Oye Review: Lacks soul

“His first love called him” – OMG! We got to find out why she called.

“Gal is Beautiful, Dutiful, Fundamental, Capable, Careful, Sentimental, blah blah. You cannot find the stars that shine in the movies in the cities. But I found one on the outskirts of the city of Vizag”-First stanza of the haunting title song of the movie goes something like this.

Sparks like these two from the movie Oye make you believe that you will watch a movie that is going to be splendid from the word go. As usually like any recent Telugu movie, it disappoints you. Your disappointment will be less if you did not watch Sweet November and Walk to Remember. This movie too suffers from the same thing that almost every Indian movie suffers from, soul, with everything else borrowed or inspired from Hollywood or lesser known sources.

As per the golden rule of Indian movies, Sidharth (he is god damn handsome) sees Shamili when she asks him for tissue papers (is this the concept behind the tagline of the movie) and falls in love with her when he, getting birthday bumps, sees her minutes later writing a diary during the new year eve party in a night club in Vizag. Such a boring girl whom Sidharth finds interesting, you know love is blind. Still following the golden rule of Indian movies he succeeds in making her fall in love with him. Here at this point the creative senses of the director goes blank and he digs into the extensive collection of Hollywood love stories and picks up the movies I mentioned above and Erich Seagal’s Love Story, mixes them up with mandatory comedy and songs and the second half is ready.

Forgetting the heart-burn plot and story causes, let’s move ahead. Music by Yuvan Sankar Raja is absolutely rocking. Do not forget to follow the outstanding lyrics for the songs “Love at first sight” and “Saradaga”. Background score is also good. Sidharth worked with Yuvan Sankar Raja as music producer for the movie and whatever they did, it worked out superbly. Photography is first rate. Something named digital color grading is done and couple of visuals look splendid on the screen.

Sidharth oozes life into the movie and he is very handsome (did I already say that). Something is wrong with the makeup given to Shamili. If its not makeup, she has to do something or else she has very little chance of succeeding as a lead actress. What else? Not finding much to say. That’s it.

Slumdog Millionaire: What are we cheering for?

As news started trickling in that the music of Slumdog Millionaire is great, I downloaded the music from the internet and tried to get a feel of it. It did not really get through. When the movie won four Golden Globe Awards including the best background score, Sydney including me woke up from its slumber and took notice. It released in couple of more theatres. I got a chance to catch the movie at Hoyts after work on Tuesday. (Why Tuesday? The ticket price costs fifty percent less and what better way to make the week interesting). The theatre which is twice the size of the hall in my apartment is packed. My Colleagues and I after ransacking the Indian restaurant nearby (food is as bad as it can be) finally settled in our seats.

The movie based on the novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup and directed by Danny Boyle has a Dickenson touch in its taking say the western media. Seeing Mumbai in his yucky avatar might have remembered them the London they have read in the Dickens’s novels. A Call Center assistant from the slums of Mumbai answers all the questions in “Kaun Banega Crorepati” correctly and wins twenty million rupees. How an illiterate from the slums of Mumbai found answers to the questions asked in the program right in his grueling painful life? What is the real reason behind his appearance on the program? You will come out with a lump in your throat, the movie depicting India beyond the stories of growing super power, its street smart orphans, and mafia living on the children, gun culture, red light areas, the marginalized poor, communal and religious divide.

There are few scenes which show what a mess the country can be, children playing street cricket right on the tracks of the santacruz airport, in the excitement of seeing Amitabh Bachan the kid does not mind jumping into a pit of shit (no joke). Many of us might not have encountered the other India shown in the movie and it would be a shock to us as it is to the outside world.

And when you are clapping and cheering when the movie wins yet another international award, are you cheering for the India shown in the movie or are you just happy that a movie based on India won an award?

Ghajini: Crappy or Good?

What a load of crap is what you should say when you watch Ghajini. But, you would think twice and do not let that word come out. “May be that I might have gone wrong”. If it is so bad would it attract so much attention and collect such a heap of money in its opening week. The marketing blitzkrieg that preceded the movie release subconsciously makes you think so. Here are tit bits of thoughts that are making rounds in my mind when I was watching the movie.

