It’s been a while the much awaited (?) movie ‘Magadheera’ is out and we have numerous reviews online. So, my attempt here is not to review the movie in general (may be a little!) but the reviews themselves (more!).

We watched it in Prasads, one of the best screens available of course including the sound system, as few reviews recommend the sound system as a very important aspect to live the experience and enjoy the power packed performance. We had little fun like any other movie, we enjoyed the bits here and there, we appreciate the effort and patch work (from all the hollywood movies 300, Troy and what not; and a little from Jodhaa Akbar too!) and we did feel ridiculed in a lot of moments. It ends there. We could clearly see visual inconsistency in a lot of scenes; not just the graphics part but even the regular indoor shots- some were blurred, some were sharp, some even out of focus. It’s not a marvelous treat; it’s not a ‘new era’ in Telugu cinema; or a master-piece.

So, just to add clarity – it is not a must watch or a wonderful film. I too call it an okay movie. Definitely not one of the Rajmouli’s best. All the hype just because Mega Star’s son is the hero.

Story: About 400 years ago, a beautiful princess falls in love with her personal bodyguard. A bro-in-law of the princess wants to marry her – for reasons of lust and the power over kingdom. There is a competition to ‘win’ her and followed by a war where all of them die. That sepia epic runs for about 40-50 mins. All the characters are reborn in this century and one after the other slowly wake up to the 400 year old history. How the hero (Charan) makes it work is the feat that covers up the movie.

It’s the approx. 45 min sepia epic that runs the movie. In the present generation characters, the hero’s (Harsha) touch of the heroine’s (Indu) fingers ‘spark’s to the past every once in a while. And I almost stood up a few times that the movie was over and climax  was never even near. Without a question, climax was the worst part of the movie.

Music: To listen, I like two tracks; ‘Dheera Dheera’ and the melody tune ‘Panchadaara bomma bomma’, esp the lines ‘nuv andakapothe vruda ee janmaa aa aa a” . the last ‘item’ track is really an item. ‘Dheera Dheera’ I heard was highlight for the movie in terms of picturization – it’s just fine, but what you know, compared to the rest of the movie, that was the best part. And the ‘panchadaara bomma’ song has disappointed me a little; I was hoping for nice dance sequences but little dance it has and a lot of posing for a photo shoot.

Bangaru kodi petta: The choreography is good and Charan danced his best to live up to the music. However, two things that negate the so called history recreated is Chiru’s appearance for a minute and the 15 odd minutes wasted (probably the worst part after climax) to make room for this song. Especially Chiru admiring Charan for his dance spoils the game. Not to mention, the funny old clip of Chiru’s break dance from the original song. That clip, in pink vest, of all the dances from Chiru’s tracks?!!

Narration and screenplay: It was very odd in many scene changing instances that the transition was not smooth. It was like having a dozen files on the desktop and double-clicking on one after the other to watch the clip. Yes, everything related to the same movie/ story but not something which lets you enjoy the transition. It’s like dumping parts of the story and asking us to build it as we like. I ain’t an editor (yet )

Charan: I’ve read that this is a movie too early in his career where seasoned actors after dozens of movies are eligible. I disagree. We tend to appreciate the performance as we know they are ‘seasoned’. Only when we have new comers try this we will know the actual performance. I think though not great, Charan did his best. It is true that he did concentrate on the performance and image more and the emotions took a hit.

Kajal: She is the best part of the movie. She is the surprise pack. Looks beautiful as the princess, did well in the reincarnated role and overall a nice performance. Though the make up and jewellery did not match the ‘Jodhaa [Akbar]‘ in the sepia epic, it was good. She of course improved a lot since ‘Chandamama’. Soumya (RJ) also did a good job in dubbing her voice.

Srihari: Looked good (fully involved in the 300 remake scene) in the old epic but was not so in the current generation appearance with the Srikakulam fisherman accent. Especially, the climax scene where his jeep hits the villain’s helicopter is very funny. Of course he jumps out before the jeep jumps a dozen feet high.

