Komaram Puli
Movie Review – Rating (1.25/5)
I was correct! I guessed Pawan Kalyan’s Komaram Puli (Telangana activists just read Puli) would be a disastrous film after the audio release. A couple of songs hinted at the sequences preceding and it’s not tough for a movie buff like me to connect the dots. A.R. Rahman cannot be entirely blamed for the audio output because the situations demanded such songs. So, I transfer the entire blame on the director S.J. Suryaah. The first official trailer, courtesy the substandard helicopter graphics, the time taken to complete shooting the movie (more than 2 years), and the never ending debate surrounding its release date, further strengthened my opinion.
Coming to Komaram Puli, it’s high time the directors realized patriotic movies need not be loud, and the protagonist need not shout and lecture at every possible opportunity. Even silence speaks and creates deadly impact; movie makers like Ram Gopal Varma and Mani Ratnam have proved it not so long ago.
I could relate Tamil director S.J. Suryaah’s intentions behind the scenes, but at the same time the audience (or should I say the director) in me was visualizing another version. This was rampant during the songs and action sequences, focusing more on the editing and presentation aspects. While a couple of the scenes were brilliantly conceived, majority of them were brutal and tediously protracted. The director failed to understand the sensibilities of Telugu audience and stuck to his Tamil formula of overdose in almost every situation. He got carried away by the star power of Pawan Kalyan and wanted to do a film for the society. He wanted to give it a raw treatment like Krishnavamsi’s Rakhi but ended up churning out a typical Tamil masala film.
The movie starts on a brilliant note. I particularly liked the scene in which the woman comes to know of her pregnancy. But the movie slips away right from Pawan Kalyan’s introduction, which was more like a parody - poor graphics and cheap execution. Ridiculous of all is Pawan Kalyan, an IPS officer in Andhra Pradesh, saving the Indian prime minister in Malaysia, all alone. He then starts lecturing, which if properly trimmed could have created huge impact. Even his mother gives a lengthy speech towards the end.
The romance with heroine was overboard and severely mars the flow of the movie. The picturization and placement of songs were pathetic. Picturization of the much hyped "Power Star" song was no way close to Chiranjeevi's "Mega Star" song in Kodamasimham. Manoj Bajpaaye was loud, boring, and eccentric. Screenplay was haphazard and seemed puerile. The climax tests your patience. The whole auditorium burst into laughter when Pawan is electrocuted by villain just because he is fondly called Power Star. Shriya Saran did a miniscule role and her item song was pathetic. Puli team’s headquarters remind us of settings in Hollywood movies, while much hyped Binod Pradhan’s camerawork failed to make any impact. A.R. Rahman’s background score is just about right for the movie.
Coming to Komaram Puli, it’s high time the directors realized patriotic movies need not be loud, and the protagonist need not shout and lecture at every possible opportunity. Even silence speaks and creates deadly impact; movie makers like Ram Gopal Varma and Mani Ratnam have proved it not so long ago.
I could relate Tamil director S.J. Suryaah’s intentions behind the scenes, but at the same time the audience (or should I say the director) in me was visualizing another version. This was rampant during the songs and action sequences, focusing more on the editing and presentation aspects. While a couple of the scenes were brilliantly conceived, majority of them were brutal and tediously protracted. The director failed to understand the sensibilities of Telugu audience and stuck to his Tamil formula of overdose in almost every situation. He got carried away by the star power of Pawan Kalyan and wanted to do a film for the society. He wanted to give it a raw treatment like Krishnavamsi’s Rakhi but ended up churning out a typical Tamil masala film.
The movie starts on a brilliant note. I particularly liked the scene in which the woman comes to know of her pregnancy. But the movie slips away right from Pawan Kalyan’s introduction, which was more like a parody - poor graphics and cheap execution. Ridiculous of all is Pawan Kalyan, an IPS officer in Andhra Pradesh, saving the Indian prime minister in Malaysia, all alone. He then starts lecturing, which if properly trimmed could have created huge impact. Even his mother gives a lengthy speech towards the end.
