Tunes on Tuesday

A couple of weeks ago, I met up with a few of my friends and caught up on old times. While driving around town, we quickly got bored of listening to the latest chartbusters and started playing the evergreen favorites - 90's hits. I really believe that the 90's were the golden era of music for our generation. (No offense to the other decades). Maybe because that was the age when I was a child and I had a better memory. All things aside, here are my ten tunes for this week.

• Zara sa Jhoom Loon Mein; Movie: DDLJ; Language: Hindi
• Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast; Movie: Mohra; Language: Hindi
• Mohabbat Ki Nahin Jaati; Movie: Hero No. 1; Language: Hindi
• Gum Gumayinchu; Movie: Kodama Simham; Language: Telugu
• Prema Geema Tassadiyya; Movie: Rowdy Alludu; Language: Telugu
• Kuch to Bata; Movie: Phir Bhi Dil Hain Hindustani; Language: Hindi
• Indira Mandira; Movie: Govinda Govinda; Language: Telugu
• Mila Mila Merisenu; Movie: Nirnayam; Language: Telugu
• Priya Priyatama; Movie: Killer; Language: Telugu
• Tu Mere Saamne; Movie: Darr; Language: Hindi

These are my picks for this week. Until next week, Happy Listening!

Tunes on Tuesday

If you've been following me on twitter, I usually post songs that I keep humming everyday. Of late, I've not been listening to my iPod and relying on CDs which have the most recent chartbusters. I get bored soon enough and I fall back to my favorites. My iPod is a genius which plays some real gem of songs often.  Last week, it played some old songs and lo and behold one thing led to another and I spent many evenings in the company of Mukesh, Rafi and others.

• Chale Jaana; Language: Hindi; Movie: Around The World
• Dheere Dheere Chal; Language: Hindi; Movie: Love Marriage
• Chand Aahe Bharega; Language: Hindi; Movie: Phool Bane Angare
• Jalte Hai Jiske Liye; Language: Hindi; Movie: Sujata
• Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi; Language: Hindi; Movie: Chori Chori
• Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas; Language: Hindi; Movie: Blackmail (My Mom loved this song, this song made me burst into tears and the funny part is it's not a sad song :) )
• Mana Janab Ne; Language: Hindi; Movie: Paying Guest
• Yeh Parbaton Ke; Language: Hindi; Movie: Vaasna
• Ehsaan Tera Hoga; Language: Hindi;  Movie: Junglee
• Tum Jo Milgaye Ho; Language: Hindi; Movie: Hanste Zakhm

Something about old songs and good books - They lift you up when you are low. Until next week, Happy Listening!

1-Nenokkadine

Mahesh Babu and Sukumar's 1-nenokkadine has always been a project that generated tremendous buzz right form its inception. There were many factors that lead to this, Mahesh's new lean look, Sukumar's directoral brilliance, Devi Sri's first outing with Mahesh, new girl Kriti, to name a few. Does the film live up to the hype. Read on.


Film: 1- Nenokkadine
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Kriti Sanon, Gautham Krishna, Posani, Nasser, Pradeep Rawat, Kelly Dorjee & others
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Director: Sukumar
Producer: 14 Reels Entertainments
Release Date: 10th January, 2014
My Rating: 2.75/5

What's It About: 
Gautam (Mahesh) is a rockstar who has nightmares about his childhood, where he witnesses his parents's murder by three men. One day, he follows a man , whom he believes is one of the killers and murders him. He surrenders himself to the police only to realize that this was his hallucination and he never committed the crime. Sameera (Kriti) a journalist, helps Gautam realize this and follows him to find the truth behind his childhood. What happens next? Does Gautam really hallucinate or are his nightmares actually a fact? Will he meet his parents killers? All these threads are tied in the movie.

Artist Performances:
Mahesh looks great, it is a trademark role for him with the intensive eyes and expressions. He performs well in the scenes where he is confused between reality and imagination. He also tried some new steps in the you're my love song. Kriti Sanon has good screen presence and shows promise, this one might just go places if she makes the right moves. Since the story revolves mostly around the protagonist, there isn't a lot of scope for the character artists to perform. Posani brings a few laughs in a cameo. Naseer and Kelly Dorjee perform well. A point to note is the absence of any comedians in the film.

