SAAHO REVIEW - Very high on action but a bit low on the content

RATING: 2.5/5

STORY PREMISE
On one side, we see a city of Wazi where a high profile underworld business mafia is congregated. The mafia is headed by Roy(Jackie Shroff). When Roy goes to India to meet his son he is killed in a pre-planned accident. In place of Roy his son, Arun Vijay, ascends the thrown. Arun Vijay ascending the throne is opposed by the mafia gang. Once Arun Vijay ably handles the situation, his next target is to look out for the killer of his father.

On the other side, there are a series of high-tech robberies happen, master minded by one person. Amidst this chaos enters a capable undercover cop Ashok Chakravarthy(Prabhas) to handle the robbery case. He forms a team of his own which includes Amritha Nair(Shraddha Kapoor) as well. The team gets down to work to track down this high-tech thief. How the team of Prabhas is going to achieve that? And how Prabhas, who is a just a cop is pitted against this huge scenario of international mafia? What actually is the intention of Prabhas? Where is he heading, needs to be seen on the big screen.

SCREENPLAY & DIRECTION
The sheer scale of the movie as shown in the teaser and trailer is so impressive that I wondered there is nothing that could go wrong with in this movie. And to amplify that expectation - there is Prabhas, huge budget, more than 2 years of hard work and top class cast and crew - a sure shot blockbuster was written all over it. Yet the movie proves it wrong. And the main culprit here is the amateurish screenplay and direction. There is this missing conviction on the director’s part, in properly realizing the characters and many key confrontational scenes. For example - Prabhas and Shraddha’s romantic episodes, instead of making you root for their personal troubles they seem to distract us from the core story and play as a hindrance to the narrative. We won’t empathize with the lead characters at all instead they are constantly ridiculed for their shallow bonding. The director/writer Sujeeth ignores to develop the core elements of story like character and narrative, and instead tries make it look cool by stylizing the scenes shuffling various bits and pieces of information in a non-linear way, which just confuses and distracts us, rather than allowing us to follow the narrative.



PERFORMANCE
Earnest performances from the ensemble top class artists is sadly dampened on occasions due to poorly written screenplay and bad direction. Prabhas did a fine job shouldering this mammoth subject. Shraddha is at her usual best. And the performances of all the lead supporting cast is good.

OTHER DEPARTMENTS 
Though the action part looks incoherent because of the incoherent narrative, it is this action part that plays as the real muscle of this high budgeted movie with several jaw-dropping moments. The action episodes are of high standards; and who else can justify such huge action sequences better than the full-bodied performer, like Prabhas. And yet, we somehow crave for more action from him as the slick action sequences come in and go in a jiffy. Cinematography is top class. An excellent and praiseworthy work from, the highly talented Madhie. His work did absolute justice to the budget incurred. And the background score plays its part very well in some key stylish moments. It succeeds in giving that adrenaline rush expected from an action movie. Editing is good on its own but seemed helpless in saving some of the romantic scenes. The production design is excellent - be it the locations or props. The costume design is very good and stylish, especially for Prabhas.   

OVERALL IMPACT
The film released amidst hugely mounted expectations (mainly because of Prabhas’s earlier Baahubali series and Saaho’s teaser and trailer cuts). But the underdeveloped subject with shallow emotional content hardly lives up to the expectations. The only saving grace for you is that the visuals and the action part are of highest standards for an Indian Cinema.


RATING: 2.5/5


CAST: Prabhas, Shraddha Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vennela Kishore, Murli Sharma, Arun Vijay, Mandira Bedi, Prakash Belavadi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Supreet, Tinnu Anand, Jacqueline Fernandez, Evelyn Sharma

DIRECTOR & WRITER: Sujeeth

PRODUCERS: V. Vamsi Krishna Reddy, Vikram Reddy, Pramod Uppalapati

PRODUCTION BANNER: UV Creations

MUSIC: Ghibran

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Madhie

EDITING: A Sreekar Prasad

ART: Sabu Cyril

COSTUMES: Thota Vijay Bhaskar, Ellawadi Leepakshi, Rocky S



Thanks for the visit.
Maheshnandu

EVARU REVIEW - An engrossing crime thriller with a complex web of twists

STORY PREMISE
Sameera Maha(Regina), a rich businessman’s wife, is accused of killing a police officer Ashok Krishna(Naveen Chandra), who claims that she had to kill him in self defense as he raped her. And as the case is against a police officer, to save their image from public, the whole police force is hell bent to disprove the allegations of rape on the police officer. To defend the case on their behalf the police get an powerful lawyer who doesn’t hesitate, even to produce fake evidences, if that helps in winning the case. Amidst all these mounting anti forces against her, Sameera has only one option, as her lawyer suggests - a corrupt police officer Vikram Vasudev. As stated by Sameera’s lawyer, Vikram Vasudev would do any thing for money, he is an expert in producing fake evidences.