Ghajini is not the name of the hero. Not even a positive character in the movie. It’s the name of the villain. What is the point in naming the movie after the most crooked guy in the movie? And which parents will name their son Ghajini. Somehow his parents knew this guy when he grows up is going to scare the pants off the people and make a name for him by killing and looting people. And our villain lives up to his name not letting them down. He is also very passionate about his work. When he kills someone, he observes them making sure they are suffering. If he is killing someone before their beloved ones, he makes arrangements for them to see the proceedings and cry. If he doubts someone that they are a threat to his business and life, he makes arrangements for their travel to the eternal world. Despite living in the metropolis of Mumbai and having seen the mafia and their sophisticated tools, he still dresses like a factionist in Telugu movies, shouts like villain in Tamil movies and uses unused iron spares of vehicles to kill people.

These days, the lead pair in bollywood will straight go to bed when they realise they might fall in love. The days of the declaring their love, never touching each other, crying for each other and dying before they realise who their love interest are long gone. People on a diet of Imran Hashmi kind of movies might find this movie really irritating. How can you expect the lead pair never even touch each other?

Kalpana (Asin) the female lead in the movie is a real dumb girl. Amir, who runs a company of the stature of Airtel and roams around in couple of same brand same coloured foreign cars filled with assistants of foreign origin making sure everyone takes notice of him, is head-over-heels about Kalpana and she hardly knows who he is. She needs to work on her general knowledge. Such a dumb girl she again turns sharp minded and adventurous when such a requirement comes up in the movie. Not just Kalpana, even the ad agency she works for is good for nothing. No one saw Amir till he himself arrives for the New Year party.

You might get shocked to know that the back ground score is actually by A R Rehman. Do not let the golden globe guys listen to this background score.

Savithri film career is a lesson to future generations

Movie Review: Vaaranam Aayiram

“The next three months were like an Ilayaraja song. No, they were like a guitar song” says Surya and he breaks into the number Adiye Kolluthey, probably south cinema’s first guitar punk number. It’s a treat to watch. Foot tapping music, extremely handsome Surya, Sameera Reddy with heart-misses-a-beat looks and San Francisco locales make it one of the best romantic songs in the recent times. And at the same time you might get into the opinion that Vaaranam Aayiram is a treat to watch. In a way, it is. But, you got to have a different mindset. Do not expect another Indian romantic entertainer. Biographical films like Forest Gump are quite popular in the west. Indian Cinema had a tryst with this genre in Guru, Nayakan and some other films dramatising them to some extent. Surya and Gautam Menon now tried this genre.

Gautam Menon has a clear idea as to what he wants to present on screen right from the plot to the visuals and he got a great actor in Surya to portray different shades. I have to say that Surya redefines acting with the portrayal of different characters as a teenager, student, guy in his twenties, lover, drug addict, doting father and a suffering patient. This movie makes it clear beyond doubt that he is one of the greatest actors in our country right now. The movie starts with the death of Krishnan. The news was informed to Surya who is on a mission to rescue an abducted journalist. He insists on continuing on the mission. On the way, the memories of his childhood and how his father influenced him to become a man he is now comes back to him one after the other.



One interesting aspect that really surprised me is the fantastic team the movie has got. The movie is shot to perfection. Harris Jayaraj goes back to his fundamentals and comes up with a brilliant score. All the songs are a treat to listen and watch on screen. The background score is also good. Harris uses guitar and other string instruments to portray the role played by music in the lives of both the father and son. The surprise pack of the movie is Sameera Reddy. You cannot stop falling love with the intelligent damsel portrayed by her. Unlike her other movies I watched, she is beautiful. We have to say that this is the first time she got a chance to show her acting abilities. Simran and Divya also impress.

I watched the Tamil version of the movie at Greater Union Cinemas in Sydney. Unlike Telugu audience, I observe Tamils have an interactive approach to watching a movie. As the movie progresses, audience would be airing their comments, reviews and responses loudly. Others would respond with laughs, shouts, claps and sometimes with counter arguments. When the drug addict Surya dances to a song with lot of drum beats, a young guy appeared from no where in front of the screen and displayed his dancing prowess to the audience for the same song. They audience encouraged him by clapping their hands rhythmically to his steps. He again disappeared after few moments.

