Awara Review

Review

Story

Shiva (Karthi) is a carefree guy who no goal in life. He falls in love with a girl called Charu Latha (Tamanna) at first sight. He acts as a cab driver in order to get to know her. She is in trouble and he needs to save her from the goons sent by her bad father who wants to forcibly marry her off. Shiva likes the idea of spending some time with her in cab while saving her from goons. She asks him to take her to Mumbai and and his past in that city catches up with him as he reaches Mumbai. The rest of the story is all about how Shiva attracts the attention of Charu and wins her love in the middle of chases and fights.

Artists Performance

Karthi shed some weight compared to his debut film Yuganiki Okkadu. He has unique sweetness and innocence his face though he looks rough. He should be appreciated more because he has taken pains to learn Telugu and dub his own voice. For a first timer he has done reasonably good job with dubbing and he will improve his diction and flow as he do more movies. He is a decent actor. Tamanna is endearing as a girl in trouble. Sonia (Happy Days fame) did the role of one of friends of hero and she is good (she didn’t dub her voice). Milind Soman is alright as the villain. All other actors are of non-Telugu origin.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: Basically it is a road movie where hero who is in love with heroine goes to any extent to be in presence of her. He does everything to protect her from all evil forces and there by winning her love. Films of this nature are extremely difficult to narrate because they have single thread and they don’t afford the luxuries of typical Telugu/Tamil commercial paddings. Director Linguswamy comes up with an engaging first half, but runs out of ideas in second half where he had to fill it up with continuous fights. Screenplay of the movie is very good except for the latter portion of the movie.

Other departments: Music by Yuan Shankar Raja is nice. Most of the songs in this film are situational with montage shots. Cinematography by Mathi is good. Dialogues are laced with humor. Editing by Anthony is adequate. Fights are well choreographed.

Analysis: First half of the movie is entertaining. Second half is little heavy with continuous fights. The plus points of the movie are engaging storytelling and the lead pair. On the flip side, the story line might prove to be too thin for a film of 2 and half hours of runtime. On a whole, Awara is a decent road movie

Ye Maya Chesave Review

Review

Story

Karthik (Naga Chaitanya) is an engineering graduate who wants to pursue his career as a film director. Samantha is his neighbour and he falls in love with her at the very first sight. But there are two catches. One is that she is elder to him and the bigger hitch is that she is a Malayali Christian. He proposes to her and she slowly falls for his guts and his perseverance. Her strict father comes to know about it and settles her marriage. She loves him, but can’t hurt her entire family by marrying him. The rest of the story is all about how Karthik achieves his passion to become a film director and tastes success at the personal front.

Artists Performance

Naga Chaitanya: Naga Chaitanya is extremely natural in the role of Karthik. It is basically a conversational film with too many tight close-ups. It takes real confidence and acting prowess to do such scenes in an authoritative manner. Naga Chaitanya proves that he is a brilliant actor with his performance in this movie. His dialogue delivery and body language is highly authentic. You are not going to believe that this is his second film after watching his performance. It’s a top notch effort from him and he will do wonders in the future.

Samantha: Samantha’s debut is one of the best heroine debuts in Telugu cinema. This dusky beauty is highly charming and she is cool in acting as well. The minute expressions she gave spoke volumes about her. Lots of credit should go to director for etching her beautiful characterization. I absolutely loved the voice of the artist who dubbed her. She is the same one who dubbed the voice of Sameera Reddy in ‘Surya s/o Krishnan’. It’s husky and contemporary.

Others: Krishnudu is very good as hero’s friend. Sanjay Swaroop (producer and husband of Manjula) did the role of hero’s father and he suited it well. Puri Jagan played as himself for a few scenes. Trisha and Simbhu (who acted in the Tamil version of the same) did a cameo. All other actors are cast appropriately. Surekha Vani is very good.

Technical departments

Story: Men are simple and women are complex. When it comes to love, man proposes to a woman with plain heart and with no complications. Women, on the other hand make simple things complicated with their complex behaviour. Gowtam Menon has beautifully explored that point and penned a wonderful story of a simple guy who would do anything for love and a complex girl who keeps vacillating about taking decisions.

screenplay - direction: Screenplay of the movie is very good. The movie could end at any point after interval. It needs tremendous narrative skills and screenplay to make people get interested in the second half because the movie can end at the moment hero/heroine converge upon on marriage. I loved the love episodes between Surya and Sameera Reddy (train scene) in Surya s/o of Krishnan and wondered when he is going to make such a story into a full-leangth feature film and Gowtam Menon answered my wish with his next movie by filling it full of magical moments and sweet nothings. It’s a astonishing work by Gowtam Menon. You can’t separate a moment from the movie to be the best. This movie is like a seamless flow of visual poetry.