Whether or not Vikram Vasudev succeeds in steering the case away to save Sameera from the impending anti forces or succumbs to the pressure from his higher authority, forms the rest of the story.

SCREENPLAY & DIRECTION
The whole of the narrative’s strength lies purely in the screenplay. The brilliance of the screenplay is evident in the way it takes, what can be called an usual kind, of a homicidal criminal case and presents it in a complex web of twists. It keeps you on the edge till the very last moment frequently throwing jaw-dropping revelations at us. It doesn’t seem like a debut director’s movie at all. Director Venkat Ramji did a commending job; be it in accurately judging the performances of actors or in designing the overall narrative build, he handled them deftly. Shown a promise of a seasoned director. 


PERFORMANCE
Sesh and Regina ably shoulder this complicated narrative with their earnest performances. The cold stares between them leave us guessing on what’s going on in their minds, what are they going to throw at us next. They  succeeded in making the double-edged dialogues work pretty well, which is not an easy task. Murali Sharma is at his usual best and, Naveen Chandra’s performance looks honest. All the other supporting cast did well too.

OTHER DEPARTMENTS 
The background score competes with the intricate screenplay, in achieving a pulsating effect of the narrative. It pushes the revealing moments to a whole new level; in the process, enabling the narrative to be a commercially viable.
The background score, the cinematography and the editing work in tandem to get us deep into psych of the characters and leave us off-guard at every opportunity they are provided. Kudos to the whole technical team.


OVERALL IMPACT
After experiencing the movie - Evaru, you can’t help but appreciate how intelligently the narrative is woven, with brilliant twists catching us off-guard at regular intervals, and at the same time not losing the focus on the emotional core of the story. It is an uncompromising story telling, unusual to Telugu Cinema - with no songs, no cheesy dialogues, no fights, and above all a very crisp run time, less than 2 hours.


RATING: 3.75/5


CAST: Adivi Sesh, Regina Cassandra, Naveen Chandra, Murali Sharma, Pavithra Lokesh, Raja Ravindra

DIRECTOR: Venkat Ramji

WRITERS: Venkat Ramji, Abburi Ravi

PRODUCERS: Kavin Anne, Krishnakanth Kamineni, Param V Potluri, Pearl V Potluri

PRODUCTION BANNER: PVP Cinema

MUSIC: Sricharan Pakala

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Vamsi Patchipulusu

EDITING: Garry Bh

ART: Kolla Avinash

COSTUMES: Jahnavi Ellore, Sura Reddy


Thanks for the visit.
Maheshnandu

RANARANGAM REVIEW - Technical work shines while narrative lags behind

STORY PREMISE
Ranarangam is a fictional, semi-biographical story of Deva, who earns living by selling black tickets at movie theaters, along with his group of friends.
In this movie, we witness the rise of Deva, a lower middle class guy, from the suburbs of Vizag city, to an invincible underworld don who can command the whole city’s underworld mafia. To spice up the proceedings, the subject is dealt with two parallel narratives, by intercutting, between the initial phase of Deva’s life in Vizag and the present phase of Deva’s life in Spain.
What are the adversaries he faces? What catapulted him to turn out into a powerful don that he is now, and why he had to move to Spain are some of the unanswered questions, we need to witness in the movie.

