Early Tollywood: MOHAN BABU

7.01.2010

Manchu Manoj's Jhummandi Naadam (2010) Movie Review by Greatandhra

Film: Jhumandi Naadam

Rating: 2.5/5

Banner: Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures

Cast: Mohan Babu, Manchu Manoj, Tapsee, Tanikella, Sudha, Ishwarya, Suman, Pragathi, Ahuti Prasad, Brahmi, MS, Ali, Raghu Babu etc

Story: Bhupathi Raja

Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh

Music: M M Keeravani

Camera: S Gopal Reddy

Screenplay, direction: K Raghavendra Rao

Producer: Manchu Lakshmi Prasanna

Release date: 01/07/2010

The elegant celebrity Manchu Lakshmi is making her foray as a producer and that too with a musical of sorts. And it is the directorial treat from the great K Raghavendra Rao after a very long time.

Story

Balu (Manoj) is an aspiring singer and he wants to become as great as S P Balasubramanyam, he comes from Bhadrachalam to fulfill an oath he had taken. Opposite his home lives the retired principal Captain Rao (Mohan Babu) who has a disliking towards the younger generation and their thoughts. As usual, they have their cat and mouse games to outwit each other. The story takes a turn with the arrival of Shravya (Tapsee), Rao’s close friend’s (Suman) daughter. She wants to make a documentary on the traditional Telugu folklore songs and seeks a music guide. Events lead her to Balu and in no time, love ignites. Meanwhile, Balu and his music group is keen on making their mark at a music contest but then Rao holds the key to their entry. He takes a promise from Balu. What is that promise? Does Balu keep up the promise? Does he fulfill his ambition of becoming a singer? What happens to his love story? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Manchu Manoj was energetic and gave his hard work and efforts. His imitation of Mohan Babu during few scenes was entertaining. He just has to add more fire to his expressions while enacting the serious scenes. Overall, a good performance.

Tapsee is luscious and has given a complete visual feast. She is not beautiful but is sexy. So, she will fit better as a glam doll. On the performance front, she is alright but having a long innings would be a challenge.

Mohan Babu is a show stealer. Though there is not much in his character, it is his screen presence, exceptional dialogue delivery and the entertaining voice modulation that scores at many places. He was impressive.

Brahmi was usual, M S was good, Ali was alright, Suman was okay, Sudha was loud, Tanikella was effective, Pragathi was composed, Aishwarya was apt, Ahuti Prasad was hardly there, Raghu Babu was not used to his potential.

Analysis:

The selection of theme looks good at the onset with a young boy picking tunes and notes of music from his surroundings but with each passing scene, the film begins to lose grip. There are few conflicting points which give a big blow to the film.

* Tapsee comes in as an NRI girl passionate about Telugu tradition but more than half the time, she is shown in skin tight shorts.
* The marriage song of Manoj’s friend was the right opportunity to show the Telugu tradition but instead, it turns out to be a navel and cleavage show of the heroine and ironically, the bride herself. That was crude.
* There is no brewing of romance in the right depth between the lead pair but then it becomes a critical point of decision for the hero before the interval.

KRR specializes in giving visual appeal and that’s what he has done here. For a change, instead of using the ‘Jaamakaayalu’ and ‘Batthai Pallu’, he brought in ‘Kobbari Chippalu’ and ‘Gummadi Kaayalu’- and a green mango on the navel instead of mosambi!!!. However, KRR has not been able to give a depth to the content so it looked like a modified version of the 80s cinema.

The film was meant to be a musical and almost all the songs engage the audience with great visual treat, tunes and rendering. Cinematography was rich. Presentation was nice but narrative was not upto the mark. Editing was okay. Costumes and art department made their presence felt. The film will appeal to the hardcore front benchers given the nasty camera angles and the double entendres. So, it would have worked if the makers focused on making it a mass masala entertainer. Overall, it is not a musical as the title suggests nor is it a family entertainer.

