Swami Rara Review

A fresh wave of change.
A sincere attempt at bringing a new style of film making into Telugu cinema.
An apt inspiration from the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Ram Gopal Verma with a sleek implementation.

Swami Rara is definitely all of the above. There was only one question that people preferred to ask me when I told them that I had watched Swami Rara over the last weekend. Why Swami Rara? Nikhil can never be a reason to watch a movie. Swathi is a natural but may not be a reason that big to drive me to the theatre. But, one of my acquaintance's close association with the film and the teaser and songs that he had been promoting all along on Facebook one month prior to its release definitely made me make up my mind that I was going to go watch it anytime before it's taken out. 

Now coming to the quintessential question. 
Why Swami Rara?
Gun violence and the famous Quentin Tarantino branded slow motion shots were beautifully captured. The climax scene reminded me of the chaotic fun that Ram Gopal Verma happened to create once with his Money series. Engaging plot. Subtle comedy that is never forced on to you. Music that sounds different from the usual Thaman, Mani Sharma etc. crop.

It is a pity and concern that a natural and spontaneous actress like Swathi has never been given a proper foothold in the industry. And, I still doubt if it is going to change with this film. Nobody else could have played her character the way she did. I hope she gets her due at least now.

 My rating for this film - ****
(* You will shoot me
** Waste of time
*** Can sit through
**** Worth watching once
***** Must watch)

Nothing new in Nagavalli

I watched this flick called Nagavalli a couple of weeks back which is supposed to be the sequel to the 2005's Chandramukhi. There were a lot of expectations built around the film with the kind of promos on telivision and print media. Nothing could match up to all this when we were actually watching it on big screen. It had the same story and the same prominent characters picked up from Chandramukhi. Venkatesh hardly fitted the role and lacked the poise and charisma with which superstar Thalaivar Rajnikant had donned the role earlier. The guru-disciple twist sounded very funny and the screenplay carried many flaws.

The only role which looked believable in spite of being extended from the prequel was that of Sri Ramachandra Siddhanti (Avinash). The presence of four heriones was just a gimmick to garner goody points for the film even before its release. Kamilini Mukerjee acted well in a miniature role. Anushka was also good, but she needs to throw some attention at her constantly increasing weight. Shraddha Das was disappointing and two of her reel sisters (Poonam Kaur and a newbie) had no role to talk about. Richa Gangopadhyay was okay as the victim. Sharatbabu and Prabha were adequate as parents of the four sisters.

There is nothing to comment on the music as you will hardly remember any tune once out of the theatre. Cinematography was decent and editing was crisp to an extent.

My rating for this film - ***
(* You will shoot me
** Waste of time
*** Can sit through
**** Worth watching once
***** Must watch)

A Mere Leader

I catched up with Leader yesterday. My expectations were very high and I was eagerly waiting for this film to release since Decenber. Alas, it had nothing much to fulfil those expectations. The message was good and quite idealistic (I like idealisic films because you hardly get to witness such things in real life), but the film lacked punch and the screenplay too lagged in many parts. The usage of songs in a subtle manner to gel with the story was good. I was greatly disappointed to realize that "Maa telugu thalliki" song was just made instrumental when the beautiful voice of Tanguturi Suryakumari garu would have added intensity to the climax, which otherwise did not have a great impact.


Leader also bored me in few places and the dubbing done for Ratna Prabha's character sounded quite unrealistic and bad. The romantic track between Rana and Richa was neat and acceptable. Rana has made a good start as an actor, so did Richa Gangopadhyay as Archana, a reporter and social worker. Rana can improve on his dialogue delivery and modulation. Kota Srinivas Rao and Ahuti Prasad as presidents of opposition parties are apt for their roles. Subba raju and Rao Ramesh also fit into the villainous roles with their routing acting. Editing is not crisp and its poor form shows up at a number of places in the film.

Music by Mickey J Meyer is adequate. Aunana Kadana and Leader theme are catchy and stay with you even after you come out of the theatre. On the whole, the film is okay to watch.

My rating for this film - ***1/2
(* You will shoot me
** Waste of time
*** Can sit through
**** Worth watching once
***** Must watch)

Banam Review

Banam is a low budget film produced by Swapna Dutt Chalasani and directed by first timer Chaitanya Danthuluri. It also has the lead role played by debutante Nara Rohit, Andhra Pradesh’s ex-Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s brother’s son. Vedika plays the female lead. The story line is fresh unlike what we get to see these days barring a few films. Banam is technically very good with new and few stunning camera frames. Cinematography is also good and adds value to the film.

