Banner:	Sivani Sivathmika Movies
Cast:	Rajasekhar, Sanjana and others
Direction:	Jeevitha Rajasekhar
Production:	Sivani Sivathmika
Music:	S Chinna

olice stories have been fascinating Telugu audience since a long time. For Dr. Rajasekhar, ‘Ankusham’ was a milestone in his career which paved for many more films with a similar theme in the industry. In the line of films like 'Evadaithe Nakenti', 'Gorintaku', ‘Sathyameva Jayathe’ is the latest addition in Rajasekhar’s police films list.

Directed by Jeevitha Rajasekhar and produced on Sivani Sivathmika Movies banner, 'Sathyameva Jayathe' is all about the power and selfless thinking of a sincere police officer who wipes out the lawlessness in civil establishment. Here goes a concise review on the pros and cons of the film.

Story

An orphan boy from a compassionate orphanage grows with good deeds into a respectable and sincere police officer Satya DCP (Rajasekhar). Known for his merciless encounters in the department, he stands as proof for wiping out criminals and establishing peace in the society. Happily married to his love Sanjana, Satya continues his duty until he concurs against the assassination aimed at Chief Minister (M. Satyanarayana Rao) by a group of militants led by Ran Dev (Milind Soman).

He rescues the Chief Minister and sends Ran behind bars. In turn, Ran’s men murder Satya’s pregnant wife and his relatives. The enraged terrorists also execute a blast in the premises as a vengeance act to hide their bad ordeals. Terming Dr. Irfan Ansari (Athul Kulkarni) as the man behind the attack, he gets shifted to Vizag Jail. CM calls for Satya and entrusts him with the job to bring in Irfan from Vizag and produce him in the court.

Accompanied by Prathap (Shivaji), Pandu (Sai Kiran), Basara Papa (Neethu Chandra), Satthi (Sivareddy), Satya begins his mission to nab the real culprits. While bringing in the framed criminal Dr. Irfan, police commissioner (Ahuti Prasad) in association with Home Minister (Shayaji Shinder), the think tank people behind the terrorist Ran make plans to execute Satya and Irfran at one go.

How Satya breaks the plans and remove the masked illegal people behind the plot forms the crux.

Performance of Cast

Rajasekhar's performance eventhough clichéd it good as it was in his earlier super hits 'Ankusham', 'Agraham' and 'Magadu'. As his role in family dramas and romantic plots didn’t work out, he has reverted back to what he does best. He fits perfectly into the role of an honest police officer fighting for justice. However, if some changes were made in the story and characterization it would have been a better watch.

Neethu Chandra who performed neatly in 'Godavari' as a native Telugu girl, is limited here as a glamour girl just as a glam prop. Even the dialogues designed for her character are not up to the mark with an average scope.

This is the second film for Sanjana after 'Bujjigadu'. She appears for a very short time on screen and doesn’t have enough space to perform.

Sheril Pinto who had come from Tamil to Telugu industry is in a similar position although she goes a step ahead of Neethu Chandra in her riveting costumes. Both Neethu and Sheril are in tough contention to put up a skin show but not for acting at any cost.

The real life congress leader M.Satyanarayana Rao performed naturally well as the Chief Minister. SivaReddy's dubbing did not synchronize at certain instances. Milind Soman as RanDev, Athul kulkarni as Ansari, Sayaji Shinde as Home Minister AnandaRao, Brahmanandam as Thyagaraju and Ali's performance are plus points for the film.

Shivaji, Saikiran, SivaReddy, Ahuthi Prasad have done their portions well with in the scope of their roles.

Work of the Crew

The re-recording and music composed by Chinna is neither outstanding nor bad. Songs are placed at wrong instances with some average tunes. Mani Vasagan's cinematography lacks quality and presentation. Rajasekhar has done a good screenplay which carries the script forward. Nandamuri Hari's editing is neat and doesn’t lag much. Writer Mohan has rendered most of the dialogues which conveys double meanings and makes us feel uneasy. Horseman Babu's work is one of the important additions, who have lent his part by blasting some of the cars and choreographing some good fight scenes.

Director’s Portrayal

Jeevitha Rajasekhar cannot bargain complete credit for making ‘Satyameva Jayathe’ as it is bits and pieces of her but the story was borrowed from the Bollywood ‘Khakee’ starring Amitabh Bachchan. She did a good work in her directorial venture ‘Seshu’, a remake of Bala’s ‘Sethu’ with Vikram. This time around she has altered the scenes and script a bit to suit Telugu nativity. Rajasekhar in his screenplay and Jeevitha in direction have targeted the movie towards the mass crowd without divulging to satisfy the family audience. On the whole, her work is fine and directorial part of the film is good if not excellent.

Criticism

‘Satyameva Jayathe’ is a comeback for Rajasekhar’s clichéd style of efficient and honest policemen. Family drama is not his piece of cake, so as a safe bet he came back to his role of an angry young man. But, still he didn’t have a complete makeover. At certain instance, he tried to pull in romantic and sentimental emotions which pass off meagerly. Film goers with an expectation of Rajasekhar’s old angry man style will feel rejected; so will be the family crowd too. In an attempt to appease both the mass and class crowd, Jeevitha made ‘Satyameva Jayathe’ as a mass commercial action entertainer which might turn as an average grosser at the box office.

Verdict: A balancing act to appease everyone which succeeds partially

Released on: 13th February

Punchline: superstar meets humble barber Banner: Red Chillies Entertainment Genre: Drama Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Irfan Khan & Lara Dutta Music: Pritam Background music: Sandeep Chowta Cinematography: V Manikanandan Editor: Arun Kumar Dialogues: Manisha Korde Screenplay: Priyadarshan & Mushtaq Sheikh Direction: Priyadarshan Producers: Gauri Khan Release date: 13 Feb 2009

Review

Story Billu (Irfan Khan) is a humble barber from a remote village in Northern India. Sahir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) is a bollywood superstar. The unit of Sahir Khan's latest film visits the village of Billu for a long schedule. The village men find out that Sahir Khan is the childhood friend of Billu and go to Billu to take them to meet Sahir. Being a shy and honest guy, Billu fears that Sahir might have become materialistic and forgot all the good times they had together as youth. The rest of the story is all about whether Sahir remembers Billu or not. Actors: Irfan Khan is excellent as Billu – an honest human being. Shahrukh Khan plays a role that is close to his real life and he brings in much desired glamour. Lara Dutta is adequate as poor housewife. However, her sophisticated looks do dominate the simplicity and naivety needed for such a role. Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone did item songs in this film. Deepika Padukone is absolutely hot. The regulars of Priyadarshan movies – Rajpal Yadav, Asrani, Om Puri, Manoj Joshi are also present. Technical departments: Story: Billu Barber is a remake of Malayalam blockbuster which was remade into Telugu (Kathanayakudu) and Tamil (Kuselan). The story is based on the relationship of Lord Srikrishna and his poor friend Kuchela. Direction of the film is just average. Screenplay should have been better. The moment Billoo communicates with Sahir, the movie would be over. The entire film is woven using a screenplay that avoids the meeting of these two people till climax. The events used for that purpose should have been more gripping. Another disturbing thing about the film is the unnecessary scenes and songs involving Shahrukh Khan. Priyadarshan criticized the screenplay of Kuselan saying that too much of importance is given to Rajnikant in Telugu/Tamil versions. But Priyadardhan too didn't do any better in Hindi version. The trademark Priyadarshan comedy is missing in this film. The only honest moment I saw in this movie was Irfan Khan's reaction when his wife doubts him if he knows the superstar. Other technical departments: Music by Pritam is mediocre with heard-before tunes. Dialogues are adequate. Photography of the film is excellent. The locations used for this film are extraordinary with water falls, hills and lots of greenery. Art direction is very good. Dialogues are neat. Editing should have been crisper. Analysis: This movie belongs to Irfan Khan. Being a star and the producer Shahrukh Khan, he took more footage than necessary in the film. All the scenes involving Irfan Khan look natural and scenes of Shahrukh Khan are artificial. The climax of the film is heart-touching as it deals with humanity and friendship. It is becoming routine to have 3-4 heroines to come and dance in Sharukh Khan movies (Om Shanti Om, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Billu Barber). On a whole, Billu Barber disappoints as it is neither a commercial film nor an art film.

