Rana (2008) Telugu Movie Review

Film: RANA

Rating: 3/5

Banner: Therkathi Kalai Koodam
Cast: Arjun, Nana Patekar, Kajal Agarwal, Vivek, Manivannan, Rukmini Vijayakumar,
Music: Himesh Reshammiya
Cinematography: B Kannan

Director: Bharathiraja

Producer: Paul Pandiyan and Raj T Rajan

Release date: December 12, 2008

Story:

An interesting tale, the story begins with the backdrop of the film industry where the noted director Rana(Nana) who is bestowed with scores of awards in the national and international level is a rather moody and eccentric person. Everyone in the unit is aware of his tempers so they keep their best to be on the safe side. Given his tantrums and bouts of temper, things change with the arrival of a new face and who is given the name of Trishna (Rukmini). Unusually, Rana gets quite close to her and would not entertain anyone to get close to her. The unit members are perplexed by this sudden affection and calmness towards Trishna and as expected, gossips run around the two. Meanwhile, those who try to get close to Trishna are being brutally murdered and things go out of hand with the number of victims increasing. In comes CBI officer Vivek (Arjun) who has a strong suspicion towards Rana and he begins his investigation. Much to his annoyance, his lady love Anita (Kajal) is all support for Rana and portrays his poetic brilliance and vouches that he cannot be the killer. However, the suspicions are on and Vivek is keen on nabbing the culprits. Is he successful in this? Is Rana one among the killers? All this forms the rest of the story.

Presentation:

The director has come out with an interesting plot and given the subject he has woven it with equally good narration and presentation. The script was written well and the screenplay was equally competent. Music has been a total letdown barring a song but the camerawork was brilliant. Editing could have better especially the songs were put in unexpected times. The locations were good and the costumes for Arjun and Kajal have been quite stylish. The pace of the movie was also okay. Arjun fitted well in the role of an investigating officer and this time there is not much of punching and kicking for him. Kajal was her bubbly self and had enough beauty and sex appeal to give visual feast, Rukmini could have been better since she was the focus of the story and the pressure was eased off with some comedy by Vivek and Manivannan. The real show stealer was Nana Patekar who was perfect to the hilt but then his dubbing could have been given to someone more intense. Overall, the acting department was fine.

Conclusion:

The film has come out with an interestingly woven tale of chilling murders and the exact eccentricities of few brilliant individuals in the film industry. While the first half goes about on the building up of the plot, the second half is engrossing only to give a jolt during the climax. The only drawback to this was the inclusion of songs at unwanted places that disturbed the intensity of the story. Technically and commercially, the film has it all but then there are few loose ends here and there which resulted in some bumps. The film will surely make its money.

Allari Naresh's Dongala Bandi (2008) Movie Review

Film: Dongala Bandi
Rating: 1/5
Cast: Alari Naresh, Tanya, Pooja Bharathi, Kovai Sarala, Venu Madhav, Ali, MS Narayana, Dr Daggubati Ashok Kumar, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Master Bharat, Brahmanandam, Sudarshan, Jeeva, Rao Ramesh, Suman Shetty, Chitram Seenu etc
Art: Ramana
Music: Valloori Rajasekhar
Cinematography: Arun Kumar
Producer: GSK Naidu
Director: Satish Vegesna
Released On: 12th Dec 2008

This is the film that pumped in some expectations among audiences as there are many comedians. And Allari Naresh has tickled with laughs in his recent 'Blade Babji'. Hence the expectations have risen further. How far the expectations are reached? Let us peep into the details

Story:

A boring story, the tale begins with the backdrop of the Nizam era and there is a treasure that has been hidden by three thieves one among them is Okka Magadu (MS) during the Indian government takeover and the map is torn into three parts. The scene changes to the current day when two thief families one headed by Okka Magadu and the other headed by another conwoman (Kovai Sarala). Apparently, Krishna (Naresh) is the grandson of Okka Magadu and Aishwarya (Tanya) is the granddaughter of one of the thieves. Fate brings them together and they are on the lookout for the third part when Don (Venumadhav) enters the scene. He is the grandson of the third thief and even he gets to meet the other two parties through chance. What follows from there is the journey towards the treasure and whether they are successful or not forms the rest of the story.

Performance:

Allari Naresh has come up with a power packed performance but then his character has not been etched that well. He was excellent in his dance and the comedy was good. He imitated Pawan Kalyan, Prabhas, Balakrishna and Sai Kumar in a scene and spilled laughs.

Tanya has got some real good oomph and she does not have grace while dancing. Malishka is hot!! Venu Madhav was okay, Jeeva was normal, Ali was ineffective, Chitram Sreenu was nominal, Kondavalasa and Sumanth were mechanical.

The others hardly had any presence.

The director has come out with an interesting plot but then his narrative was a major disaster. The presentation was alright with some real good locations and the camera captured them elegantly. The dialogues could have been better, the script was quite weak and the screenplay was stale. Editing could have been better especially in the second half. Music was okay and there are a couple of songs worth taking home. The other departments were just about average in their contribution.

Analysis:

This is a very boring flick made in recent times. Although there are many comedians in the film, none could bring in any laugh. Only Allari Naresh could spill a few laughs that too in first half during his introduction. 'Dongala Bandi' gives an experience of crushing under its wheels. The caption of the film reads 'No Logic-Only Fun'. But the fun is also missing in this flick and second half bombed the entire film mercilessly.

The film took off very well during the first half and the imitation of 'Dhoom' and the following comedy was good but then it took a complete U turn during the second half.

It was obvious that the maker was just trying to fill the time slot so as to complete the required two hour mark. The comedy track was not at all convincing despite the presence of some of the finest comedians. Even the sex appeal of Malishka was not used rightly and she was just sidelined. The film could have been a lot better if the script was written intelligently and though there were sparks of brilliance and creativity at few points, overall the film fails to impress the audience.

The happenings of the first half raise expectations but the eventual happenings and the poor climax make way for a disaster. This will surely go down as a black one for Allari Naresh.

Source: Great Andhra