Overall, I have to say that Varanam Aayiram is a technical master-piece and I am eager to see Tollywood producing its own Surya. The movie might not appeal to a large section of the audience as they normally come to a movie to have a few laughs and a jig.

Tail Piece: Gautam Menon’s next is with Mahesh Babu. Rumoured to be produced jointly by Indira Productions and Warner Bros (you heard it right) music is by A R Rehman. If every thing goes well it might see the light of the day only in 2010.

Sixteen Cents Telugu Heroine

Guess what? Anish Kuruvilla (The guy in Dollar Dreams who instead of going to US does an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj and also who acted as brother of Raja in Anand) suddenly frightened every body by doing an act no body dared to. He simply struck off the un-written rule our Telugu cinema guys have written for themselves. He cast an authentic sixteen cent Telugu Girl as the female lead in his second directorial venture Avakaya Biryani (his first attempt Confessions of a Film Maker in which he thrashed the movie people left, right, up and down never saw light of the day). It’s not over yet. You will faint if you hear more details. She knows to speak and write in Telugu (yes our very own Telugu) and she dubbed her own voice. Is it possible? How did all this happen? Instead of considering an authentic Telugu heroine as an endangered species, they whole-heartedly searched for one. It’s as simple as that. Welcome, Bindu Madhavi a model turning actress with this movie. Born in Madanapalli, she did modeling assignments for Tanishq and Saravana Stores. She was hand-picked by Sekhar Kammula himself. She is going to appear in the role of saree-clad (yes, you heard it right) pickle selling girl. What are you waiting for? Book your tickets now.

Movie Review: Call Center

The thing is Telugu Cinema guys have really weird view about youth and anything related to them. If you take students, they should be doing one of these things

1.Break themselves into two groups, the good looking or good market guys will be the hero gang and all others will be the villain gang. They will be fighting among themselves when the heroine got tired singing a duet with the hero. The hero, since he was a hero still has the energy to take part in the fight before he joins the heroine in a romantic adventure.
2.They will be living on a diet of Alcohol, Cigarettes, Gutka and everything that is harmful to health.
3.The hero though he is a good guy will be flunking in the exams with utmost regularity. Everyone in the world will be misunderstanding him except for a few guys and only one gal in the world who will eventually become the heroine.
4.The principal is the least knowledgeable guy in the college who has sleazy thoughts about his female colleagues.
5.If the hero has an okay physique, there are great chances that he has stunningly beautiful sister who has less Intelligent Quotient on worldly things. She will be in the view that everything in the world is good. She will eventually be raped by the guy in the villain’s gang. He gets his required quota of beatings from the hero before he says a roaring yes to marry the hero’s sister.

When they have this kind of fundamental understanding of youth, a new word or industry entered the Indian psyche. It is Call Center. The basic premise that gals and guys would be working only in the nights into the wee hours of the morning, set the already hackneyed imaginations of these filmy people on fire. If they set to make a movie about the lives of call center people with this point of view, I need not tell you how horrible it would be.

I got a chance to watch one such pathetic film. The name of the movie itself is Call Center. The director Kanmani reportedly spent six months on the floors of Call Centers to prepare the script (as boasted to the media).

The movie starts as the titles start rolling with some blurry images dancing to a song written on Call Centers. Once the titles are over to everyone’s relief, we are taken to a village surely somewhere in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. The hero and heroine dance for a folk song and before they reach home, the offer letters from a call center are ready. The hero declares that in his salary of fifteen thousand, he would be hardly needing five thousand and the rest he would be sending home. The audience’s head ache’s start once they join the call center. The characters who are employees of a call center involve in all sorts of horny things. The hero who is a typical good boy from a good village will turn bad. He eventually learns the importance of having a friend like the heroine who does not think of leaving him though she had much better options. When everyone starts celebrating that the movie is finally over, Kota Srinivasa Rao pops up on the screen and gives a fifteen minute lecture as the final death blow. Now you are allowed to leave or switch off the DVD player.