Bramhanandam, Sunil, Hema: Sorry to note that Bramhanandam and Hema could not add any entertainment value in the movie. Sunil was kinda okay here and there.

And then there is Saloni for few seconds before the last item song by Kim Sharma, no one knows why. There’s Mumaith Khan in ‘Bangaru kodi petta’ and also villain (Dev) who did a decent job.

I guess I have more to talk but this should be fine for now. Am a little tired, and this post was in my ‘drafts’ for a couple of days now. I just had to get it out. Happy weekend!

I’ve listened to the music for a couple of weeks continuously before watching the movie and I love it. I had huge expectations for the movie I based on the quality of the music. While, loving the music has helped me enjoy the experience, the expectations were too high I guess, or the movie itself didn’t probably turn out as well.

Siddharth is his usual charming self and pretty convincing as a son of rich businessman. His performance is more noticeable in the second half. Shamili can be treated just as a newcomer. She seemed she wasn’t ready for a come back [with few extra pounds for example] and did the movie anyway. Her performance doesn’t remind anyone of her ‘Anjali’ as a child artist, though I kept wondering if this is the same girl that set new standards then. Sunil was better [not great] with his comedy considering his recent past appearances.

Music is an asset to the movie. Yuvan Shankar Raja has done a marvelous job and I can’t stop humming ‘Seheri’ even now. The songs are  pictured well and I kinda love the lyrics too. Unlike using a lot of fillers or vague words just to fill in the lines, they actually make sense given the situation the songs are placed in.

Story is a nice concept. It just did not make the right impact. It’s about two contrast characters Uday (sunrise) and Sandhya (sunset). As the title song goes, Sandhya is like ‘ Roopam lo na beautiful, Chethal lona duty full, Maatal lona Fundamental… Annitlona Capable, Annitlona Careful, Anthe Lenee Sentimental… … Dabbantene Alergy, Birth antene Energy, Nammuthundhi numerology… inti mundhu nursery, antaneedhu allari, Ooppukodhu Humourology…’ . And Uday is all ‘Vunnadhokate Nadiche Samayam, Dhanithone nuvve chesey paianam, Maru nimisham ledhantu life e gadipey merupula…’ fun loving rich 22 yr old boy. Seheri apparently means celebration.

He falls for her when spotted in a pub in a ‘tella chudidar’ on new year’s bash which also happens to be his birthday. She comes there as a friend insists but keeps writing her diary. These contrast characters have a twist when she is diagnosed for cancer on the same day he proposes to her (on her birthday). He takes her for a Kasi trip (something which was on her to-do list for a long time) to give her a chance to live life to the fullest in that one week. A giggle and grin, here and there, it was okay.

The concept can still work but only if written effectively. The movie is kinda flat and does not take the emotion to another level. Some say it’s the ‘Gitanjali’ attempt but has not worked out well. I feel the storyline is fine but the making did not make that impact to touch or feel the emotion. There was a good scope for this all throughout the movie- either comedy, sentiment or entertainment.

Sunil was good though, with the ‘Chatrapati’ ringtone gags. His role as an insurance agent, and his company with Pradeep (Chatrapathi villain) as Raas Bihari (?) is entertaining.

Overall, you’ll love the music and movie is just okay. It could have been better.

A typical love story with not so good screenplay. First half went kinda okay with a comedy bit here and there. But second half seemed too long with very slow story movement and quite boring in some instances. There is no consistent comedy to at least keep the audiences gripped. Brahmanandam enters the scenes just before climax, when quite a good percentage of the audiences prepare to leave. Read the storyline in few sentences and you would know.

