DJ Duvvada Jagannatham review

A few years ago, after delivering a stupendous hit with Magadheera, Ram Charan acted in a dud called Orange. In my opinion, it wasn’t a bad movie. It was spoiled by a bad climax. One of the things with Orange was the fact that the storyline would have been similar if it was shot in Sydney or Amalapuram. That it was shot in Sydney made no difference to the movie, like shooting in New York did to Ye Maaya Chesaave.

Similarly Duvvada Jagannatham would’ve been the same if it was Pinnamaneni Sarath or Dandu Ashok or Palivela Suman Shetty in the title.  That the titular role was a Brahmin made no difference to the movie. If at all, it served as a vehicle to show the conversion of the protagonist from timidity to ferociousness.

Yes, Allu Arjun recites Purusha Suktam and Gayatri Mantram with ease in the movie, but was it all required ?

 

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In the late 80’s, Chiranjeevi acted in a lot of run-of-the-mill movies, but he always redeemed them; be it with his dances, be it with comic timing or be it with his fights. That was the reason he grew up to be a megastar in the industry. There are a few subtle references to him in the movie.

The film has nothing going for it in terms of a story. Helpless police takes the help of a person who can’t see (hear) crimes committed in front of him. To weave a story around this point might be tough; not if you are Harish Shankar.

Harish Shankar seeks the help of entendre, caricaturisation, exposing the heroine and exploits the stardom of Allu Arjun to weave the story, however feeble it may be. For a man so good with writing, you wonder what was the need for him to seek refuge in entendre. For a man talking about ‘dignity of labour’, it sure does stink when he talks about the usage of condoms.

He has definitely travelled southwards in terms of his directorial capabilities since Mirpakay. With more intent in satiating the fans desires, he has lost touch with good filmmaking. I would want to see Harish Shankar make a movie the way Harish Shankar wants it, not the way the fans of the hero want to see it.

Allu Arjun, much like Chiranjeevi of the yore, tries to redeem this movie; with his dances, fights and comic timing. He succeeds to an extent and fails in large part due to the director. He remains one of the few heroes whose films make for watchable fare. From Sarrainoddu on, there seems to be some sort of narcissism creeping in the way he goes about the things. He would certainly be better off without it.

Pooja Hegde’s best moments come when she is asked to sing a line or two from a song during the audio release or the publicity for the movie. She has nothing to do in the movie apart from appearing like a made-up doll and exposing the mid-riff as and when necessitated by the director.

Around the same time last year, Rao Ramesh was part of a disastrous movie called Brahmotsavam. He shone like nobody else in that movie. There is something special that he gets to every role of his, in every movie, regardless of the duration. Every role has his signature, much like the way Allu Arjun wants to do it while dancing. Except that, Rao Ramesh doesn’t exactly need to sign. To borrow from a line in the movie and re-phrase it , ‘He makes us see the character, not the man playing it.’ Even in this movie, he shines the best. His idiosyncrasies in the movie are superb to watch

Subba Raju does well in his role and it could’ve been better

Verdict: A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Similarly, DJ by any other name wouldn’t have made a difference. 

Image courtesy: idlebrain.com

S/O Satyamurthy review

When Nuvve Nuvve released in October 2002, I remember watching it with my father in Vizag. I liked the movie. It was one of the first movies that made me listen. Yes, I liked the movie. So, it was a little disappointing that Trivikram said he could deliver about 80% of what he thought. It was disappointing because I thought it was a very good film and couldn’t have been better.

Athadu was a movie that I saw multiple times. Initially I thought it was because I had control over my money rather than depending on finances from my parents. It was, probably, the first movie I saw as an employed individual. I just loved the sambar scene with MS Narayana. Trivikram was warming us up for what was to follow later in his career with that scene. I also liked the entire thread where he makes Mahesh Babu explain the difference between a lie and deception. Probably we are all tired of reruns of the movie with the Gemini TV logo that the change in satellite rights to MAA TV made us watch that movie all over again.

Jalsa was a movie that I hated the first time I saw it. I saw it again; felt the need to see it again and I watch it with a lot of laughter to this day. The entire thread involving Illeana renting out a portion where Pawan Kalyan stays is brilliant and it’s taken to an entirely different level with  Brahmanandam’s entrance. The movie has some brilliant moments which tickle your funny bone no matter what the number of viewing it may be.

Khaleja (or) Mahesh Khaleja, as it was called , was the first movie that drew me towards being a fan on Trivikram. The entire movie was one thing and an interview he gave to Gemini TV was quite another. In that hour, Trivikram had me glued. Glued to his words, glued to his gestures and glued to how he tried to answer each question by the interviewer with an honesty rarely seen before. It was a movie that divided opinions. I still have long drawn arguments with one of my best friends whenever we discuss the movie. This movie must be in contention for the most viewed movie by me. There was a time when I used to watch this movie at least once in a week. I still do – once in a fortnight now.