Movie: Siddham
My Rating: 3/5
Banner: Shreya Productions
Music: Amar Mohale
Cinematography: Bharani K Dharan
Screenplay, Stunts $ Direction: JD Chakri
Editing: Bhanodaya
Producer: Kiran Kumar Koneru
Cast: Jagapati Babu, Sindhu Menon, Kota Prasad, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Subbaraju, Narsing Yadav, Siva Prasad etc
Release Date: 12th Feb 2009

Review

Story

Daya (Jagapati Babu) is a sincere cop and an encounter specialist. He handles his job professionally and does not hold anything personal. Salim (Kota Prasad) is his assistant who is greedy about increasing the encounters count so that he could get more publicity from the media. The city commissioner (Kota) is retired and a new commissioner takes the charge. The new commissioner has his own agenda and he discourages Daya from performing his duty in fair manner. The rest of the story is all about how Daya takes law into his hands and cleans up the mafia gang in his own indomitable style.

Artists Performance:

Jagapati Babu: Though this character is donned by Nana Patekar in Hindi, Jagapati Babu made sure that he interprets the character well enough to give it his own shape with subtle yet strong body language. You will see a new Jagapati Babu in this film and these kinds of characters give actors immense job satisfaction.

Kota Prasad (son of Kota Sreenivasa Rao) did a fine role in this film and he has it in him to become a fine actor if he chooses the roles well. His work in this film is very good. Sindhu Menon is adequate as the housewife. Kota Srinivasa Rao is perfect as a retired commissioner who supports hero. It is a different role for Narsing Yadav. The guy who did the role of Akhil is competent. Subbaraju did a small yet significant role. Mukul Dev did the role of Dubai based mafia don.

Technical Departments:

This film is a remake of Hindi film 'Ab Tak Chappan'. Hence the story and screenplay is adapted from the original. Most of shot compositions are also similar. But it is very difficult to create a soul in such a serious film without any commercial padding. As a director JD Chakri succeeded in narrating the film in an interesting way. He created a constant tone to the film and did not miss it throughout the film. Though he handled the film efficiently, we could see the tempo of the film going down for 15 minutes before the climax and 15 minutes before the interval. He did not show the scene of hero being captured by cops in a proper way towards climax.

Background music is nice and it is mostly taken from the tracks of Ab Tak Chappan background music. Cinematography by Bharani K Dharan is good. However, the director has used some footage from Ab Tak Chappan film for Mumbai dock episode. Dialogues of the film are realistic. But you need to carefully follow the dialogues because the there is no cinematic dramatization in the modulation and delivery of dialogues. Like in Hindi mafia flicks, this film too has many curse words. Editing is adequate. Producer Kiran should be appreciated for making such a serious film sans any commercial elements.

Final Analysis:

Siddham is a remake of Hindi film Ab Tak Chappan. The commercial elements in this film are subtle. It is like the story of Ankusam film told in a much realistic way. If Ankusam film had intense histrionics and compelling cinematic drama, Siddham film has subtlety and finesse to it. These kinds of films were never made in Telugu. Hence the common movie lovers of AP are not used to such kind of films. It is a decent effort by JD Chakravarthy and Jagapati Babu to make a film like Siddham. We have to wait and see how the regular movie lovers take this film.


What do u feel About this film is it good or bad write in the comment...
I feel the story is superb what do u feeeeeeeel.......

Cast: Siddharth, Tamanna, Prakash Raj, Ramya Krishna, Nazar, Brahmanandam, Venumadhav, Raghubabu and others.
Credits -Music: Shankar - Ehsaan-Loy, Rating: 9 out of 10
Cinematography: Vijay K Chakravarthy
Editing: Srikara Prasad
Screenplay Deepak Raj and Vikram Siri
Art: China
Dialogurs: Abburi Ravi
Presents: Baby Bhavya
Producer: Nallamalupu Srinivas (Bujji)
Story and Direction:Kishore Kumar
Banner: Lakshmi Narasimha Productions
These days, parents are realising that they should behave like friends

with children. Many films are coming with this concept. After a big hit like 'Bommarillu' where Sidhartha played loverboy role and Prakash Raj playing a caring father, Kishore Kumar penned a good story. At a time when the present generation directors are going for action, faction and college backdrop stories, this story which was penned with the director's individual idea was proved a big hit giving a hint that a thought that comes from a brilliant mind would definitely attract the audiences. Moreover, the perfection in portraying the family sentiments on the screen would touch the hearts of audiences like the film 'KIKK'.

Siddhu (Siddarth) is the son of a big industrialist called Prakash Varma (Prakashraj). His mother Rajyalaxmi (Ramyakrishna) is a lecturer in a college. Siddhu's parents, though married after loving each other, separate during his childhood due to some internal differences. Siddhu completes his MBA but moves quite irresponsibly, as he wants to enjoy life and he did not take up anything seriously. He is a jovial guy and flirt with girls, though he is a good boy. Gita (Tamanna) is the only daughter of a landlord called Subrahmanyam (Nazar) in a village. She reaches the city for college education. First she did not take Siddhu seriously, though he is her common friend. But she realises his greatness and helping nature and starts befriending with him. Their friendship turns into Love and Siddhu stops flirting with girls and sincerely start loving Gita. Once Gita goes to her native place with her father and Siddhu realises that he can't live without her and goes to her village and proposes to her directly and Gita takes him to his father. However, Subrahmanyam did not agree their alliance as Siddhu's parents were separated. In his opinion, Siddhu could not be a good husband as his parents were separated and he wants his daughter to live with a complete family of father-in-law, mother-in-law and husband. Siddhu agrees to unite his parents and then take the hand of Gita. He makes several attempts to join his mother with father and vice-versa but all his attempts prove futile. At one stage, he realises that they will never shed their egos and are firm on their individual opinions. So, he goes straight to Subrahmanyam and admits that his is not a perfect family and he is not eligible to be a good husband. He agrees to sacrifice his love. But, by the time, Siddhu returns home, his parents realise their mistakes and unite with each other. This helps the union of the young couple Siddhu and Gita and there is a happy ending to their love story.

Siddhartha proved that he is second to none in maintaining the lover boy image. He appeared quite smart and young in the film with a smart personality. His body language, histrionics, perfect comedy timing, perfect presentation of feelings during sentiment scenes, everything remained a highlight of the movie. In fact, he did not act but lived in the role and represented the present generation youth. Tamanna too appeared gorgeous in all kinds of outfits. She turned a synonym to the present day young girls besides maintaining a family girl image. She played the perfect girl-next door kind of role. She emoted well in sentiment scenes and is chirpy in love scenes. Prakash Raj once again proved that he could be a perfect combination for Siddhartha in a father's role. He excelled in the role, which is like an extension of his roles in films like 'Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi and Bommarillu'. Ramyakrishna, who was promoted from heroine to mother's roles after marriage gave a good performance. Especially her role was moulded in a respectable and honourable way. Nazar also did a good job in a couple of scenes. Comedy by Brahmanandam as Gachibowli Diwakar is hilarious while Venumadhav tickled the funny bone with his routine comedy.

Once again it was proved that new talents could bring out more interesting and inspiring films. Especially, a delicate love story, in addition to the portrayal of human and family relationships were perfectly presented on the screen by debutant director Dolly. He literally succeeded in taking the audiences into the film with him. He chose to use the first half to attract youth and the second half to attract the family audiences. No doubt he succeeded in touching the hearts of all classes of audiences.

