Nenu Devudni Telugu Movie Review

Nenu Devudni is a Telugu Movie, starring Arya and Pooja in the lead, directed by Bala. Produced by K S Srinivas, and music composed by Ilayaraja. This Film Released on Febrauary 6th, 2009.

Plot

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.

Story - Screenplay - Direction

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 Departments

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.

Last Word

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.

Siddham Telugu Movie Review

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.

Others: 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

Story - Screenplay - Direction: 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.

Other Departments: 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.

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.

Satyameva Jayathe Telugu Movie Review

Satyameva Jayathe is a Upcoming Telugu film, starring Rajasekhar, Shivaji, Sai Kiran, Neetu Chandra, Sanjana, Sheryl Pinty and others, directed by Jeevitha. Produced by Sivani, Sivatmika, and music composed by Chinna. This film Released on February 13, 2009.

Plot

The film is about sincere police officer, who gets encouragement from the Chief Minister for his encounters. In the process of eliminating baddies he loses his wife (Sanjana). How he eliminates the terrorists with the help of his crew is the rest of the story.

Synopsis

Sathya (Dr Rajasekhar) is a sincere police officer and he earned the image as an encounter specialist officer. Chief Minister (M Satyanarayana Rao) encourages Sathya for his courage towards terrorists. While eliminating the terrorists Sathya loses his wife (Sanjana). Sanjana played a nice role as the wife of Rajasekhar. Though, he had only one duet with her, the director chose to introduce some scenes in between the song's stanzas. He then kills a corrupt police officer who murdered his wife.

Even though it was a crime, he comes out of that case with help of Chief Minister. Then he continues his operation to catch the dreaded terrorist Dr Ansari (Atul Kulkarni) with the help of his team member consisting of Sivaji, Sai Kiran, Siva Reddy and Neetu Chandra. Is he able to eliminate the terrorist with the help of his team, and what are the consequences Sathya faces? To find out, go and watch the movie.

Performances

Dr Rajasekhar has played the role of young police officer role in his own style. Sai Kumar has lent his voice once again for him. Bollywood beauty Neetu Chandra has acted as one of the team members of Rajasekhar and the Telangana dialogues didn't suit her. Congress senior political Minister M Satyanarayana Rao has portrayed the role as sincere Chief Minister with his own dialogue delivery. His desire to become Chief Minister has been fulfilled at least on silver screen. The introductory scene of Rajasekhar was picturized in a satirical manner to counter Chiranjeevi. Milind Soman has acted well as the terrorist (Ranavir) in this film. Senior actor Ahuthi Prasad and Sayaji Shinde also sleepwalked. Sivaji, Siva Reddy and Sai Kiran have acted as crew members in small roles in support of Sathya.

Rajasekhar and Sanjana

Technical Departments

Background score is weak and direction also didn't meet contemporary requirement. The film is a remake of Hindi film 'Khakhee'. Overall, there is no interesting moment in the film. The background music is very poor. The film’s story is nearly matches to recently released JD Chakravarthy’s ‘Siddham’. In that film also Jagapati Babu played the role of encounter specialist.

In ‘Khakee’ Amitabh Bachchan acted as old-police officer, but in ‘Satyameva Jayate’ Dr Rajasekhar projected himself as angry young man as in his hit films ‘Magadu’ and ‘Ahuthi’.

The film 'Satyameva Jayate' has grabbed some media and public attention with some unrelated incidents. This being Rajasekhar’s own film, he planned this film after joining the Congress Party. People thought that there are a few scenes counter to Chiranjeevi and other political parties. Neetu Chandra had some conflict with Rajasekhar and Jeevitha. Neetu Chandra even filed a harassment complaint against them, which was taken up by media in big way recently. All these incidents have grabbed some public attention towards the film.

Last Word

The direction of Jeevitha Rajasekhar is just okay. There is nothing new in this film. The film was made to impress mainly mass audiences. The film didn't reach the audience expectations. Those who want entertainment with lots of emotions, it is a sure no matter film.

16 Days Telugu Movie Review

16 Days is a Telugu film, starring Charmee, Aravaiind, Manorama, Jayaprakash, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam and others, directed by Prabhu Solomon. Produced by P Maheshbabu and DY Choudary, and music composed by Dharan. This film released on February 20, 2009.

