SIMHADRI 2003

Banner: VMC
Story: Vijayendra Prasad
Dialogues: Viswanath, Rathnam
Music: MM Keeravani
Songs: Veturi, Sirivennela, ChandraBose, Vennelakanti
Art: Anand Sai
Stunts: A Vijay
Cinematography: Ravindra Babu
Editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Co-director: Thota Rama Krishna
Prensented by: V Daraswamy Raju
Producer: V Vijay Kumar Varma
Screenplay - Direction: SS Raja Mouli
Release date: 9 July 2003

Cast:
NTR,
Bhumika Chawla,
Ankita,
Seeta,
Kota Srinivasa Rao,
Brahmanandam,
Nasar,
Mukesh Rushi,
Sarad Saxena,
Rahul Dev,
Rajan P Dev,
Chalapati Rao,
Bhanu Chandar,
Surya,
Hari,
Venu Madhav,
Rallapalli,
GV,
Kallu Chidambaram,
Dharmavarapu Subramanyam,
Subbaraya Sharma,
Pardhasaradhi,
Sangeeta,
Hema,
Ramya Sri,
Sravani,
Ragini,
Master Sandeep,
Master Mahendra

Story

An innocuous and good-hearted lad Simhadri(NTR) is handpicked by Ram Bhupal Varma(Nazar). The bond Ram Bhupal Varma and Simhadri share is like that of a father and son. Kasturi (Ankita) is the grand daughter (daughter's daughter) of Ram Bhupal Varma. Kasturi likes Simhadri a lot. Once in a week, Simhadri visits a mentally retorted girl called Indu (Bhumika). He entertains her and passes on the money to her caretakers (Rallapally and Ragini). After coming to know about Ankita's liking towards Simhadri, Ram Bhupal Varma decides to get them married. At this point of time, it is revealed that Simhadri is very close to a mentally retorted girl Indu. The alliance breaks off. Mean while a bunch of gangsters are in search of Simhadri. They found him at the banks of Godari River along with Indu. In that confrontation between gangsters and Simhadri, Indu gets injured. When she comes back to her senses, she becomes a normal girl. The first thing she does then was to stab Simhadri.

Simhadri is hospitalized. Then we see hoards of buses coming from Kerala to see Simhadri, whom they call as Singamalai. In the flashback it is revealed that Ram Bhupal Varma's elder daughter Seeta (Seeta) elopes with a guy (Bhanu Chandar). They settle in Kerala. Simhadri takes up the job of uniting family and visits Trivendrum. There he finds Indu as the grand daughter of Ram Bhupal Varma. He convinces the separated family and when the reunion is about to happen, Seeta is stabbed by a local goon Nair (Rahul Dev). A rowdy named Bhai Saab (Mukesh Rushi) controls the mafia of Kerala. Nair and Bhai Saab belong to the same mafia. Simhadri takes law into his hands and eradicates goons in Kerala. The local Kerala people starts calling him 'Singamalai'. When Simhadri along with Indu and her father is about to return to Vizag, an unexpected thing happens.

To know what that unexpected thing, you should watch it on silver screen.

Artists Performence

NTR: NTR has displayed the entire gamut of emotions in this film from innocence to dare devilry guile. This character offered him the chance to use all his histrionic capability to impress the crowds and he utilized every frame of it to make a deep impact on the hearts of the viewers. His effortless dancing capabilities saw newer heights in this film. He is terrific in action sequences and his body language and facial expressions make us believe the unbelievable action sequences. He effortlessly modulates his voice from dialogue to dialogue as per the requirement.

Bhumika Chawla: Bhumika Chawla is the perfect fir for the role of Indu. She impresses us with her innocent looks for the character of mad girl. However, she could not help becoming a Malayala Kutti (in that typical Malayali dress) in the second half of the film. You can see a brand new mass Bhumika in the 'Whistle' song of the film.

Ankita: Ankita could be crowned as the latest glam doll, who does not hesitate to shed her cloths at the drop of a hat. She wore bare minimal cloths for the voyeuristic pleasure of peeping toms. She did well in dances department too. However, she is almost missing in the entire second half except for a song and a couple of scenes.