This & That: 
The story is promising. A child traumatized by the death of his parents, that he does not have any memory of their faces. All he remembers are the people who killed them in the form of nightmares that he gets on a frequent basis. It is a psychological mystery thriller where there is constant doubt, and uncertainty. First half of the movie could have been used to build this up. I still do not understand the logic behind the scene right after the first song, how can someone attack an illusion? That's not to say that they film didn't have its moments. I liked the scenes where the hero tries to understand if what he sees is indeed the truth, the scene where he picks a location to disappear to, scenes with Kriti in Goa. I also liked the second half which was loaded with twists at every turn. However, the first half felt slow, dragged in places as well as illogical. The interval bang was interesting. Second half would  be my pick and might have been more effective, if not for the wrong placement of songs as well as a unnecessary lengthy climax. It could  have been a top level hollywood style thriller, had they done away with the frills that they used to commercialize the movie. Songs by Devi were good. My picks would be Aww tuzho mogh korta & You're my love. I wish they pictured the Who are you song better. Lack of comedy was very obvious. Production values were good. Gautam Krishna shows promise, he is credited as "Prince" Gautam! I wish they showed Mahesh's six pack abs. Overall, it's a movie that does not live up to expectations. Hard to predict  the box office performance.

Did I Enjoy It?
In bits and pieces.

Musings - Sreelakshmi's myriad characters Part 2

Last week, I had mentioned a few memorable characters of Sreelakshmi in Jandhyala's movies.  There are many more of such roles that I want to talk about this week.

A classic unforgettable role was that she played in the movie Chantabbai. Who doesn't know her famous dialogues "Bhangala Bhow Bhow" and her "Kavitwams" in the film? My favorite has to be this one "Nenu Kavini kadannavadni" You can watch the scene here. Another role which made the movie worth watching is Jayammu Nischyammu Raa, where she plays a mother who loses her young son and gets emotional every time she hears some one say anything that reminds her of him. She ends up hugging them no matter what their age is and cries out loud "babu chitti" watch and laugh here.

In Choopulu Kalasina Subhavela, she plays a role of mandodari (Kappa potta gala manishi) who loves her food and can spend hours and hours discussing and eating food. She marries Kukuteswar Rao (Bramhi) (Kukka choopu gala vaadu) and they are a match made in heaven. (Yet another piece of Jandhyala's brilliance) Watch here. In Hai Hai Nayaka, she plays Urvasi, a single middle aged teacher who is in love with an unmarried, middle aged principal in her school. She cannot get married because of an elder sister who is yet to get married and their father instead of looking for a groom, spends all day sleeping. Her trademark dialogue in the movie can be watched here.

Her roles weren't that effective in two other Jandhyala movies, Bava Bava Panneru and Vichitra Prema. In the former, she plays Kokila, who in order to escape marriage with her bava, pretends to have a vision of her former life where is married to a boy who stays in front of her house and tries to remind him of their two kids and family, much to his amusement. See here. In the latter, she plays a writer who calls herself Christie(after Agatha Christie) and in order to find inspiration for her novels, has her bava (brahmi in both) don various get-ups leading to him landing in trouble. See here.

She bounces back with an excellent role of a short tempered bank manager in Shh Gup Chup. Her bouts of anger, followed by the dream song sequences with Dharamavarapu Subramanyam, her ex-boyfriend (RIP) when he tries to pacify her are hilarious.So is the whole Titla dandakam sequence. I'll finish the post with my favorite role of her's in all time. The one she plays in Ladies Special. She plays a lazy housewife who had a lot of prospective grooms come see her while she was single. She remembers each one of them and also remembers what food her mother served when they came to her house. Hilarious here.

It's not to say that she didn't play other noteworthy characters in other director's movies. Some roles worth mentioning are the abba dabba jabba role in Subhalagnam,  role in Kobbari Bondam, the role in Chevilo Puvvu, the writer's role in Edurinti Mogudu Pakkinti Pellam to name a few. Do you have any roles of Sreelakshmi that stands out?

Musings - Sreelakshmi's myriad characters

In a world where movies are all about super hero like lead actors who carry the whole film on their shoulders, item songs are all that the actresses are good for, comedy equals double entendres and character artists have story lines that do not gel with the storylines; I crave for the good old days. Days where heroes were human, women dignified, music was melodious and character artists actually belonged to the storyline. A chilly rainy weekend and no social plans gave me some time to catch up and watch old favorites. Jandhyala and his movies has always been movies that are close to my heart. One thing that always struck me was how brilliantly he sketched the roles of the various artists in his films; mainly the sutti janta and Sreelakshmi.  I wanted to do a post on this after many conversations with fellow movie buffs and family where we always reminisced about that comedy scene which made you hold your stomach is pain as you laughed out loud.

I seriously believe that no one used Srilakshmi to her full potential as much as Jandhyala has. Picture this; a newly wed naive wife of a man who is a worry wart. They live in a section of a house where some bachelor boys live too. The husband is worried and tries to lock his wife indoors preventing her to associate with them. The wife however spends time with them leading to a series of funny suspicions (Rendu Jella Seeta). Or in another movie, a lazy wife who is married off to a simple husband who loves food and music but does not know that the wife can't cook to save her life and singing does not agree with her.  When he knows that he was duped into the marriage and lied to, the wife tries to make amends by trying to learn both arts and failing miserably. The husband is left to cook food everyday and tries to hypnotize her in order to make things better, leading to a comedy of errors. (Rendu Rella Aaru).

