”.

Narada Replied “Come on Lord…I was so tensed not to spill even a drop of oil…So I did not get a chance to chant your name”

Lord Vishnu answers him “See Narada…this small bowl of oil diverted your attention away from me…Now look at the farmer, who in spite of bearing the burden of his family, he chants my name twice…” Narada realizes the truth and discards the pride he had a moment before. It is the work we do with utmost respect that makes us closer to the lord and not anything else. No matter call the divine by any name…Allah, Rama or Jesus, Just remember to chant the name of the divine once a day and you are there in his heart forever!

This is the story told by Sri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa!

Thanks a lot, friends for your continuous support and encouragement all this year for the blog!!

Wish you all a prosperous and happy new year …Wish all the success in 2011 and in new decade to start!!

Ragada Review

December might be chilling cool for everyone out there…But there’s one cool person who promises us the best this month. Yuva Samrat Nagarjuna always delivered the best in form of Manmadhudu, Mass and King in December and now he is with us with his new flick ’Ragada’ . Ragada is produced by his loyal friend Siva Prasad Reddy (Kamakshi films) and this is second venture for ‘’Bindaas” director Veeru Potla, While the queens who shared the screen with the King are Anushka and Priyamani…

Plot (Not a Spoiler): Satya who hails from Kadapa enters Hyderabad city. A person with daring nature, cool attitude has mission of earning a big amount for a noble cause and revenge behind it.

How he tackles the goons in the city while accomplishing his goal? How does these two sexy girls become part of his plan and what’s the story behind this man is all the Ragada about!!

Actors

Nagarjuna… Surprise this man is a wine who gets younger and romantic with age. He is as charming as he was in Santosham almost a decade ago. And he is the best in all the emotions...be it a comedy, action or sentiment, He has shown us all. He used Rayalaseema slang…and it worked well. Overall he is again at his best, No doubt. Fights and dances are in style!

Both the girls Anushka and Priyamani are damn good in this flick. They fitted their roles perfectly. Their costumes are decent and at the same time oozed required glamour. While Anushka is seen as clever and arrogant girl, Priyamani is seen as village girl and both obviously fall for our hero. But there’s a twist and director should be appreciated for cleverly utilizing them in the plot!

Charmi sizzles in intro song…

Brahmanandam strikes the chord this time…His entrance is hilarious (Funny Jail escapade)… This role of he going behind the heroine is not fresh but the scenes here are fresh enough to evoke laughter. Dharmavarapu and Master Bharath are good.

Then there are whole set of Gangsters including Pradeep Rawath, Kota, Tanikella Bharani, Dev Gill (Magadheera fame), Supreeth(Chatrapathi), Shravan etc. Kudos to the director who effectively uses all of them. While Kota and Tanikella are given the roles that require seniority, Youngsters like Supreeth, Shravan, and Dev are seen as Machos.

Good Direction and excellent dialogues

Veeru potla who managed a decent hit with Manoj got a large canvas directing Nagarjuna. And he fully utilized it even crossing the second debacle. He told a simple story with gripping screenplay revealing the plot wherever necessary. And he has given good importance to each character including the heroines.

Dialogues are great. Good ones are Nag saying “ooru kadapa…Kalisostey Cheruku gada…Kaaadantey Ragada”. And the one where Tanikella explains about the small dip below the nose. Whether it be Nag’s Rayalaseema dialect or Brahmi’s antics all were in sync.

Other Departments…

Thaman as we know is new wave in Tollywood music. Though he do not provide evergreen tunes, he is lucky enough to provide music to good flicks this year. Four songs…intro Song, Ragada Ragada and songs on heroine’s names...Astalakhmi (Priyamani) and Sirisha (Anushka) are adequate. Songs are placed very well and are colorful. Last song could be trimmed off.

Sarvesh Murari is very good in camera work. Although many Action sequences,each is different one. Production values are great.

Drawbacks…

Theme is not really innovative…We have seen a similar plot in Mass...Where hero comes to city on a mission. And Priyamani’s Brahmin family irritates us for a while with repetitive noise.

Also at times...there is too much blah blah for Nag..especially in intro. There are few jerks in first 20 min in second half. First half is better than the second as latter drags a bit.And Climax falls flat. Actually it would have ended in a jovial note rather than placing “The End” on action sequence. And once all is revealed we feel we are done.

Final Say…

A regular commercial cinema that gives the feel of a Full meal. Watch it for Nag and Glamour. Lighter you take…the more you like it. Decent movie.

Rating

3.25/5

Nagavalli Review

Nagavalli a sequel to super hit Chandramukhi starring Victory Venkatesh and directed by P.Vasu released this weekend promising us lots of thrill and loads of glamour as delivered by the Rajnikanth starrer…Lets check out how far the movie met with the expectations….

