Movie: Villian
My Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Madras Talkies, Reliance Big Pictures.
Music: AR Rahman
Cinematography: Santosh Sivan, V. Manikandan
Choreography: Ganesh Acharya, Brinda, Shobana, Astad Deboo
Audiography: Tapas
Editing: Sreekar Prasad
Producers: Mani Ratnam, Sharada
Screenplay & Direction : Kodi Rama Krishna
Cast: Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Prithviraj, Karthik, Priyamani etc
Release Date: 18th Jun 2010

Review

Story

Mani Rathnam’s romanticism becomes villain for this movie. The only soothing effect is that Mani Rathnam released the audience in right duration but didn’t rubbed the heads with his narration for 3 long hours. The movie publicized with huge hype and it’s even said that it got 3-4 times of investment much before its release. Big star cast right from Aishwarya Rai, Vikram, Prithviraj, Karteek and Prabhu increased expectations. And even the news about the presence of Ranjitha (Nityananda sex scandal fame) also made many heads turn towards this film.

But as the movie starts and goes, audience kept on distracting from the narrative. There is no lighter moment, no gripping sequence, no in-depth characterization and above all a wrongly made modern Ramayan. Lord Rama is depicted in police officer Prithviraj who even kills Vibheeshana’s replica.

Lord Rama in this film is more work oriented than showing love towards his wife. He never sheds tears after listening to the news that his wife got kidnapped. And on the other hand Raavan’s replica (Vikram) is shown as hero. He is good at heart and respects woman!! What a Raavan is he? Soorpanaka (Priyamani) gets raped by police officers those come along with main protagonist Prithvi Raj. So who is villain in Mani Rathnam’s perspective? Lord Ram or Raavan?? This blasphemy makes the audience take deep breathe and forget about the flick.

No audience can watch it for second time even though an announcement of dinner with Aishwarya Rai is made. It’s a boring journey. Entire movie runs in deep valleys, misty hills, verdant greenery and wet lands. Cinematography scores great. It’s worth spent on this faculty. Music is pretty bad.

Police Cop (Prithivi Raj) makes a futile attempt to arrest the criminal (Vikram). But in the process the police catches hold of his sister (Priyamani) and rapes her. She commits suicide with the insult. Then her brother kidnaps the Cop’s wife (Aishwarya Rai) to take revenge. The Cop goes in search of her and on the way he meets a suspended forest office employee (Karteek) who helps in quest for Cop’s wife. Finally they trace out the place and the Cop gets his wife back. But there is a surprise climax that cannot be revealed here.

Prithvi Raj is ok and Vikram steals the show. Aishwarya Rai is marvelous in her chudis, lecherous in sleeveless and angelic on a whole. Karteek is ok as Hanuman. Prabhu is ok as Kumbhkarna. Ranjitha has a brief presence.

To sum up, it’s the movie for patient audience but not for regular audience those tend to become patients watching this. It’s all much ado about nothing.

VERDICT : Not Upto Mark

Movie: Super Cowboy
My Rating: 1/5
Banner: SGS Entertainments
Music: G V Prakash Kumar
Cinematography: Azhagappan
Editing: Raja Mohammad
Producers: Kalpathi Agoram, Kalpathi Ganesh
Story,Screenplay & Direction: Simbu Devan
Cast: Lawrence, Padmapriya, Lakshmi Rai, Sandhya, Sai Kumar, Nasser, Manorama, Delhi Ganesh, Ilavarasu, Vaiyapuri, Ramesh Khanna, M S Bhaskar etc
Release Date: 7th May 2010

Review

Story

An ordinary watchman, Simhachalam (lawrence) faces accusation of stealing Texas Mullangi, a diamond and before he is hanged, he is saved by few cowboys (ramesh khanna, ilavarasu etc). They want him to come to their town as Simham (lawrence) who is a renegade sharp shooter but kind hearted person. They want to put an end to Nalla Thraachu (nasser) and his Inumu Kota. Is Simhachalam successful in this and whether he gets his Texas Mullangi or not forms the rest of the story.

Artists Performance:

Lawrence Raghava is usual and he has done his antics. He has shouldered the film alright and perhaps few more steps in the songs would have added that extra punch to the masses.