The romance with heroine was overboard and severely mars the flow of the movie. The picturization and placement of songs were pathetic. Picturization of the much hyped "Power Star" song was no way close to Chiranjeevi's "Mega Star" song in Kodamasimham. Manoj Bajpaaye was loud, boring, and eccentric. Screenplay was haphazard and seemed puerile. The climax tests your patience. The whole auditorium burst into laughter when Pawan is electrocuted by villain just because he is fondly called Power Star. Shriya Saran did a miniscule role and her item song was pathetic. Puli team’s headquarters remind us of settings in Hollywood movies, while much hyped Binod Pradhan’s camerawork failed to make any impact. A.R. Rahman’s background score is just about right for the movie.
Pawan Kalyan looked brilliant as a tough cop, but reminded of Sai Kumar and Vijay Kanth while delivering monologues. He too must have got carried away by the powerful dialogs but too much of anything is hard to digest. He was out of sorts during sequences involving the heroine. The love track was outdated and immature.
In one sentence, what Okka Magaadu was for Balakrishna, Komaram Puli is for Pawan Kalyan.
Nagesh - Timing was his forte
Famous comedian and character artist C.K. Nagesh, who died recently in Chennai, was one of the very few actors who carved a niche for themselves in more than one film industry. Originally hailing from Karnataka, Nagesh made it big in Tamil cinema before securing a special place in Telugu and Kannada cinema.
Being from Andhra oops! Andhra Pradesh, I watched only his Telugu assignments apart from a few dubbed Tamil films. Timing was Nagesh's biggest asset and there were films where he appeared only for a few minutes, yet made an everlasting impression. One such film was Kamal Hassan's Indrudu Chandrudu where Nagesh appeared in climax and had the audience in splits. Similarly, he played cameos in Rajendra Prasad's Brindavanam, Madam and Brahmachari Mogudu, and Mohan Babu's Allari Mogudu. I still remember my grand father and my uncles talking high about Nagesh's role as a house owner who is fooled in Brindavanam during the film's release.
Nagesh was more than a comedian. He was someone who added a new dimension called comedy to a character artist's role. He was brilliant as family head in Toli Prema, One by Two and Subhkankshalu. He essayed a variety of roles from a sidekick to heroes - his role as NTR's sidekick in Vetagaadu was superb - to serious roles like the one played in Kamal Hassan's Professor Viswam (Nammavar in Tamil). His other major films were Kamal's Bhamane Satyabhamane, Panchatantiram and Michael Madana Kamaraju (where he played villian).
His death is an irreparable loss to South Indian film industry.
May his soul rest in peace.
Being from Andhra oops! Andhra Pradesh, I watched only his Telugu assignments apart from a few dubbed Tamil films. Timing was Nagesh's biggest asset and there were films where he appeared only for a few minutes, yet made an everlasting impression. One such film was Kamal Hassan's Indrudu Chandrudu where Nagesh appeared in climax and had the audience in splits. Similarly, he played cameos in Rajendra Prasad's Brindavanam, Madam and Brahmachari Mogudu, and Mohan Babu's Allari Mogudu. I still remember my grand father and my uncles talking high about Nagesh's role as a house owner who is fooled in Brindavanam during the film's release.
Nagesh was more than a comedian. He was someone who added a new dimension called comedy to a character artist's role. He was brilliant as family head in Toli Prema, One by Two and Subhkankshalu. He essayed a variety of roles from a sidekick to heroes - his role as NTR's sidekick in Vetagaadu was superb - to serious roles like the one played in Kamal Hassan's Professor Viswam (Nammavar in Tamil). His other major films were Kamal's Bhamane Satyabhamane, Panchatantiram and Michael Madana Kamaraju (where he played villian).
His death is an irreparable loss to South Indian film industry.
May his soul rest in peace.
Nandi Awards - Election Special
The Nandi awards (for 2005 and 2006) ceremony held today at the LB stadum resembled more like a film actors-led election campaign for the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh. Most of the the recipients were staunch supports of the ruling Congress government and they have been bestowed upon with many invaluable assets by the State Government.
The timing of the awards is just before the impending elections and a few sops have been offered to the film industry. The venue has been shifted from Lalitha Kala Thoranam to L.B.Stadium to allow superstar Krishna and Mahesh Babu's supporters to pour in. In fact, this was touted as political debut for Mahesh. Of course, Mahesh has said a big no to politics and even warned of skipping the event in case of any political connection.
