Early Tollywood: NAMITA

5.01.2010

Balaiah's SIMHA (2010) Movie Review by greatandhra.com

Film: Simha

Rating: 3.25/5

Banner: United Movies

Cast: Nandamuri Balakrishna, Nayantara, Sneha Ullal, Namitha, K R Vijaya, Saikumar (Malayalam), Hemanth, Rehman, Kota, Brahmi, Ali, Venu Madhav, Dharmavarapu, L B Sriram, Krishna Bhagawan, Jhansi and others

Music: Chakri

Cinematography: Arthur Wilson

Editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao

Story, dialogues, screenplay, direction: Boyapati Sreenu

Producer: Paruchuri Kireeti

Release date: 30/04/2010

Yuvaratna is back and this time he has come up with a rather high voltage treat. How strong he has been and how the audience has received him this time, let us see.

Story:

Sriman Narayana (NBK) is a lecturer at a college and he is known for his strict way, he doesn’t stand injustice and bashes the bulbs out of anyone. In this process, he meets Janaki (Sneha) and she falls for him in due course. But Janaki has got a flashback which has to do with Sriman Narayana as well. What is that flashback? Who is Sriman Narayana? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Balakrishna has come back to his original form with his punch dialogues, typical body language and mass appeal. However, age is showing on him and voice has stuttered a bit, overall he carried his bit well with his blissful smile.

Sneha Ullal is sweet but her blank expressions still continue. She must learn to open her mouth and speak while saying the dialogues. Looks wise she rocks.

Nayantara looks elegant and is all decked up like a bride at all times. Her role was brief but she did justice to it.

Namitha covers half of the screen and seems to be building up pounds with each passing film. It is about time she does something about her flab.

K R Vijaya has come back after a hiatus of sorts but she still has that composure and grace, she was the apt choice for her role.

Sai Kumar (Malayalam) was okay, Aditya Menon was apt, he has strong screen presence, Brahmi was wasted, Ali was not used, Krishna Bhagawan was barely there, Venu brought few forced smiles, Rehman was standard, LB was regular, Kota was nice, Jeevi, Kinnera, Shravan, Anand Bharathi, Sana and others did their bit to add value.

Plus Points:
Music and songs
Background score

Minus Points:
Weak Comedy tracks
Old story line

Analysis:

After a long gap, it’s a relief for Balakrishna’s fans. The movie scores good this time. But there is no freshness in story line or narration part. It’s the same old cutting heads with axe and there is some change in the design of weapon. The climax sequence is lifted from Magadheera with the fight scene in the same old place where the protagonist’s father fights and dies.

The dialogues of Balayya brought good response in theatres:

Nenu maatladetappudu nee chevule pani cheyyali. Adi tappa vere edainaa pani cheste neeku next birth day undadhu.

Charitra srushtinchalanna, tiraga raayalanna maa vamsame cheyyaali

Although they aren’t great dialogues to underline, the fans those awaited an action packed movie from many years are taking them as holy sentences.

In a fight scene Balayya’s punch of the fist lands on the face of a patient who lies in coma for 28 years. The patient gets up instantly. Doctors get stunned and exclaim, “Wow! What a wonder. Science andani power itani punch lo undi”. Thank god! The director limited the exaggeration with one scene. Otherwise, it would have become another omnibus of exaggerations.

Songs scored good marks on a whole.

‘Simha Simha…’ was shot on Namita and Balakrishna and it’s visually just ok.
‘Orabba..’ is the number shot in a pub with Balayya, Namitha and Sneha Ullal. When Sneha Ullal was seen in a frame with Namitha, she looked like a scooty beside lorry.
‘Bangaru Konda..’ has captivated with rich costumes on Nayantara and Balayya.
‘Kanulara..’ is on Nayan, Balayya and family members in temple background which is good to watch
‘Janaki Janaki..’ is with Balayya and Sneha Ullal and that’s good to watch.
The song ‘Achcha hai acha hai…’ is missing totally.

First half is average with no exciting moments and the second half is packed with high dose action-, although predictable. On a whole, it’s a treat for fans, headache for family audiences and a disappointment for those who wish to watch something new and fresh.

Bottom Line: Better than Balayya's recent movies.

source : greatandhra.com

10.19.2009

[+/-]

Jaganmohini (2009) Movie Review by Bharatstudent

Film: JAGANMOHINI

Rating: 1.5/5

Banner: Murali Cine Arts

Cast: Namitha, Raja, Vadivelu, Nila, Kota, Riyaz Khan, Jyothilakshmi, Bala Singh, Alex etc
Music: Ilayaraja

Cinematography: N K Vishwanathan

Director: N.K. Vishwanathan

Producer: Murali

Release Date: October 17, 2008

Story:

Set on the stage of mythology, the story begins with the announcement of engagement between prince Jagan Prathap (raja) with princess Jayanthi (meera chopra/nila) and when the entire kingdom is ready to rejoice, terror strikes in the form of a water cyclone that destroys the major part of the kingdom. That happens to be the water devil Jaganmohini (Namitha) which comes to seek revenge. However, the sorcerer (kota) manages to hold it through his spell and controls it. The flashback shows that Mohini (namitha) is from a fisherman's family and her island is visited by the prince sometime back and both fall in love. Just when everything looks set, the prince's father, the King, doesn't want a girl from a fisherman's family and so he sends his troops and kills Mohini. Now, she is out seeking revenge and also to have the prince for herself. What happens from there forms the rest of the story.