Other departments: Music by AR Rehman is awesome. Songs are extremely good and background score, rerecording and mixing is perfectly done. All songs are picturized extremely well. Cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa breath-taking. The choice of locations and camera work blended seamlessly. Dialogues by Anuradha are extremely natural and contemporary. Art direction by Rajeevan is superb. Editing my Anthony is flawless. Production values by Indira Productions are impeccable.

Analysis: I had never seen such a wonderful movie that deals with the straightforward nature of a man and complex nature of a woman so perfectly. Everybody must have gone through these moments in their lives and you are sure to get nostalgic watching some moments in this movie. The entire movie is excellent and extremely engaging except for 10 minutes (in second half from the breakup to the scene where other female proposes him). It takes guts and tremendous conviction makes a movie like Ye Maya Chesave from the director, producer and hero (It was Naga Chaitanya who set this combination up). All three of them should be appreciated for making this movie happen. Ye Maya Chesave movie

should do extremely well in multiplexes and A centers. I wish/hope/want this movie to do well in B/C centers as well. This film has all the ingredients for a movie to remain as a timeless classic. Go and watch it!!

Varudu Review

Review

Story

Sandeep (Allu Arjun) is a youngster with modern qualities and a broad outlook. He is extremely suave in his looks, but strongly traditional and moralistic at heart. He asks his parents to search a bride for him. Sandeep believes in the choice of his parents and he tells them that he would see his bride only at the time of muhurat (time of jeelakarra bellam ritual according to Telugu weddings). He also wants to have a traditional 5-day wedding which was followed by Telugu people a century ago. He falls in love with the bride Deepti (Bhanusri Mehra) at the first sight, but she gets kidnapped by Diwakar (Arya) just before tying the knot. The rest of the story is about the reason behind the kidnap and how Sandeep got his love back.

Artists Performance

Allu Arjun is excellent as the groom who goes all out to get his bride back. His mass dialogues are good in the second half and he danced with extreme energy in the first song. Bhanusri Mehra has typical Punjabi looks and she suited the limited role of bride. She is extremely good-looking in traditional attire. It’s a brave decision for Tamil hero Arya to do a negative role in Telugu. He is extremely talented and looks really macho. However, his characterization is unappealing. Suhasini and Asish Vidyardhi are alright as parents of hero. Sayaji Shinde should seriously consider learning his Telugu diction right. He is taking Telugu audiences granted by tweaking the pronunciation to his convenience. Rao Ramesh is good with controlled performance. Ahuti Prasad is routine. Singeetam Srinivasa Rao did a role. He is alright. Sneha Ullal is glamorous in her cameo. Sunil trimmed down a lot and is awesome with his dance movements during his guest appearance. Anita Chowdary and Sameer are good. Usage of original families as wedding guests gave authentic feel.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: The concept of 5-day wedding is fascinating. However, Guna Sekhar couldn’t capitalize on it as he preferred the same old Ramayana treatment to his story by concentrating more on the duel between the hero and villain in the entire second half. Guna Sekhar did well in the first half, but faltered in the second half. The screenplay of the movie is commercially viable till the scene in the second half where Karuna start telling the flashback of the villain. Then onwards, the screenplay of the movie has gone haywire and it got audiences disorientated from the proceedings. The song featuring 5-days marriage is wonderfully shot. But excessive orientation towards graphics and unwanted action sequences didn’t go well with the main theme of the movie. Some of the scenes like hero carrying heroine on his shoulders with saline bottle look highly unconvincing. The interval block should have been given when villain says ‘marchipo’ to hero for the first time. There is something seriously wrong with the characterization of the villain. It is ok to show villain as a psychopath, but the director designed it such a way as if the villain has some super-natural powers (just like Pasupathi character in Arundhati movie). The climax of the movie is an example of such inconsistent characterization. The hero-villain fight on towers in climax is inspired by ‘X Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)’ movie. In the Hollywood flick, the characters posses supernatural abilities. By keeping that fight in this movie’s climax, the director created negative impact.

Other departments: Music by Mani Sharma is adequate. The placement of the songs

is inconsistent. Two songs are placed together in first half and there is a huge gap between two songs in the second half. Cinematography by RD Raja Sekhar is excellent. Dialogues are not up to the mark. Graphics are worth-mentioning. However, the color/tint chosen wedding during wee-morning hours look artificial. Lot of effort has done into graphics, but the desired result is missing. Art direction by Ashok is good. I liked the set of tree and waterfall in second half better because it appears highly natural. Producer Danayya has spent enormous amount of money on this film and it shows.