SCREENPLAY & DIRECTION
Looking at the bright side of the movie - the emphasis on realistic presentation; the earthy look; the authentic and relatable characterization of people in Vizag city; gives a unique feel to the film. Director Sudheer Varma’s work looks superior in Vizag episodes. The technical and artistic work achieved here looks superior comparatively to Spanish episodes, which somehow lacks that punch.
The story premise is interesting, the efforts the cast & crew have put in, is commendable. And yet the movie viewing experience doesn’t seem to be, as engaging as it should have been. It falls short of our expectations. It falls short, in weaving an engaging story around the interesting scenarios, that are present in the story. The plot seems shallow, lacks depth. This, I believe, is may be because the director must have put his primary focus on stylizing the subject. And in this process, sadly, the narrative gets a secondary treatment. 
Another factor that cuts down on curiosity levels, in the narrative is, everything seems easily attainable to the lead character. We can see, only a couple of scenarios that push the lead character to the extreme, rest of the scenarios seem like welcoming the moves of the lead character. That makes the story look predictable and makes us care less about the proceedings. Another serious issue, because of the weak screenplay, even the most powerful dialogues with deeper meaning, fizzle out without creating any impact, as the screenplay doesn’t deal with the stakes involved properly.

PERFORMANCES
Sharwanand did complete justice to the lead character, Deva. He is particularly impressive as younger Deva in Vizag episodes. Kalyani Priyadarshan looks cute and innocent. Her performance is completely believable. Kajal looks apt. But she has limited screen presence, probably her portions must have been chopped off in the editing room, to keep the narrative short and crisp. Murali Sharma is seen as a local MLA. We see a different Murali Sharma here, because of his distinguished act. And another surprising thing is that he looks menacing with his varied demeanor and voice, shredding down the soft natured man image, that he is usually associated with, in his earlier works. Sudarshan generates good humor. He seems to be back in his elements in this movie. All the other cast did a fine job. Director should be appreciated for extracting good performances from all his actors.


OTHER DEPARTMENTS 
Cinematography - The stylized cinematography is a big plus. It stands out even when the scenarios lack punch(narrative wise).
Music - a couple of songs give fresh and earthy feel. BGM is good, adds value to the proceedings.
Editing - Editing is good but it could have been better, if it had avoided some of the unnecessary detailing that hinder smoother flow.
And lastly, we can witness an impressive work from the production design and costume design departments.


OVERALL IMPACT
On a final note, the hard work put in by the team is very much evident. The technical work is commendable. But unfortunately we can’t give the same appreciation to the narrative part. It lags, a couple of steps behind, compared to its technical counterpart.

RATING: 2.75/5

CAST: Sharwanand, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Murali Sharma, Kajal Aggarwal, Sudarshan Reddy, Brahmaji, Ajay

DIRECTOR: Sudheer Varma

PRODUCER: Suryadevara Naga Vamsi

PRODUCTION BANNER: Sithara Entertainments

SCREENPLAY: Sudheer Varma

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Divakar Mani

MUSIC: Prashanth Pillai

EDITING: Naveen Nooli

PRODUCTION DESIGN: S Ravinder


Thanks for visiting,
Maheshnandu

Manmadhudu-2 - My Theory - A Pseudo Review

A few minutes into the narrative, there is this odd feeling that creeps in, that this movie is not going to be the one that I intended to watch. I came down here to watch the movie because I thought it is going to have those light hearted fun moments with a likable lead character with scenes that doesn’t take themselves too seriously.

It made me feel, a little uncomfortable to see some adult comedy and a bit of realism in the characters and scenes. Why? I am not new to see any adult comedy. And I am a big fan of many films, solely for the realism they try to portray. Then why did I get such negative feeling while watching this movie?

I tried to think over it a bit to decode the real cause. Then, I must be lucky, to have found the root cause for such a half-hearted liking towards a well made movie with the name Manmadhudu-2.   
You see this happens to be the sequel of early 2000s hit movie Manmadhudu which gained a cult following over years. Each and every scene and dialogue in that movie keep resonating in our minds in many occasions in our daily life. The movie has gained that much connect with the audience.

So, my conclusion is, the real reason for the discomfort I felt while watching the adult comedy and realism in the movie, is because of the name of the movie “Manmadhudu 2”. All the time my mind kept reminding me that Manmadhudu was not like this. It was a clean entertainer and was way more fun to watch. My mind couldn’t stop comparing every aspect in this film to that of “Manmadhudu”. So the movie obviously ended up as not reaching my expectations. Hence the dislikability.

What if this movie was given a different name altogether? There wouldn’t have been any comparisons. It could have saved itself from certain kind of expectations. Everyone would have surprised to see Nag in a totally different avatar. And Rahul, the director, would have been appreciated for his efforts to present Nag in new way and for pulling off Nag’s character so authentically, considering his age factor.

If not for the name this film would have stood as one of the fun-to-watch movies in my list of Nag’s movies.