Or even better, a movie lover who watches a new movie every day and bites off her husband's ears narrating the whole movie, right from the credits to the end titles. When her husband isn't willing to listen, she makes a bargain with the vegetable vendor to buy vegetables from him if he is parlay to listen to her "narration". A couple of minutes into this, the vendor runs away, vowing to never step foot into that street ever again (Srivariki Premalekha). In another setting, she is a movie lover too but in this case she is so into the movie emotionally that every time some thing bad happens in it, she runs out of the theatre bawling and goes to her mom where she talks about who died in the movie and they cry together. (Babai Abbai)

A personal favorite role was one that she plays in Mogudu Pellalu. She plays the role of a pampered daughter who fights with her husband every day and runs off to her mother's house conveniently located next door. She plays Uttara who would buy an expensive saree if she knew she was going to get a spoon free vexing her husband Dakshina Murthy. (See Jandhyala's brilliance here, naming them uttara-dakshina, two opposite directions)

There are many more movies where Sreelakshmi's characters took the movie to another level and I think I should stop here and continue talking about them in Part 2, next week. If you have come across more such roles that you think are worthing talking about, feel free to leave comments!

Tunes On Tuesday

This week I've been listening to a mixed bag of songs. Some old, some new here are my picks for this Tunes on Tuesday post.

• Kiraaku , Language: Telugu, Album: Attarintiki Daaredi
• Ninnu Choodagane , Language: Telugu, Album:  Attarintiki Daaredi
• Oh Laila , Language: Telugu, Album: Ramaiyya Vastavayya
• Neneppudaina , Language: Telugu, Album: Ramaiyya Vastavayya
• Satrangi Re , Language: Hindi, Album: Dil Se
• Tujhe Bhula Diya , Language: Hindi, Album: Anjaana Anjaani
• Lungi Dance , Language: Hindi, Album: Chennai Express
• Oh Mama , Language: Hindi, Album:  Saat Khoon Maaf
• Tanhayee, Language: Hindi, Album: Dil Chahta Hai
• Maiyya Maiyya , Language: Telugu, Album: Paisa

These are playing in my car this week, Until next week, Happy Listening!

Ramayya Vastavayya

I have been waiting to watch this movie ever since the promos released and the songs have been playing non-stop in my car. NTR's new look, Harish Shankar's imminent hat trick, Samantha's golden leg along with Thaman's music all added to the expectations. Did the movie hold up to the expectations? The review follows.


Film: Ramayya Vastavayya
Cast: NTR, Samantha, Shruti Haasan, Rao Ramesh, Rohini Hattangadi, Tanikella Bharani etc
Music: Thaman
Director: Harish Shankar
Producer: Dil Raju
Release Date: October 11th, 2013
My Rating: 3/5

What's It About: 
Nandu(NTR) is a happy go lucky guy who happens to come across Akarsha (Samantha) and it's love at first sight. He follows her around, teases her and even gets close to her grandmother Baby Shamili (Rohini Hattangadi) to woo her. He finally impresses her and attends her sister's wedding. Her father (Mukesh Rishi) is a powerful man who faces a death threat. He promises to save him. What happens next? Will he be successful? All these questions are answered in the second half.

Artist Performances: 
I must say that NTR has lost oodles of weight and he looks very fresh and fit in this movie. He has been renowned for heavy/hard hitting roles but he is surprisingly very good as a tapori youth. His scenes with Samantha and his dialogue delivery make the movie much more interesting. Samantha looks great but doesn't really have much scope to perform apart from the songs. Shruti Haasan's cameo is good. Saikumar's brother Ravi acted well as an antagonist. Rohini Hattangadi was hilarious and so was Vidyulekha. I have to mention that there are no comedians in this film. Harish Shankar had once said that he doesn't need character artists to bring humor in his movies and must say that he has been successful in that front.

This & That: 
The dialogues are punchy and the songs are catchy! My picks would be O Laila & Nenepudaina for both their music and picturization. My favorites scenes are the diary sequence, the interval bang and NTR's scenes with Shruti Haasan. NTR has some good dance moves in this movie. The film looks very promising all the way up to the interval bang. Infact, even after the interval, NTR's scenes with Rao Ramesh are also worth mentioning. However, the movie goes downhill from that point. The flashback episode and the climax are cliched and you have a deja-vu effect. Harish Shankar had so much potential and so many factors working from him but he could not ulitize them to a maximum potential. The climax was a routine fare. Production values by Dil Raju were good.

Did I Enjoy It?
Yes, I enjoyed the first half and the comedy/punch dialogues in the second half. I felt restless during the tail end of the movie.

The Final Word:
Ramayya comes with an average fare. The holiday season might work in it's favor. Go watch it once, time pass flick.