Movie: Nenu Devudni(Aham Brahmasmi)
My Rating: 2/5
Banner: Vassan's visual ventures
Music: Ilayaraja
Dialogues: Sri Rama Krishna
Cinematography: Arthur Wilson
Story & Direction: Bala
Editing: Suresh Urs
Producer: KS Srinivasan
Cast: Arya & Pooja etc
Release Date: 6th Feb 2009

Review

Story
Rudra (Arya) is sent to Varanasi when he was kid since the astrologers told his father that the father and son should not meet each other for 14 years. When the father comes to search his son after 14 years, he finds out that Rudra has become an aghora. Rudra’s guru tells him that he should cut all the relationships to become Kal Bhairav and sends him back home. There is a local beggar’s mafia in Rudra’s village. And rest of the story is about how this mafia crosses the line of Rudra and how he punishes them.

Artists Performance:
Arya is extraordinary as Rudra in this film. And if you see him in real life and in this film, you will not recognize him. It is a terrific makeover. The dubbing voice given to Arya by Ravi Shankar is excellent. Pooja is excellent as the blind begging girl. Both these actors are sure to bag awards. There are many new faces and physically challenged people cast in this film.

Technical Departments:
The basic concept of the film is based on ‘Aham Brahmasmi’. Rudra character behaves like a God in the end. That is why this movie is titled as ‘Nenu Devudni’. Bala comes up with another authentic and highly disturbing film ‘Nenu Devudni’. The scenes involving physically challenged beggars are brutally disturbing. All the scenes involving Arya are heroic. Though there are a few commercial elements in the film, it is mainly aimed at awards and festival circuit. The following scenes are good

1. Introduction song of Rudra.
2. When the cop comes and says swamy while interrogating, Rudra responds by saying ‘deerghayushman bhava’.
3. The scene showing a small baby crying when Rudra shouts in court.
4. When the cop comes to light the ganja of Rudra, he shouts and cop runs away.
5. The scene in which Rudra drags Malayali baddies into bushes (just like predator taking his prey into woods after killing).
The following scenes need immediate attention

1. The comedy in police station where beggars imitate the old legends of Tamil cinema. This episode has no relevance to Telugu crowds.

2. The dialogues in the final scene by heroine are too lengthy and it makes crowd restless. It should be trimmed to minimum level.

Other Sides:
Background music by Ilayaraja is extraordinary. One does get goose bumps in certain situations. Cinematography by Arthur Wilson is very good. Fights composed by Kanal Kannan are very effective and highly realistic. Art direction by Krishna Murthy is authentic. The producer should have guts to produce such a movie.

Final Analysis:
First things first! Nenu Devudni is not for everybody. One should have stomach to absorb such a highly disturbing content. The plus points of the film are director’s conviction of sticking to realism while narrating story, riveting background music by Ilayaraja and performances. All the scenes involving Arya are good and heroic. The huge minus point of the film is disturbing content. Tamil nativity is also a drawback for Telugu crowds. On a whole Nenu Devudni is a treat for movie connoisseurs who doesn’t mind disturbing content. This film will surely have a gala time at international film festivals.

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Movie: Konchem Istam Konchem Kastam
My Rating: 3/5
Banner: Lakshmi Narasimha Productions
Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Cinematography: Vijay C Chakravarthy
Screenplay: Vikram Siri - Deepak Raj
Editing: Srikar Prasad
Producer: Nallamalupu Srinivas
Story & Direction: Kishore Kumar Parthasani
Cast: Siddhardh, Tamanna, Prakash Raj, Ramya Krishna, Nassar, Samrat, Karuna, Sudha, Brahmanandam, Venu Madhav, Hema etc
Release Date: 5th Feb 2009

Review

Story

Siddhardh is a playful youngster with no emotions. His parents get separated in his childhood and he stays with his mother. He falls in love with Geeta (Tamanna) who comes to Hyderabad from a village. When she introduces him to her father (Nassar) he says the he would give the hand of his daughter to him if Siddhardh unites his parents. The rest of the story is all about how Siddhardh unites his parents (Ramya Krishna and Prakash Raj).

Artists Performance:

Siddhardh is lovable in the role of a youngster. His emotions in the drinking scene are nice. His costumes suited him well. Tamanna is good as the girl who is torn between her father and her lover. Prakash Raj got lot of dignity to the role of father character he portrayed. He is excellent. There is a scene in which he acts like Robert Di Nero by saying ‘Aren’t you proud of me?’ three times (There is a famous ‘are you talking to me?’ episode in Taxi Driver film). Nassar is fair. Ramya Krishna is just ok in the role of doting mother with an attitude. Karuna and Samrat are adequate as buddies. Brahmanandam is good in most of the scenes (especially when he listens to ‘yeem’ in phone during Geetanjali spoof episode). Venu Madhav is good though his comedy is of mass type.

Technical Departments:

Story of the film is nicely divided into two parts. The first half is about two youngsters falling it love and hence it is targeted to the youth. The interval block is about heroine’s father putting a condition. The second half is about the couple uniting the parents of hero which is targeted towards the family crowds. The whole film is based on the point that Prakash Raj and Ramya Krishna are separated. The reasons for the separation are not effectively established in the film. Hence the basic foundation of the entire film appears flimsy.

Screenplay of the film is adequate. Direction of the film is good in parts. The narration is very slow. The director did well in second half while handling emotional scenes. But he could not get it right when it comes to the romance aspect in the first half. He should be commended the way he integrated the songs into the film. The thread of ‘crossing marks on the people you dislike’ (‘flushing the photo in toilet’ from Jab We Met?) is interesting. Vankai curry thread is also good. The characterizations should have been more consistent. Both Siddhardh and Tamanna characters in second half behave little amateurish from the scene when they quarrel about Geeta’s surname.

Songs scored by Shankar Ehsaan Loy are excellent and they are picturized well and placement is perfect. Songs are so good that they dominated the story narration in the film. Lyrics by Sirivennela and Chandrabose are good. Mani Sharma’s background score is nice in the second half. Cinematography by Vijay C Chakravarthy is excellent. Dialogues by Abburi Ravi are neat in the second half. There are sentiment-oriented dialogues like ‘Evarikaina problem vaste amma nanna daggaraku veltaru. Amma nanne problem aithe?’ and Trivikramish lines like ‘nenu kaalu tho break veyyaledu, jaalitho break vesa’ (Brahmanandam). Editing by Srikar Prasad is adequate. Producer Nallamalupu Bujji should be commended for trusting his technicians and making this film with high technical standards.

Final Analysis:

First half of the film is average. Second half has got emotional content. The plus points are excellent songs and emotions in second half. The negative point of the film is slow-paced narration (2:50 hours runtime). The scenes towards climax appear prolonged. On a whole, KIKK is an okay film that is targeted towards family crowds. KIKK is not a film for the morning show crowds. It is more targeted towards second show crowds (family crowds)

Banner: MMK Arts Cast: Gowtham, Sridevi, Raghuvarun, Saleem Panda, Ramaraju, Ashok Kumar, Bramhanandam, Jeeva, Bhanuchander, Surya, Dandapani, Silon Manohar, Gopikrishna and others Direction: Saibhanu Production: Kella Gopikrishna Music: Shekar Chandra