Plot: Chandramukhi’s portrait which caused the havoc in the first part this time reaches a mansion in Tirupathi. The master (SarathBabu) of the house has three daughters namely Gayathri, Geetha and Gowri… Things go wrong from the day the portrait is brought to house. A Psychiatrist Vijay is called for, to identify who among the three girls were affected by Chandramukhi’s spirit!!

Actors:

Venkatesh celebrates his 25 years in the Tollywood with this film…And it is in fact a daring move by our Venki to step in the shoes of Superstar. Venkatesh has donned two characters of a Psychiatrist and King and there’s a surprise get up as 130 year old man (the King himself). The First role is an ease to our victory star….and he is perfect. Sometimes imitates Rajni saying “Chumma” and pays respects...So humble he is! As a King, It’s a different one…A great treat to his fans. And as an old man…Oh its surprise taken to next level. But the role was made laugh riot at the climax with it being too far from reality where in Venki just Runs and dances faster than the thunderbolt!!

And the heroines lit the screen with loads of glamour…

Kamilini Mukherjee as elder daughter Gayathri has got a chance of showcasing her dancing skills…She is great as a dancer and a mentally handicapped one. Great going “Godavari” girl!!

SraddhaDas as Geetha is a total surprise…She is cool as mysterious and arrogant girl. Wish she chooses this kind of meatier roles in future…

Richa Gangopadhyay (Leader fame) as Gowri too has got a milestone and she was brilliant…Long way to go Richa…Big Kudos!

And we have our Sweety Anushka donning Nagavalli, a royal dancer in the past. She looks stunningly great thanks to the costumes by Rama Rajamouli. But she disappoints us while dancing. An avid classical dancer is needed for this role! And don’t ever ask about the boy who played her love interest. Anushka is more like his aunt rather than lover. Vineeth in Chandramukhi is so nice in such role!!

Avinash who is seen as Tantrik in Chandramukhi continued the good work here…

Brahmanandam is not only wasted but sucks for big time…blame the director and beware he might be hero in 3rd part. Dharmavarapu is ok…check out the hilarious bathroom scene. SarathBabu, Prabha, Raksha etc were adequate

Call it Remake of Chandramukhi rather than a Sequel…!!

Chandramukhi has roots from Manichitrathazu for which Sobhana received national award for her superb performance. So in a way the Original has a strong base and it worked great with Soundarya and Jyothika fantastically in Kannada and Telugu respectively. But this one Nagavalli is just cooked by Vasu keeping side the Original. It just goes in similar pattern, screenplay and style. Had been Chandramukhi remade then by Venkatesh, It would have been the same.

First half introduces us to all the mysterious characters of the house…And then we have repetitive events of day and night where in, during the day the girls in the house try to woo our Venky…and in the Night Venki runs around to find the spirit of Chandramukhi…And our Brahmi tortures us in between!!

Second half is little better where in things move little faster. There was some good debate between science and myth and way the things get unfolded is interesting. And the Flashback episode is just fine. Pre-climax where Chandramukhi is revealed is the best part. But the Climax again is big laugh game for different reasons.

Good and Bad….

Good things are Venkatesh in 3 different roles…Not sure everyone appreciates all three…but he should be appreciated for trying different! Then the girls won’t disappoint you…nice to watch them move stylishly here and there as in fashion parade advertising for Kalamandir and at times performing!! Graphic’s are good enough but could have been lot better… coz they look artificial many times. Art is good.

Bad things …No novelty and flashback episode should have been richer .Forget to tell horrible songs! More than the Chandramukhi, Music director Gurukiran and the director Vasu threaten us for planning such sickening songs. And Climax though bad is fun for us to walk out smiling!!

Final Say…

Well all said…Nagavalli is not brilliant but at least serves as an average thriller…Venkatesh fans will have a great treat. It’s been six years we saw Chandramukhi…So no offense in trying this if you seek time pass…

Rating:

2.75/5 …Nagavalli might make producers safe for good campaign and the craze for the franchise

Raktha Charithra-2 Review

Raktha charithra….Yes finally RamGopalVarma has overcame his controversies this time and really enjoyed the success with the first part of the film. And now Surya playing the lead role in sequel, RGV promised us the same excitement in store for the part-2…

This time I shall be brief

Plot: As many know, while first part deals with Pratap Ravi’s rise to power, Second one deals with his demise in hands of his biggest enemy Surya, son of Narasimha Reddy who is killed by Pratap eventually.

