Srihari's SRISAILAM (2009) Movie Review by Greatandhra

Film: Srisailam

Rating:1/5

Banner: Image communications

Cast: Srihari, Krishnamraju, Sajitha, Suhani, Ram Kiran, Yashpal Sharma, Dharmavarapu, Venu Madhav, Raksha, Chitram Sreenu, Naga Babu etc

Music: Sai

Cinematography: Adusumilli Vijay
Editing: Gautham Raju
Director: K S Nageswar Rao

Producer: Tadivaka Ramesh Naidu

Release date: 31/01/2009

The essence of patriotism and love for country has always stood the best bet when it comes to the audience so here is one man who is trying to weed out the problems of terrorism in his own style. A form of reverse engineering is being adopted here, so let us see how he does that.

Story

Srisailam (Srihari) happens to be the bus driver of a college. But the real truth is, he is there to assassinate the vice chairman of the college, retired army man Krishnadevaraya (Krishnamraju) and he is sent by the dreaded terrorist Ashfaq Khan (Yashpal Sharma) from Kashmir. There is also a love track going on between Krishnadevaraya's son (Ram Kiran) and the pretty girl Likitha (Suhani) and she takes the help of Srisailam in winning the heart of the hero. On the onset, while this seems to be the plot, the real truth is Srisailam is no ordinary bus driver but an army major with the Indian army who has got a more deeper mission than just to kill the retired army man. What is that truth? Why Srisailam wants to bring about a change? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performance

Real Star Srihari who has come back as the lead hero could have looked at a better script and though his role had a lot of significance, it was not etched out well. Despite that, he has given a very good performance and came out with impressive effect.

Krishnamraju looked mature and elegant, Sajitha was there for the glamour, Suhani was a face in the crowd.

New face Ram Kiran brought disgust with his hair style although looked well in presenting a step in dance. He needs lot of grooming if he is serious to play lead roles. Right now, he has just a junior artiste look. Yashpal was not used to his complete caliber.

Venu Madhav was alright, Dharmavarapu's imitation of yesteryears actor Nagabhushanam failed to impress and also brought frustration. Raksha was regular. The others need no mention here.

Coming to other faculties, the director came up with a weak narration and poor presentation. The script had many loose ends and the sequence arrangement was horrendous leading to a lot of confusion and disarray of the story. The music is poor and the cinematography could not capture the locales of Kashmir to the extent required.

On a whole it is a vain attempt by the director who made several mistakes. How can Srihari's death be programmed in tune with the functioning of a bomb? How can a major kill a group of Pakistani army soldiers just by spitting liquor on them and firing? There are many faulty situations which cannot be explained here.

Analysis

Though the cast had full ammunition in the form of Srihari, Yashpal Sharma, Krishnamraju on the serious front and Venu Madhav, Dharmavarapu on the lighter front, the film failed to capture any attention. There were no gripping scenes and the depth and gravity of the plot were missing.

On the other hand, the length of the movie made things more difficult for the audience along with the unwanted songs. Srihari has been riding high with his special character roles and he should have taken care in choosing the right kind of script since it was his movie as a lead and it has been quite a while since he scored hits as a successful actor in recent times. The film has got poor technical aspects, poor storyline and direction.

It is hard for the venture to shine at the box office.

DAIRY, Another Thriller from Mantra Makers

Shooting of Gen Next Movies and Great Ocean Entertainments Dairy has been taking place at a fabulous location in Kerala. Debut director Machakanti Ramakrishna seemed to have decided to give the audience a different feel of the location. He is making a thriller. “A thriller with a poetic touch,” is how he describes the film. Near the backwaters, a wooden house set has been constructed to shoot major portions of the film. The house looked plush on the outside but the eerie atmosphere inside is palpable. The cameras were placed in the corner of one room. Cinematographer Srinivasa Reddy and his team are about to shoot a scene on lead actors Sivaji and Shradha Das.

While Sridhar and Sajitha are a couple, Sivaji and Shradha Das are total strangers who by chance come to live in that mysterious house. “They find a dairy in the house. That sets the course for the thriller,” informs the director during the break. An associate with S.V. Krishna Reddy, T. Prabhakar and Sagar before taking this mantle as the director, Ramakrishna has worked for 18 films.

“My friend and producer Kalyan Ram Chukka earlier made the hit film Mantra. Arun’s story appealed to me so much that we thought it will be the perfect launch pad for me. It is a very enjoyable thriller and you will find a new Sivaji in it. Heroine Shradha Das too has an equally important role. She will go places in the industry after the release of this film.


Dr. Sivaprasad is cast in a crucial role. It is a character driven film with scope for each and every actor to make an impact. We have shot about sixty per cent of the movie at Vizag and thirty per cent in Alleppy including a song. The rest of the portions including two songs will be shot in Hyderabad in February.” As we bid adieu to the cool retreat, producer Kalyan Ram said that he is planning to release the mysterious Dairy in April as a summer treat.