Now the real story. The winners Nagarjuna and Mahesh Babu, have a great filmy flashback attached to this. Nagarjuna has promised to support Congress in exchange for permission to raise a commercial complex in Annapurna Studios in Jubliee Hills. As the Government rule prevents them from using the land for other than running the studio, Nagarjuna turned to the ruling government for the favor. Mahesh Babu's father Krishna has been a Congress supporter for long and Congress has been desperate to pull superstar Mahesh into politics to negate Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna. Krishna has been awarded NTR lifetime achievement. Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, a popular comedian and strong Congress I supporter, was on the dias right from the beginning. He was offered about 7 acres of land to construct a religious sanctuary by the government. It's reported that the land is under dispute.
With no actor from the Nandamuri tribe or and only Nagendra Babu from Chiranjeevi family present at the event, it turned out to be Congress show all the way.
PS: The whole event was shabbily organized. The anchor seemed to be in a hurry to rush back home to take his wife out for dinner.
The timing of the awards is just before the impending elections and a few sops have been offered to the film industry. The venue has been shifted from Lalitha Kala Thoranam to L.B.Stadium to allow superstar Krishna and Mahesh Babu's supporters to pour in. In fact, this was touted as political debut for Mahesh. Of course, Mahesh has said a big no to politics and even warned of skipping the event in case of any political connection.
Now the real story. The winners Nagarjuna and Mahesh Babu, have a great filmy flashback attached to this. Nagarjuna has promised to support Congress in exchange for permission to raise a commercial complex in Annapurna Studios in Jubliee Hills. As the Government rule prevents them from using the land for other than running the studio, Nagarjuna turned to the ruling government for the favor. Mahesh Babu's father Krishna has been a Congress supporter for long and Congress has been desperate to pull superstar Mahesh into politics to negate Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna. Krishna has been awarded NTR lifetime achievement. Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, a popular comedian and strong Congress I supporter, was on the dias right from the beginning. He was offered about 7 acres of land to construct a religious sanctuary by the government. It's reported that the land is under dispute.
With no actor from the Nandamuri tribe or and only Nagendra Babu from Chiranjeevi family present at the event, it turned out to be Congress show all the way.
PS: The whole event was shabbily organized. The anchor seemed to be in a hurry to rush back home to take his wife out for dinner.
Updates This Week
It's been a hectic schedule since Diwali. Finished the sundry works at my new home and handed it to my new tenant. Watched a few movies and here are the brief reviews.
Chintakayala Ravi (Rating 2.5/5)
A typical Venkatesh movie worth skipping. A Karan Johar story laced with some scintillating music and America backdrop is what CR is all about.
Blade Baabji (Rating 3/5)
Leave your brains at home or forget that you have one for 2 hours. Blade Baabji is fun all the way with a number of regular comedians featuring in it. A Hollywood plot told in a typical Telugu masala style.
Nenu Meeku Telusaa (3.25/5)
Worth watching once at least for the out-of-the-box story-line and superb technical stuff. Manoj, who I used to hate to the core, has done a fantastic job both as the hero and producer. Scintillating music, fights and camerawork help in elevating the movie.
Meanwhile, it's Andhra Pradesh formation day and Telugu language has been awarded classical language status along with Kannada. The two languages now join the big league of Tamil and Sanskrit. It's clearly a political game by the Congress just before the elections.
That's it for now and bye bye.
Chintakayala Ravi (Rating 2.5/5)
A typical Venkatesh movie worth skipping. A Karan Johar story laced with some scintillating music and America backdrop is what CR is all about.
Blade Baabji (Rating 3/5)
Leave your brains at home or forget that you have one for 2 hours. Blade Baabji is fun all the way with a number of regular comedians featuring in it. A Hollywood plot told in a typical Telugu masala style.
Nenu Meeku Telusaa (3.25/5)
Worth watching once at least for the out-of-the-box story-line and superb technical stuff. Manoj, who I used to hate to the core, has done a fantastic job both as the hero and producer. Scintillating music, fights and camerawork help in elevating the movie.
Meanwhile, it's Andhra Pradesh formation day and Telugu language has been awarded classical language status along with Kannada. The two languages now join the big league of Tamil and Sanskrit. It's clearly a political game by the Congress just before the elections.
That's it for now and bye bye.
Dasavathaaram
Interesting plot goes haywire
The film once again proves that story and screenplay are the most important components of any film. Actors only take them to new levels. Kamal seems to have forgotten this once again. He concentrates more on showcasing his 10 roles without embedding them properly into the main storyline. All the characters come and go creating confusion in the minds of audience. What bothers most is that all the characters are played by Kamal himself.