Others: Nazar is the perfect fit for that role. Kota Srinivasa Rao provided some classic comedy as the 'Pingali' guy. The comedy episodes of Brahmanandam and Venu Madhav are entertaining. Ramya Krishna is hot in the special song. Rahul Dev looks debo'nair' in his 'Nair' get up. Mukesh Rushi has finally got an opportunity to show his muscles in the film in his Tarzan getup in the jail. He looks terrific. Sharad Saxena did the positive character of lieutenant of NTR in Kerala. Seeta and Bhanu Chandar did justice to their roles. Master Mahendra did well as a handicapped lad.

Technical Departments:

Story: Story of the film is pretty strong. However, the story in second half should have been knitted with more care. There are a couple of unconvincing points in this film.

1. The reason why Bhanu Chandar and Nazar hate each other so much is not convincing enough.
2. Sarat Saxena is shown as a helpless and sincere police officer. But he does not do a thing to even stop a goon from committing a rape or murder.

Screenplay - direction: Screenplay of the film in the first half is tight. The screenplay in the second half looks more like being knitted impromptu on the sets than sticking to a perfect bounded script. It's hard to believe that SS Raja Mouli -who is very much soft natured in real life - directed such a mass masala film with good conviction. Raja Mouli should be commended for incorporating all sections (comedy, fights, sentiment, masala, powerful dialogues etc) in an appropriate way without losing grip on narration. He would become a very good mass director in the future.

Music: Songs by Keeravani capture the mood of the targeted audience, though few numbers remind us of songs from Keeravani's earlier albums. Background music is also good.

Songs: Some of the dance bits by NTR for first and last songs (Cheema & Soda Buddi) are extraordinary. 2 melodious songs are very sensibly pictured on Bhumika and NTR. Guest song on NTR and Ramya Krishna is also excellent.

Dialogues: 'Gangotri' Viswanath and M Rathnam did a good job in dialogues department. They wrote all kinds of dialogues (sentiment, mass, masala, comedy). In the titles itself, they mentioned that all the dialogues of Kerala episode are written in Telugu so that audiences could understand (other wise chronic critics like me would have complained about nativity).

Camera: Photography by Ravindra Babu is impressive. The way sun set is captured for various scenes in the film is beautiful. Lots of special effects were also added to the film.

Stunts: Stunts by Vijay are worth applauding. Most of the fights composed for NTR have NTR killing the people with just one shot. There is lot of bloodshed in the fights of this film.

Other departments: Editing by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao is crisp. Art by Anand Sai is good.

Production: Producer Dora Swami Raju showed his experience of filmmaking in choosing an apt subject for NTR. The film is also shot in a rich scale.

Analysis:
First Half of the film is very much entertaining and would be liked by all sections of the audiences. The second half is little haphazard. The second half is stuffed by 1 hour of Kerala flashback episode. By the time flashback is over, people would be in a frame of mind that the climax is over. The last song and the following climax episode should have been picturised in an effective way. The second half does appeal to the masses a lot. Over all, its a good film that would give value for money you spent on ticket (only if you can excuse some skin showing scenes, double entendres and excessive bloodshed)

KABADDI-KABADDI 2003

Banner: Maharshi Cinema
Music: Chakri
Art: Satyanarayana
Songs: Bhaskarabhatla Ravi Kumar, Kaluva Krishna Sai, Sri Sai Harsha
Art: Satyanarayana
Photography: Bhupati
Dialogues: Satish
Story - Screenplay - Director: Venki
Producer: Valluripally Ramesh Babu
Release date: 16th February 2003

Cast:
Jagapati Babu,
Kalyani,
Surya,
Jeeva,
Krishna Bhagawan,
Lakshman Rao,
Brahmanandam.
Potti Prasad,
Tanikella Bharani,
Rajitha,
Suman Setty,
Preeti Nigam,
Chinna,
MS Narayana,
Raghu Babu