Analysis: First half of the movie is decent. Second half runs out of steam in the midway. The movie becomes uninteresting from the moment the flashback of villain is opened in the second half. Plus points of the movie are 5-day marriage concept and casting. On the flip side, the screenplay in the second half and hero/villain thread play spoilsport in the movie. The hallmark of any great director can be gauged from the way he/she sticks to the basics (without overlooking the emotional content) while making big-budgeted extravaganzas (ex: James Cameron for Avatar/Titanic). Guna Sekhar seems to have concentrated more on graphics, action episodes and sets in than sticking to the basics. All his hard work and effort is put in the wrong direction for this movie. Let’s hope that he will bounce back with strong content (like Okkadu) for his next movie. We have to wait and see if the summer advantage will bailout Varuru or not.

Andari Bandhuvaya Review

Review

Story

Nandu (Sharwanand) is a youngster who moves to city to join his job. Padma, a soul bread winner in the family of all four women (she stays with her mother and two sisters) is his neighbour. Nandu and Padma work in the same office. While Nandu is a large-hearted fellow who believes in rendering unconditional help for others, Padma is a mean-minded lady who only cares for her family. The rest of the story is all about how Nandu influences Padma and how they resolve further issues.

Artists Performance

Sharwanand is proving to be an excellent actor and his films seem to be quite reliable. Except for Raju Maharaju, he has been choosing scripts very carefully since Gamyam. His intention to go for different subjects is appreciable. His performance in the scene after spending one-day with father is natural (you can observe his squeaking/choking voice and broken dialogues). Padma Priya is a good actress though her looks might not of the regular commercial heroine material. In certain close-ups she reminds us of Tabu. Her performance is clean. Sunita’s dubbing is very good, as usual. Aryan (one of the main leads in Housefull) is excellent as an NRI. His dialogue delivery and expressions are really good. Naresh is very good as father of hero. He got an acting role that suited him after many years. I had never seen actress Pragati so natural in any of her earlier movies. She is just like a beautiful and caring mother in our households. RK is neat as a moneylender. Vijay Sai is good. The girl who acted as a younger sister of heroine is spontaneous as a mischevious girl . She looks to be modelling herself after Colors Swati.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: Story of the movie is idealistic and noble. The character of Nandu appears more like younger version of Raghuram (Aa Naluguru). If the story of Aa Naluguru is heavy and melodramatic, the story of Andari Bandhuvaya is in lighter-vein. Screenplay of the movie is natural in the first half and appears little forced in the second half. Direction is good in parts. Director Chandra Siddhartha came up with natural characterizations and cast the right actors to carry the job. However, the NRI groom thread appears artificial and forced in the second half. It also cheap for a noble character like Nandu to behave that way. Director Chandra Siddhartha should be commended for attempting a film that says no to regular commercial stuff.

Other departments: Music by Anoob Rubens is good. However the last song is forced when compared to other songs. Cinematography by JK Gummadi is pretty good. Dialogues by Balabhadrapatruni Ramani are mostly natural. Editing is alright. This movie doesn’t use much of technology as it’s a story based movie.

Analysis: First half of the movie is smooth. Screenplay in the second half appear forced (especially NRI groom episode) in order to increase the runtime. The plus points in the movie are noble intentions, nice characterizations and right casting. On the flip side, this movie doesn’t show the negative side of free donations. The entire movie has mostly positive characters which don’t exist in real life. There is a dialogue in a Bapu’s film – samajamlo manchi vallu chedda vallu ani vere veruga vundaru. Avasaralani batti machi vallaga chedda vallaga tayaravutaru. Though the movie is made with noble intent, it is far away from reality. We have to wait and see how the movie is received by the movie lovers.

Darling Movie Review

Story : Prabhu,Ahuti Prasad,Dharmavarapu,MS Narayana etc., are friends from college days and regularly get together with families.Prabhas(Prabhas)s/o Prabhu,Nandini(Kajal) d/o Ahuti Prasad
get aquainted when they are teenagers in one such a re-union.Nandini's family leaves to switzerland and over the years Prabhas develops love towards Nandini though he haven't seen her for years.
and now after 10 years dads plan another re-union and here is a chance for Prabhas to meet & impress his Darling,What she feels about him?& How Prabhas impress her forms rest of the story.