Plot

Rami Reddy and Yadav are two warring mafia leaders residing in same locality. Rami Reddy kills Yadav’s son. Yadav wants to avenge his son’s death within 16 days (Peda Karma) by killing the son of Rami Reddy. Guru Murthy (Aravind) comes to city in search of a job and he crosses the path of Yadav and Rami Reddy. Yadav assigns Gurumurthy the job of assassinating Reddy’s son. The rest of the story is all about how Gurumurthy manages his way out of it with the help of a girl called Angel (Charmme).

Artists Performance

Aravind is adequate as a youngster who is caught in the crossfire between two mafia leaders. Charmme is not good in this film due to poor characterization of her role. Kota Srinivasa Rao is good in few scenes. Dharmavarapu Subramanyam and Manorama did guest roles. All other roles are performed by Tamil artists.

Technical departments

Story - Screenplay - Direction

Story of this film is borrowed from a Hollywood crime thriller titled ‘Lucky Number Slevin (2006). The entire set-up in the film looks unnatural. Direction of the film is not up to the mark. Screenplay is bad. Narration of the film is haphazard. The director succeeds in opening the film in an interesting way by setting the right tone and mood, but falters dismally as the movie progresses.

Other departments

Cinematography is good and different. The entire movie is digitally graded to have blue color to certain scenes and green/cyan colors for the rest of the scenes. The duet is good, but the rap songs shot on gangs are cacophonic. Background music is good in parts. Editing needs to be smooth.

Last Word

16 Days is an example of how bad things can go when you borrow a theme from Hollywood flick and fail to modify it to suit our nativity. The dominating Tamil flavor also impairs the movie in Telugu version. The plus points of the film are technical values. The negative points are bad screenplay and uninteresting narration. On a whole, 16 Days disappoints.

Konchem Istam Konchem Kastam Telugu Movie Review

Starring:- Siddharth, Tamanna, Ramya Krishna, Vijay Samrat and others, directed by Srikanth. Produced by Nallamalapu Srinivas, and music composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

Plot

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: 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 – direction

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.

Other departments

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.

Last Word

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).

Drona Telugu Movie Review

Drona is a Upcoming Telugu film, starring Nitin, Priyamani, Kelly Dorge, Mukhesh Rushi, Sita, Sunil, Raghubabu, directed by Karunakumar. Produced by DS Rao, and music composed by Anoop Rubens. This film relesed on February 20, 2009.

Plot

Drona (Nitin) is kidnapped in his childhood and is taken to an island by a mafia group led by Sarkar (Kelly Dorji). Sarkar trains him to become a super thief. Drona’s father is a sincere super cop and Drona’s mother is very sentimental about her missing son. The rest of the story is all about how Drona meets his parents and comes out clean.

Artists Performance

Nitin: Nitin is good as Drona. His dances are fabulous and his energy levels in dances are increasing from film to film. But sadly, his judgment and decision making skills are becoming poorer. He should start taking his career seriously instead of acting in each and every project that comes in his way. It’s been years since he gave a hit. And the main reasons for all his recent failures are bad scripts and inept directors.

Others: Priyamani is hot in this film. She wore skimpiest bikini in the first song and drenched in rain for the last song. Sunil is entertaining in a brief role done in this film. Mukesh Rushi and Seeta are adequate. The characterizations of villain gang are so bad that they end up looking like jokers. Kelly Dorji did not have much to do on the screen except for looking amused. Dr. Siva Prasad does a Sakuni kind of role with old-fashioned dialogue delivery. Rakhi Sawant did an item song which was badly picturized.

Technical departments

Story - Screenplay - Direction

The story line has a similarity to that of Rakshasudu film. The heist techniques in the opening scene remind us of Dhoom II. Walking through laser rays is taken from ‘Entrapment’ (Catherine Zeta Jones). The script of this film has potential. But the director handled the subject amateurishly. Screenplay of the film is not up to the mark. Director did not put any lead scenes that built tempo for mass scenes in this film.