Story

Rambabu (Jagapati Babu) is a 30+ unmarried youth, who spends most of his time with a gang of friends from different age groups. Kaveri (Kalyani) is the sister of village head (Surya) in Sakhinetipally, a neighboring village of Venkannapalem, where Rambabu lives. Rambabu loves Kaveri at the first sight. And both of them are in love. Brother of Kaveri objects to their love as Rambabu is a wayward youth. Rambabu challenges to defeat the Kabaddi team of Sakhinetipally and asks marriage with Kaveri as the prize. Kaveri's brother agrees to it. The rest of the story is about how the team of Rambabu wins the finale.

Artists performance:

Jagapati Babu: The best thing about Jagapati Babu in this film is that there is no build-up or unnecessary scenes for his character to show heroism. He is given just enough exposure to establish himslef. He did pretty well. The Rambabu character is of 35 years old and Jagapati Babu's age is not an issue in this love story.

Kaveri: She epitomizes the adjective of 'padahaaranala telugu pilla' with her shyness, mannerisms and dressing sense. 99% of her wardrobe in this film includes sarees and half-sarees with plain colors. She is a delight to watch on the big screen.

Krishna Bhagavan: The second hero of Sravanthi Movies 'Maharshi' had come a long way to establish himself as a familiar face now. With 'Avunu Valliddaru Istapaddaaru' (AVI), he has surprised many with his impeccable comedy timing and typical Godavari slang. His character in this film is just as an extension of his mannerisms from AVI. He is the best entertainer in this film.

Jeeva: The actor Jeeva - who is known for deadly portrayal of evil characters - has donned a comedy-oriented role in this film and he entertained crowds with his neat performance.

Lakshman Rao (AVI fame): His character in this film is a natural extension of his character in AVI. He is pretty entertaining.

Others: Tanikella Bharani donned the role of Jagapati Babu's father. Surya played the brother of Kalyani. Preeti Nigam played sister-in-law of Kalyani. Chinna acted as a mad fellow. Raghu Babu also did a good role. MS Narayana and Brahmanandam provided comedy in their typical style.

Technical Departments:

Story - Screenplay - direction: The story of the film is very simple and has a streak of it inspired from Lagaan film. The Venki's style of taking is pretty similar to that of Vamsy. The comedy timing of the director is very good. He is good at injecting nativity. However, he should have worked more on the screenplay aspect. He took 30 minutes to introduce the gang of hero to audiences. The heroine is shown only after 30 minutes. His directorial abilities are worth a commendation. But he failed at drawing logical conclusions to the odd characters in this film on which he has spend 30 minutes to establish in the first half.

Dialogues: Dialogues by Satish are well written. The dialogues written for Krishna Bhagavan are extremely hilarious. However, there are few vulgar dialogues about the extramarital relationship between Jeeva and Rajitha.

Music: Music by Chakri is good. Background music also gels well with the mood of the film. Among the songs, the title song got good response as it's the only situational song and it is placed at the right moment. The picturization of 'Jaabili' song is pretty good and the director has shown his creativity (bhavukata) in picturization.

Other departments: Photography by Bhupati is very good. He captured the greenery of Godavari districts pretty well. Paidy Reddy's editing is crisp.

Production: Valluripally Ramesh Babu has made this film on a shoestring budget with the apt cast and efficient technicians. He should be making good money provided that he promotes the film well.

Analysis:
This film is a love story with kabaddi backdrop. But the entire film is having an undercurrent comedy. The director cleverly used the comedy characters created by Vamsy for AVI and established those characters to a greater deja vu in this film. You would not get bored, though the film has sluggish moments. However, the climax of the film is not up to the mark. They followed the regular pattern of making Jagapati Babu a hero in Kabaddi competition than making the odd characters (the remaining six people in team) contribute towards the success of the match. The highlights of this film are the comedy and heroine. You can watch it once without any hesitation.