Last, I just want to mention the guy from Happy Days, Shankar (I don't remember his real name) acted with lot of ease. What to say, it is all futile. He should be very careful in selecting his future projects.

Chintakayala Ravi

Last Sunday, I watched Chintakayala Ravi. No, I did not watch it at Greater Union Cinemas, but on DVD. Believe me, the print is perfect. It might have leaked from the print labs and some extra adventurous guy digitized and left it on the internet to spread like wild fire. The thing is the DVD is available in Sydney even before it was screened. The distributors might have lost huge amount of money. As per the information I read on idlebrain the movie is scheduled to be screened in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Auckland after Sydney. If this trend continues we will hardly be able to watch any movies so far away from home. This movie watching experience is something like a get together for us. Irrespective of the talk the movie gets, we go and watch the movie, just for the fun and thrill of watching a Telugu movie in this foreign land.

Coming to the movie, it falls short of the huge expectations you might have about it. It tried a lot to be hilarious but succeeds only a few times. Some of the scenes like the one in which Venkatesh and Anushka are stuck in the super market are yucky. It became a custom after Nuvvu Naku Nachav and Malleswari for Venkatesh to appear in formal shirt and without any bottom. The story is so silly and has many loose ends which were not taken care of. Venkatesh did his level best to breath life into the movie. He is perfect as the protagonist but did not suit the age the character should possess. He evokes laughs with his perfect comedy timing. Anushka and Mamta Mohandas got some chance to show their acting abilities and they proved themselves. Nikita sparks in the short cameo role. We can see lot of girls like her in our colleagues, cousins and friends who are hyper-active and extremely talkative. Sunil is also good as Pendurthi Babu. All other actors did justice to their role as they are so much experienced to take up those kinds of roles.

As I already wrote music by Vishal-Sekhar is good and might have appeared great on the screen. They lifted the title track of Om Shanti Om and used it for the high-dose-sentimental scenes in the second half. The song Shava Shava Balle Balle which you might think is great while hearing is not so exciting while watching. The presence of Venkatesh and NTR together did not lift the excitement up.

Venkatesh is supposed to do much better roles than wasting his time with these movies. May be we are in for a treat as Kamal Hassan and Venky are getting together to star in Marma Yogi.

Venkatesh in Marma Yogi

Its official now. Our very own Victory Venkatesh is going to star in a cameo role in Kamal Hassan’s next flick “Marma Yogi”. In addition to these top super stars, media reports suggest that it is going to have a huge star cast of Hema Malini, Shobana, Trisha and Shriya. Produced jointly by Walt Disney studios and Bharat Bala productions, the project cost is estimated to be around a hundred crore rupees. Music is by A R Rehman. Venkatesh, who has created a name for himself with his acting prowess and selection of refreshingly different movies, is doing a non-telugu movie after a long time. The movie is going to sets in February 2009.

Music Review: Chintakayala Ravi

I have a strange habit towards writing. If I got hell lot of work to do, my mind would be overflowing with creativity and I would somehow catch some time to put my thoughts in words. And when I actually have time to pursue my hobby, ideas just don’t pop out at all. That is my condition now. Anyway I have been postponing writing this music review of Chintakayala Ravi for a long time now.

If there is any actor I would love to watch in an out and out comedy flick, it is Victory Venkatesh. He is an actor with perfect comedy timing and trademark gestures that would drive the audiences into raptures. He won the hearts of the audience with his superb performance in the almost classic cult movies Nuvvu Naku Nachav, Malleswari and Premante Idera. If he is getting ready for one more comedy flick, it would be worth the watch. This time he introduces Vishal Sekhar duo who are storming the charts in Bollywood to the Telugu audience. Venkatesh declared in his interview to the media that this is the best music album in his career. You may not feel so after listening to it, atleast I did not feel so. It is in no way better than many of his musical hits. How can we rate this album above AMAV, Coolie Number 1 and Vasu? Very few songs can compete with the beautifully composed “Naa Manasuki Pranam Posi” in AMAV. But Vishal Sekhar succeeded well where others like Sandeep Chowta failed. It did not turn out like Sandeep Chowta’s Super or Bujjigadu where you will end up wondering whether the lyrics are Telugu.