Other Departments

Music by Anoop Rubens is adequate. A couple of songs are good. But the background music and rerecording leaves a lot to be desired. Cinematography of the film is inconsistent. Light is so bad that in some of the scenes that you can notice make-up on the faces of all actors. However, the color grading makes it up for the island episodes in the second half. Dialogues are mediocre except for Sunil’s one-liners.

Last Word

Drona is about a son (criminal) meeting his father (cop) and mother after a separation for 14 years. The main drawbacks of the film are incompetent direction and bad villain characterization. When the villain’s character is not etched properly, the heroism does not get elevated. It may find some favor in B and C centers. On a whole, Drona is a badly shot film.

Shashirekha Parinayam Movie Review

Shashirekha Parinayam is a Telugu film, starring Tarun, Genelia and others, directed by Krishna Vamsi. Produced by Sunkara Madhumurali, and music composed by Mani Sharma. This film Released on January 1, 2009.

Sasirekha (Genelia) is summoned by her strict father (Ahuti Prasad) to return home. After coming home she realizes that her marriage is fixed with an NRI and her wedding is due that night. She also learns that the groom’s father is money-minded. She has no choice left but to run away. She meets Anand (Tarun) on her journey. He protects her and helps her. The rest of the story is all about the background of Anand and what happens between the couple.

Artists Performance

Genelia: You would see an entirely different Genelia in this film. She did not wear any make-up. She is completely child-like and playfully innocent. It appears like she dubbed her own voice in certain scenes of the film. Her hysterical performance when she is slapped shows another shade of her. And her performance in the scene in which she banters after getting drunk is very good. She gave wide variety of expressions in this film.

Others: Tarun plays the second fiddle. But his performance in the hospital scene in the climax is ultimate. Ahuti Prasad scores again in this film. But his usage of expletives at end his dialogue is little discomforting to ears. Subbaraju dons a refreshing (away from his usual roles) role in this film. He is excellent. Paruchuri Gopala Krishna is extremely good as the villainous elder. Abhi did a significant role. Monali Chowdary is good in a cameo. MS Narayana is excellent in the tax-payers episode. Vamsi (Paiditalli from Happy Days) has a small, but interesting role.

Story - Screenplay - Direction

Story of the film has nothing to do with Jab We Met film but for a couple of slight references (heroine mouthing abuses on phone and the beginning notes of Edo song). The story of the film is simple. Hence it is very difficult to write screenplay. There is only one screenplay knot that is opened in the interval. The entire second half is about how heroine falls in love with the hero. Hence there is no conflict point in the second half as audiences are well aware by then that heroine’s parents are not going to catch her. Though the initial half an hour after the interval bores you, the director turns it around with well conceived scenes towards the end of the film. The most hilarious scene in the film belongs to MS Narayana where he explains how drunkards are helping the Government. There are two defining moments in the second half –

1. Genelia’s banter after getting drunk: The way heroine questions the man’s attitude and explains the depth of women’s heart showcases the director’s deep understanding of women. The movie turns around from this moment. 2. Lead pair getting caught in an imbroglio: An unexpected scene from an unknown angle changes the complexion of the film and provides a lead to the climax.

The following episodes in the film are unappealing

1. The lorry driver rape attempt followed by hero saving heroine. 2. The court and jail episode.

Other departments

Music of the film is alright. The best song on the screen is ‘Edo’ that comes before the climax. Nice rendition by Saindhavi helps the mood of the situation. Dialogues are nice. Krishna Vamsi seems to be allocating a few minutes of his film’s runtime to eulogize certain things in his recent films. If he had lengthy dialogues about railways and Indian traditions in Rakhi and Chandamama respectively, he tells some good things about Vijayawada (only after belittling it). Cinematography is adequate. The producer should have taken more care in the postproduction (especially DI) which would have enhanced the visual appeal of the film.

Last Word

The title cards sequence (involving visuals of Maya Bazaar song Aha Na Pellanta’) is very good. The first half of the film is adequate. The initial half of the second half is boring (a common problem with journey flicks if they do not have conflict point). The director makes it up in the last half an hour. The positive points are Genelia and last half an hour. On the flipside, there is no conflict point (that creates dramatic impact) in the second half. This film has elements that can go well with class audiences and women. We have to wait and see how it fares at box office.