On a random pick of the lot, when we watch few films they remind us constantly that we have seen it somewhere earlier. The same nudging feel prevails while watching ‘Manjeera’ produced by the newly floated MMK Arts banner which got released on 31st January. Starring debutant Gautham and Sridevi, debutant Sai Bhanu has directed and Samba Siva Rao produced the film. Here we go through the pros and cons of the movie. Storyline The story begins in Vizag when the orphan Vasu (Gautham) in an attempt to save a pregnant woman, loses his ring with small bells (Muvvalu or Manjeeralu) in the spot. The ring was the last gift given to him by his mother in her death bed which goes into the hands of Beebi Nanchari alias Beena, a Muslim girl. She recovers the ring but misses Vasu and her attempts to handover it goes in vain. Without knowing that Vasu works for a Dada Ansari (Saleem Panda), who’s the right hand for MLA Mudiraj (Dandapani), Beena falls in love with him at first sight. Vasu who works as a thug and hitman for the goon, commits murders and indulges in illegitimate activities. Meanwhile, the proud beauty Beena dreams beyond her reach and waits for the man. On a fateful day, her cousin (Surya) demands her father the debt back. As they were unable to do it, he takes Beena to Hyderabad to sell her off to the Arab Sheiks. Unaware of the impending danger, she follows him to Hyderabad where she encounters Vasu. In a sale bid, Ansari competes with others even cutting a sheiks hand buys Beena for his own. In a tiring end, Beena at last reveals her love to Vasu. How will the hero marry Beena as he already works under Ansari and a criminal? Will he be forced to sacrifice his love or will he triumph over bad and marry his girl? Watch it yourself on screen. Performance of Artists Right from the word go the character of the protagonist played by debutant Gautham has a baffled look which sticks on to us at times. We can’t deny he got a good build but as an actor, he needs to improvise a lot. Sridevi has done a graceful job as she is kind of experienced in the role. At certain instance, we can’t help but Saleem Panda’s performance mesmerizes us and makes us feel he’s the hero. Even though, a group of most talented artistes like Raghuvaran, Bhanuchandar, Dandapani, Rama Raju, Jeeva, Venu Madhav, Y.Vijaya are a part of the cast, they were not given much screen space and their acting skills has been underplayed. Apart from sitting and play chess, Raghuvaran in the role of ring master who controls the Dada has no scope to performance in his last film. His role has clear shades of Sivasena leader Bal Thakre. Near the end, slight remembrance lingers about Bhanu Chandar, in his role of ACP. We have to laugh for the sake of said comedy done by Jeeva, Suman Shetty and Venu Madhav. Story, Screenplay and Direction Opportunity once wasted takes a long time to come back. This proverb should be inculcated to director Sai Bhanu by his well wishers because he failed to play the cards properly. The end product depicts he was more keen to go to the sets rather than building a proper script in pre-production stage. He unnecessarily travels the storyline by moving the heroine to Hyderabad by her cousin, letting the hero slip his ‘Manjeera’ adorned ring, making the villains as senseless humans which results in the only sensible act in the halls, a big yawn from us near the end. Such a script should have a taut screenplay and characters designed after contemplation. While watching, it goes on its own way and is like the scenes were dragged like gum to buy time for the director. In the huge pile of cons, pros are seen in meager amount. Technical Aspects Camera cranked by Sathibabu beautifully brings in the scenes and the director has also rendered more concentration on visuals than the script. Young musician Sekhar Chandra has composed some good tunes which is a welcome relief for us. Notably, heroine’s intro song and ‘Siri Vaana’ are good to listen to. Ram – Lakshman have always choreographed new style of stunts every time for their films and in ‘Manjeera’ we need not reiterate about their working style. Fight scenes are far above the range for a debut star which is a deliberate mistake done by the director who tried to elevate the newcomers image to a mass hero at the first movie itself. Criticism ‘Manjeera’ is one more new arrival in the list of Hindu – Muslim love stories. Usually, our filmmakers have been getting inspired by world cinema and Hollywood flicks in the recent past. But, director Sai Bhanu seems to have been mesmerized by 'Two Town Rowdy', 'Okkadu' and 'Varsham'. While watching this film we do can guess randomly that the director might have watched those above said movies atleast ten or more times before coming up with this one. A question to the filmmaker, won’t an average audience understand the meaning that Manjeera means bell, unless they speak French. What’s the motive to show the small bell on screen often (often irritates) to show the story is being spun around it. Keeping the director’s work aside, albeit the producer’s expenditure to bring out the film ‘Manjeera’, even without turning a deaf ear, we cannot hear the sound of the bell. Bad luck, we don’t get saved by the bell here.

Movie: Bank
My Rating: 1/5
Music: Chinni Charan
Fights: Ram-Laxman
Dialogues: Arun Kumar
Story, screenplay & Direction: Arun Kumar
Producer: Amrutha Arun Kumar
Cast: Raghuvaran, Abbas, Jackie Shroff, Rahul Dev, Veda, Pooja Bharathi, Baby Bhavana, Sreedhar Rao etc
Release Date: 30 Jan 2009

Movie Review:

The title 'Bank' has been snuggling in film news from about 2-3 years. At last it's released today. The film received some attention due to Jackie Shroff and Raghuvaran in main star cast. The film was intended to make with the essence 'where there is money there is crime' (as told by director in the beginning of this movie). Let us see how it worked on the heads of audiences.

Story
The story runs around the robbery of a bank by the team of four men and a lady (Rahul Dev, Raghuvaran, Jackie Shroff, Abbas and Veda). They conspire and go successful in pilfering money from a bank but at the running-away point it happens that only Jackie Shroff takes the bag that contains Rs 100 Cr (!!! Denomination not known!!! Even though Rs 1000, it comes to 10000 bundles-in a small bag!!!). He gets hurt by the bullet of a security guard and hence he makes a successful attempt to run away from that place and throw the currency bag in a well. He also makes a map of that place writing on a paper with his blood. He takes the help of a chaiwala to handover that paper to his friends and escapes. Chaiwala does that and the team knows the whereabouts of that money after coming out from jail after 4 years. They go in search of that with the help of map, and find that a house got constructed on the Well. They attack the people in that house and dig the place where the Well was there earlier and takes out their bag. But who gets that bag at last, is the climax.

Artists Performance:
Everybody appeared to have done over action. Especially the histrionics of Raghuvaran are over dosed. The dubbing sounded for Jackie Shroff is louder and overboard. Veda's role as lady robber recalls Jyothi Rana in Pokiri. Abbas made an insipid presence but there is no other go for him. Pooja Bharathi acted in so-called action/thrill sequence in second half. Baby Bhavana has nothing big to act than crying. Model Sreedhar Rao appeared in guest role and a song.

Technically, the movie is very weak. The director failed to understand the degree of intensity to be shown while canning every scene. Even RR and BGS (Back Ground Score) didn't match the requirement.

Director should be blamed for entire dull-show. He has taken almost all the key departments story, dialogues and screenplay. Finally, the film appeared to have done by an amateur. It's a funny torture for audiences to watch this movie. Audiences find relief as the characters in the film die one by one. That was the disgust developed in this 2 hrs show.

The climax is so vague and weak that the film gets erased from the minds of people within a day, but the hangover of pain continues for another day.

Final Analysis:
This erratic story line tests the patience of audiences. It's almost made like a child-play but not as suspense thriller. There are many blunders in the movie that made people laugh. The director seems to have got inspired by a few Hollywood flicks and attempted this dreaming bigger thing. But it ended up as a dud. How the biggies like Jackie Shroff, Raghuvaran or Rahul Dev could agree to work for this film? That becomes a big question all together.

The film lacked in basic common sense. The terminology and the presentation of scenes are also disgusting for audiences viz: hijacking software (!!!), narco analysis injection (!!!). How a man can dig a Well with a small spade? How come the so-called narco-analysis injections make security guards unconscious but walk? There are myriad things that made people laugh at the movie. It goes without saying that the film got 'bank'rupted.

He remained in the hermitage of his teacher for years together and had his education. After having completed his education he went to pay the fee to his teacher and said, "Sir! having had education from you has given a definite meaning to my life. What is it that I could offer you as your fee."

Gurudev smiled and said, "Dear boy! I have already taken the darkness of your ignorance from you; now what remains to be taken. I only expect you to serve humanity and remove darkness from the face of the earth."

Hearing this the disciple said humbly, "I promiseto observe your command; but still you will have to accept at least something as Gurudakshina."

Seeing the disciple so insistent, Gurudev gave him a flag in black color and said, "Take this flag to all the places of pilgrimage and wash it with the waters of the holy rivers. You should consider having given my Gurudakshina once the black flag turns white."

The disciple obyed his teacher and set out with the black flag. First of all he went to places of pilgrimage in the country which were situated on the banks of the holy rivers. He washed the black flag everywhere but it didn't change its color. He was thoroughly disappointed. Then he went to the other places of pilgrimage; and there also he washed his black flag in the holy waters thoroughly, but all in vain.

Time kept rolling on and thus five years passed. Now he was tired of carrying the flag. He had traveled thousands of miles on foot. Sometimes he used to feel disappointed and think, "Will this black flag become white ever in my life?"