Sushant falls in love with Sneha at first sight. They happen to go to same college. He instills the feeling of love in her and she finally accepts. He is a live-the-moment guy with no plans for future and no regrets from the past. She is a career oriented and serious-about-life gal. Sneha asks Sushant to meet her father. Charan Raj (father) is not impressed with the lack of goal and seriousness about life attitude. Sneha asks him to change. He denies. They seperate. She requests he do something to take that feeling away from her heart as he started it all (!). Sushanth plans brothel arrest and drunk-on-road feats. Fails. Lot of drama and twists and they unite in the last 30 seconds.

Performances from Sneha, the supporting actor/ actress pair (Kishore/ Geeta) are good. Of course, Tanikella Bharani and Sudha who played Sushant’s parents. Brahmanandam had a very little role and Telangana Shakuntala’s role was for few seconds only. Shakila did make her appearance. And I think (I think) it’s Radio Mirchi RJ Soumya’s voice for supporting actress Geeta, which was very fluent and good. Sushant wasn’t up to the mark. After a while, we couldn’t stand that same expression on screen in all the scenes. I wish there were no close up shots for him.

Sneha on the other hand was good. She looked cute and glamorous in various costumes. She has traces of Aishwarya Rai in almost all the scenes. I liked the comedy with second love story (Kishore/ Geeta) and the ‘gang’ in college.

Music was okay except for a song or so. However, it didn’t feel like the usual Devi Sri Prasad’s contribution. Probably he was trying to match the movie’s overall theme/ performance/ level/ range/ what not.

Verdict: You are better off without watching this movie.

In one phrase- not worth watching.

The only aspect of the movie which was not very disappointing is music. It’s not great but few tracks are good. And as it is well known, Ramana Gogula reads lines between songs (or is that rap?) which wasn’t very awkward in here. Or did I feel that way in contrast to the poor narration and vague storyline? 2-3 tracks were in deed pictured well, with nice art and costumes etc. These tracks are worth an ear and the good things about this  movie come to an end.

For Sumanth, it’s another attempt to play a mass hero, which I would say was not successful with all the class or ‘normal’ looks. He didn’t have that roughness or mass charm to fit in the role. Kriti is nice. She looked very comfortable on the screen. Apart from a very few ‘over-actions’ here and there, her performance is good. She has traces of Jayaprada and Anushka in a few scenes. Other cast, Trinetrudu (supporting actor), Tanikella Bharani, Sutti Velu were more entertaining than the lead roles, similar to Prayanam.

Technically it is a good movie. But, I guess the poor narration and storyline spoiled the game. DD (Sumanth) and Chinna (Trinetrudu) are childhood friends who grew up in an orphanage. Their lifetime goal is to setup a ‘pulihora’ center. They join goons, work with dons and invole in ‘collections’ and kidnaps to earn money for that. Surprisingly, they need 7 lakh rupees to start one! I wonder at what scale they were planning- they never mentioned going international! Pragathi (Kriti) enters their life when they kidnap her as part of their operations. She actually plans a kidnap herself with some police friends to extract money from her father, which she needs to free land for farmers in a village. That’s how the story goes, with no romance and chemistry on the screen.

Actually, there is one more good thing about the movie: a few one liners at regular intervals (from comedians). I’m sorry I forgot to mention this. This is the aspect which kept me awake all through the movie. I wish they worked on comedy a little more which could probably involve audiences a little.

Prayanam is a mild entertainer. I wasn’t bored at any point in the movie. But, there isn’t anything that caught my attention either. It has a typical storyline that ‘just happens in movies’.

It’s a love at first sight theme, that takes place in airport while awaiting departures. Hero falls in love with the girl and has two hours (and of course there is a flight delay) to impress and win her heart, who by the way is going to India to meet her prospective groom. 98% of the movie is in the airport (Malaysia). That implies, all movie long, same costumes and ambience. We did get a good tour of the airport though. I personally could recollect few of the places I’ve been to inside the massive structure.

It is a typical of Chandra Shekar Yeleti’s movies. If you liked ‘Aithe’ or ‘Anukokunda oka roju’, I guess you’ll enjoy this one too. 5 characters, a Brahmanandam and a couple other ‘co-passengers’ in the airport is all he used. Also, people who get the quick wit or sharp tongue comedy can have good moments from supporting actors.

