March 2009 ~ Early Tollywood

3.27.2009

MANORAMA (2009) Review by Bharatstudent.com

Movie: Manorama
Rating : 1/5
Banner : ZEE Motion Pictures
Cast : Charmi, Nishan, Sridhar Rao, Pradeep, Lahari, Sunayana, Srivastav, Ali, MS, Narsing Yadav and Others
Cinematography : Jagan
Music : Koti
Producer: Zee Group
Director: V Eswar Reddy
Released Date: March 27, 2009

Story:
A tale without meaning, the story begins with Gitanjali a k a Gilli (Charmi) who comes to Hyderabad to spend few days with her friends (Lahari and Sridhar). She lives near Manorama café and there comes a stranger (Nishan) with a bag. His motive is to blow a bomb in the café, meanwhile Gilli is bored and wants to kill time. With her lip reading skills, she figures out from a distance that a boy is threatening to commit suicide on phone to his girlfriend. Gilli becomes the angel, also notices the number with her abilities and calls up that girl. She comes to Manorama to inform the lover boy but instead the bomber sees her and falls for her. Few twists of events happen and the bomb also fails to explode on time. Meanwhile, both the stranger and Gilli get to know each other and in no time, they fall in love with each other though they don't admit it. what happens from there forms the rest of the story.

Presentation:
The director has attempted to mix love and humanity in a matured proportion but instead it has become a mess. The narrative lacked the punch and the presentation was just average. The script was weak, the screenplay was mediocre. Music was good at places and one song is touching, cinematography did not have anything special to do. Editing was neat. Costumes and art department were apt. Charmee was her regular self and she seems to have put on some weight, Nishan was handsome and has shown potential but he needs to work more on his expressions. M S, Ali were standard. The others added their bit but nothing significant to talk about.

Conclusion:

The film takes off on a different mode in the start and ends up at a completely different note. The plot is known in just ten minutes and the pace is extremely slow as the maker was trying to fill the two and a half hour slot. While the first half goes about with the building up of the plot, a twist happens just before the interval. However, there is no momentum or exciting moments and instead the climax gets into a very depressing mode. The film could have been a lot better if there was a tight screenplay and a meaningful connection to the storyline and the characters. This is hard to succeed at the box office.

[+/-]

AKASAMANTHA (2009) Review by Greatandhra.com

Film: Akasamantha
Rating: 3.25/5
Cast: Prakash Raj, Aishwarya, Trisha, Ganesh, Talaivasal Vijay, Venkat Raman, Jagapathi Babu etc
Lyrics: Veturi, Ananth Sri Ram
Music: Vidya Sagar
Cinematography: Preetha
Art: Kadhir
Dialogues: Sasank Vennelakanti
Producer: Dil Raju
Story-Screenplay-Director: Radha Mohan
Released On: 27th March 2009

The title ‘Dil’ for Raju aptly fits. He has proven that once again. He rightly produced the movie that touches the ‘dil’ of audiences. Let us see how the movie touches the strings of hearts and sounds a poetic music.

Story:
The story starts with Raghuram (Prakash Raj) who jogs in a park. Sudhakar (Jagapathi Babu) spends his time with his 2 year old daughter in the same park around a tot lot. He takes an interval from that girl and sits beside Raghu Ram and both introduce each other. The conversation starts between the two with the topic of that child.

Raghu Ram starts narrating about his daughter Abhi (Trisha) to Sudhakar. He narrates his entire flash back saying about all tender feelings he had with her through out his life. He starts with the birth of Abhi and narrates till her marriage to a Sardarji (Ganesh). That’s a set of tender feelings which has to be watched on screen.

Finally after listening to the story of Raghu Ram and his feelings on his daughter, Sudhakar understands how he should make up his mind and heart with respect to his daughter. That’s the end of the film.

Performances:
Prakash Raj is at his best. He proves an artiste with mettle. He lived in the role of a loving father living in an isolated hill station.