Presentation:

The director has come up with the remake theme but by no means is the narrative or the presentation good. The dialogues are sloppy, the script was pathetic and the screenplay was horrible. Even background score and songs were total crass and the only saving grace is the cinematography which was good at few places. Editing was amateur, costumes were alright but art department was not good. Raja looks dull as usual and he looks like a small boy in front of Namitha, she is all over the screen and it must be said that she is looking totally out of shape though she has oozed a lot of glamour and skin show. Meera Chopra was the saving grace with her beauty, Kota was standard, Riyaz Khan was regular, Alex was normal, Jyothilakshmi was brief, Bala Singh was plain, the others didn't have much to offer.

Conclusion:

The film happens to be the remake of the 1978 super hit movie which had Jayamalini in the title role and despite the hype created by the makers, the film was a major disaster. The content or style of presentation was poor and the graphics were utterly inferior. While the first half revolves around the revenge saga, the second half goes about with the love tale and how evil is warded off. Overall, the film has failed to appeal to the audience in any department. Though hardcore Namitha fans might like it a bit, her overbearing frame might just be too much to handle. This will sink big time at the box office.

4.03.2009

[+/-]

Prabhas' BILLA (2009) Review by Greatandhra.com

Film: Billa
Rating: 3/5
Cast: Prabhas, Namita, Anushka, Hansika, Subba Raju, Supreet, Kelly Dorge, Aravind, Rahaman, Ali etc
Camera: Soundara Rajan
Music: Mani Sharma
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Fights: Stun Shiva
Art: AS Prakash
Producers: Narendra, Prabodh
Screenplay-Dialogue-Direction: Meher Ramesh
Released On: 3rd April 2009

The much awaited big banner film ‘Billa’ has released today. Many assumed that it would be an oasis in the desert of flops. Let us hope how far the assumptions turned true.

Story:

Billa ( Prabhas) a gangster in Malaysia becomes the most wanted for Interpol, Indian and Malaysian police. They collectively search for him but he keeps on escaping. Lisa (Namitha) is the girl friend of Billa and Maya (Anushka) is another dame who joins Billa’s team to put an end for him with a secret vengeance.

Finally ACP Krishna Murthy (Krishnam Raju) takes up Billa’s case and chases him. Finally he catches him and kills. But later with the help of an informer (Ali) Krishna Murthy learns that there is a look alike of Billa in Vizag. He conspires to use that look alike in the place of Billa and smoke out all gangsters connected to Billa.

The look alike of Billa is none other than Ranga (Prabhas) who is a pickpocketer and petty thief. The story takes the turn when Krishan Murthy meets Ranga and gives him the offer to act as Billa.

Finally how far Krishna Murthy gets success in his operation? That has to be watched on screen.

Performances:

Prabhas is at his best in look, body language and performance. He followed a humorous style in delivering dialogues for Ranga’s character. That has pumped in some refreshing air in the heads of audiences. And as Billa he is the best suit. His physique is perfectly impressive and inspiring.

Anushka is serious and hot. Her much publicized bikini act got desired response in theaters. Namitha also did enough of skin show but that looked odd. Hansika is there for a while for a song and even she too was used for glamour dose.

Supreet acted as side kick to Prabhas. Subba Raju is smart enough to pair up with Hansika. Aravind (Arundhathi fame) appeared as side kick for Kelly Dorge and slowly he promises to be good choice for bad guy on screen. Rahaman is ok as Interpol officer.

Krishnam Raju tried his level best but there is problem in his bearing. He appeared to have tried very hard to move like a police officer. But there is nothing to pint out about his performance. His seniority has reflected.

Coming to technical details, Art, Cinematography and Costumes played key roles in this film. They deserve very good mention. The biggest minus point in the film is lack of punch in dialogues. Direction is average. Production values are very good.

Analysis:

The film is lacking desired punch. It hasn’t met the standards especially in the matter of dialogues when compared to Hindi and Tamil versions. Hindi film ‘Don’ is identified with the most famous dialogue ‘Don Ko pakadnaa mushkil hi nahi namumkin hai’. There is no such punch in any dialogue in Telugu. It is only Prabhas’s Ranga character that brought enthusiasm for audiences. Although the Billa character was designed in very impressive way with respect to look and feel, the soul is missing on a whole. Heroines are for good visual feast for young audiences with bikinis and short dresses. But people started laughing looking at the costumes of Namitha. She turned a laughing stock by wearing such dresses with odd look, being obese. It is time for her to cut down weight. Otherwise, she becomes a comedian than a ‘hot’ actress.

First 30 minutes of the film brings boredom as more importance is given for style and sound than the story part and narration. The part should have filled with good dialogues to avoid boredom. And the film gets some tempo when Ranga character enters the screen. Although that appeared promising for a while, the graph has fallen down in second half. The climax is also not that enthusiastic. It’s a movie made with rich production values and stylish presentation.

The film has no big muscle to hold box office tight for weeks together. But the season may help the movie. As there are no films those are ruling box office and as there are no big films in line to rub shoulders, Billa may fall on the safe zone.