Padmapriya is a stunner, though her role is brief, her naturally beautiful looks give a tender feeling. Lakshmi Rai looks lusty and she made her presence felt, Sandhya was there for a song and was left in between.

Sai Kumar was good and his make up was nice, Nasser did his bit as required and he infuses life into his character though it was looking silly.

Manorama, Delhi Ganesh, Ramesh Khanna, Ilavarasu did their bit as required and added value. The highlight among the comedy gang is the duo of M S Bhaskar and his translator Vaiyapuri who have provided very good laughs. Telugu Movie Reviews

Highlights: There were few interesting highlights such as

* the statue of Raja Nala with one liner on that as ‘bhayankara villain la aasajyoti’,
* the area name against Tamil cowboy-star Jai Shankar,
* the sponsor ad at the treasure trove
* the toll gate in the rocky terrains and
* the interpreter comedy between tribals and Telugu speaking protagonists huge art work

Set-Backs:

* Predictable old story line
* No depth of emotions
* Weak music
* Weak Choreography
* Unfinished ending (what happened to the character of Sandhya)
* Boring first half

Final Analysis:

The film is a dubbed version of the Tamil film ‘Irambu Kottai Murattu Singham’ and it must be said that it is a collation of the Hollywood and Tollywood western flicks.

Few scenes were got from ‘Kodhama Simham’ and ‘Mackennas Gold’. Though the presentation was top notch, it is the narrative and the content which was weak. The dialogues were witty and humorous, the script was weak and the screenplay was mediocre.

Background score was not up to the mark and songs were a let down. Cinematography was the real savior of the film along with the locations and exceptionally done settings by the art department.

While the first half was mild and dragging, things pick up during the second half before the climax drags a bit.

Overall, the film will appeal in bits and pieces and it is more of a visual appeal than a good adventurous story. Perhaps a focus on the utilization of the sex appeal of Lakshmi and Padmapriya along with good dose of humor would have done the trick at the box office.

VERDICT : Very Poor

Movie: Mouna Raagam
My Rating: 2/5
Banner: Sri Saideva Productions
Music: S A Rajkumar
Cinematography: Shaman Mitru
Editing: Goutham Raju
Producers: N V Prasad, S. Naga Ashok Kumar
Story,Screenplay & Direction: Vijay Balaji
Cast: Tanish, Madhurima, Suhasini, Venu, Chandramohan, M S, Ali, Jeeva, AVS, Dharmavarapu, Hema, Madhavi etc
Release Date: 8th Apr 2010

Review

Story

Chandu (Tanish) is in deep love with his maradalu Kaveri (Suhasini) and does many sacrifices for her since childhood. She grows up, gets a job but dumps Chandu because of his poor status. In between this comes Sandhya (Madhurima) who has got a flashback of her own and she stays with Chandu due to unavoidable circumstances. When Chandu is shattered due to Kaveri’s words, Sandhya gives him strength and together they decide to beat the odds in life. Whether they are successful or not forms the rest of the story.

Artists Performance:

Tanish has emoted well at many places and fits the role to gain sympathy but then he has to improvise on his dubbing. The voice still sounds childish; Tanish must modulate it and make it sound like a man’s voice.

Madhurima looks absolutely stunning and has a lot of oomph and appeal. Her comfort in front of the camera is also high. All she needs is a break with a big banner and she has bright future. Telugu Movie Reviews

Suhasini has a very high dose of homely sex appeal and has made good use of her presence.

Venu tried his best to bring few laughs, Ali was brief, Dharmavarapu had a serious role, M S Narayana was regular, Hema, Ramaprabha, Madhavi and others did their bit as required. The youngster doing the role of Gautam has good personality but not the right kind of looks. Jeeva was effective. Kasi Viswanath came and went.

Final Analysis:

There was a bike sentient in the movie ‘Ride’ that brought success for Tanish. Now there is bike concept in this movie’s script as well (with heroine Madurima’s character) and that might have inspired Tanish to some extent to sign on this film.

The film is more of a ‘pulisina perugu’ theme. The director realizes the importance of sentiment and heart feeling and refers it as Curd rice. Undoubtedly, he was right in that and he gets that on the screen through one of his character but then he must realize that the curd has to be fresh and not 3-4 days old.