One evening while he was returning from a pilgrimage and was on his way through a forest, he climbed up a tree and sat on a branch with his flag to save himself from the wild animals. He could not sleep the whole night. In the last hours of the night he heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from a distance. And after a short time three men riding on horses came and halted under the same tree. One of them had forced a beautiful young girl to sit on his horse with her hands and feet tied.

The three men dismounted from their horses and made the girl lie down on the ground, and began talking to each other. One, who probably was their chief, asked the other two to go and fetch some drinking water for him, and himself lied down to relax.

The disciple sitting on the branch of the tree was watching everything. It didn't take him time to understand that the three men had actually kidnapped the young and beautiful girl. He felt pity on her. Now it was clear that these three men were robbers.

When the robber lying under the tree began snoring, the disciple climbed down the tree slowly and carefully, and challenged him.

The robber was nonplussed momentarily. But next moment he rushed forth to pick up his sword; but the young disciple was more swift than him. Before the robber could reach the sword the disciple had already taken it in his possession. And death played its role. The robber didn't get another chance. His head rolled down his shoulders, spewing a lot of blood around. Then he whipped the horses and chased them away so that when the other two robbers returned with water, they would not be able to chase him.

Now he untied the hands and feet of the young girl and asked her identity. The young girl said, "I am daughter of a businessman. My father lives on the other side of the forest. These robbers kidnapped me during my marriage ceremony."

"Please come with me. I shall escort you to your house," saying this the disciple climbed up the tree quickly, picked up his flag and climbed down. He made the young girl mount the horse along with him and clapped his spurs to the horse's flanks. The horse was almost flying in the air.

He reached the young girl's house before it became dark. There it seemed as if the whole house had been rocked by an outbreak of violence. Every member of the house seemed woe-begone.

When the young girl described how the disciple had risked his life to get her freed from the clutches of the robbers, everyone became very happy, and her father embraced him with a feeling of gratitude.

By the time he reached the out-skirts of the village, the sun had risen. Suddenly he saw his flag fluttering in the air. He looked at it with his mouth agape.

The rising sun gave him a glimpse of not black but white flag. He looked at it again; this time carefully. His heart was filled with happiness. He couldn't believe his eyes. His black flag had turned white. He remembered his teacher in his heart and said, "Gurudev! You are great. You have completed my education by teaching me to offer selfless service to humankind."

Movie: Fitting Master
My Rating: 3/5
Banner: EVV Cinema
Music: S Chinna
Cinematography: Prasad Babu
Fights: Ram Lakshma, Vijay
Story, Screenplay, Production, Direction: EVV Satyanarayana
Cast: Allari Naresh, Madalasa Sarma, Shayaji Shinde, Sudha, Chandramohan, Saira Banu etc
Release Date: 14th Jan 2009

Review

Story

Sampath (Allari Naresh) is an orphan who works in a gym center. He hates love between a young man and young girl and keeps on opposing that in public. This catches the attention of an arrogant rich girl Meghna (Madalasa Sharma) who challenges her friends that she could pull him in love and make him a puppet around her. Her attempts fail all the while. Then she falls in his love in real. But still he denies her. Then Meghna takes the help of her brother to convince Sampath. In a surprising incident when Meghna's brother approaches Sampath, latter kills the former. Why he killed? What are his motives? That forms the rest of the story. It ended up as an age old revenge drama.

Artists Performance:

Allari Naresh didn't leave his trade mark style of dialogue delivery and instant punches but since the film happened to be a serious flick, the scope for humor is less. But Naresh got a scope to portray seriousness and revenge this time.

Madalasa Sharma is like any other Mumbai girl. She has delivered average performance. She is there for glamour in full dose indeed.

Chandra Mohan and Sudha are there for melodrama and Saira Banu is there for a long pathetic episode. Sayaji Shinde maintained mannerism of singing songs from old films as per situation.

Others are just ok. Music is above average a couple of songs 'Tappusodara..', 'Vennelavo..' really pleased the ears.

Dialogues by Tadi Balaram and Satish Vegesna are apt and rightly grooved in.

Appearance of lyricist Vanamali before a song in his real-time character is interesting.

EVV has chosen an outdated narration, although the subject is universal.

Final Analysis:
It's like tasting sour in the name of sweet. The title 'Fitting Master' with Allari Naresh in it would obviously give an impression that it is an out and out comedy entertainer. But it is not so. It's blended with melodrama, weeps, shouts, fights and all sorts of ingredients that a serious film possesses. Although the maker of the movie attempted to give a message to today's youth those are falling in love and marrying without the consent of parents, the title and expectation didn't match. It is true that audiences those love to laugh on the occasion of festival will walk into theatres to watch this film. But they will be disappointed for watching a serious movie with scattered comedy.

And it is not a film for Allari Naresh, at this juncture. Although EVV tried to bring an image make over for Naresh, this film didn't serve the purpose as it's made with obsolete content.

The film may get some initial mileage in B, C centers but on a whole it cannot be considered a wholesome entertainer.

Movie: Mast
My Rating: 1.5/5
Cinematography: Srinivas Reddy
Story ,screenplay & Direction: S V Krishna Reddy
Art: Jaya Prakash
Executive Producers: VRK Rao, Suresh
Editing: Nagi Reddy
Produced: Zee Motion Pictures
Cast: Shivaji, Srinivas Reddy, Ali, Siva Balaji, Anchal, Sunil, Brahmanandam, Uttej, Raghu Babu etc
Release Date: 23rd Jan 2009

Review

Story
Visually impaired youngsters Siva (Shivaji), a deaf (Srinivas Reddy) and normal guy Pandu (Ali) are good friends
and they live together. They meet a beautiful orphan Anupama (Anchal) and give shelter to her. In the mean time, Siva falls in love with her. But there is a twist in the tale. She actually is running away from a goon called Bahadur (Mukul Dev) who pressurizes her to love him and she has a lover too.

Total Analysis:
S.V.Krishna Reddy who lost his magic long back comes with Mast this time to regain his past glory. But the movie clearly proves that SVK is still languished in early 90’s and his style of narration is clichéd and boring. The film’s story is copied from Bollywood film - Tom Dick and Harry (2006) which itself was remake of Tamil movie 123. Only basic point is taken for it and changed the story (if there really exists?) with old-styled jokes, half-baked scenes.

Not a single scene in the movie is praise worthy. Most of the movie seems like a street play. Nor are the performances are good. Technically too it is substandard.

Sivaji does overboard in the role of blind person and he looks like a buffoon most of the time. Ali and Srinivas Reddy try hard to create laughs but their weak characterization has no scope for it. Newcomer Anchal shows off her assets but she doesn’t have grace. Mukul Dev (of Krishna fame) does a guy of sadistic villain and he is okay.

Director SV Krishna Reddy might have directed some memorable movies in the past but his flicks in the recent times are scaring the audiences. Of all his recent bad movies he delivered, this one takes the cake.


Finle Analysis:
Mast is an entirely avoidable film. A big bore. No two ways about it. One wonders how does corporate company Zee Motion pictures okayed this dumb script.

MOVie Review: King
Banner : Kamakshi Kala Movies
Cast : Nagarjuna, Trisha, Mamta Mohandas
Cinematography: Moorella Prasad
Music: Devisri Prasad
Producer: Sivaprasad Reddy
Director: Srinu Vaitla
Released Date: December 25, 2008

Story:

In the film "King” Nagarjuna is about to seen in three characters as class, mass and as royal. The special feature of the "King" is that there were 8 top most beautiful heroines to be appeared in a song. The film was being released on the eve of Christmas in the month of December 25th. Hoping the "King" to be a grand success as his past blockbuster movies.