“Bagunde Bagunde” is a nice melody worth the try by the new guys from Bollywood, but definitely not in the league of the superb melodies Venkatesh’s movies have.

“Oh Sunita” is a song in which Venkatesh will be teasing Anushka. It is an Okay kind of song. These lyrics that come in the song must have been written keeping the hero’s ability to bring tears from your eyes.

Bore Kotti Film Kelte
Screenu Paina Nenu Vasta
Sceenu Marchi Edipista
Nai Chodunga Rey

“Shava Shava Balle Balle” is a fast beat which you will like and dance while hearing. However, you will be forgetting it as fast as you liked it.

“Merpula” is a song which comes out when Venkatesh and SA Raj Kumar meets together to come up with a tune. If you want to know how this hip twenty something duo came up with same kind of tunes, you should hear to their score for the song “Ajab Si” from Om Shanti Om. This is one of the best songs of the album. The interludes that come “You make my heart go” are good.

“Enduko” is the first song in the movie where Mamta Mohandas in the village and Venky in New York will be singing. It is also a good composition of the album.

“Valla Valla Baby Baby” is the pick of the album. It is a hip fast beat song that would rock the theatres and the dance floors in the coming days. With this song, Vishal Sekhar make their mark and have arrived on the Tollywood Charts.

The songs in other top albums you can try
1. Buggallona Bhukampam (Souryam)
2. Evarunnarani Nakaina (Yuvatha)
3. Maa Vooremo Cinna (Yuvatha)
4. Nijamga Nenena (Kotha Bangaru Lokam)
5. Okay Anesa (Kotha Bangaru Lokam)
6. Alagake Allari Vayasa (Ankit Pallavi and Friends)
7. Leletha Puvvule (Ankit Pallavi and Friends)
8. Dost Hey Dost (Ankit Pallavi and Friends)
9. Adinchindi Ashta Chemma (Ashta Chemma)
10. Tidathara Kodathara (Ashta Chemma)

Its raining great music this year

I was waiting for my friend at the airport. He is returning home after a hard earned annual vacation spent at home. The flight on which he is supposed to arrive already came an hour back. Not only that, two more flights scheduled after that have also come. The flight crew and the passengers have left. Then the desi passengers started arriving at the exit. Desi passengers take more time at the quarantine and the customs giving a tough time to them with their spices, pickles, medicines and lots of home-made stuff posing a challenge to the careers of the officials there. My friend finally appeared on the exit after an hour and half. The thing is he is able to successfully smuggle home- made pickle after an argument that went on for more than half-an-hour. In this time, I was able to sample the songs of the new albums that have released over the past few weeks. Expecting that there would be delay, I uploaded the songs on IPod and was hearing to them on the way to the airport.

The albums I sampled are Kotha Bangaru Lokam, Yuvatha, Ashta Chemma, Ankit Pallavi and Friends and Souryam. So, what they have in store for you?

Kotha Bangaru Lokam is the most beautiful album of all. Mickey J Meyer who gave okay kind of music to Hare Ram is back on track with this movie. It is absolute delight listening to the songs Nenani Neevani, Okay Anesa and Nijanga Nenena. Try playing them on some nice speakers with good bass and you will never want to stop it. Without any doubt Kotha Bangaru Lokam is the best album of the year till now.

Yuvatha is a movie starring Nikhil of Happy Days fame. Music is by Mani Sharma. The pics of the album are Yevarunnarani Naakaina and Maa Vooremo Cinna. Yevarunnarani Naakaina is a very good melody from Mani Sharma after a very long time, which can be compared with Chiguraku Chatu Chiluka of Gudumba Shankar. The song Maa Vooremo Cinna is vintage Mani Sharma folk Telugu song. It has the right mass orientation and folk beats that will drive you to dance in few hearings itself. Kotikokatila Ammayi is also good. Eelesi Nuvvu song tune is used from Mani Sharma’s super hit song in the Tamil pokiri.