Julayi opened me up to the way Social media can influence the thinking. It was the first time I saw people talking bad about Trivikram. After seeing his movies and liking them, I felt that a lot of the criticism was unjustified. I liked the movie and way it proceeded. A lot of the scenes, it was said, were copied from Hollywood movies. Well it didn’t deter me and my liking for Trivikram grew into an addiction. I need a Trivikram fix every single week of my life now.

Attarintiki Daredhi is a movie that minted money. Money for the producer and distributors. Fame for the actors and the director. I liked this movie too, but it remains the least watched of all Trivikram movies by me. It was a credit to the people involved with the movie that the movie went on to become a big hit though the prints of the movie got leaked much before its release.

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The reason I listed out all movies of Trivikram is solely to clarify that I am his fan and can watch anything made by him. To borrow from R.Madhavan, talking about Maniratnam, he can make the hero romance an electric pole or a piece of wood and make it look convincing. There are a lot of things to like in the movie for me.

In the function to celebrate the success of the audio, Trivikram said that it would be ode to the fathers of the world – the least romanticised of the characters in the movies. That statement by him made me want to watch the movie even more. I would say that he didn’t disappoint me.

In the morning, when I wanted to check for the talk about the movie and reviews, I was a little shocked by the tweets I saw. There were a lot of tweets that put the movie down badly. I read tweet after tweet and was angry at the criticism directed towards the people associated with the movie. The questions in my head were: Who sets the expectations? Does a movie need box-office collections to validate its credentials as a good movie?

To sit down in the theatre then and to watch the movie was a relief. I saw the first half and felt that it was a very good movie. No, I didn’t abuse the tweeters and the reviewers in my mind. I am always a sucker for family oriented movies, especially when they delve in the relationship of the protagonist with one of the family members.

Yes, the movie was heavy on values and its emphasis on people following them. I don’t find anything wrong in it. If you can be a little better than what you actually were, would you mind? It perhaps is a bit unsettling for a few of us so totally used to our diet of masala movies.

It has three designated heroines and there are three songs with two of the three heroines being a part of it. How long has it been that you saw two heroines in a song and not a word on the reproductive organs of the hero in the form of gross lyrics? How long has it been that you saw an ‘item song’ without an item girl in the song?

Rajendra Prasad represents the pragmatists among us and it is probably tougher to convince the real life Rajendra Prasads than the reel life Rajendra Prasad. That said, it was a brilliant performance by him in the movie. It’s good to see him get full length roles in Trivikram’s movies.

Upendra is a brilliant actor and it must’ve been nothing less than a coup to get him to act in this movie – his role only begins in the second half. There is a tendency for his characters to be loud, but it is anything but that in this movie. In my opinion, it didn’t need an actor of the caliber of Upendra, but his presence lends credence to the part. Sneha looks good in the role given to her. Same is the case with Brahmanandam, Ali, Kota, Sindhu Tolani, Vennela Kishore and Prakash Raj

Samantha and Nitya Menen are very good in the parts they were given. It’s very hard to see Nitya Menen in a role that’s not performed well. I haven’t seen her in one. It’s good to welcome back the Samantha we liked. She performs well in the movie. Adah Sharma doesn’t have a role in the movie. Period. That probably is the only fact that Trivikram would’ve explaining to do for.

Allu Arjun has a tougher role in this movie than his previous outing with Trivikram- Julayi. In Julayi, the dialogues were short and crisp. In this movie, the dialogues are lengthy and thought provoking. There are some scenes in which he shines only because of the dialogues; the one where he refuses to file an Insolvency petition, the scene where he differentiates between give and take and win and loss citing examples is brilliant. The scene where he talks about his father to Samantha is good too. Yes, he performed well within his limits but it could’ve been much better had he been more expressive. One must watch out for the way he says ‘Chala Bagundhi’ in the movie.

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Trivikram, for me, has a good movie on his hands. Years from now, he can look back on the movie fondly. A general look at the tweets if you search for ‘Son of Satyamurthy’ will reveal a lot of unjustified criticism. Yes, the critics have panned the movie. But they have panned a lot of movies in the past too. To judge the movie by its box office potential would be criminal, but that’s the way it goes.

The writer in him dominates the director, but that doesn’t, in any way, obstruct the flow of the movie. For me, the first half was as good as the second half. While he establishes the characters in the first half, he makes them go through a gamut of emotions in the second half.   The good thing about the movie is the fact that it never  makes you feel sympathetic towards the plight of the hero. That’s because you know he has done the right thing, but there is a sigh of relief every time the hero redeems himself.

Verdict: It felt good to watch a Trivikram film and I will watch it repeatedly regardless of the box office fate of the movie

Image Courtesy: idlebrain.com

Race Gurram review

There are times when the cinematography makes you want to love the movie but you can’t. Case in point, 180.  There are times when you love the trailer more than the movie itself – Tees Maar Khan. And there are times when the happenings on screen are irrelevant to you till Brahmanandam appears on screen – Ready.