The film starts on a high note showing some great visuals depicting the 12th Century rift between Vaishnavas and Shaivates. Kamal excelled in the role of a Vaishnavaite (5/5 points) who dies in the hands of a Shaivate King. He is thrown into a sea along with huge idol of Lord Vishnu. The episode runs for about 20 minutes and this takes us to an entirely new world.
Then the story moves to the US, where scientists are trying to manufacture some biological weapon (it is not clearly defined) to safeguard their country post 9/11. Kamal (3.5/5) is part of that team. He comes to know that the chief scientist is trying to sell the weapon to terrorists for a huge sum and runs away with the weapon. Here he appears as George Bush (3/5). Kamal is projected as a terrorist by the US and Indian media. A terrorist group hires an ex-CIA member Fletcher (4/5), who will be after Kamal throughout the rest of the story. Mallika Sherawat plays translator to this US-based killer and she is okay.
The story then shifts to India where you have a chief police played by Kamal (4/5) who takes up the case. The weapon is couriered by mistake to some Vaishnavaite staying in Chidambaram village. Here Kamal appears as a 85 year old widow (3.75/5) who provides a huge comic relief. In the mid-term you will also see a Punjabi singer (2.5/5) suffering from cancer and a Kung Fu master (2.5/5), whom it is very difficult to recognize.
The film tempo goes down after the first half as the director tries to connect all the 10 characters and in the process creates a few unnecessary scenes which take the tempo down drastically and away from the core plot. The introduction of Christian (2.5/5) and tall Muslim (1.5/5) characters add to the confusion. The make up of the Muslim man looks odd. The film ends with a huge Tsunami bringing out Lord Vishnu's idol from the sea bed.
The basic flaw of the movie is lack of proper screenplay and clear narration of the link between the first 20 minutes and the climax. The songs, composed by Himesh Reshamiyya are a big disappointment and I don't understand why he was chosen over AR Rahman or Mani Sharma. Devi Sri Prasad provides background score, which is good in parts. What if Himesh had composed even the background score. Director K S Ravikumar, who is known more for his commercial, comedy flicks tries to add too much comedy to a serious film in the second half.
On the other hand, the graphics and the camera departments need a special mention for some scintillating work. A few scenes are reminiscent of some Hollywood flicks. Heroine Asin does her job well too.
On the whole, Dasavathaaram is not what the promos promise.
Department wise ratings (out of 5)
1. Direction - 3
2. Story and Screenplay - 2.5
3. Camera and graphics - 4
4. Editing - 3
5. Music (background) - 3
6. Make up - 3.25
Hollywood Made Easy
What can be more fun than watching an English flick dubbed in Telugu (or any Indian language)? We (me and my colony friends) make it a point to watch such movies regularly.
It's really a different and a hilarious experience. Stylish American characters speaking regional languages (in typical native style) and uttering a bit of odd local expletives add to the fun.
Last Saturday was really boring and we decided to watch 10,000 BC (called 10,000 Kreestu Poorvam in Telugu). Surprisingly, the theater was full and a lot of people had come for the same reason as we had. The film started with a typical dubbing artist voice (the person dubs voice for all old men in serials dubbed from Hindi and Tamil). By trying to create some intensity, he screwed up the whole thing and I couldn't understand even a bit of the theme during the first 10 minutes. Remember, this was despite the movie being in my mother tongue.
There were some odd names like bakku, tik tik which evoked laughter as they have a different meaning in Telugu. The best part was when an ostrich (huge one) uttered a peculiar sound, it was very near to the famous LAKA LAKA LAKA sound from a Rajnikanth
movie. The whole theater went up saying LAKA LAKA LAKA.
In another shot, the Hero talked to a tiger and a person asked him who was he. A person in the front seat shouted Okka Magaadu (referring to the flop mediocre balakrishna movie).
Similarly, when a huge colony was showed where construction was going on, my friend said Indiramma Illu (an initiative by the AP govt. to provide houses to the poor), which received a huge roar from the crowd.
There was no interval in the original movie, but the theater created one in the middle of a good scene. The screening guy put a small slide with interval written on it. I thought 'break' would have been appropriate.