Aishwarya is ok in her role. Trisha portrayed the role as per requirement. Ganesh grooved well in the get up of Sardarjee and justified the role. Talaivasal Vijay entertained and emotionally gripped in the role of Ravi Sastry.

Technically the film deserves full marks for cinematography. All the verdant locales of hill station are rightly captured. Music is just ok and ‘Atala patala…’ song is haunting.

Dialogues are crisp and filled with subtle humor that’s not far from natural appeal. There are no melodrama sequences any where and that gripped the attention of present day audiences.

Direction by Radha Mohan is good. The story line and narration is subtle with all elements right from message to entertainment.

Plus Points:

Emotional narration
Subtle humor
Justification

Minus:
Prakash Raj’s character is coated with excessive sympathy in some scenes.

Analysis:
The film has a message coated with entertainment and emotion. It has got message for fathers, message for daughters and message on a whole for every citizen. It shows how fathers should balance his feelings and possessiveness on their intelligent daughters. It portrays how daughters should understand the tender possessive feelings of responsible fathers. It shows a way for citizens how the society can be adopted to kick poverty and fence the nation with love. Apart from all these, it shows how great the sardarjees are and how bad to crack jokes on them. It also shows the humorous moments of life, sweet nothings and many more.

First half of the movie has got more humorous moments while the second half is filled with some emotion and message.

On a whole it’s a movie that deserves patronage of all matured audiences. It’s family movie that holds the emotional levels. Mass audiences may not connect with the movie due to lack of speed and other elements.

3.26.2009

[+/-]

Sontha Ooru Movie Review : Great Andhra

Film: Sontha Ooru
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Art Film
Banner: Sravya Productions
Cast: Raja, Theertha, L B Sriram, Swathi, Tanikella, M S, Jeeva, Vijaychander, Jayaprakash Reddy and others
Music: Saketh Sairam
Cinematography: Sabu James
Dialogues: Gandham Nagaraju
Editing: Sri Guha
Director: P Sunil Kumar Reddy
Producers: Y Ravindra Babu, Kishori Basireddy
Release date: 21/03/2009

Given the commercialization and globalization, the essence of countryside and agricultural lands has been going through a phase of extinction. In that context, the film has been made to take through a nostalgic journey. How true has it stood to the sentiment, let us see.

Story

A small village has many characters in the form of Bujji (Raja) who is in love with Malli (Teertha), the prostitute and both of them are quite close to Rudrudu (L B Sriram) who takes care of the dead bodies in the graveyard and arranges for their funeral.

They all have a village head Devudu babu (Tanikella) who has the goodwill and respect of all the villagers. Then there is Naidu (Jeeva) who always becomes the victim of crow droppings. Reddy (Vijaychander) is the honest and hardworking farmer.

Everything goes well but their lives take a turn when the government comes with the proposal of setting up a special business zone there so they want the villagers to sell their lands and leave. This news is brought by the MRO (M S).

Whether the village folks accept it or not forms the rest of the story.

Performance

The film belongs to L B Sriram as he came up with an award winning performance; it was the strength of his dialogues that gave him the added impact. Raja was regular, Teertha is a buxom babe and oozed out her sex appeal and oomph to the fullest extent, Tanikella was elegant, M S was normal, Jeeva was just okay, Vijaychander and Jayaprakash Reddy came and went. The others did not have much in it.

The director has attempted to come up with a thoughtful message about the current urbanization of the villages but then there seems to be few hitches. While the presentation is somewhat okay, the narration lacked the depth and the script was written without much gravity. Screenplay was okay, music and camerawork was average, editing could have been better, dialogues are excellent. Locations and costumes fitted the scenario and not much for the art department in this.

On a whole it is an artistic attempt with no big commercial elements.

Analysis

Right from the beginning, the film had the smell of an art movie in it and given the romantic angle and the philosophic angle of death, it looked like a mixture of life with a very spiritual view.