Highlights:
Prabhas looks cool as Prabhas,the lover boy.Atlast Prabhas attempted a different genre (Romantic &Family entertainer) ,still not much successful but good for him.
Karunakaran is back with his typical template of a lover boy-thotti gang&angel like heroine.delivered pretty average stuff.
Kajal is adequate.
Comedy is good at parts but it is the saving grace of the film.
Cinematography(Andrew) is neat
Music is Ok,Background score could have been better.
couple of songs are good on screen.

Sidelights:
Though the premise is interesting,Screenplay(Karunakaran) is bad.very bumpy,at times irritating.
Dialogues(Swamy)are not upto the mark.

Public Talk : strictly average,watchable at your liesure.
Industry Talk : may not work at the box office

Simha Movie Review

Story:Srimannarayana(Balakrishna)is a professor in a Hyd engineering college,He stays with his grandmother(KR Vijaya).He always standby the helpless & needy.Namita is a lecturer in that college,interested in Srimannarayana.Janaki(Sneha Ullal) from Vizag joins the same college and is haunted by goons,her dad's rivals,from Vizag.Srimannarayana protects her and takes care of her.She falls in love with him,mean while her father enters the scene and he is non other than Srimannarayana's uncle and then grandmother starts to narrate the story about Srimannarayana's father Narasimha.Who is he?what happened to him & why she&Srimannarayana are staying away from their own place forms rest of the story.

Highlights:
The much awaited,much much hyped film didn't disappoint the masses.Balakrishna is back with a tailor made mass masala entertainer.What NTR is for mythological NBK is the same for the ferrocious faction subjects with his unmatched royal looks,he delivered one of his best performances again.a feast for his fans& a delight for the masses.
The next big thing in the movie is director Boyapati Seenu,He succeeded as an all-rounder(story,screenplay,dialogues&direction).His dialogues are terrific.Director's work is evident in each & every detail.
Music(Chakri)is good,Background music(Chinna) is arresting.
Nayanatara looks good,but no scope for glamour this time.Sneha Ullal,Namitha are ok for their roles.
Kota Srinivasarao did a small but important role,very well done.
Comedy (Krishna Bhagawan,Venu Madhav,Ali,Brahmanandam) is Good,but not in the required proportion.
Cinematography is good,other technicalities are fine.

Sidelights:
overdose of fights,very violent,very bloody.
Songs picturisation is ok but not upto the mark as expected.

Public Talk :Maanchi mass entertainer.Watch it if you like mass films.
Industry Talk:Movie opened with tremendous positive talk and record openings allover.Superhit,a very good film for all,from Producer to exhibitors.

Rama Rama Krishna Krishna Movie Review

Story:Ramakrishna(Ram) is a violent guy in a silent village Gandhipuram,he is the younger son of village head Chakrapani(Nazar).Ashok Deva( Arjun) is a Gangster in Mumbai,he loses his wife (Gracy Singh) in war with Pawar and quits the mafia and relocates to Gandhipuram to live a peaceful life with his sisters(Priya Anand&another gal).Ramakrishna&Priya always fight with each other leading to a rift between their families.Ramakrishna's Brother & Ashok Deva's elder sister are studying medicine in same college and falls in love.They elope and try to marry fearing their families won't allow them to marry.Ramkrishna stops the marriage and convinces the love pair that he will convince both the families for their marriage.He kills the son of Pawar while bringing the pair back to home.How he succeeded living upto his promise to his brother & bring both the families together forms rest of the story.

Highlights:
Ram as Ramakrishna carried entire film on his sholders,he excelled in all fronts and delivered a good performance.
Director Srivas is back with another Commercial formulaic film ( family drama+action+comedy+love),He succeeded moderately.
The film looks rich in visuals with picturesque village backdrop,some exceptionally good shots by Sekhar V. Joseph,Art by A.S.Prakash & lavish spending of the producer Dil Raju.
Heroines (Priya Anand & Bindu Madhavi ) are good for their characters,Priya Anand's dubbing is good this time.
Comedy (Brahmanandam ,Srinivasa Reddy,Khadgam Prithvi & Co ) is fine.
Music (Keeravani) is good,Dialogues( Ratnam) are Ok

Sidelights:
A bit dragged in the second half,total length is 2.45 hrs
Nothing Special,a typical formula film

Etc.,Etc.,
NTR gave Voice-Over for hero's introduction in the film.

Public Talk :a bit dragged,an Okay film for timepass.
Industry Talk : average fare.