My Rating: 2.75/5

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Regards,
Maheshnandu

iSmart Shankar Review - Puri's old styled treatment garnished with a sci-fi element

iSmart Shankar Telugu Movie Review: Puri's old styled dish garnished with sci-fi elements

Premise: 

A convict, iSmart Shankar, is placed with a chip holding the memories of a cop in his head. With the memories in the chip that could erase iSmart Shankar’s own memories,  while he is on a hunt to find the killer to exact revenge. Will he be successful in finding the killer as his memories fade out gradually?

Enjoyable aspects:

> iSmart Shankar’s hyper active characterisation
> Ram’s energetic performance as iSmart Shankar
> Puri’s dialogues
> Mani Sharma’s music
> Crisp editing
> The sci-fi angle in the story

Distracting aspects:

> At places iSmart Shankar’s dialogues go overboard and unconvincing
> Fast paced with less detailing in the story scenarios puts off urban audience
> Couple songs that hinder the story flow
> The feel of already-seen(cliched) style of Puri’s taking
> No riveting conflict, everything seems to be solving itself for iSmart Shankar

Overall Impact: 

It is aimed only for entertainment. Story wise - easy to forget once we are out of the theatre, but not iSmart Shankar’s mannerisms. A thought of iSmart Shankar’s hyper activeness might put a giggle on your face - a commendable job from Puri in that one aspect.

Rating: 2.75/5

Cast: Ram Pothineni, Nabha Natesh, Nidhhi Agerwal, Satyadev Kancharana

Director: Puri Jagannadh

Story & Screenplay: Puri Jagannadh 

Genre: Action, Sci-fi, Comedy 

Music: Mani Sharma

Cinematography: Raj Thota

Editing: Junaid Siddiqui

Producer: Puri Jagannadh & Charmme Kaur

Language: Telugu

Oh Baby - 'An entertaining adorable movie' - Telugu Movie Review - Samantha Akkineni, Lakshmi, Nandini Reddy

Movie Name: Oh Baby
Genre: Family, Comedy, Fantasy, Drama
Cast: Samantha Akkineni, Lakshmi, Rajendra Prasad, Rao Ramesh, Naga Shaurya, Jagapathi Babu, Teja Sajja, Pragathi, Sunayana, Aneesha Dama, Urvashi,  Aishwarya
Dialogues: Lakshmi Bhoopal
Script Supervision: Gopi Mohan
Editing: Junaid Siddiqui
Cinematography: Richard Prasad
Music: Mickey J Meyer
Direction: Nandini Reddy

Rating: 3.5/5

Story Premise: Oh Baby is about a grandmother Savithri, who is fondly called baby. An unhappy soul who resents her life and despises God for being so harsh on her, by fulfilling her desires and giving her such a troublesome life. So, one day, in a mysterious way God gives her a second chance to go back to her youth to enjoy her life. That ensues a humorous and emotional journey of a granny. A granny's life, back into her twenties is worthy watch on big screen.

Story: It is a new kind of subject dealt in Telugu Cinema.  The story of Oh Baby is a meaningful conceptual fantasy story wrapped with humour that touches the heartstrings, that could make us value our elders.

Screenplay: Oh Baby moves like a cool breeze making us forget about the time and length until it has to deal with the emotional part of the story. This portion seems a bit exhaustive and preachy but finally it is covered up with a fine conclusion that gives us sense of good feeling while coming out of the theatre.
      In one of the sequence, the troubles of baby when she was young, is revealed beautifully in a song. It stands out as a highlight episode of the whole film. Just loved the portion. It is so heartwarming to see Savithri aka Baby being through so much trouble. And Samantha's act is pure gold. We can't help but empathize (and/or sympathize) on her portrayal of Baby.  Beautifully executed.

Direction: Oh Baby seems to be the kind of subject that perfectly suits Nandini Reddy's style of making. The humorous portions worked out very well. Probably from her point of view, a woman director's point of view, gave a lot of depth to this female centric subject. We could understand and connect to subtlest women troubles and being moved by their unconditional love as a mother, grandmother to name a few. This view of Nandini Reddy, most probably instinctive, turns out to be the biggest strength for the movie.
       The only aspect that's a bit hard to digest is the preachy part (especially for me - a guy who hates films that try to preach explicitly). But, come on, if this is a movie from Nandini Reddy, we must be prepared to expect some preachy dialogues on how to live properly or meaningfully or whatever. But, perhaps, if it is not done on the face through dialogues, it won't look so painful to watch. If it is conveyed through subtext instead through dialogues it could actually look beautiful and perhaps could become a great strength for the whole movie that inherently creates self realisation to the viewer. A big fan of such narratives! Anyways, 'Oh Baby' is easily seems like the finest work of director Nandini Reddy till date. Kudos to her.