However, the film has fallen flat in conveying a message to the audience. The issue was about the acquisition of villages and agricultural lands. So it would have made a lot of sense to come up with a revolution or an awakening among the village folks to come together and preserve the lands. Instead, what follows is a string of deaths and in the end it turns out to be a complete tragic tale without a message to audiences nor enough substance in it to feel an impact.

The film could have been a lot better if the focus was towards a positive solution towards the situation. However, the real life and soul of the film was L B Sriram who has come out with an exceptional performance. His strength lied in the dialogues and the way he has given the reality of life in a philosophical way. This will be one of his all time best performances in his career. If the idea of the makers was to show how important it is to protect the agriculture and the village system then why was the issue not attended during the climax?

The story moves towards the characters in the movie and the stale endings they have. All efforts look waste and depressing after so much that has been shown, the pace of the movie also was slow and it must be said that there is hardly any story for the first twenty minutes or so. The film is more of an art genre material and there is not much for the mass audience except the exposing of Theertha and a weak item song. Even the class will not have the patience to sit through the movie only to get depressed in the end.

Although the first half is interesting, second half killed the tempo. The length of the movie would have restricted to 1.30 hr or below 2 hrs.

3.24.2009

[+/-]

MALLI MALLI Review by Idlebrain.com

Rating: 2/5
Punchline: dream comes alive
Genre: Thriller
Type: Straight
Banner: Sree Sahasya Entertainment Pvt Ltd
Cast: Skanda, Kalyanee, Sachin Khedekar, Venu Madhav, Brahmanandam, Krishna Bhagawan, Ravi Prakash, Fish Venkat, Melkote, Apoorva, Dr. Bharat, Master Bharat etc
Music: Thaman S
Cinematography: Dasaradhi Sivendra
Editing: Marthand k Venkatesh
Story - screenplay - direction: Raaj Adithya
Producer: Dinesh Kumar
Release date: 21 March 2009

Review

Story

malli malli Nandu (Skanda), an unemployed graduate stays in an apartment in Hyderabad. He has to support his family members who stay in a village. One day he wakes up and realizes that he is being treated badly by people around him. He fails in a job interview. He is about to attempt suicide when somebody approaches him with a tempting offer. He has to kill a noble person called Satya (Sachin Khedekar) and as a favor he will get enough money to solve all his monetory problems. That is when he wakes up and realizes that whatever he has experienced so far was a long dream that lasted for a day. After waking up, he notices that the entire sequence in his dream is repeating in his real life. The rest of the story is all about how he uses that data from his dream to win over his lady love (Kalyanee) and save Satya from a killer.

Artists Performance

sontha vooru New actor Skanda is adequate as the main lead. He looks like a slimmer version of Uday Kiran with his cute looks. But a guy with under-dog looks (like Ravi Krishna in 7G Brindavan Colony) would have added some zing to this character. Kalyanee is good as the leading lady. Sachin Khedekar is nice. The guy who dubs for Suman dubbed for Sachin. Master Bharat is partly entertaining.

Technical departments

malli malliStory - screenplay - direction: The story and narrative pattern is inspired by the Hollywood flick ‘If Only’ (2004). ‘If Only’ deals with a guy using the opportunity of what he has seen in dream to make sure that he takes care of girl friend well. It was essentially a love story. Director Raj Aditya used that film to make it a thriller by adding action element of a murder mystery. There is no grip in the screenplay and direction should have been better. The director used the padding of comedians in entertain the crowds, but the comedy is not up to the mark.

sontha vooruOther departments: Music of the film by Thaman S is good. Dialogues are adequate. Cinematography by Dasaradhi Sivendra is very good. Editing is adequate. Production values by Sree Sahasya Entertainment Pvt Ltd are good.

malli malli Analysis:

First half of the film is adequate. The second half is boring as it becomes repetitive. There is an interesting twist towards the climax. The plus point of the film is story concept. The negative points are insufficient screenplay and lack of gripping narration. There are two suicide attempts and one suicide in this film. Ironically, the director who wanted to discourage the depressed youth from attempting suicide finally succumbed to death by committing it on the release day of this film. On a whole, Malli Malli disappoints.

source : idlebrain.com

[+/-]

SONTHA VOORU Review by Idlebrain.com

Rating: 2.5/5
Punchline: Of Death, sex & SEZ
Genre: Drama
Type: Straight
Banner: Sravya Films
Cast: Raja, Tirtha, LB Sreeram, Tanikella Bharani, JP, Jeeva, Rallapalli, Swati etc
Music: Saketh Sairam
Cinematography: Sabu James
Editing: Sri Gruha
Story - dialogues : LB Sriram, Nagaraju Gandham & Sunil Kumar Reddy
Screenplay - direction: Sunil Kumar Reddy
Producer: Y Ravindra Babu & Kishori Basireddy
Release date: 21 March 2009

Review

Story

sontha vooru Rudraswamy (LB Sriram) is an undertaker (kaati kapari) in a small village. Devudu (Tanikella Bharani) is an educated elder who is regarded as a leader of the village. When the Government approaches him to convince the villagers to sell their lands and properties as it is coming up with SEZ, Devudu convinces everybody to sell. The rest of the story is all about what happens when Rudraswamy realizes that Devudu has erred. There is also a plot of a limping poor boy (Raja) falling in love with the only prostitute (Tirtha) of the village.

Artists Performance

sontha vooruLB Sriram does the best role of in his career – Rudraswamy in an extremely convincing manner. Deeper philosophical dialogues aid him to make his character click. Tirtha comes up with a top-notch performance as a prostitute. Raja is very good as a limping innocent man. However, his diction and dialogue delivery didn’t match the characterization. Tanikella Bhrani is excellent in the scene where he explains the fruits of development to village men (before interval). Swati is good as the daughter of LB Sriram. Jeeva, JP and others are adequate.

Technical departments

sontha vooruStory - screenplay - direction: Story of the film is good. But screenplay is inadequate. Direction is adequate in parts. Though some of the scenes are well-handled, there is no holistic perspective to direction. The movie has some interesting scenes and some clichéd and boring episodes.

sontha vooruOther departments: Dialogues in this film are excellent. Some of the dialogues are deeply philosophical. There is one interesting dialogue coming up every 10 minutes in this film. The team of dialogue writers (Nagaraju Gandham, LB Sreeram & Sunil Kumar Reddy) should get a lot of credit. Songs of the film seem to be inspired from the melodies of 70’s. Background music
is mediocre at the best. Cinematography is neat

sontha vooru Analysis:

First half of the film is uninteresting because entire first half is devoted in establishing the three important characters. The real story involving SEZ starts only in the interval. The final parts of the film are convincingly done. The plus points of Sontha Vooru are writing (story and dialogues) and performances (LB Sriram & Tirtha). The negative points are slow narration and inadequate screenplay. There are a few raw scenes and raw dialogues (involving prostitute) in the film. This film is an out and out art film with not even a single commercial element. Though it would bomb at box office a big time, Sontha Vooru has ample elements to get a few awards.

[+/-]

News Of The Day

3.20.2009

[+/-]

Download Prabhas' BILLA (2009) Audio Songs

3.19.2009

[+/-]

News Of The Day

[+/-]

Happy Birthday To Dialogue King Mohan Babu

3.13.2009

[+/-]

News Of The Day

[+/-]

MESTHRI Review : By Greatandhra.com

Film: Mestri
Rating: 1.75/5
Banner: Siri Media Pvt Ltd
Cast: Dasari Narayana Rao, Mohan Babu, Srihari, Sujitha, Vijay Kumar, Pradeep Rawath, Rahul Dev, Sayaji Shinde, Chandramohan, MS, Giri Babu etc
Music: Vandemataram Srinivas
Cinematography: C H Ramaraju
Editing: Gautham Raju
Art: B V Rao
Story, Screenplay: Dasari
Director: Suresh Krissna
Producer: K Ramakrishna Prasad
Release date: 12/03/2009

It was with a great anticipation that ‘Mesthri’ was awaited since the buzz was it had a lot of dig on Chiranjeevi and his political debut. Also, the combination of the Congress sympathizers Dasari, Mohan Babu, Srihari generated enough excitement for political undertones. How much of it is actually true, let us see.