Ashta Chemma is one better album of the year. Adinchindi Ashta Chemma and Tidathara Kodathara are the ones that will work for you in one or two hearings.

Ankit Pallavi and Friends album is a close second to Kotha Bangaru Lokam. Vinu Thomas arrived on the Tollywood charts with this album. Alagake Allari Vayasa is a very beautiful composition that is on par with Nenani Neevani (Kotha Bangaru Lokam) and Rama Chakkani Seethaki (Godavari). Leletha Puvvule and Aranavvulenduko are two more beautiful compositions. Dost Hey Dost is the pic for the ones who love fast beats. I was very disappointed when greatandhra.com wrote in the review of the movie that the music of the movie is not at all good. Did the guy who wrote the review have an ear for music at all?

Souryam is one more music album by Mani Sharma. It has all the right mass beats and yucky lyrics required for a movie starred by a mass hero. Some of the songs are good, though I do not exactly remember the track names.

One more album we have to watch out for in the next few weeks is Chintakayala Ravi, the movie starring Victory Venkatesh and Anushka. Music is by Vishal Sekhar who earlier gave music to the block-buster Sharukh Khan starrer Om Shanti Om.

The song I am hearing over and over these days is Om Namaste from Ready. I simply love the voice of Divya in the song. I just keep rewinding and hear her voice singing “Trendy Trendy Trendy......” and fall in love with it again.

Dham Dhoom Review

For the past one year, I was watching quite a number of Tamil movies. Sometimes, out of force and mostly out of curiosity how competitors of Telugu film industry fare. The curiosity is because the Tamil people will be almost illogical in singing praises about their movies and saying that tollywood and bollywood are nothing in comparison to them (though most of the movies in all the three are copied from International Cinema). In this quest for truth, I watched the movie “Dham Dhoom”. One thing that became certain after it is that they are as bad as we are.

The director’s requirement is to have some exotic locations in India and abroad (may be to show his photographic abilities), peppy music, a youthful hero, one or more heroines with lot of oomph. Once they got these, they might have tried to fit them all into some story (watching all the available Hollywood movies). And the result is “Dham Dhoom”.

The Hero (Jayam Ravi) who is a doctor is selected by the government of India to be sent to St Petersburg to take part in a medical conference (though he is absolutely not interested in it). In Petersburg airport a Russian model leaves her coat which contains drugs with the hero and strangely he is not checked by the customs and security. The model comes to his hotel and collects the coat from him. The hero attends the conference successfully and goes to a pub to dance for an item number. The Russian model joins him in the dance. She gets drunk and he brings her to his hotel not knowing how to dispose her off. In the hotel, she orders one more drink and succeeds in making the hero drunk. Cut there, it is morning, the girl is murdered and the hero is arrested. If you are still interested to watch the movie, you got to watch it on the silver screen.

The murder drama did not raise any interest at all. The director not knowing what to do made the hero run across all the important locations in the city, initially alone and later joined by his lawyer Lakshmi Rai. In between he shows the love story of the hero and his love interest (Kangna Ranaut) in the flash back sequences. This part of the movie is a bit interesting. I really did not understand why the lawyer falls in love with a guy who is charged with the rape and murder of a girl, though she is not sure he did not commit it.

Jayam Ravi is very handsome and is well built. Unlike other south Indian heroes he is not forced to do any extra ordinary fight sequences and stuck to method acting. He got to improve on his acting abilities. Kangna Ranaut did not suit much as a village girl. But, she looked cute in the half saree. Lakshmi Rai is beautiful. There aren’t many other characters that matter a lot.

Music (Harris Jayaraj) and photography (Jeeva) stands out in this otherwise boring movie. The music for the songs is simply outstanding and the background score is good. The beauty of Pollachi and Russia is caught beautifully and presented well on the screen.