Bhagat Panigrahi (Rohit), son of naxalite Panigrahi (Sayaji Shinde) puts his heart and soul in preparing for the civil services. He finds Lakshmi (Vedika) at a railway station one day and brings her home after her father dies of heart attack and her in-laws disown her. Things turn out in such a way after her arrival that Bhagat unknowingly becomes the target of one Sakthi, a local goon. The rest of the film is all about how Bhagat realizes his dream of becoming an IPS officer while trying to clean the system from the grass root level. Chaitanya shows creativity in some places by masking the action scenes with the background drama.

Bhagat’s role is tailor-made for Rohit. The role doesn’t require a great display of histrionics. It is too early to comment on him, though he came out with a very decent performance in this film. Music by Manisharma is just adequate.

My rating for this film - ****

(* You will shoot me

** Waste of time

*** Can sit through

**** Worth watching once

***** Must watch)

Prayanam - A pleasant journey

Prayanam starring Manchu Manoj as Dhruv and Harika as is, is a feel good entertainer. More than 90% of the film is set in the backdrop of Kuala Lumpur airport. Dhruv and his two friends are on a holiday and plan to board a flight to Singapore. Harika is a hair stylist in Malaysia and is on her way back to Hyderabad to meet her prospective groom. The two of them meet at the airport and the next two hours show how Dhruv falls in love with Harika and tries to woo her.

Harika is expressive and perfectly fits the role. But, it was Manoj's performance that took me by surprise. I liked him for the first time in so many years with a handful of films in his list. Manoj literally lived Dhruv's role. In fact a director joked that Manoj has finally got a female fan when I told him this. :D. Brahmanandam provides comic relief as tiger man. The scenes between him and Dhruv's writer friend are funny.

Prayanam is a very light hearted film. It may not lie in the interest of those who look for a mixture of drama, action and romance.

My rating for this film - ****
(* You will shoot me
** Waste of time
*** Can sit through
**** Worth watching once
***** Must watch)

Kavya's Diary - A very old one

Telugu film Kavya's Diary is highly 'inspired' by the 1992 English flick, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, so much so that even part of the dialogues are adapted suitably. The film's dialogue 'The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world', adapted from William Ross' peom by the same name and literally translated as 'laalinche chetule prapanchanni paalistaayi', is somewhat difficult to digest.

Raj (Indrajit) and Pooja (Manjula) move into their new bungalow with their daughter Amulya a.k.a. Ammu and their toddler son. Pooja spends half of her time in the green house next to the bungalow. She files a complaint with the police against one gynaecologist, Dr. Kiran who misbehaves with her when she's pregnant with her second child. He commits suicide and his wife Maya (Charmi) vows to kill Pooja and snatch her family away from her. She enters their house as Kavya, the governess for the child. Rest of the plot is how she plans to ruin Raj and Pooja's relationship and takeover as the mother of the kids, though she is the one who gets killed in the end with the help of Raj and the care taker, Athidhi (Satyam Rajesh).

There is nothing new in this film. Everything is just neatly arranged from an already existing story to suit the taste of the Telugu audience. Guess what the creative team at Indira Productions did to back their credit for the Concept and Story of the film. Manjula's performance was neat considering her low acting profile.

My rating for this film - **
(* You will shoot me
** Waste of time
*** Can sit through
**** Worth watching once
***** Must watch)

తొలి తెలుగు మహిళా బ్లాగరు

I am overwhelmed.

There is an active group TeluguBloggers on google. One of their discussion forums lists my name as తొలి తెలుగు మహిళా బ్లాగరు (the first Telugu woman blogger).

Thanks to all my blog readers and well-wishers. I would like to see myself writing more in Telugu now. :D

ధన్యవాదాలు!

Aakasamantha - "Memoirs of a Father"

The latest Telugu movie Aakasamantha, directed by first timer Radha Mohan, is quoted as a small but cute film by its producer ('Dil' Raju) and director. The film unveils the experiences of Raghuram (Prakashraj) as the father of a girl (played in three stages) as he narrates them to a stranger (Jagapathi Babu in a cameo) at a park.

Raghuram owns a tea estate in Coimbatore and lives with his wife (Aishwarya) and daughter (Abhi, played by Trisha). He loves his daughter very much, so much so that he once slaps his wife when he realizes that Abhi is hurt in the kitchen. He is very protective and possessive of her. The film is based on the father-daughter relationship (another Telugu flick on parent-child relations), though few scenes look quite unnatural.