Story:

Palakollu (Dasari) joins the shipyard as an ordinary loader and in no time, he uses his wit and intellect to arrange for a land to the workers so that they can build their homes. As expected, he becomes the ‘Mesthri’ for them. However, he has obstacles in the form of their boss Subbaraju (Pradeep Rawath) and his brother Adiraju (Sayaji). After the death of Subbaraju, in the hands of Mestri, the flashback is revealed that Mesthri is actually Major Narasimham and he is there to take revenge on the murderers of his disciple Major Devaraj (Mohanbabu). Srihari played the role of a suspended cop. In between all this, there is a Gandhian Gopalakrishnaiah (Vijay Kumar) who helps Mesthri in one of his court cases. But who is Gopalakrishnaiah? That’s suspense. Does he get successful in his revenge seeking mission? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performance:

It was a Dasari show as is the case with most of his movies and he carries out his role with fair standards. His dialogue delivery in some scenes were impressive, Mohanbabu has a whirlwind appearance and he has his share of strong dialogues, Srihari looked handsome and though his performance was subdued, his action sequences were alright, Sayaji was regular, Vijay Kumar was average, Pradeep Rawat was mediocre, Sujitha looked sweet, Rahul Dev came and went, MS was usual, Giri Babu and Chandramohan did their bit as required. The others were filling the screen with their presence. The director has come up with a routine storyline but he managed to keep things going during the first half with a decent screenplay and good pace. However, the narration went really messy during the second half with a lot of drag and some illogical climax situations. The presentation was good as the music and the background score was impressive and the cinematography has captured the angles and the emotions correctly, even the lighting effects have been neat. Editing could have been a lot better during the second half, costumes for Mohan Babu should have been more disciplined in his army uniform, and the art department has done an okay job. The dialogues were filled with enough punch and ammunition and it got few whistles and claps from the front benchers. The script had flaws and the screenplay could have been much better.

Analysis:

The first half of the film was able to keep the curiosity factor high and it looked like the second half will have some good momentum to culminate a good climax and give a thoughtful message to the audience but then the last 30 minutes of the film was a major drag and as it is the content part was not much so the film depended a lot on a tight screenplay which went haywire during the thirty minutes. Though many from the camp were denying that the film did not take a dig at anyone, a fair share of dialogues was spoken that gave a stick to Chiranjeevi and his political role. Literally, the song ‘Nagamalli daarilo…’ looked like a tribute to Chiru, not stopping at that, few scenes with Vijay Kumar and the repeatedly spoken words such as ‘Master’ ‘Andarivaadu’ pointed fingers only in one direction. Even the TDP folks were not left out in this party as references have been made using terms like ‘Tiger’ ‘Garjana’ , Telangana issue and few other aspects. It is also amusing to hear Dasari say that the character played by Mohan Babu gets killed because he is a Dalit and that too by the upper caste. Well, the issue was about the land and caste and creed has nothing to do with the killing. Just when audience was hoping that Dasari will not show his eccentricity, he came up to his original antics in the second half and that too in the climax. How ridiculous can things get when a song sung by Dasari is played on the screen in a public meeting when the time comes to expose the villain instead of showing the evil acts of the bad man. A good thing was the song on the essence of Telugu which was quite patriotic and commendable, written by C Na Re. The film is an outright mass treat and it could have been better had the second half been handled well. Though the content part is meek, it is the presence of the stars and the dialogues that provide some solace. The criticism on Chiru and other parties looked quite evident enough.