Ashta Chemma positive buzz

Industry insider reports say that Ashta Chemma is getting very good reviews. Recently the movie is previewed for Sekhar Kammula and he immensely liked it that he how wants to present the movie in the overseas. Similarly, the movie is previewed to a select audience of around 100 people representing various sections of viewers and the numbers of laughs were kept track of. Director of the movie, Mohana Krishna Indraganti informed idlebrain.com that the number of laughs exceeded 100. Okay, it’s fine that the movie is getting good response. But, did it appear to you all this way of gauging audience response is something new. The director is actually a post graduate in management from IIM, who came to the film industry following his passion for movies. The methods he used are more used by the companies to identify the response of consumers for their products. He seems to be innovative in every possible way. It is also nice to see professionals like him entering the film industry.

The songs of the movie are also good. Especially, I liked the songs Tidathara Kodathara and Adinchindi Ashta Chemma. The theme of Ashta Chemma is also good.

Also Read: Ashta Chemma MP3 Songs Download (320 kbps high quality)

Venky's Speech

Venkatesh gets lots of invitations than his counter parts to a number of functions whether they are audio releases or opening claps or triple platinum discs or his own movie function or anything else. Do you know the reason behind it. He won't eat up the time by giving long speeches. All that he would say is He is very happy to be present on the occasion and wish the hosts all the best. Thats all. Compare this to the super long speeches given by Chiru or Mohan babu when their turn comes. Lots of time saving na. Want Proof? Check the Ashta Chemma Audio Release function details which he attended recently.

Telugu stars create market for Tamil Stars

It is really interesting to know how our Tollywood stars rejected movies that later became phenomenal and created a market to the Tamil actors in Telugu. Many of us know that Rajnikanth do not have a market at all before Basha released in Telugu. It is Kamal Hassan who got more following than the Tamil super star thanks to the movies he acted in the direction of K Viswanath. The Telugu version of Basha was initially offered to Chiranjeevi who for some reason known to him only rejected it. It turned out to be a good money earner creating a market for Rajnikanth overnight. Mani Ratnam offered the role of Mammutty in the movie Dalapathi to Chiranjeevi initially, who rejected it quoting the larger than life image he has in Telugu and it would not be good if it releases in Telugu. Quoting the same reason Mahesh rejected the one of roles offered to him in Yuva. Mani Ratnam's Gharshana was initially planned to be made with Nagajuna and Venkatesh in Telugu, which did not work out as Nagarjuna backed out at the last moment.

Rehman's unfulfilled dream

Legendary Lyricist Veturi wrote a series on his experiences in the film industry in the magazine Haasam (this magazine published by a subsidiary of Shantha Biotech is now not in production) which was later published as book “Komma Komma ko Sannayi”. This book has a lot of interesting incidents that has happened in his life. One that really interested me is about A R Rehman. A young energetic boy used to meet Veturi in Vijaya Gardens in Chennai and grill him about his work. He told him that he is working for music director Koti. He is already freelancing some jingles for commercials and television programmes and he is confident of providing music for movies in near future. Veturi is very confident that this boy would achieve his wish very soon. And A R Rehman’s cherished dream as informed to him is to provide music to a movie directed by K Viswanath and he used to request Veturi to recommend him to the legendary director. However K Viswanath stopped directing movies when Rehman came into the limelight and Veturi never informed Viswanath about it. And A R Rehman’s dream was never fulfilled.

Reliance with Mani Ratnam

News Reports are coming in that Anil Ambani headed Reliance Entertainment Ltd is planning to produce a movie with Mani Ratnam. To be produced at a staggering amount of 120 crores, it is the highest budgeted movie ever produced in India. A trilingual movie in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, it stars Abhishek Bachan in Hindi and Vikram in Tamil and Telugu. The female lead is going to be Aishwarya Rai in all the three languages. Abhishek Bachan is going to do a cameo in Tamil and Telugu versions while Vikram dons the same in Hindi. Many people opine that Mani Ratnam’s movies are based on Indian epics and innumerable stories present in them. Rumour is that this movie too is based on Ramayana.

Though Mani Ratnam has a good market in Andhra Pradesh, he hardly made an attempt to make a movie in Telugu after Nagarjuna starrer Gitanjali. When Telugu media grills him on the same question, he replies that he is not comfortable working in the language that he does not understand. I really have no clue as to what is the point in allowing dubbing his movies in Telugu when he is actually not comfortable in directing one? He is not interested in learning the language where his movies has a good market but allows his movies to get dubbed and released as he could not afford to leave that market. How comfortable he is in Hindi before he spent his student years in Mumbai where he probably might have learnt the language and started producing movies in Bollywood?