Prakashraj is a delight to watch (in spite of getting bored with his monotonous act all along, I am amazed at his comic timing which came forth strikingly in this movie). He is in fact the only asset to this movie. If it were not for him playing Raghuram, I do not think the film would have been at least half as good as it is now. G.V.Raman makes his debut as a well educated sardar, who also forms Trisha's love interest.

Aakasamanta may not be a great film to vouch for, but it has its own comic punches and feel good moments. You can go for it if you have not much to do on the weekend.

My rating for this film - **
(* You will shoot me
** Waste of time
*** Can sit through
**** Worth watching once
***** Must watch)

రండి వోటు వేద్దాం

హలో.. మీరు వోటు వేస్తారా?
“వోటా..!! ఏమో వెయ్యకపోవచ్చు. “
అదే?
“అవును మరి! ప్రతి పార్టీ తమ అజెండా తో ప్రచారం మొదలుపెట్టింది. కానీ, ఆ అజెండా లో నాకేముంది? నాకు ఉచిత కరెంటు రాదు.. కలర్ టీ.వీ. రాదు.. నెల నెలా సొమ్ము ముట్టదు.. పొనీ కనీసం ఉన్న ఉద్యోగం ఊడదన్న నమ్మకం ఉందా అంటే, అదీ లేదు. ఇప్పుడు చెప్పండి నేను వోటు ఎందుకు వెయ్యాలి? ఎవరికోసం వెయ్యాలి?”

ఎక్ష్క్యూజ్ మీ... మీరు వోటు వేస్తారా?
“వెయ్యాలనే ఉందండి. కానీ, ఎవరికి వెయ్యాలి? ఎలా వెయ్యాలి.. ఇదేదో పెద్ద పని లా ఉందే!”
అదేంటి? మీకు అందుబాట్లో చాలానే పార్టీలున్నాయి గా, మీరు చెయ్యాల్సినదంతా మీ పేరు వోటరు లిస్ట్ లో నమోదు చేయించుకుని నచ్చిన గుర్తు కి వోటు వెయ్యడం. అంతే.
“… సరే చూస్తా!”

హలో, ఒక్క నిమిషం... మీరు ఈసారి వోటు వేస్తారా?
“తప్పకుండా. కానీ, ఎవరికి వెయ్యాలో తెలీట్లేదు.“
తెలీట్లేదా? విచిత్రంగా ఉందే!
“లేక పోతే ఏంటండీ? అసలు ఎవరికి వోటు వెయ్యాలో మీకు ఖచ్చితంగా తెలుసా? ఏ పార్టీ గెలుస్తే న్యాయంగా, నమ్మకంగా పరిపాలిస్తుందో చెప్పండి, వేస్తా. 'వోటు వెయ్యండి. అది మీ హక్కు ' అని బాధ్యత గల పౌరులు అంటుంటే, ఆ వోటు మాకు వెయ్యండి.. మీ సొంతానికి ఈ లాభాలు పొందండి అని పార్టీలు సిగ్గు విడిచి బహిరంగ ప్రచారాలు చేస్తున్నాయి. నాకు నా సొంతానికి ఎదీ వద్దు. కానీ నా దేశం అవినీతి-అక్రమాలు, కుళ్ళు రాజకీయాల నుండి విముక్తి పొందే ఆ రోజు కోసం ఎదురుచూస్తూన్నా. చూస్తూనే ఉంటా. ఇప్పుడు చెప్పండి నన్ను ఎవరికి వోటు వెయ్యమంటారో!”

ఈ సంభాషణలు చదివారు గా! మనకి మొదటి రెండు రకాల మనుషులు కనిపిస్తూనే ఉంటారు. మనలో చాలా మంది ఈ కోవకి చెందినవారే. మూడో రకం వాళ్ళు కాస్త అరుదు గా తారసపడినా, కొద్ది శాతం వీళ్ళూ లేకుండా పోలేదు. వోటు వెయ్యడం మన హక్కే కాదు, అది మన బాధ్యత కూడా. ఈ కాలం లో చదువుకుని ఉద్యోగాలు చేస్తున్న వాళ్ళకి కూడా ఈ విషయం అనుక్షణం గుర్తుచెయ్యాల్సి రావడం చాలా దురద్రుష్టకరం. మీ ఒక్క వోటు దేశాన్ని మార్చలేకపోవచ్చు కానీ, మన అందరం కలిస్తే ఇది తప్పకుండా ఎప్పడికయినా సాధ్యపడే విషయం.

రండి వోటు వేద్దాం. ఒక్కటవుదాం.