Actors…

Surya : No doubt …It is he, the USP of this sequel. What a dedication and insight he took in his role. His eyes speak tons and he will convince us in all shades of the role whether it is anger, misery, frustration or joy. Check out all the scenes.whether it be Car blast scene, or TV blast, Court scene,Jail Fight or Climax in Jail, every scene is fantastic And look at his physique…that’s his conviction to his character…Next best to Ghajini , one can say!

Vivek Oberoi: Though he excelled in first part….he is much dominated by Surya this time..But he delivered his best and brought the completeness to Pratap Ravi’s character…

Priyamani joined the team as Surya’s wife Bhavani…she is great in sarees and obviously full marks to this national award winner.

Sudeep …Kannada actor as DCP has meatier role in this one. Subalekha Sudhakar and Radhika Apte are adequate.

Not as great as the First Part….

Yeah…the first part is more natural…more characters …more racy and thus liked by everyone…But in second venture there is not much to say except the rivalry between two characters…

With limited characters, RGV tested our patience with lot of slow motion action sequences…Problem is there is no suspense for audience as movie is based on real life incidents and there is no point in dragging the scenes…

And coming to relevance, this is utter disappointment for those who watched for relevant history…as movie deviates atleast by 60%...

Movie as such has content for just 1 hour.

Watch it for Surya…

Surya is one obvious reason to watch this flick. People who like him should never miss it.

Secondly those who have seen first part can give it a try to get the complete feeling…

Few Dialogues are good…like Surya telling “Chaavantey naaku bayam ledu…kaani satruvu ni champa kunda chastaanani bhayam..”

Back ground score is awesome, but songs are not great…except for scrolling title song at the end “Kattulatho saavasam”.

There are three action sequences and they are just ok as they were in slow motion...And justifying the title, there is little bloodshed too.

Final Say…

Not really a flick that's worth the wait of 2 months after the first one…Give it a miss and wait for DVD or try based on your leisure…just for Surya!!

Rating

2.5/5

Orange Movie Review

Orange has more than a reason to make us wait …Firstly because Ram Charan has chosen a completely different path by opting for a full length love story after stupendous success ‘Magadheera’. Secondly Movie being directed by Bhasker who earlier touched sensible story lines, like Bommarillu and Parugu. Above all it is Harris Jairaj tunes that are real magic that serve as a big driving force.

Let us check out the range of Orange….

Plot: Ram is a one lucky go crazy youngster. He believes that love stays sweet only for short time and has no faith in long term relation. Thus he keeps on switching his love interests. Ram once falls for a confused girl Jaanu (Genelia) who is more childish by nature. Now it’s clash between Jaanu’s desire of having secure and lifelong relation and Ram’s belief in short and sweet love relation

Movie entirely goes with this argument whether Love between a pair exists throughout the life!!

Actors:

Ram Charan Tej comes up with super cool Casanova look. He looks handsome and reasonable share of credit should be given to the styling section. Again this is not an easy role to essay and Charan excelled in his character. It flows in the lines of Allu Arjun’s Aarya way, and I felt Charan is still little behind his cousin in terms of ease. Seriously no great dance moves though they are reasonable…he disappoints the mass audience for sure. But no regrets he has long way to go and one should appreciate for he opted for a change.

Genelia…really looked cute in the promos and the stills…but on screen she is not great. And lesser we talk is better about her creepy acts and her dubbing in first half hour. She giggles…screams for no reason only just to repeat the Bommarillu act. But she is far away and over all she disappoints though she looks good in few scenes.

Shazahn Padamsee who is seen with Ranbir in Rocket Singh looks cute in her brief appearance in second half. She is a heroine stuff and is capable of gaining few more offers

Brahmanandam as Puppy who loves love stories but then hates love stories is not that fun...there are few scenes he could entertain us just by his mere presence.Vennela Kishore, Asta chemma’s Srinivas and other friend of Ramcharan are just ok.Happy days girl (Appu) Gayathri appears here.

Prabhu acted as genelia’s dad and his hair color sucks….

Manjula and her husband are seen as Ram charan’s sister and bro-in-law. They are not great and so is Prakash Raj who is utterly wasted.

Nagababu though nothing much to do plays crucial part.

Movie flow…

“Can we ever find an Everlasting love…?” This is the debate Bhasker has raised as a theme for this colorful flick. It takes at least 20 minutes for the audience to actually settle down, thanks to the Genelia’s screaming childish acts. Anyways as Ram Charan looks cool and confident, things go little smooth. First half goes in reasonable pace…one would love the sky-diving, Encounter with the Lion, Some cool fun episodes between Brahmanandam and Genelia. And at the same time, Story as such never moves in inch as entire first half is hero convincing the girl about his distinct ideas like that of Aarya’s one-side love.