The Yuva Samrat Nagajuna was being seen as the "King" in the film. The story begins in a small area where the Nagarjuna enters in the city, and collides with the area Don Gyaneshwar (Srihari) and Bottu Seenu (Nag) wish to stay in the area of Gyaneshwar . Don warns Bottu Seenu not to stay in his area, but Bottu Seenu refuses and continues to be there and finally he comes to an understanding and both together settles and rules the area. Meanwhile the Bottu was impressed by the heroine of the film Trisha and falls in love with her, wants to make friendship with her and later Bottu come to know that she is the sister of the Gyaneshwar. Gyaneshwar lives alone as he is involved in the unlawful things, criminal activities, due to which he still did not get married. So he had kept his sister with his aunt (Sana) and uncle's (M.S.Narayana) and kept his identity secret. Bottu comes to know about the secret and introduced himself as Sharath who is a Software Engineer and Sravani (Trisha) falls in love with him. Gyaneshwar was informed about the love matter of Sravani with Sharath and was happy to know that Sharath is a Software engineer.

Gyaneshwar first promises to Bottu to give her sister but later he wishes to do the marriage with Sharath. Now enters the new character into the situation was known to be the "King" named as Raja Chandra Varma was being tried to be murdered by Dasu Appaji (Jaiprakash Reddy) who wants to take away the whole property of "King" was to be known to everybody as Raja Chandra Varma. Here the family members were in search of the "King" , finally finds him . In other side "King's" brother was murdered by the Pooja (Mamahta Mohan Das) to take revenge on "King". On the whole everyone be in confusion that who is the "King" and the rest of the story continues.

Artists who Performed :
Nag played three roles excellently by his good stills looks too younger as he is the father of his son going to be appeared in the films as the hero. His role as Bottu Seenu impressed the audience were about to be interested in the mass characters were fully satisfied with his performance. And Nag as the software engineer had looked smart and cheerful as per his role was decent about to his character. He in the role of "King" the Raja Chandra Varma looker splendid and imposing. On the whole Nag performance is superb in the movie. Trisha acted for the first time in the with Nag was performed well in the role of Sravani and Pooja as Mamtha Mohan Das was seen in negative tinted lenses has a good sign on her about her performance. The brother of Trisha was Srihari as with the character Gyaneshwar had performed well as to his chertier. The other cast were Jaiprakash Reddy, Shayaji Shinde, Ajay, Suneel, Venu Madhav, Krishna Bhaghavan, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, Geetha, Sudha, Surekha, Vani, Rajitha, Supreeth, Kelly Dorjee, Benerjee, Srinivas Reddy, AVS, Master Bharath and Surya..

Technical Support :
The film "King" with the banner Kamakshi Kala Movies produced by the famous producer Sivaprasad Reddy which was directed by the talented director Srinu Vytla. Devi Sri Prasad gave the music to the Vytla's last movie "Dubai Seenu" and after that was the "King". Dialogues and sript by B.V.S .Ravi, story b

Banner: Super Good films

Cast: Dr. Rajshekar, Aarthi Agarwal, Meera Jasmine, Akash, Sivaji, Raja, Surya, Brahmaji, Chandramohan and Hema.

Music: SA Rajkumar

Producer: RB Chowdary

Director: VR .Prathap

Gorintaku, is based on the sister sentiment terms and lets hope that it will fetch luck to Dr Rajshekar who has not seen much hits in the recent years. Only his previously released film ‘Evadaithe Nakenti’ was termed as an above average film. Previously the directorial maestro Dasari directed a film with the same title in late 70’s which was a super hit. Now the same titled movie is before the audience. But the ingredients in the plate this time are of different genre. Gorintaku of 2008 is based on the storyline of Kannada super hit Anna Thangi, which was a blockbuster.

Story

The story begins with the first frame showing the well respected and equally authoritative Sarvarayudu (Rajshekar) and his well dedicated wife Meera Jasmine seen as the worshipped god persons in the village. Sarvarayudu also maintains his respect and value in the village and is always at the service of the needy and the poor.

However, pestering problem which the couple is fated with is that they are unable to conceive and perpetuate their family. So many rituals and ceremonies are conducted in the main temple of the village in order to please the god to make them conceive. Finally they are blessed with two children (Rajshekar and Meera Jasmine).

But unfortunately they meet the death pangs without enjoying their parent hood. They leave their children in the watch full and trusted man Chandra Mohan. Within no time the two kids grow up into youngsters and their sister –brother relationship is well equipped with sentiment, affection, love and attachment.

The hero falls in love with a beautiful girl named Nandhini (Aarthi Agarwal). She plays the character of a poor girl in the village. Meanwhile Lakshmi9Meera Jasmine0 falls for the businessman named Akash (Akash).

In order to recheck his sister’s selection of life partner the Rajshekar disguises himself as a servant and enters the house of Akash. He finds him well eligible and suitable to his only sister Lakshmi.

He performs the marriage of his sister Lakshmi with Akash and then, marries Aarthi Agarwal. All seems to be happy till Nadini’s aunt enters the house of Sarvarayudu. She in order to take the death revenge of her husband (Jeeva) has a motive to destroy the fame and respect of the whole Sarvarayudu’s family and slowly starts in fulfill her desire.

Due to some incidents Meera Jasmine lands up in her brother’s house and from the hero brother stars to unveiling every plot of Suryakantham (Nadini’s Aunt).

Finally all ends well on a happy note!

Performances

Dr. Rajshekar comes out with the best performance and gives his 100% to the film. the role is well carved and has the punch in it . Rajshekar this time excels in dance and also looks fresh in this film.

Meera Jasmine looks apt for the sister sentiment character and acts well to live up to it.

Aarthi Agarwal has nothing much to prove in this film, but it is better she gets rid of the flab which has accumulated around her waist, belly, hips, thighs and also just below the bust area. If not she may slowly fade out without a trace. Her close up shots in this film makes the audience hard to digest the scene as she has doubled her sizes to a large extent after marriage. But her usual jiggling assets and hot thighs will still raise the temperatures of the pants in males.

The comedy track is run by Venu Madhav. Though his character is cared very briefly, his comedy has the fizz to generate some laughs in the audience faces.

The others characters which are played by Chandramohan, Sivaji, hema, Banerji are well carved and the artists give their best to their characters.

The direction department lacks the punch as the sentiment element is too much in this film.

SA Rajkumar has done the music composing in accordance with the films script. But the lack of peppy numbers makes his music dull and sagging.
On the whole this movie may be watched by lady fans of Dr. Rajshekar because of the sister sentiment. But apart from this, the film’s survival at the box office for three weeks is doubtful, unless a publicity stunt is implemented.

Cast: Surya Siva Kumar, Simran, Divya Spandana, Sameera Reddy and others

Music: Harris Jayaraj

Direction: Gautham Vasudev Menon

Producer: Aascar Films

Surya S/O Krishnan is an emblematic Gautham Menon film which appears to be pretty close to his factual life along with a message at the conclusion. The movie has a two hour 48 minutes extensive heavy sentiment drama and has all the ingredients of anecdote, love, comedy and at last promotes non- smoking deeply, as it gives a hard slap to all the smokers who can face the cruel outcome of dreaded disease Cancer. Surya is outstanding and Simran pilfers the show with her outstanding acting skills.

Story

Surya (Junior Surya), son of Krishnan is a sensitively bonded guy with his parents as well as his sister. He grows up seeing his parent’s enormous love en route for each other and the fervor towards their son and daughter. The dissimilar phases of life, are well portrayed in this film as the child, teenage life, adulthood in a man’s world are well exemplified. Surya is intimately close to his father and Simran who plays the character of mother to him, motivates him for being strappingly will- powered and also to be psychologically weak sometimes.

Krishnan (Senior Surya) is Surya’s Father who is a middle class man and ventures out to USA in order to fetch his true love Simran. They marry and are proud parents of two siblings. Surya and his sister as told earlier get the inspiration and lesson from their parents that nothing is impossible in this world if your allegiance and the sacredness in heart are well pure.
With these values, Junior Surya gets into his adult hood with a brief love phase in his life. He falls in love with Meghna (Sameera reddy) but the love ends as soon as it is started as Meghna decides to part her ways in order to pursue her professional dreams. She prefers to chase her dreams rather than accompanying Surya. Moved by this Surya regrets to be in love with Meghna and desires for a beloved who is in lines of his mother Malini (Simran).

