Kamal Hassan And Victory Venkatesh's EENADU (2009) Movie Review by Greatandhra

Film: Eenadu

Rating: 2.75/5

Banners: Raajkamal International, UTV

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Venkatesh, Lakshmi, Ganesh Venkatraman, Anuja Iyer, Poonam Kaur, Santhanam, Mahesh Jayee etc

Music: Shruti Haasan

PRO: BA Raju

Cinematography: Manoj Soni

Dialogues: Neelakanta

Director: Chakri Toleti

Producer: Kamal Haasan

Release date: 18th Sep 2009

The sensational movie that shook the heads of many critics, film lovers on a whole ‘A Wednesday’ was brought into Telugu as ‘Eenadu’ today. Has it shaken the heads again? Let us go into the details.


Story:

Police Commissioner Eeshwar Prasad (Venkatesh) gets a threatening call from an anonymous caller (Kamal Hasan) who states that he planted 5 RDX explosives in city which would explode by 6PM. Terror starts from then. Eeshwar Prasad handles the issue by reporting to Chief Secretary (Lakshmi) and Chief Minister. His missions are two.

1. Safeguarding that city from blasts and
2. Smoking out the anonymous caller.

And why that caller threatens? His demands are to release 4 terrorists those are linked up to Gokul Chat and Lumbini blasts.

Eeshwar Prasad releases them and sends to the place suggested by that anonymous caller. What happens after that? Has Eshwar Prasad succeeded in his missions?

That has to be watched on screen.


Performances:

Venkatesh- He is the only saving grace in the movie. Audience found relaxed and pleasant watching him. He suited perfect to the role of Police Commissioner. He looked more convincing than Anupam Kher, who played same role in original ‘A Wednesday’. He never smiles through out the narration and his serious portrayal is laudable. He kept all sorts of star-hero image and airs aside and performed very subtly. That is highly commendable.
Kamal Hasan- He hasn’t shown the conviction that was shown by Naseeruddin Shah in original. There is no scope for performance in this role, but still Naseeruddin could show some glitters drawing the attention of audiences completely. But here the director spoiled the character by not suggesting anything about the timing in dialogue delivery and expressions to Kamal. Kamal is the biggest disappointment as audience expect more than what they have actually watched from him.
Ganesh Venkataraman: He is perfect in cop’s role. He is the one who stole the attention of audiences with his macho look as Cop Arif. He is far better than Jimmy Shergill who played same role in original.

Bharat Reddy: He played subtly as Cop Goutham Reddy with bits of humor in a couple of scenes.
Lakshmi is a waste. Technically, this is the first full length film in Telugu that’s made with Red-One digital camera. The output is good. Sruthi Hasan’s music could have been better. Dialogues are good. Editing is ok.


Highlights:
Venkatesh’s presence
Ganesh Venkatraman’s performance

Disappointments:
Kamal Hasan
Chakry Toleti’s direction
Lakshmi’s character
RR

Analysis:
A few said that Kamal wouldn’t have chosen to work in this movie as his performance is not up to the mark. Some from back seats murmured, Prakash Raj would be a better choice than Kamal Hasan for this role.

Audiences find a kind of terror watching Naseeruddin Shah’s performance in ‘A Wednesday’. But Kamal couldn’t bring that. And Chakry Toleti is successful in copying the film from original but failed with some senseless additions.


Directorial Flaws:

* Kamal Hasan talking about a pregnant woman getting raped nude in public, while dealing with terrorists, on phone with Police Commissioner is out of the box. That has confused audiences.
* And there is no reasonable conclusion to Poonam Kour’s role. Has she got down from train? The circle hasn’t completed.
* Showing Lakshmi in the role of Chief Secretary in not in tune with requirement (although director tried to depict the ego clashes between IAS and IPS officers in general)

The movie lacks luster with respect to boosting up the adrenaline of audience. The best part is that the movie has got no extra-peripherals like songs and hence saved time and energies of audience. First half has picked up slowly and caused some stir before interval. The intensity in second half could be better to fit into the requirement.

Mass audiences may not relish this film. Majority of multiplex audiences already watched ‘A Wednesday’ and comparison mars it. Rural audiences may feel it a documentary sort of film and finds hard to understand what is happening on screen. Hence it’s difficult for this film to continue its odyssey at box office. This is an unexpected outcome.

Bottom Line: Whatever copied is not bad. And what ever added is not good