Another complain that is heard a lot is, he never casts actors from Tollywood. Besides Nagarjuna and Chandramohan, we have never seen anyone acting in his direction. This is not true completely. In the special issue of India Today on Chiranjeevi, it was reported that Mani Ratnam initially chose Chiranjeevi for the role of Mammutty. Chiranjeevi felt that it does not suit the larger than life image he has in Telugu and rejected the offer. Mahesh was offered one of the roles in Yuva, which he rejected for the same reason.

Kuselan Experience

My hard core Rajnikanth fan project manager booked tickets for Kuselan Movie at Greater Union Cinemas and ordered us all to report to him at 9:00pm sharp at the theater. With no time left for going home, preparing food and having dinner, we headed straight to the theater grabbing a quick bite of veggie supreme burger at Hungry Jacks. After the attendance is over, we were handed over the tickets. I was expecting huge number of people (girls) to come to the movie, reading about the huge expectations the movie has among the Tamil film fans. However the response from them (at least in Sydney) was very less. Not finding anyone that can make an impact, I went into the movie hall. Our seats are in the second row from the front. And to my bewilderment people were already making preparations for the big bang entry of the super star. While one group are busy tearing pieces of news paper the others were practicing whistling and dancing. After around 15 minutes than the prescribed time with more than three fourths of the theatre filled, the movie is on and along with it the shouts, roars, whistles, etc. Finally the name of the super star appeared on the screen in graphics prepared by his daughter’s company and all the front rows went into a tizzy. May be having never seen such an excitement in the multiplex, one of the supervisors came into the theatre and requested the viewers to go back to their seats. When all this is happening the movie continued.


Though the movie is about the small world of Balu woven around his antique barber shop, his noble wife and kids and never ending poverty Rajnikanth mania dominated all through the movie. After all, had it not been for him the movie would have never been materialized. Ashok Kumar aka Rajnikanth comes to the tiny village of Maraiyur, for a movie shooting. Balu happens to be the childhood friend of the super star. The status of this impoverished barber changes overnight when everyone comes to know about it. The pressure to arrange a meeting with the star, mounts on him day after day. However a timid introvert balu can never do that. Except his noble wife everyone starts speaking badly of him. Finally, the super star himself in a “tears from the eyes speech” speaks about his childhood friend and how he helped him to come up in life. The super star himself visits the house of his childhood friend, hugs him whole heartedly and the movie is over.


The director was unable to handle the story properly. Actually he was unable to know what to do till the star gives a speech in the school. So, he started filling it up with scenes that were not at all necessary including the mandatory Rajnikanth walking, Rajnikanth giving punch to the heroine and the villains (though as part of the shooting), Rajnikanth saying that he is simple human being, etc. There are a couple of scenes making him explain why he goes to the Himalayas. When you think that the movie has finally gathered momentum and you start enjoying it, it is suddenly over. The comedy by vadivelu is yucky. Nayanatara sizzles completely drenched up in a rain song that is absolutely unnecessary. However it adds up to the glamor quotient. Meena is too beautiful to be a wife of impoverished barber. Your heart will miss a beat when you see meena clapping among thousands of people seeing Rajnikanth. After all she is the one along with the super star in Muthu, who set box offices across Asia on fire. She makes us remember one eternal truth about Indian Movies. It is the heroine that age up not the hero. Pasupathy gave an authentic performance in the limited canvas provided. All that is needed in Rajnikanth is to live it up as him and he did it at ease. Prabhu is really funny as a chubby police inspector though his character is intended to be a serious one. There are a number of guest appearances by Mamta Mohandas, Bramhanandam, Tanikella Bharani, Surya in a “blink your eyes, miss them” kind of characters. The song “Cinema Cinema” is good.


Finally, will the movie pull it off or not? It should be, given the coverage it was given in the media and the way it is propagated. Rajnikanth, Sizzling Nayanatara, authentic performances should help overcome the deficiencies.