Arundhathi Movie 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 - Screenplay - Direction: 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, House of Flying Daggers (dum dance), Final Destination 1 (car - train episode). A couple of episodes (the thread of drum dance by the guru & establishing Arundhati as the warrior) should have been more effectively established.

Other Departments: 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.

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.

Indumathi Telugu Movie Review

Indumathi is a Telugu film, starring Sivaji, Shweta Bharadwaj and others, directed by Harsha Reddy. Produced by Harsha Reddy, and music composed by Anand. This film Released on January 1, 2009.

A girl (Shweta Bharadwaj) steals a couple of crores from her boss in Vizag and runs away with her boyfriend to Hyderabad. There she rents Ananda Nilayam in Gachibowli. She goes missing and her boyfriend is killed. A group of friends (Vennela Kishore, Vijay Sai and Satyam Rajesh) rent out the same place the next day. And they are visited by a psychopath (Sivaji) the next day. The rest of the story is all about who the psychopath is and what happens to the girl and the friends’ gang.

Artists Performance

Sivaji did the role of psychopath and he excels with good antics. His dialogues told in Telangana slang are entertaining. Vennela Kishore (Khadir from Vennela) impresses again in this film. His own dubbing (dubbing for Vennela was done by Uttej) in this film is good. He has got good comedy timing. He has the ability to do serious roles as well. Vijay Sai is another guy who seems to have become a definite actor in thriller films. His comedy is pretty good. Shweta Bharadwaj fits the bill and she did a hot scene in this film. But the real hero of the film is Harsha Vardhan (Amrutam fame). His body language in this film is pretty close to that of Vince Vaughn who played Norman Bates character in Psycho (1998). Harsha (TV9 crime watch guy) did the role of private detective. Srinivasa Reddy did a small role and he provides comedy.

Technical departments

Story: Story of the film is inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Psycho (1960). The character of Sivaji is added to mislead the audiences and at the same time to provide the entertainment. At the same time, heroine character is not killed to show her as one of the suspects. The investigator character in Psycho is split into two characters in the film. Since it is taboo to show mother in a bad way in Telugu films, the director added a brother character to create a new premise for the death of psycho’s family members.

Screenplay – direction

Screenplay of the film is little confusing. The original film Psycho is told in a linear format with the vital twist in the climax. For Indumathi, the director narrated it with a flashback format with time stamp. For a first timer, Harsha P Reddy does a decent job. He succeeded in creating humor and suspense element. But he did not narrate the story in a clear way. Though completely irrelevant to the story, he managed to hold most of the second half with the single episode of Sivaji portraying as a psychopath. But, he should have avoided a couple of bad scenes like gay comedy at the beginning and prostitute episode.

Other departments

The only song in the film is good. The background score by Anand (Mantra fame) is worth commending. Cinematography of the film is neat. Some of the dialogues are nice (especially Telangana Vastunda – Vizag sim ki roaming padutunda dialogue). The producer has taken lot of care in the postproduction and it shows up on the screen.

Last Word

Indumathi is a kind of film that is made with the purpose of entertainment by leaving the basic plot aside. Hence if you look for entertainment, Indumathi might satisfy you. If you look from a critic’s point of view, you will get disturbed because the plot is diluted to create entertainment. You will get slightly disappointed with ‘Indumathi’ if you had already seen ‘psycho’ (1960). There could be some entertainment value for the others.

Maska Telugu Movie Review

Starring: Ram, Hansika Motwani, Sheela, Sunil, Mukesh Rushi, Pradeep Rawat, Naresh, Brahmanandam, Paruchuri Gopala Krishna, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao, Ali, Krishna Bhagawan (single scene?), Ali (single scene?), Gundu Hanmantha Rao, Telangana Sakuntala, Seeta

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

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 - screenplay - direction: 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.

Other departments: 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.

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.

Sshh Telugu Movie Review

Shh is a Telugu film, starring Shafi, Midhuna and Baby Likhitakshari in the lead, directed by Haricharan Prasad. Produced by Haricharan Prasad, and music composed by Sri Vasanth. This Film Released on January 23, 2009.

Plot

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: 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.

Screenplay – Direction

Direction 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.

Last Word

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.