Amidst such funny incidents, the movie was over, but we still recollect those weird dialogs. I pity the actors, who are completely ignorant of how their movie/dialogs is/are murdered here.
It's really a different and a hilarious experience. Stylish American characters speaking regional languages (in typical native style) and uttering a bit of odd local expletives add to the fun.
Last Saturday was really boring and we decided to watch 10,000 BC (called 10,000 Kreestu Poorvam in Telugu). Surprisingly, the theater was full and a lot of people had come for the same reason as we had. The film started with a typical dubbing artist voice (the person dubs voice for all old men in serials dubbed from Hindi and Tamil). By trying to create some intensity, he screwed up the whole thing and I couldn't understand even a bit of the theme during the first 10 minutes. Remember, this was despite the movie being in my mother tongue.
There were some odd names like bakku, tik tik which evoked laughter as they have a different meaning in Telugu. The best part was when an ostrich (huge one) uttered a peculiar sound, it was very near to the famous LAKA LAKA LAKA sound from a Rajnikanth
movie. The whole theater went up saying LAKA LAKA LAKA.
In another shot, the Hero talked to a tiger and a person asked him who was he. A person in the front seat shouted Okka Magaadu (referring to the flop mediocre balakrishna movie).
Similarly, when a huge colony was showed where construction was going on, my friend said Indiramma Illu (an initiative by the AP govt. to provide houses to the poor), which received a huge roar from the crowd.
There was no interval in the original movie, but the theater created one in the middle of a good scene. The screening guy put a small slide with interval written on it. I thought 'break' would have been appropriate.
Amidst such funny incidents, the movie was over, but we still recollect those weird dialogs. I pity the actors, who are completely ignorant of how their movie/dialogs is/are murdered here.
Don - Good and Bad
One can imagine the outcome of a movie when one person does all of the following in that movie
1.Story
2.Screenplay
3.Direction
4.Music
5.Dance choreography and
6.a Major role
It takes a lot, especially if the director has only a couple of films to his credit and the protagonist is a very big star.
I am referring to the latest Telugu release, Nagarjuna starrer Don. The movie starts on a promising note and Nagarjuna's entry was one of the best intro scenes in the recent times in the Indian cinema. The immediate scene (comedy) between Nag and the director Raghavendra Lawrence takes us back to 1970s. Then 15 minutes later, the villain's (Kelly Dorji) introduction scene again takes us to another world (a la Hollywood scene). The ensuing sequences where the hero romances the heroine always remind us of some old movies. The interval bang comes out as a big surprise with the two Dons (the hero and villain) challenging each other but in a very cool manner.
The second half is full of chases and three songs (of which two come as barriers to the fast-paced screenplay). The best scene is when Nag goes to Mumbai to meet his counterpart. Thus, the excellent and poor scenes play hide and seek with the viewers. The good thing is that the climax is very different from the routine stuff that Indian movies generate.
Coming out of the theater, one feels that they have seen a movie that would have been better had it been directed by someone more passionate and experienced than the dance director.
All in all, a movie which had the scope to become a huge blockbuster and a trend-setter, turned out an average flick.
1.Story
2.Screenplay
3.Direction
4.Music
5.Dance choreography and
6.a Major role
It takes a lot, especially if the director has only a couple of films to his credit and the protagonist is a very big star.
I am referring to the latest Telugu release, Nagarjuna starrer Don. The movie starts on a promising note and Nagarjuna's entry was one of the best intro scenes in the recent times in the Indian cinema. The immediate scene (comedy) between Nag and the director Raghavendra Lawrence takes us back to 1970s. Then 15 minutes later, the villain's (Kelly Dorji) introduction scene again takes us to another world (a la Hollywood scene). The ensuing sequences where the hero romances the heroine always remind us of some old movies. The interval bang comes out as a big surprise with the two Dons (the hero and villain) challenging each other but in a very cool manner.
The second half is full of chases and three songs (of which two come as barriers to the fast-paced screenplay). The best scene is when Nag goes to Mumbai to meet his counterpart. Thus, the excellent and poor scenes play hide and seek with the viewers. The good thing is that the climax is very different from the routine stuff that Indian movies generate.
Coming out of the theater, one feels that they have seen a movie that would have been better had it been directed by someone more passionate and experienced than the dance director.
All in all, a movie which had the scope to become a huge blockbuster and a trend-setter, turned out an average flick.