You can categorise Race Gurram in the final category, but with the rider that he has a minuscule role. He delivers in his role, making you forget the irrelevant storyline. This is one of the movies that makes you wonder why the director waited for so long to get the character played by Brahmanandam into action. If not for him, I don’t see a reason why the ticket paying public should spend money on this flick.

 

One of the advantages of a wide release is the fact that you can make your money before the talk for a movie comes out. Race Gurram will be a huge beneficiary of such a kind of release. Not that it’s the first and not that it’s going to be the last.

 

Irrelevant storylines and humor are the templates on which commercially successful movies ply these days. There is a lot of talk about chemistry and comic timing when actors, directors and producers talk about comedy. One of the things that they don’t talk about is the forceful nature of the comedy. Movies like Venky, Nuvvu Naaku Nachchav, Malleswari etc have the flow in them which is missing in the present day movies. I have already mentioned this fact many times in my blog, but the very appearance of Ali in movies these days is a cue for entendre. No wonder, filmmakers are usually up in arms against the censor for the kind of certificates they dole out to the movies.

 

The effectiveness of an actor’s acting capabilities lie in the able hands of a director. Allu Arjun, as an actor is still in the nascent stage and the director needs to go the extra mile to extract a winning performance out of him. This can be seen in the difference in the way he performs in this movie and the way he performs in Julayi. In the later, he is the character and the performance flows naturally. In this movie, he is AA and the performance seems forced- the way he utters ‘Dhavudaa’ throughout the movie is an indicator. Dances, the area where Allu Arjun trumps, is the biggest let down in the movie. One of the tweets suggests the same here

Bunny aa pata emiti nuvvu chesthuna dance emiti down down #RaceGurram

— Midwest Movies (@midwestmoviesus) April 11, 2014

 

 

Shruti Hassan has nothing to do in the movie- is it a surprise? I don’t remember if she utters more than a dialogue or couple in the second half – an utter waste in her filmography.

 

Surendar Reddy has almost consistently managed to confound the audiences with his movies. A maker who is hyped as one with ‘Hollywood Standards’, he manages to make a mockery of the hype. Athidhi, Oosaravelli and now this movie stand as pointers for his failed efforts as a director.

 

Verdict: The movie is already a hit. If you want to scratch your head as to why it is, you can watch the movie

Image Courtesy: idlebrain.com

 

Iddarammailatho movie review

During the audio release, when his time to talk to the crowd came, Allu Arjun made an impassionate plea for the technicians involved in the business of movie making. One of his statements went this way “To make me look good on the screen lie the efforts of a lot of people”. At that time, the statements seemed to border on false modesty and self deprecatory humour. Now that a few of us have seen the movie, they, the words, ring true. From the moment aerial shots of a city, probably Barcelona, are shown, we are in awe of the cameraman. This is the reason why the movie won’t draw as much flak as Orange did for basing the plot in a city abroad when it could’ve been based in pretty much anywhere in the world.

We can’t even blame the audience for immersing themselves with only the stylish visuals. That’s the only thing that asks for attention from us. The presence of a story or lack thereof is not vivid till the end credits roll.

It’s quite a miracle that the movie escaped with an U/A certificate considering the entendre about virginity and sex in general. Anyways people coming to Puri’s movies come entirely knowing that these things are passé. If not, the director certainly thinks that the audience think so.

Allu Arjun is the best thing about the movie. The emotion filled fight before the interval is, quite clearly, the best moment of the movie. It is his diction that requires a lot of improvement. His accent at certain places in the movie is a sure put-off, perhaps explaining the reason why he can’t carry a movie on his shoulders. At least not a movie which requires subtlety and intensity in facial expressions. That it is a poor movie doesn’t mean that its box office prospects are hampered. An example for poor movies doing well exists in the form of Racha and Naayak. Coincidence that his cousin is the hero in both the movies?

Amala Paul would be thankful that she got to appear in the best song in the movie. Her effort to appear as the innocent girl is probably among the worst parts in the movie discounting Catherine’s part in the movie. Her appearance in the later parts can’t be explained without letting on the twists in the movie.

We are all treated to the thighs of Catherine as a part of the introductory shot in the movie. It actually sets the trend for the rest of the movie. The length of her trousers varies with the mood of the scene. If that’s to attract a section of the audience is only known to the director and herself.

Puri Jagannath is still a director who continues to frustrate and delight us in equal measure. For every Pokiri, he gives us a Nenu Naa Rakshasi. For every Neninthe, there is a Devudu Chesina Manushulu. The point I aver to is, his poor films are always more than that- they are worse. His good films have become few and far in between. Shortly put, he is like the lover of a girl whose mother doesn’t like him. A few people reckon by him and a few people won’t like whatever he does.

Just before I wrap this up, I have to talk about the dances. When we say that Allu Arjun is one of the best contemporary dancers, it probably amounts to making a true statement. We are provided a glimpse into greatness when Allu Arjun dances to an old Chiru hit, we exactly know who is the better dancer. Perhaps there lies a message to his cousin in attempting the remixes of his father’s hits. Hope the message is to deter him from attempting them