Superb amelioration of original

When I first saw original Ghajini, of course the dubbed version in Telugu, I felt director Murugadoss had squandered a great opportunity to join the league of big directors. Though the plot is a rip off of Hollywood hit Memento, Murugadoss induced some native elements in the form of a breezy love story and adopted a totally different screenplay for the Tamil version. But the plot went haywire post interval and a poor climax further marred what could have been a very good experiment. This time around with Aamir Khan at the helm, Murugadoss rectifies most of his lacunae in the Hindi version and as a result presents us a good movie that binds audience for three hours.

I couldn't stop comparing the Suriya-starrer with the latest one right from the first scene. A few lead characters - villain, heroine and police officer - reappear, but the major differences are much improved last 30 minutes, brilliant capturing of raw emotions and justification of the title.

My Ghajini Vs Ghajini:

Aamir Vs Suriya


Aamir is better of the two in the patient avatar, but only just. With an eight-pack body to support his role, he got huge response whenever he displayed his newly developed assets. But Aamir looked a bit unconvincing as corporate boss and here is where Suriya overtakes Aamir by a huge margin. Suriya was brilliant, at ease, and seemed more natural than Aamir in corporate outfits. I cannot compare more as they have got very less to choose between them.





Asin vs Asin

Asin was simply breathtaking and she seems to have really got into the character. Her histrionics really take the love story to new heights.

A.R. Rahman Vs Harris Jayaraj

Harris Jayaraj's scintillating background music, especially the Ghajini leitmotif, was one of the strong points of Tamil Ghajini. A.R.Rahman though tried his best couldn't recreate the magic. He is a big disappointment in some scenes involving the lead pair, which were brilliantly accompanied by some great background music in the original. Though the songs Guzaarish and Behka are a treat to watch, AR Rahman simply failed to match Harris Jayaraj.

It was great to see Aamir Khan in an action thriller after a long time. The director should be commended for making the movie devoid of any South flavor (goons flying in the air during fights and mass masala songs). The director captured emotions with some brilliant close up shots, didn't introduce unnecessary elements and finally came up with a good movie.

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.

Powered by: Chakpak.com	Phoonk

Old story, weird camera angles and routine execution. That's Phoonk for you.

Ram Gopal Varma's Phoonk is a poor imitation of The Exorcist and hell lot of his own movies (Deyyam, Bhoot and Raatri).

I think it's time for the egotist Mr.Varma to change his subjects, which revolves around either underworld or spirits. The film has only two scenes that take your breath away and sadly both of them occur in the first half, leaving crap in the second half.

On the whole, it's an effort worth ignoring. The best part is that the movie runs for less than 2 hours. The film producers have announced Phoonk2, but Phoonk or Phoonk1 is really a sad tale.

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

Soft Porn packaged as Devotional Movie


That's Pandurangadu for you.

I didn't plan to watch the movie at all as it featured the one and only Natasimham, Viswavikyata Nata Tejoroopam, Nata Simham, Yuvaratna Nandamoori Balakrishna. I have had very harsh and unforgettable experiences watching a few of his recent attempts. But my best buddy Sripathi planned to provide me with an ultimate experience and booked tickets for me along with his family members (25 people in all).

As the movie happens to be a remake of the old Telugu Classic Panduranga Mahatyam, in which late NTR (father of Balayya) played the protagonist, the story is already known. Pandurangadu is a womanizer and is after a prostitute (Tabu). He is married to an innocent village lady and the rest of the film is all about how the lady changes him and how Pandurangadu becomes a maha devotee.

However, K.Raghavendra Rao, who is known more for his masala, commercial films, dedicates neary 2 hours for showing Pandurangadu as womanizer and about 30 minutes for the rest of the story. The way some of the kamasutra skills of the hero are shown are too heavy even for a soft porn movie. While three songs carry heavy dose of double entendres, the settings and the costumes remind us of b-grade adult movies, which are typically made for the sex starved males. The first song features sex bomb Meghna Naidu who shows off liberally. The film shifts to second gear (not the tempo but the romance levels) after Tabu's foray. The director ensured that Tabu is exploited to the max in each of her scenes. He must have paid her a bomb. Of course, Tabu was near perfect and I think she is trying to enter the Malayalam film industry to fill the vacancy created after Shakeela's exit. Then appears an unnecessary romantic song featuring heroine Sneha, who is showed as a maha maha devotee. During this (first half), I moved restlessly in my chair, struggling to find solace.

During the interval none of my friend's family members dared to looked at others; everyone was rushing to go out. Even the second half starts on the same note, but the romance content gets sidelined as the story progresses. The last half an hour shows Pandurangadu as a changed man and how Lord Krishna helps him is getting the mukti. But the time dedicated to this episode is very short and thus the porn stuff is remembered more than the bhatki content.

In sum, Balayya is the villain for about 80 percent of the movie. Balayya overacts, hams and finally becomes a part of another dud. However, he looks good as Lord Krishna, but the make up done to him is incomplete (his hands are not shaved properly). Even for Pandurangadu, the make up looks gaudy.

Department wise ratings (on a scale of 5)

Direction - 0.5
Music - 3
Photography / Graphics - 2.5
Make up / Costumes - 1.5
Art - 2.5