12.12.2009

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Y V S Chowdary's SALEEM (2009) Movie Review by Greatandhra

Film: Saleem

Rating: 1.25/5

Banner: Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures

Cast: Vishnu, Ileana, Mohan Babu, Kaveri Jha, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Tanikella Bharani, Hema, MS Narayana, Ali, Raghubabu, Venkat etc

Music: Sandeep Chowta

Art: Anand Sai

Fights: Vijay, Kanal Kannan

Camera: Ram Prasad

Production: Padmasri Mohan Babu

Story, Screenplay Direction: YVS Choudary

Release Date: 12th Dec 2009

Manchu Vishnu’s ‘Saleem’ released today after a long wait. Ileana, the heroine in demand paired up with him. Mohan Babu also played a key role in the film and that attracted the audiences, obviously. Walk into the details to know more…

Story:

The movie starts with Satyawati (Ileana) and her story in a village backdrop. She is the daughter of Singamanaidu (Napolean), a respectable villager. She comes to the village for a brief vacation and lives amidst all lovable relatives recalling the movies Murari, Athadu, Ninne Pelladatha etc etc (sorry for taking the comparison. This film has no glory close to an iota of those master pieces)!! Like in many other films the hero (Vishnu with character name Munna) arrives in that village and stays along with the family in the disguise of orphan. The story runs with insipid dialogues, stupid screenplay and energy less narration till the interval. And the interval bang has got a twist that rotates the heads of audiences to 360 degrees. I cannot reveal that here as that is the only ‘suspense factor’ in it. And the post interval period is another hard nut to bite. Mohan Babu plays the mafia don OJO (an acronym for Ogirala Joginatham) and he has a duet with Kaveri Jha. The twist in the interval narrates rest of the story line with all confusion and cacophony. Who is Saleem is another part of the story that unwraps in second half. What happened for about 150 minutes will be in question mark at the conclusion of the movie.

Performance:

Mohan Babu wouldn’t have played this role OJO at all. He has shown a teacher as source of eroticism. The artiste of his age shouldn’t have encouraged the director to demean a female teacher that way. It’s a head-down for entire female teacher community. I feel the teachers in Mohan Babu’s school ‘Sree Vidya Niketan’ would keep their heads down if they identify themselves in Kaveri Jha’s character and their master Mohan Babu in the role he played.

Vishnu has picked up considerably. He is really looking smart with lean look. His face is also showing some glow and young charisma. Dances are also impressive. But he needs to do exercise in voice modulation. He should take a few leaves from his father’s experience for next film.

Ileana is restricted to enticing male crowds through songs. YVS Choudary seems to have crossed the caliber of K Raghavendra Rao in igniting screen to flame with female glamour. But Ileana’s over action while delivering some dialogues is horrible. Kaveri Jha is also used for the glamour factor. But her role is disgusting.

Ali looked promising when he entered the screen as choreographer Gafar Khan. But his rotten country comedy makes decent crowds inconvenient.

Technically the movie is good. The sound effects, action part and cinematography are dealt up to perfection. Music is below average. And the main spirit of the movie is missed by director with erratic screenplay and punch less dialogues.

Underlines:

* Poolu Gusagusaladenani, the old from 1973 ‘Sreevaru Mavaru’ is remixed here and canned on Mohan Babu and Kaveri Jha
* Ramya Sree, the actress known for playing vamp, servant maid and college lecturer in different films appeared in a serious deglamorised role in it!

Sign-Out Lines: This is the nastiest movie that I have ever seen. Rotten comedy, over exposing heroines, non-piercing dialogues, and senseless screenplay- everything is worth forgetting. I’ve been a filmophile but happened to review this film for the first time. It swallowed my patience completely but I’ve got no other way than reviewing this since I promised the admin.

To sign out on lighter note, Saleem boils the heads of audiences like ‘Haleem’!

Decree: Watch it at your own risk