Thus First half erases the Post Magadheera effect completely and makes us sit through same unending debate of true love. So things move dead slowly and no surprises for climax even. Yes there are some real good scenes …where Ramcharan challenges to face the truth&dare in Pub (remember a Q&A round in playground in Arya); Ram imitates Gennie of her creepy acts(good act), Also a best love track with Rooba Rooba song on Shahzan in his flashback. With more of talk and with direction loosing the grip with confused theme and no goal makes the flick just little appealing to the class audience, just forget about the rural audience.

Harris Jairaj rocks….

It is undoubtedly unanimous that Music Rocks…And yeah picturization of songs is good. “Sydney Nagaram “ Rocks…”Nenu nuvvantoo” is cool…”Rooba Rooba “ is awesome…Other 3 “Hello rammantey” “chilipiga” “O Range love” are just ok.

Cinematography exploring plush locations of Australia is cool…Dialogues are just ok. At times they confuse the public.

Far behind Bommarillu!!

Bhasker is one director who can be shortlisted among the best for his Bommarillu…He has depicted the conflict between the two generations in his earlier flicks…And this time he picks up the point of love that diminishes with time and thus leading to divorces!! But he has not really showed that conviction. All Narration is wasted in hero running behind the heroine.

It would have been good if there is a cool love track between Gennie and Ramcharan and Hero reveals his belief as interval bang. And especially movie ends in a way that no proper goal is achieved…more stress on last hour of the movie would have added value

Final Say…

It is Songs and locations that appeals commonly to everyone…It has some serious debate on love…where in the graph moves up and down….at parts convincing, at times boring…at times funny…but not any time heart-touching…Watch it if you don’t afford to miss it…for Ram Charan

Rating:

2.75/5

Guzaarish Movie Review

Sanjay Leela Bhansali…Hrithik Roshan…Aishwarya Rai. I cannot imagine a perfect blend than this trio at least for a moment I heard it for the first time. And the result…The “Guzaarish” is out. It’s a quick third for Aishwarya and a faster one for Hrithik this year…

Let’s check out how far Bhansali has succeeded in this “Black” “magic”…

Plot: Ethan (Hrithik) was a great magician in past who then is paralyzed due to an accident during one of his magical shows. He had to confine himself to his bed for 14 years. Sophia (Aishwarya), a nurse by profession takes care of his entire needs. Ethan also runs a Radio show “Radio Zindagi” and inspires many lives.

As his health condition weakens further, Ethan files a petition for mercy killing! This decision of his comes as a surprise and is opposed by the court and his kith and kin. Whether is request “Guzaarish” to end his painful life is accepted or not? is the entire movie about

Outstanding performances:

Hrithik Roshan: It’s a daring stunt for an energetic dancer like him to play a role that is confined to a wheel chair…And Hrithik no doubt delivered his fullest efforts to make us believe in Ethan. It would have been real wrong decision if the movie had taken years to wrap up, but thanks for things moved faster. Of course few glances of magical shows depicting his glorious past are the real feast compared to his agony…

Aishwarya Rai: World’s once most beautiful lady clad in black uniform throughout, May be it is only possible for Aish to pull it off the role of Sophia with elegance. She is honest …she is subtle. She understands Sophia to the core. It’s not a surprise if she takes more brownie points with this movie…because after all it’s her life that’s been sacrificed for someone she adores.

Aditya Roy Kapoor who is last seen with Aish in “Action Replay” played Omar Siddique who learns magic from Ethan. Welcome this promising lad for he is to stay for long with us with cool acts.

Shernaz Patel as Devyani, Ethan’s friend and Lawyer is best as friend and worst as Lawyer as he quotes in climax.

Suhel Seth as the doctor and Nafisa Ali as Ethan’s mother leaves their mark.

Pain is really not felt…!!

Yes we are prepared for the plot, fully tuned our mindset to bear some sob saga for two hours looking at the teasers for the sake of performances. Firstly one would wonder why Bhansali should take a paining task of confining an avid dancer with lightening speed in a wheel chair and a beautiful lady in black uniform (I wonder is that the uniform of a nurse, she could at least try some other colors often at least when she goes to court and later dances in the bar). Had it been great and commercially viable, if the director had chosen some lively theme utilizing the strengths and charm of the lead pair?

Secondly one could barely connect with the entire set up… There are hardly handful of sets that make the movie more like a stage play. And the court scenes, we wonder why the two lawyers often bark at the judge so much that someone is killing them in the name of euthanasia…

With stretched theme throughout and slow narration at times and jumbling the proceedings at the end with the return of Sophia’s husband, the real pain of the Ethan is not felt but a pain of we struck in our seat in the theatre is felt in between.

