04/25/08 ~ Early Tollywood

4.25.2008

A STAR STUDDED EVENING- PHOTO GALLERY

The Dasavathaaram music album, under the Sony BMG label, was released just a short while ago in the midst of stars and celebs and a great deal of cheer! The first CD was released by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Dr. Kalaignar Karunanidhi and received by none other than the much-loved and much-adored Kung Fu King Jackie Chan.
Also present at the event as a guest of honour were Bollywood Moghul Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Jayapradha, Asin and the hot Mallika Sherawat, various luminaries of the film world, ministers and the who's who of the film world. Shobhana stunned the audiences with her fantastic compering in three languages - Tamil, Telugu and English.
Speaking on the occasion, Amitabh Bachchan said he has worked in 'one-and-a-half' movies with Kamal, and welcomes the chance to work with him again. He plans to have discussions with Kamal in this matter, since he is already at Chennai. Mammootty said that he has been a Kamal fan since his college days. Vijay said that he is happy a small 'kuruvi' like him has been given a chance to share the stage with mighty and famous persons like Kamal, Jackie and Big B.
Kamal said that he is most happy Mr. Karunanidhi attended the function and thus again encouraged him. He has plans to make a film with Jackie Chan who has inspired him in many of his fight stunts. He announced that one of the invitees, none other than Hema Malini, would also act with him in his next project.
Jackie replied that he will be happy to share screen space with Kamal and admires his work very much. He spoke in a most humorous manner, and said he will be happy to visit Tamil Nadu for many more such functions. He willingly posed for pictures with VIPs after the function ended.
When the Chief Minister spoke, he said that he is impressed how much research Jackie Chan has done because he spoke and wrote like an expert about Tamil films. He also said that when he saw the trailer of the film, he was so impressed, he kissed the clean-shaven Kamal. Kamal and Jackie Chan were born in the same year and operate on the same wavelength, since they are both truly talented film persons, always looking for different ways to attract audiences.The welcome speech was given by director K.S. Ravikumar. He said that this is the fourth film in which he is collaborating with the 'kamaal' named Kamal and this will be the best ever film till date from the Oscar banner. Producer Oscar V. Ravichandran and his brother V. Sridhar also spoke at length about how happy they are to be associated with this project. Oscar V. Ravichandran donated Rs. five lakhs to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. This cheque was handed over by Jackie Chan to the CM.

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DONGA SACHINOLLU

Banner: Shashidhar Productions

Cast:
Raghu Babu
Krishna Bhagawan
Rambha
Chandra Mohan
Telangana Sakuntala
Brahmanandam
Venu Madhav
Kondavalasa
Rajeev Kanakala
Vinod Kumar
Jayaprakash Reddy and others

Music: Srilekha

Director: Raja Vannemreddy

Producers: J Sambasiva Rao, C Varaprasad

Release date: April 25, 2004
Story: A regular entertainer, the story begins with Ramudu (Raghu Babu) and Kamudu (Krishna Bhagawan) in the village of Poduru near Rajahmundry. They are more like imbeciles and their acts often land them in trouble but then they are attached to their uncle (Chandramohan) and aunty (Telangana Sakuntala) who bring them up like their own children. They also have a darling sister who gets married to Jagadish Prasad (Vinod Kumar) who lives in the US and after many years they come back to Hyderabad and start a business. The sister comes to village and takes both Ramudu and Kamudu along with her to the city for a better lifestyle. She also has the intention of getting one of them married to her only daughter Kavya (Rambha). Unfortunately, when Jagadish Prasad decides to give the ownership to Kavya, his partners betray him and they end up with nothing. In that stress, he drives rashly and ends up meeting with an accident and both Jagadish and his wife get killed. With nothing left for them, Ramudu and Kamudu come back to the village along with Kavya and decide to give her the best of life. Meanwhile, they hear about a letter written by their dead sister which referred to Kavya's marriage with one of them and from then on they start putting their best foot forward to win her heart. Who is the winner forms the rest of the story. On the sidetrack, there is Midatha (Venu Madhav), Stalin (Brahmanandam), Konda (Kondavalasa) adding their bit to the story.
A very predictable subject with nothing special to offer, the director has presented in a very boring manner and the narration is aloof. Though the background score and one or two beats were good, not very special tunes are there. Editing could have been a lot better, the script was stale and the screenplay had no significant role to play. The camera was okay and captured the foreign locales and the village scenes as per standards. The movie looked a lot in favor of Raghu Babu as his screen presence was felt strongly while Krishna Bhagawan was in the back seat with his regular witty lines. The comeback efforts of Rambha may not help her as the role was limited and there was no real need for her to come up with any powerful scenes, however she still has some charm left in her. L B Sriram was good with his comedy along with Venu Madhav, Brahmanandam looked artificial. Rajeev Kanaka had only three lines in total. The library scenes showing NTR, ANR, Krishna was heart rendering but the print was poor. The others like Vinod Kumar, Jayaprakash Reddy were okay.

If entertainment was the key, then the film maker must ensure that there is a lot of pace in the script along with some really rib tickling comedy. The first half was dull and lacked the speed, the second half looked a bit with momentum but lost its connection with unwanted scenes of comedy and songs. It is really very hard for the movie to make its money which was evident from the theatres showing only 40% attendance on the opening day.