Looking at the film, one gets a feeling of the late 90s. We have seen that in movies like ‘Raja’ and the other one with Srikanth and Soundarya. Secondly, the film was dragged at unwanted places due to which the feel at the right scene got missed.

For instance, the climax scene where the bike is launched, it looks like a sentimental skit of entertainment before the real program begins. It doesn’t fit the climax part and loses momentum.

Overall, the film was good at few places and had a message to convey but the depth was missing in it. Lyrics were good, cinematography was ok, dialogues were plain, screenplay was average. Commercially, the presence of Madhurima will pull some crowds and few sequences will touch few young hearts but overall, it will require a great deal of publicity to take it to the success mark.

VERDICT : Below Average

Movie: Maro Charitra
My Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: Sri Venkateshwara Creations
Music: Mickey J Meyer
Story : K Balachander
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Producers: Dil Raju, Sirish
Screenplay, Cinematography & Direction: Kodi Rama Krishna
Cast: Varun Sandesh, Anita, Shraddha Das, Adarsh, Prathap Pothan, Urvashi, Naresh, Kota, Venu etc
Release Date: 25th Mar 2010

Review

Story

Set on the backdrop of US, Balu (Varun) comes home discontinuing his course at college and chances upon his neighbor girl Swapna (Anita).

It is love at first sight for both but trouble is with Balu’s father (Prathap) and Swapna’s mother, America Durga (Urvasi). Anyhow, both of them come to a formal agreement in front of their parents that they will not see, talk, meet each other for one full year to prove their love.

What happens in that year, whether they are successful in their love test or not forms the rest of the story. Telugu Movie Reviews

Artists Performance:

Varun Sandesh is energetic as usual and fits the bill of a desi US lad. However, he must put on some flesh to get that manly look and that will help him for the future. He must also control his body language during emotional scenes to show maturity.

Anita is sweet looking and has a natural sex appeal in her. She has the potential to grow but she has to change her dubbing artist. Performance and glamour is proportionate to her in this movie but her character was not etched out strongly.

Shraddha Das has a meaty role and she has shown the actress inside her unlike the regular sex doll image. She looked elegant and level headed.

Adarsh is an apt choice for a negative role, he has the right kind of attitude for such roles. One can see more of him in the coming days.

Prathap Pothan was standard, Urvashi did her bit as required but something is not right about her dubbing artist, Thalaivasal Vijay was not used to the fullest, Kota was as usual, Venu was brief, the lady doing Varun’s mother’s role was neat and timing was good.

Highlights:
Cinematography
Music (although ‘ye teega poovuno..’ and ‘bhale bhale magaadivoy..’ are inferior to original tracks)
Heroine (credit goes to make up, costume and camera departments)

Disappointments:
Mishandling second half
Screenplay hiccups in maintaining emotion graph
Dubbing given to heroine and Urvasi

Final Analysis:

The movie fails to bring in the emotional depth that is required. The audiences get connected to the scenic beauty on screen and the quality presentation but not to the spirit of content.

Certainly, this movie is not for masses. The youth audiences try to connect to some extent but the last few minutes make them laugh at the emotion that is depicted instead of shedding tears. Here are a few scenes those make audience crack jokes and get digressed from the narration.

Hero and heroine recognize each other with heart beat. The scene can be used for perfume Ad but not so fitting here.

Heroine’s father starts giving a speech when he sees her daughter jumping into Niagara along with her boy friend. After his speech, he starts weeping….(audiences laughed at this scene conception).

Shradhdha Das’ character got elevated when she sacrifices her love. Audiences got connected to her grief. But immediately when Babu (Kota Sreenivasa Rao) expresses his feeling with a dramatic liner, the graph has fallen down.

On a whole, the first half of the movie sounds normal and second half suffers with many ups and downs in graph.

The movie can be watched just for witnessing some quality presentation and well canned songs but not for an emotional ride. Locations in USA are rightly exploited by camera.