Manoj tried his best to play innocent and succeeded good amount of times. However, there are scenes when you can see his expressions are artificial. Harika’s role is plain too. She isn’t very attractive or cute or hot but has expressive eyes. The entertaining part comes from the supporting actors, who played as friends for the lead roles. A little dissappointing again is Bramhanandam’s role. Except for a moment or two, I would say he wasn’t his best.

Music wasn’t very impressive either. Anantha sriram (kotha bangaru lokam) gave lyrics. Should listen to the three songs a few more times to checkout the lines. The one sung by the little girl Amritavashini souded cute though.

All in all, if you watch it, you wouldn’t feel bad or regret. If you don’t, there isn’t much you are missing out.

Official website: http://www.prayanam.com/

Yet another Vishal’s movie. Well, almost.

The first half was very good with nice comedy and clear storyline. The second half is a little cluttered; if all the story threads were just concluded instead of starting new ones, I would have remembered the complete plot of the movie now. Actually the second half is what it makes a Vishal’s movie. Full action shots and fight sequences, powerful dialogues delivered with no punch that is needed, theen maar with same tamil mass beat – you get it. They made Shreya dance for teen maar as well

Vishal was his usual self. I haven’t watched his ‘Salute’ but I can compare to the others like ‘Pandem kodi’ etc. I would say nothing different from any of his earlier movies. Shreya was a hottie. A little more sensuous and glamorous than earlier may be. Again, other than being hero’s love, no special role or story behind the character. Seasoned comedians Ali and MS Narayana played their role too. Prakash Raj is the bad guy.

Actually, I think there was a problem with casting. Making a movie in Tamil and Telugu at the same time has its challenges. For the scenes they had to shoot again, few others were cast – who need more recognition than they received. Dharmavarapu subramaniam played a couple of minutes, just in one scene. Krishna Bhagavan and Srinivas (Idiot chinna) were treated the same way. Tanikella Bharani was just on screen with no weight to his role. It appeared that they had too much to show in less time.

Music is ok-ok. It’s Manisharma so obviously a lot of noise dominating the normal music and singers. The picturization of a few tracks was awesome though. Good experiments with costumes, colors, lights and massive sets. All the posters you see out there are from these song sequences.

All in all, movie was just ok. Nice posters and advertising though

Update:

A couple more noteworthy points for me:

• It’s been a long time I watched a movie on the first day of release. We caught this one on Day 1, second show
• My first movie in Andhra (Eluru)
• We bought tickets in black spending twice the price for ‘box’ seats

This is one of those movies I call ‘complete entertainer’. Believe me it’s not easy to maintain the comedy tempo from the beginning to the end. While romance/ love/ violence can be the backbone of the movie and made obvious in every frame, I think comedy isn’t very easy to deal with – and this one did it! That too not cheap comedy but completely inline with the story and actually pretty nice. Unlike many movies that maintain a ‘track’ of comedy with bits and pieces, this one IS a comedy track from the beginning to the end. I loved 100% of the time I spent in there!

The story is about this guy who needs a ‘kick’ in everything he does. So, everything that is normally done might be done differently just for that reason.  That includes his normal life, love life, work life and everything. Except for 5 minutes may be, towards the end, when there is a sentiment bit, I was giggling, laughing and enjoying all the way – non stop! Surender Reddy was known for technicalities of the movies but never though he has such a good tase for comedy too. Awesome job I would say.

Ravi Teja has justified his role completely. May be more energy and enthusiasm he is normally known for. I think he has joined the lot that has Chiru, Balaiah or Rajinikanth for whom the stories or scripts are custom made. It is evident that the movie was wrote keeping Ravi Teja in mind for the role.