Brownie points by the way…

That’s gist of performances and pain together, nevertheless there are sparks all over…I loved the touching scenes here and there…like When Ethan explains his first trick to bring a smile on his mother’s face…When Ethan combats with rain drops from leaking roof, Ethan’s gift to Omar on his completion of course… etc

And the chemistry of Aish-Hrithik still speaks tons and it is admirable of a believable love story between the couple that is never near to the imagination if not them!!

Glances of Ethan’s magical performances where he rocks the dance floor along with his ex-assistant played by Moni Kongana Dutta are a delight and I loved the climax for it is only colorful event throughout.

Two songs that are simply great are “Sau gram Zindagi” which is lyrically richer too and “Tera Zikr Hai ya Itra hai” fantastically shot. And excellent background score that helps the audience to indulge in the movie. Full marks to the musician in Bhansali himself!!

Final Say…

Guzaarish by its genre seeks the compromise from the audience in terms of entertainment. Do watch it only if you love Aish-Hrithik together no matter they amuse you or not. And you might end up liking it for the good things mentioned. Not in mood for misery, Skip it for Harry Potter….

Rating:

3/5

Kalyanram Kathi Movie Review

KalyanRam has done it real big long back with “Athanokkade”. And till date that’s his best. But nevertheless he tries to deliver cool movies from his home banner NTR Arts to hit the bull’s eye again. His Latest venture Kathi is in the town, Thanks to the title controversy that has provided little publicity…

Here’s something...about the movie…

Plot: Rama Krishna (KalyanRam) is aspiring foot ball player. He is happy going guy with nice family comprising two elder brothers and naughty younger sister Haritha (Saranya Mohan). Everything goes cool until when Haritha falls in love with Krishna Mohan (Shaam) who hails from Factionist background.

She is in big trouble marrying him and now it’s her brother’s turn to protect her…!!

Actors:

KalyanRam is perfect to his role. He has gained that ease. He’s good in action sequences and tried few new things in dance. But he still needs to polish his skills and to be slow in dialogue especially to reach the mass audience. Especially he needs to concentrate on costumes and hair style…Just have a look at NTR in Brindavanam how cool he looks…And I don’t agree having beard appeals to mass …Senior NTR never had a beard but has huge mass following

SaranyaMohan got the right slot. She is complete…She is cute in sarees. She dons her role so naturally with her innocent looks.

Sana Khan as heroine has limited screen presence. She looks good and her role though short is designed well as she gives support to the hero in much needed time.

Shaam looks cool. He suited well the role he played.

Kota shines in new get-up. Chandramohan, AhutiPrasad, Telangana Sakuntala, Jhansi etc did their job. Ajay as sham’s brother is nothing new.

Brahmanandam and Dharmavarapu had few decent laughs….

Plot and Screen Play are nice…

First half moves with typical joint family setup which we see in every alternate movie these days. Entire family set up seems little filmy . But the bond between the hero and his sister is build very well with few encounters of hero with auto drivers, politician etc to fix the pranks done by his sister. This bonding fills the first half with light fun and is tolerable.

Interval bang is great. Shaam’s character holds some interest pre-interval before it is revealed in second half. Second half shifts to Rayalaseema. Movie thereon is just in one house with bits and tits of sentiment, comedy, action and good narration that completes the film in good way

Direction should have been better

Though plot is good enough, Director Mallikarjun has misused the opportunity to some extent. There is ample scope for comedy in first half but with director having no ease, entire narration looked flat and artificial. Interval bang is great which creates ample expectations on second half with suspense surrounding sham’s character.

He picks up for better in second half. But in later half too there are neither enough comedy punches nor sufficient scope for sentiment where your eyes become wet. But as screen time is 1 hour, he manages decently with help of good actors like Kota, Brahmanandam etc. The movie I feel has shades of Arjun (MaheshBabu and Keerthireddy playing siblings).

Technically good effort!!

Manisharma is regular…Though songs are just adequate; ‘Jai Jai Ram’ and “Naatu Kodi Koora” are appealing on screen. Background score is appealing.

Dialogues by Ratnam are just passable with few sparkles here and there. Action sequences score 50-50. Actually there is no feel of Rayalaseema faction…and the little bloodshed shown is also not appealing.

Cinematography by Sarvesh Murari and Art etc are all in sync.

Final Say:

Kathi is regular family entertainer. It’s neat and good enough. Do watch it if you are looking for weekend time-pass. Don’t expect beyond the director’s capabilities….

Rating:

2.5/5