Surya fetches a defense cop profession and is posted somewhere in Jammu and Kashmir. After a few reels of regular kidnapping and goon bashing drama, Surya’s heroic skills are well expressed. Unluckily, he is informed about his father Krishnan’s illness of cancer and leaves the base camp, to be with his family.

He immediately packs and moves to his family and realizes that his father Krishnan is ill and his mother Malini is shaken by this incident. But again, Krishnan inspires his son by his strong will power and determination to invade out through his illness.

Then Surya’s wife Priya (Divya Spandana) enters his life and they marry happily. But Krishnan’s illness deepens day by day and this makes him close to his grave. In a scene which is heart touching, where he tries hard to express something to his grandson, but fails to do as his Vocal Cords fail indicating the last stages of life.

The complete movie is crammed with emotion and love towards a family. Furthermore the movie is loaded with a poignant drama in all scenes.

Lastly, the movie tops with an acceptable climax plus this is a anticipation which must be seen on the big screen.

Performances

Surya Siva Kumar plays the dual role of Krishnan and Surya in this film. The actor doesn’t need a certificate for his acting as he has immense talent. The senior Surya looks more promising with his make up and depicts a perfect middle aged person with lots of experience to reveal. Junior Surya plays the role of an obedient son to his father and is tinged with some love, romance and mother sentiment from the female characters.

Simran plays the character of Malini who is a Pativratha to Krishnan. She plays the role with ease and takes on the limelight of this film.

Priya is the character played by Divya Spandana. The character demands some love, attitude and also sometimes emotions and Divya Justifies her character as a wife to Surya.

Sameera Reddy enters the life of the hero like a breeze and plays the character of Meghna. She moves around the trees with the hero and finally departs.
On the total, the movie is exceedingly sloppy drama which has zero for the mass crowds. The movie will without doubt hit the 50 day mark, due to its touching story. But fall apart after the 50 day mark

Movie: Nachavule
My Rating: 3.5/5
Banner: Usha Kiron Movies
Music: Sekhar Chandra
Lyrics: Bhaskarabhatla
Cinematography: Sudhakar Reddy
Art: Narayana Reddy
Fights: Kanal Kannan
Choreography: Nixon
Editing: Marthand k Venkatesh
Screenplay: Satyanand
Story - dialogues - direction: Ravi Babu
Producer: Ramjo Rao
Cast: Tanish, Madhavi Latha, Kasi Vishwanath, Raksha, Narasimha, Naveen, Kamesh, Narayana Reddy, Prasad, Sarath
Release date: 19 Dec 2008

Review
Story
Lav (Tanish) is a kind of guy whose aim in life is to ‘patao’ a girl. Like innumerable teenage boys, he just wants to experience the feeling of having a girl friend. Anu (Madhavi Latha) is a responsible teenage girl who works part-time in a coffee shop. Lav wants to love her, but she is not of that type. In an occasion, he saves Anu’s father. Impressed with him, she asks him to ask for any favor. Lav asks Anu to be his girl friend for 15 days. Anu agrees to it on certain conditions (no physical touch). In the process, the detached Anu falls in love with Lav. And Lav is more excited to flaunt his girl friend to his friends than actually caring for her. The rest of the story is all about how Lav realizes what’s true love is.

Artists Performance
Tanish is extremely talented. His dialogue delivery and ease in acting make him standout. His debut is one of the most promising debuts in this year. The guy who did the role of hero’s friend is also very natural. The actor who donned the villain role is good. Heroine Madhavi Latha is promising. This film also sports many technicians as actors. Director Kasi Viswanath (Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu director) did the role of hero’s father and he is cool. There is lot of comedy timing in him. Art director Narayana Reddy acted as the tonsured boy who is an assistant to villain. Writer Prasad did the role of heroine’s sadistic neighbor who keeps asking heroine’s father to look at positive side in disastrous situations. Director Sarath did another prominent role. Item girl Raksha did a nice role of hero’s mother.

Technical departments
Story - screenplay - direction: This film deals with the social problem of many teenage boys who just want to have a girl friend for the kick of it. It also touches the burning issue of ‘cell phone videos leakage’. Ravi Babu narrated the entire film from the hero’s point of view by making his narrate from the moment he is born. Ravi Babu has the experience of ad-film making. And he used that ad-film touch to his Allari and Soggadu (only first half). With the freedom given by Ramoji, Ravi Babu gave that touch to the entire film. There is a color pattern (green and bluish) and sophisticated humor angle. He dealt first half of the film very well. However, he could have done the last half an hour of the film (screenplay glitch) in a better way. The following comedy/creative scenes are excellent

1. The entire humor involving the kids.
2. The van episode: The Annapurna mobile van is used excellently to create a series of riotous moments in the film.
3. Hero realizes the focusing aspect by looking at a boy’s focusing on a single fruit.
4. The pick-up lines hero uses to ‘patao’ girls.
5. The use of paint dabbas by family members.
6. The hero’s plight of giving a love note in the song.

The following aspects should have been dealt well

1. Crude comedy used for heroine’s father heart-attack.
2. The final episode hero-heroine-villain tussle.

Other departments: The music by Sekhar Chandra (son of cinematographer Hari Anumolu) stands out. Pavu Takkuva Tommidi sung by Jassie Gift is extremely peppy and is excellently shot. The ‘black n white’ theme song with black articles fading away is very creative. Other songs also reflect the theme and mood of the film (neither forced duets nor routine songs). Cinematography by Sudhakar Reddy is very good. The art work by Narayana Reddy deserves mention. Dialogues are neat. The entire film is shot at Ramoji Film City (hence you see Margadasi advertisements in backdrop during most part of the film). Ramoji Rao should be commended for allowing Ravi Babu to shoot the entire film the way he wanted to. They stuck to a theme and followed it throughout.

Analysis: The initial half an hour of the film is excellent. First half of the film is good. Second half is adequate. The last half an hour should have been dealt better. The plus points of the film are humor and romance. On the flip side, the last half an hour should have been dealt better. On a whole, Nachavule is worth a watch for being a different flick and a theme film.

Movie: Maska
My Rating: 3.25/5
Banner: Sri Sumanth Arts
Music: Chakri
Cinematography: Sekhar V Joseph
Fights: Ram - Lakshman
Story: Surya
Editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Screenplay & Producer: MS Raju
Direction: B Gopal
Cast: Ram, Hansika Motwani, Sheela, Sunil, Mukesh Rushi, Pradeep Rawat, Naresh, Brahmanandam, Paruchuri Gopala Krishna, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao, Ali, Krishna Bhagawan etc
Release Date: 14th Jan 2009

Review

Story
Krish Jagarlamudi (not the Gamyam director, but hero Ram) is a spoilt brat who looks for shortcuts to earn fame and money. Unable to clear his graduation and get a job, Krish plans to love and marry a rich girl Manju (Sheela) who is going to USA. In the process he meets another girl Meenu (Hansika Motwani) and really falls in love with her. The rest of the story is all about when both these girls come to know about the cheating nature of Krish. There is also a political twist to the story.

Artists Performance:

Ram: After Devdas, this film gives an oppurtunity to Ram to portray the entire gamut of emotions. His dances are amazing in Hare Hare Rama (1st song) and Bagdad Gajadonga (last song). He moves his body like a spring in those songs. He handles comedy department exceptionally well with the right dialogue delivery and diction. However, we do notice an uncanny resemblance to the body language of Pawan Kalyan in Ram’s performance.

Heroines: Hansika Motwani did a traditional character in this film. She is pretty good. The fans of Hansika will have a whale of time in ‘Kalloki Dilloki’ song where she wore a micro mini skirt (with a low angle camera). Sheela who looks pretty traditional did the role of temptress in this film. And she is extremely glamorous with liberal exposure of her dusky skin.