Ileana has done a good job too. A little extra pounds she has put on (which is actually used as a promotion for this movie!)  did make some difference in appearance. She played her part well, as oppossed to the normal ‘over-acting’ she is coined for. The dialogs and acting are in flow with the ‘energy’ and comedy theme this movie carries all through.

And I guess we don’t need special mention about Bramhanandam, Ali and other seasoned comedians. The scenes with all of them in frame (including Ravi Teja and Ileana) are handled very well. Again, unlike the seperate comedy track for entertainment, the roles are weaved into the story making it more enjoyable.

The music is nice too. Karthink sung two songs I guess, which are pictured well. You can pre’listen’ to all of the tracks on the official website http://kickmovie.net/ where there is a good gallery and all other technical details for those who are interested, including some footage shots.

However, I didn’t see a lot of Rasool’s talent in photography. I was expecting more scnery like ‘Okariki Okaru’ what he is very famous for. Most of the movie is shot in Malaysia in normal city scapes which I guess left little room for his creativity.

Overall, a complete full time entertainer! I guess I watched such a fun-filled movie after a long long time! If you’ve watched the movie already, add in your comments about your experience. If you haven’t, I guess you plan to watch this as soon as possible!

After missing once, we were better prepared this time. We had all morning available- perfect for a morning show. We reached there in time, confirmed it’s the right movie and were in queue for tickets. No reservations or ‘advance bookings’ available. ‘Samajika nyayam’ (meaning- all are equally idiots) is their motto probably!

Coming to the movie itself- it was good. Same old DON, with customized climax for Telugu audiences. In place of the diary or the DVD, it was pen drive here; of course Red.

Coming to the ladies- Namitha is well known for her ‘nothing-to-hide’ attitude and was no different here. I was a little surprised to see a lot of Anushka anyway. The roles did demand a lot of skin-show but Anushka still managed it well, I guess. That reminds me I still didn’t get to watch ‘Arundathi’! Oh, there was a glimpse of Hansika too, not bad.

Antha ledu!

I had to watch this movie in Khammam last week. We were in fact hoping to watch ‘Billa’ (review tomorrow) but ended up in this movie. We weren’t sure of the theaters and apparently sometimes newspapers have incorrect information (‘Sakshi’ was the only one available at the hotel).

We did have an occassional giggle here and there but that’s not worth watching the movie. It’s like less than 10 mins overall.

Though a little late – I got a chance to watch the move sometime last month. To sum up – I liked it!

The first 10-15 minutes was very powerful. I wish the complete movie was in the same lines. Except few boring scenes with the ‘longman’ role and stuff here and there, it was engaging. Here and there = scenes with Asin. I think her role has slowed down the movie. The graphics are awesome. I couldn’t believe all that chopper chase scenes were shot in a Chennai studio!

Anyways, am not trying to write a review about the movie. I know am very bad at that. What I am trying to break my head about is this: Normally Tamil movies are better in every aspect compared to the regional movie industries. They are a bit ahead in certain things – be it music, new technology in photography, some innovative stuff/ new experiments etc. Most of the movies that are made in multiple languages like Tamil- Hindi- Telugu are also made in Tamil first; and then dubbed to the other languages.

Now, in spite of all the good stuff, I wonder why the backend crew wants to come on screen! Definitely this is not a new experiment. Ethically (there aren’t any ethics for movie making??), unless a character is not related to the storyline/ plot/ whatever of the movie, it should not be featured on screen. Directors, producers, fathers of heroes, all want to appear on the screen, shake a leg or deliver a dialogue and show off. Damn!

I am sure I wasn’t expecting the Director (Ravi?) to dance for the track ‘Come daaance with meee befooore you goooo” in Dasavatharam! And I first observed this trend in the worst movie I ever witnessed – hero’s father dances for a couple of lines with heroines in the middle of the movie and says some mass dialogue, guess it is a hi or hello! At least for Dasavatharam, as the track is the last bit of the movie, excused, we’ll call it a bonus track. No explanation found for Vallabha!!!