VERDICT : Disappointment

Movie: Taj Mahal
My Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: Sri Sivaji Productions
Music: Abhiman Roy
Cinematography: V Srinivas Reddy
Editing: V Nagi Reddy
Producer: Sivaji Sontineni
screenplay & Direction: Arun Singaraju
Cast: Sivaji, Shruti, Kota, LB Sreeram, Nassir, Brahmanandam, Pragati, MS Narayana, Venu Madhav, Raghubabu, Jeeva, Sangeeta etc
Release Date: 20th Mar 2010

Review

Story

Ajay (Shivaji) is an Engineering College Student who falls in love with a rich girl Shruthi (Shruthi). It happens to be a one-sided love for Ajay as Shruthi already gets attracted to an unseen man, Kumar. He happens to be her phone friend and her father (Nazar) also agrees to the relation of his daughter with Kumar due to a personal reason. What is that reason? How did father agreed for the relation of Kumar with his daughter without seeing his face? What happens to Ajay? That forms the crux of the story. Telugu Movie Reviews

Artists Performance:

Shivaji is ok. He is ok while enacting lighter moments but not gripping with expressiveness as a passionate lover. Dialogues and direction also must be blamed for not extracting the true performance from this actor. (Especially while saying ‘sweet day….’ dialogue during heroine introduction)

Shruthi has some attractive features but she has little scope to shine in future in this most competitive field but performance and glamour wise.

Arthi Agarwal appeared in a guest appearance for a song..’Mayadaari Maisammo’…Some Telangana-fervor dialogues were projected from her. Director Srinivas Reddy and Rama Naidu were also appeared in guest roles.

Others are ok in their shoes. Comedy is weak. Music is also not so catchy. On a whole, had the dialogue and scene conceiving were powerful, this story would have got justified.

Final Analysis:

The first few moments are filled with amateur artistes and the audiences got a feel of watching a B-grade TV serial and a government promotion Ad sort of thing. But eventually, after the first song, the movie got some momentum and took off well till interval.

A few scenes got wasted. The audiences didn’t understand or couldn’t feel the emotion with some scenes. The talent show scene in college conveyed nothing at the end although it has got some build up in the beginning.

On a whole, this movie should have started with proper home work. The story requires some emotional platform to narrate. The good part in the movie is revealing the suspense at right time.

VERDICT: Students & Lovers Can Enjoy the Movie

Movie: Kalavar King
My Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Sai Krishna Productions
Music: Anil
Cinematography: Balamurugan
Producer: D S Rao
Direction: Suresh
Cast: Nikhil Siddarth, Shweta Basu Prasad, Ajay, Ali, Venu Madhav, Raghu Babu, Dharmavarapu, Ahuti Prasad, Suman Shetty, Pragathy, Kasi Viswanath etc
Release Date: 26th Feb 2010

Review

Story

Rajahmundry is the town where all this is happening and here is Rajesh, an intelligent young man who specializes in taking and making loans throughout the area. His father (Kasi Vishwanath) is a school teacher. Things take a turn when Shruti (Swetha) lands up at Rajesh’s place due to a dog chase and in this process, she drops a very important chain by mistake. The chain has a connection with dreaded Narendar Shetty (Ajay). What happens from there forms the rest of the story. Telugu Movie Reviews

Artists Performance:

Nikhil has come up with a high adrenaline performance and he is the soul for the movie. He has shouldered it throughout in a good way and will score the brownie points.

Shweta Basu looks sweet but there is an alarming rate of weight increase in her, she looks chubby and if she doesn’t cut down on that, then her offers also will get cut.

Ajay is tall, he is talented and has those flashes of brilliance in between. He does justice to his role.

Venu Madhav made his presence felt with his regular antics but then it could have been better if his character was given good depth.

Raghu Babu, though his presence was quite brief, gave a good act and generated few laughs from the front benchers.

Kasi Viswanath was standard, Dharmavarapu was okay, Ahuti Prasad was alright, Anitha sizzles with her hot looks but the song could have been made well. The others did their bit as required but nothing significant in terms of contribution from them.

Final Analysis:

The film runs on a beaten track and though the thought of the makers is good, it was not executed correctly on the screen. Flaws are evident clearly in the direction and the narrative aspects, even cracks in script and screenplay were observed.

If it was not for Nikhil and his energetic performance, the fate of this venture would have been sealed in less than a week. The technical aspects are weak and the production values are low.

So success at the box office is possible only if Nikhil’s performance can pull in some more crowds.

VERDICT : Average