AMMA NANNA O TAMILA AMMAYI 2003

Banner: Vaishno Academy
Photography: Shyam K Naidu
Art: Chanti
Stunts: Ram Lakshman
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Presented by: KLN Raju
Story - screenplay - dialogues - direction - producer: Puri Jagannath
Theatrical release date: 19th April 2003

Cast:
Ravi Teja,
Asin,
Jaya Sudha,
Prakash Raj,
Ali,
Gowtam Raju,
MS Narayana,
Jr. relangi,
Dharmavarapu Subramanyam,
Aiswarya,
Jogi Naidu,
Kadambari Kiran,
Prudhvi Raj

Story

Chandu is a kickboxing student and aspires to become the champion. He has a caring mother (Jayasudha) and no father. His father leaves them long back to achieve his goal, as he felt that his family is becoming hindrance to his career growth. Chandu loses his mother in due time. His mother asks him to go to Vizag and stay with his father Raghuveer (Prakash Raj) for the rest of his life.

Chandu travels to Vizag and finds that Raghuveer married another lady called Shalini (Aishwarya) and they have a daughter as well. Raghuveer is a kickboxing coach. He invites Chandu with both hands. But his wife and daughter are not comfortable with Chandu. The rest of the story is about how Chandu wins the love of all family members and also the kickboxing finale.

Artists:

Ravi Teja: Characterization of hero in this film is a logical extension of Puri's earlier film Idiot. Ravi Teja did well. His strength lies in his dialogue delivery and reckless body language.

Jaya Sudha: Jaya Sudha did a very good character of mother of hero. She lived each and every moment of her presence on the screen with perfect lighter vein histrionics.

Prakash Raj: Prakash Raj played a character of a irresponsible husband who leaves his wife for his personal career goal. His characterization in this film is confusing and aimless.

Asin: She does not have any role to play in this film. Most of the film revolves around hero and his relationship with his mother (first half) and father (second half). She looks beautiful and tender and does act well. But she is not used in the right way in this film.

Others: Ali did another comedy cameo where he does 'role-play' with Alphonsa. Dharmavarapu Subramanyam acted as father of heroine. The guy who played the role of villain is impressive.

Technical Departments:

Story - Screenplay - Direction: Puri Jagannath has taken a story that has lots of sentiment. But he did not do justice to the screenplay. There is no continuity in the narration. However, the sentiment scenes in this film are heart touching.

Dialogues: Puri Jagannath is known for his aggressive dialogues. That aggression sounds convincing and romantic if the conversation is made aggressive between hero and heroine. In stead, the hero speaks in the same vein with his father and mother, which looks embarrassing. On the top of it, the heroine would be conversing in Tamil, which Telugu audience have no clue about.

Music: Music and songs of the film is good. The best song of the film is 'Neeve Neeve' picturised on Jaya Sudha and Ravi Teja. The song that got best applause was the mass song 'Chumma Chumma'. However, the timing and picturization of the last song 'Jhum Jhumare' is a let down. In this scene Prakash Raj is coaching Ravi Teja for kickboxing. In this backdrop 'Jhum Jhumare' song comes which has montage shots of Prakash Raj training Ravi Teja and Alphonsa dancing with Ali. If we look at the past songs like Traveling Soldier (Tammudu) and Okate Jananam (Bhadrachalam) are pictured to get the audience prepared for the climax in a serious mode. But in this song the director mixed a serious issue with a funny thing like Alphonsa-Ali comedy track and diluted the very much-needed spirits for the climax.

Others: Photography by Shyam K Naidu is good. Fight sequences by Ram-Lakshman are impressive.

Analysis:
First half of the film is average as it gives the foundation to the characters. In the second half, the characterization of Prakash Raj is so confusing that he is not justified in leaving his wife Jaya Sudha and at the same time getting married to another girl Aiswarya. With that unconvincing point as the backdrop, the narration appears quite unbelievable. If we have the 'Idiot' film as the parameter, this film is a let down. If you see this film without any expectations, it's an average flick. On the second thought, this movie should have been titled as 'amma nanna o koduku' because there is no justice to the role of 'Tamil Ammai' and the love track between the lead pair in this film.

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