Govindudu Andarivadele

Film: Govindudu Andarivadele
Cast: Ram Charan, Kajal, Prakash Raj, Sreekanth, Jayasudha, Kamilini Mukherjee, Rahman, etc.
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Director: Krishna Vamsi
Producer: Parameshwara Art Pictures
Release Date: October 1st, 2014
My Rating: 2.25/5

What's It About: 
Abhiram (RCT) lives in London with his doctor dad (Rahman) who is estranged from his parents Bullabai (Prakash Raj) and Babyamma (Jayasudha) He refuses to stay back in his village and moves abroad which causes friction between the father and son.Abhi plans to unite the family and travels to their village where he meets Bangari(Srikanth) his babai and Satya(Kajal) his maradalu. How he accomplishes his mission is the rest of the story

Artist Performances: 
Ram Charan looks funny with his pony tail and in scenes where he cries. This is a complete soft role for him ala Mahesh in Murari, NTR in Brundavanam. Kajal has put on a lot of weight and is limited to songs. Sreekanth emotes well in a grayish character with a funny shade. Prakash Raj and Jayasudha are excellent. Kamilini is adequate. There are no major comedians in this film and Krishna amsi's perennial favorite Ahuti Prasad is missing from the cast. Rao Ramesh and Kota are wasted.

This & That: 
The story is an age old one. K3G mixed with a dash of brundavanam and all the other family dramas that the telugu audience has seen over the years. The scenes were super predictable and to be honest it contained all the cliched story lines that people have made fun of. People in the theaters were walking up to smoke when songs were played and the tunes were outdated. That being said the film has some plus points too. The production values are rich and there hasn't been a Krishna Vamsi style family in films for a long time. While I am tired of seeing comedians being used and abused to create comedy in movies, the lack of comedy in the movie is striking.

Did I Enjoy It?
No, I was bored and the film did not hold my interest.

The final word:
Govindudu andarini copy kotti, audience andariki headache teppistadu.

Aagadu

Mahesh & Seenu Vytla are back after the stupendous success of Dookudu. I for one am one of the many who have had high hopes on this flick. How does it fare? Details below.


Film: Aagadu
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Tamannah, Rajendra Prasad, Sonu Sood, Nasser, M S Narayana, Bramhi and others
Music: Thaman
Director: Sreenu Vytla
Producer: 14 Reels Factory
Release Date: September 19th, 2014
My Rating: 2.75/5

What's It About: 
Shankar(Mahesh) is an orphan who uses his intelligence and aids a policeman(Rajendra Prasad) in nabbing some criminals. The policeman take him under his wing and educates him along with his older son. Due to some misunderstandings, they part ways and Shankar grows up to be a Circle Inspector who specializes in encounters. He is assigned on a mission to free the town of Bokkapatnam, from the crook Damodar(Sonu Sood) and he happens to meet Saroja(Tamannah) and falls in love with her.What happens next? The story is revealed in the movie.

Artist Performances: 
Mahesh tries another different accent in a role full of punch dialogues and brain games. He is brilliant in his comedy timing and looks amazing. He performs well in a light role. Tamannah has nothing much to do except provide some relief in the form of songs. She does not look good on screen and her makeup was garish. Rajendra Prasad is wasted in a minuscule role. Sonu Sood and Vennala Kishore do what they have done a million times in many movies. The same goes for Bramhi. Nasser and M S Narayana perform well and bring a lot of laughs.

This & That: 
The story is what you come to expect from a Sreenu Vytla movie. Hero tries to take revenge by using people and circumstances around him with the help of a scapegoat, which is mostly Bramhi. This formula can only be rehashed a certain number of times before it gets monotonous. What was one time considered Sreenu Vytla's strength has turned out to be his biggest bane and he needs to come out of it if he wants to continue to make successful movies. That being said, the film has its moments, Mahesh Babu using his own movie story lines to trick the bad guys into revealing their secrets was a clever idea. The whole game show scene with Posani was rib tickling. The ads used by Tamannah's family to publize their store were funny. The second half felt heavy and even the ever trustworthy Bramhi couldn't save the show, especially the dance medley in the climax which is best described as tasteless. The Deja vu feeling continues with the telefilm concept ala the game show in Dookudu. Music by Thaman is also a minus point. My picks would be Nari Nari and Bhel Puri, in which Mahesh tries some novel steps. The dialogue writer/s should be appreciated as they were full of punches and witty. However, too much of anything is always bad and the punches were so common throughout the movie that they lacked the impact. The item song by Shruti Hassan was average at best. The climax and interval back lack the much needed jolt and felt abrupt.

Did I Enjoy It?
Yes and No, The first half was good, the second half not so much.

Final Word: 
I wish that aagi different cinema teesunte aagadu inks bavundedi.

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!