Other actors: Sunil did a full-length role in this film after a long gap. He is extremely good and provides lot of entertainment. After doing Kokapeta Aunty in Tulasi, Jhansi has done another entertaining role that speaks in Nellore slang. Brahmanandam did the role of a kidnapped doc and he is just average. Introduction scene of Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao is good. One does not understand what Krishna Bhagawan is doing in this film. He has one insignificant scene with a single dialogue. Ali is also wasted. Mukesh Rushi, Pradeep Rawat, Naresh, Dharmavarapu and Telangana Sakuntala are adequate.

Technical Departments:
Story of the film is provided by Surya. He judiciously mixed a triangular love story with an action backdrop. Screenplay of the film is considerably good. MS Raju borrowed the Vaali screenplay where hero shows a photo of a girl to tell the story to heroine and the girl in photo meet hero in real. The thread of conversing in numbers has got good commercial payoff in the second half. The direction by B Gopal is decent in the first half. There is a bit of lag in pre-climax scenes. The hero shifting his love from Sheela and Hansika should have been shot more efficiently. The villains are projected as the most dreaded till climax and they are shown in the positive light at end. Hence there is no commercial payoff for the action/mass part of the film.

Music by Chakri is good. The picturization of the songs is excellent. But the director could not place these songs effectively into the film. The choreography for 1st song (Hare Hare) and last song (Bagdad Gajadonga) by Prem Rakshit is pretty cool. Cinematography is nice. The locations in 'Kalaganna' song are good. Dialogues by Paruchuri brothers are good. They wrote nice comedy one-liners as well as good mass dialogues. Production values by MS Raju are grand.

Final Analysis:
First half of the film is handled well and provides entertainment. You can see B Gopal kind of mass elements in the second half. The movie goes slow towards the climax of the film. The plus points of the film are Ram and first half. On the flip side, there is a bit of lag in the last half an hour of the film and more clarity is needed in love triangle. On a whole, Maska has got entertainment elements that might work at box office.

Movie: Arundhati
My Rating: 4.25/5
Banner: Mallemala Entertainments
Music: Koti
Cinematography: Senthil Kumar
Visual Effects: Rahul Nambiar
Story & screenplay: Mallemala unit
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Producer: M Shyam Prasad Reddy
Direction: Kodi Rama Krishna
Cast: Anushka, Sonu Sood, Deepak, Manorama, Sayaji Shinde, Kaikala Satyanarayana, Ahuti Prasad etc
Release Date: 16th Jan 2009

Review

Story
Arundhati (Anushka) belongs to Gadwal samsthanam in 1920’s. She is known for her bravery in saving the Samstanam by killing Pasupathi (Sonu Sood) an evildoer who creates ruckus in that place. She is praised as Jejemma (named after the famous Goddess in that area). But the spirit of Pasupathi haunts that place. Another girl is born in the same lineage after 3 generations and she is named as Arundhati. The spirit of Pasupati is after Arundhati to take the revenge. The rest of the story is all about how Arundhati puts an end to the evil spirit of Pasupathi.

Artists Performance:
Anushka: This is Anushka’s first performance oriented film and she is simply amazing in two roles. There are many shots in the film where the scenes from the present time will dissolve into to flashback and vice versa. These scenes are done on Anushka are crucial in the film. She has to show the variations between the old Arundhati and new Arundhati. She did exceptionally well with subtle yet impact creating performance. Shilpa and Sowmya dubbed the voices of old and new characters respectively.

Others: Sonu Sood looks deadly in the role of Aghora. His performance is excellent. A special mention should be given to P Ravi Shankar who dubbed the voice of Sonu Sood. It is a great opportunity for any dubbing artists to get a role like this. The way he pronounces ‘ninnu vadalaa … vasta .. vasta’ is extremely good. Sayaji Shinde got a beautiful role ‘Talla Sayibu’ in this film. He is completely believable in that role. Manorama is very good. Deepak is nice. Satyanarayana and others are good. All other artists are appropriately cast in their roles.

Technical Departments:
Story of the film is good. Screenplay is very good. The beauty of this screenplay is about revealing the story and information in parts. There is always something to look forward to with anticipation in the film. It possesses one of the best screenplays in the recent times. Direction by Kodi Rama Krishna is very good. However, there are a couple of violent scenes that are disturbing to the family crowds. You can see a few Hollywood inspirations like Lord of the Rings. A couple of episodes (the thread of drum dance by the guru & establishing Arundhati as the warrior) should have been more effectively established.

Visual effects and graphics done by Rahul Nambiar are extraordinary. Cinematography by Senthil Kumar is excellent. Background music and rerecording by Koti is brilliant. The songs in the film go with the flow of narration. Art direction by Anand Sai is first-rate. Make-up work is good. Editing is smooth. Digital Ingredient (color grading) is very good. Production values of this film are extravagant.

Final Analysis:

First half of the film is excellent and the second half is good. The plus points of the film are performances, screenplay, technical values and grandeur. The only negative point I see in this film is violence (got an A certificate from censors), which is very much required for the film to be effective. After a long time, I watched a Telugu film that has both content and technology rightly mixed to give a vibrant output. Arundhati is a film which you can proudly show it as a Telugu film to all your non-Telugu friends. And it will live up to the adjective of ‘Magnum Opus’. Two thumbs up to Shyam Prasad Reddy for making a brilliant film. Don’t watch it on internet or pirated DVDs. Arundhati is a film that must be watched in a good theater with nice sound/projection system.

Movie: Shh...
My Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: Apoorva Chitra
Art: Madhu Rebba
Music: Sri Vasanth
Cinematography: Murali Mohan Reddy
screenplay & Direction: Hari Charan Prasad
Editing: Ravindra Babu
Producer: Hari Charan Prasad & Sukanya
Cast: Shafi, Mithuna, Madhavi Latha, Siva Krishna, Roopa Devi & Rallapalli etc
Release Date: 23rd Jan 2009
Review

Story
A doctor (Shafi) comes to a village along with his family to serve the villagers as a part of his social service activity. When he visits a temple, the priest over there makes him to see things that are not visible for a naked eye. He also gets premonitions that enable him to see the glimpses of future. A ghost contacts him. The rest of the story is all about how the doctor unearths a murder mystery.

Artists Performance:
Shafi is good as the doctor who goes through psychological transformation. Though his Telugu is good, he need to get his pronunciation right with perfect diction. He has a strange style of delivering dialogues. Mithuna is adequate as an understanding wife of Shafi. Madhavi Latha doesn’t have much role to play in the film though her character is pivotal for the film. Rupa Devi who did the role of an occult practicing woman is highly convincing. Siva Krishna and Rallapalli are adequate.

Technical Departments:
Story of the film is good. The story is based on an English novel called ‘Stir of Echoes’ (1958) written by Richard Matheson. This novel was made as Hollywood film with the same title in 1999. Richard Matheson is a celebrated writer who wrote novels which were later adapted into popular films like I am legend, The legend of a hell house etc.
irection is adequate in parts. Narration of the film is slow. Screenplay of the film should have been written in an interesting way. The flashback episode which shows the murder of the girl is not effectively shot. If we carefully look at the threads in the film, all of them possess ingredients of an interesting thriller. But the director could not use all these threads to give a proper ending in the climax. These interesting threads are –

1. Baby girl speaking with the spirit.
2. Hero communicating with spirit.
3. Premonitions and the ability of the hero to foresee the future events.
4. Occult practicing woman following the hero and inviting him to come to her at the time of difficulty.

Our horror/thriller film directors use dimly lit place and darkness to create chilling effects. But the director Hari Charan stayed away from using such tricks and he stuck with the content. Another interesting thing I observed in this film is overt affection between the couple in the film. Husband and wife hold their hands and affectionately touching when they go out. We don’t see such practice in our Telugu commercial films.

Other departments:
Songs scored by Sri Vasanth are good. But songs are not required in this film, especially the hero’s love and wedding song (no relevance to the story). Rerecording and sound mixing is very good. But at times, sound was used excessively. Cinematography is adequate. Editing should have been better. Dialogues are ok.

Final Analysis:
The story idea is good. But the director didn’t adapt it onto the screen properly. A better screenplay and an interesting narration would have helped the movie to reach the crowds effectively. This kind of story has commercial appeal to it, but the director treated it more like an art film.