Performances: The biggest asset of the movie is undoubtedly Samantha's performance as baby. Most of the times we almost forget that she Samantha, instead she make us believe that it is actually Lakshmi, who played the older baby role. Such is the brilliance in her performance. Lakshmi, the veteran actress is brilliant as usual. We fall in love with their characterizations. We feel as if they are the same person. They remind us of our own grandmothers' or mothers'.

We also witness fine performances from all the lead Rajendra Prasad,  Rao Ramesh,  Naga Shaurya,
 Jagapathi Babu, Teja Sajja, Gayathri, Sunayana, Aneesha Dama, Urvashi,  Aishwarya. The young actress Aneesha Dama (Daughter of Rao Ramesh character) is very impressive, though its a small part, couldn't recognize her potential in her earlier movie "Geetha Govindam" though. The whole ensemble cast looks adorable in this adorable story.

Technical Departments: In technical department music by Mickey J Meyer stands out. His composition of songs along with great lyrical value are an asset to the subject that is dealt in the movie.
      And dialogues, script, production design, art work, editing and cinematography ably supported the subject.

Highlights: 
Samantha's portrayal of baby and her characterization
Earnest and adorable performances from the ensemble cast
Music
An entertaining & adorable Subject

Overall Impact: A clean entertainer that could most enjoyed when watched with the whole family. Kudos to the team.

Rating: 3.5/5


Check the below links for the movie teaser and trailers:

Oh Baby Movie Teaser

Oh Baby Movie Trailer

Thank you for your visit!

Kalki Telugu Movie Review - Intelligent and ambitious but falters in engaging audience

Story premise: Directed by Prashanth Varma, the story takes place in Kolhapur after the independence. The place had been administered by a royal family until one greedy guy called Narsappa, out of his greed for power gets the head of the royal family killed. He then kills his widow wife and her little son, burning the whole palace they are in. That clears all the hurdles for Narsappa to become undisputed king, who had been unanimously ruling the place for years scaring the people with his inhumane acts. In an unexpected shock Narsappa’s brother Shekhar Babu who has a good name among public is burnt alive being tied to a tree. Who has done it? What could be the intention behind his killing? To solve this mystery, inspector Kalki arrives to the village. The rest of the story is about how inspector Kalki goes in his own way in resolving the case.

Performances: All the performances are believable and carries out their part convincingly. Though we can see the efforts, Dr. Rajashekhar put in to play the Kalki part, his age plays a bit of distraction considering the feats he does. Its a bit unconvincing.

Technical Department: The music, cinematography, art work are a big plus to the narrative. Their efforts take the movie to next level, presentation-wise.

Screenplay & Direction: When it comes to this story there is nothing ordinary happens. It needs a greater imagination to create such situations. But then a greater effort has to be put in to make the story look organic. That’s where the film falters. We are thrown this disconnected profound incidents with unanswered questions one after other that we as audience seem to be disoriented from the happenings. We are lost on what we are looking for.

The ending is stunning, that’s probably because the director wants to reveal everything at the end. But cramming all the vital information in the ending has costed him dear as the whole first half looks flat as nothing major seems to be happening except only the questions are raised one after other without even a single one being answered which makes us loose interest in the proceedings.

The efforts put in to create the extraordinary situations, set work and visuals are commendable. The movie looks fired up in all departments except it fails in the basic rule - engaging the audience.

Overall Impact: This movie is very ambitious one made with great efforts from the all the cast and crew. We can’t help but appreciate the amount of efforts that has gone in making this film. But those very efforts became a curse of sorts, made the film look complex and less engaging. A more empathetic characterization of the lead character would have made us root for him till the end, waiting for him to win at the end. It is an intelligent film works in parts in engaging the audience and rest of the time looks indulgent and disorienting.

Plus points:
Story
Direction
Music
Cinematography
Art


Minus points:
Screenplay

Rating: 2.5/5