Souryam | Sowryam (2008) Movie Review

Film: Souryam
Rating: 3/5
Cast: Gopichand, Anushka, Poonam Kour, Manoj Jain, Raghu Babu, Krishna Bhagawan, Dharmavarapu, MS Narayana, Sudha, Tanikella Bharani etc
Dialogues: Ratnam
Fights: Vijay, Ram-Laxman
Art: Vivek
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Music: Mani Sharma
Camera: Vetri
Producer: Anand Prasad
Story,Screenplay,Direction: Shiva
Released On: 25th Sep 2008

The much awaited Gopichand-Anuskka starred 'Souryam' has released today. The film raised the interest graph with two reasons. One is Gopichand's success track and the other is posters of Anushka. Is the film in tune with the expectations? Is it the same sterotype action flick like Gopichand's earlier ones? Let us probe into the details.

Story

An action packed treat, the story is on the backdrop of Kolkata in a college which is joined by Vijay (Gopichand). There he catches up with Shwetha (Anushka) and what starts as a casual relation turns into deep romance for Shwetha but Vijay keeps her at bay. Meanwhile, Vijay somehow wants to get close to Divya (Poonam) and helps her in all ways possible. On the other hand, there is the dreaded goon Sivaram Goud (Manoj K Jayan) who is in the jail in Hyderabad but his son (Ajay) and his goons come all the way searching for Divya. What is the reason? Why does Vijay want to get close to Divya? Why is Sivaram searching for Divya? Is Shwetha successful in her love with Vijay? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performances

Gopichand is at his best and proved to be a wonderful actor again. He mastered in enacting the emotional scenes. He also has shown some glitter in dances with a couple of interesting steps. Anushka's screen presence elevated the movie on a whole with glamour. She reduced a lot and that is optimum. But she over-acted in boozing scene and bathroom scene.

Poonam Kaur played a prominent role and she is just ok. Her face is going flabby where she needs to keep a check on that.

New villain Manoj Jain did his best but still the range of Murali Sharma, Pradeep Rawat or Prakash Raj is not seen. Ajay's villainy is also up to the mark.

Ali's comedy as Gymson brought ample laughs. Krishna Bhagawan and Raghu Babu are at their best and the script supported them a lot.

Coming to technical departments, Cinematography is at its best, fight sequences are exhausting and music is average. Shiva's direction has suffered some hiccups and he failed to bring in Kolkata nativity on screen.


Analysis

This is another movie in the lines of Gopichand's earlier films- Yagnam, Ranam etc where action, emotion and violence form the formula.

The movie entertains the mass action film lovers as there is enough comedy packed in right manner. Ali's 6-pack comedy, Krishna Bhagawan-Raghubabu's episode, MS Narayana's guest appearance and situational comedy scenes with lead roles have generated ample humor. Keeping Anushka's trade mark eroticism aside and notable direction faults the other side; the film proves to be an entertainer by all means.

First half of the movie is average while the second half picked up the momentum and raised interest levels. But the climax appears to have dragged due to lengthy screenplay.

On a whole it is a mass entertainer and the success of this flick depends on the patronage of mass audiences.

A Debutant to direct the Sequel for RGV's Gayam

Rated as one of the most prolific and hard hitting film makers in the modern Indian cinema, Ramgopal Varma has been responsible for coming up with some of the most thought provoking and disturbing movies lately which explored the genres of the underworld and the arena of ghosts and black magic.

Hit or not, each film of his has given life to one actor at least who have now come up with some strong profiles, thanks to the tag of Ramgopal Varma find. One such actor whose whole life changed from a series of disasters is none other than Jagapati Babu who was roped in by Ramu for the film 'Gaayam'.

Now, there is news that Ramu has decided to go for a sequel to that movie but this time he would not be wielding the megaphone. The person to be doing that would be Praveen who is supposed to be a protégé of Puri Jagannath. Ramu will stand as the producer and it remains to be seen if this will also have Jaggu in it or not.

Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai's shoot for Enthiram (Robot) - Photos

Director Shankar, Rajnikanth , Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, cinematographer Ratnavelu and a crew comprising of 40 people left for the US last Friday to shoot for the magnum opus Yanthram (Enthiram) (formerly titled Robot).

The crew is scheduled to start shooting two songs composed by A R Rahman in undisclosed "beautiful locations in America" on September 8.

The last time Shankar and Rajnikanth came together was in Sivaji and it was Rahman who composed the songs for the same.

Producers Ayngaran International Films Pvt Ltd and Eros International have also released the schedule for Enthiram.

The crew details list R Ratnavelu as cameraman, Sabu Cyril as art director, editing by Antony, choreography by Raju Sundaram and costume design by Manish Malhotra. Mary E Vogt, the costume designer of Men in Black, Batman returns and Inspector Gadget is designing the futuristic outfits.

Stan Winston Studio (USA) who has worked in Hollywood biggies such as Predator, Jurassic Park, Pearl Harbor, Iron man, Terminator and I-Robot will do the animatronics while Yuen Woo Ping (of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Matrix and Kill Bill fame) is in charge of the stunts.

Handling the visual effects (VFX) are Hollywood companies like ILM, Tippet, Cafe EFX as well as Hong Kong companies like Centro and Menfond.