Parugu- In The Name of Love

Starring: Prakash Raj, Allu Arjun, Sheila, Subbaraju
Director: Bhaskar
Music: Mani Sarma

Some parts of the movie really lived up to its title.. Run! 'Bomarrillu' Bhaskar has proved yet again, that a debutante, who has produced a masterpiece his first time, fails, really badly in re-creating his magic the second time. A concept less- ventured into, could have been a worthwhile watch, with a little more honing of screenplay and narration. And of course, a different leading-lady.

Neelakantha (Prakash Raj) is a respected village elder, whose daughter elopes, on the night of her wedding, with a fellow villager. Neelakantha's men round up the boy's friends, assuming they couldn't have gotten away without their help. One of the friends is Krishna (Arjun), who is indignant about being pushed into a matter he is not involved in. Once, when they nearly escape, Krishna sees a (supposedly) beautiful girl in the morning mist. He stands rooted to the ground, and so, are caught again. All these friends are given a regular dose of beating, and thrown into an old shed. Not knowing that she is the daughter of Neelakantha himself, Krishna dreams away about his lover-girl, and resolves to comb the village and find her at any cost. Now, Subbalakshmi’s sister, the very same girl, comes to request Krishna, to cough up what he knows of the issue. They communicate through a window, but do not see each other's faces. And he gets her into a pact, to help him out in his quest. Ok. Through a series of events, Krishna is found to be the one helping the runaway couple, and also, he finds his Ladye-Love. In the second half, on his information, they travel to Hyderabad in search of Subbalakshmi (Poonam Bajwa, the 1st daughter) and her husband. Krishna also tries every way to change Meena's (Sheila) mind about falling in love and eloping with him, while she does not want her father to experience the same trauma again. How Arjun changes his mind, how prakash raj reacts on learning that they are in love, is what the rest of the movie is about.

Prakash Raj is the real hero and the life-support system of the movie. As the agonised father, he pulses blood through his character, portraying the pain, and frustration of a father, and the other side of eloping, what the families of the kids have to go through. The scene where he is drunk, and opens up to Allu Arjun is the crux of the movie, and is sure to touch hearts. Allu Arjun is likeable upto his introductory song, a cute boy-on-skates, but is just average after that. He looks fresh, has good comic timing, and is pretty watchable. The major setback in the cast is the heroine - Sheila - who sports a lost-in-the-woods expression throughout the length of the movie, which makes u dearly want to smack her on the nose. Subbaraju is as usual his good self, and Jayasudha reminds u a lot about her role in Amma, Nanna O Tamilammayi. And a special mention about the geek, Yogendra Sarma, one of the friends. Overall, performances were upto the mark.

The major flaw in the film is the pace with which it runs. The 1st half, though said to be the better part of the film, is only worth its comedy scenes. The narration is slow, and screenplay is weak. It's all about Arjun hunting for his mystery girl, and his interactions with the heroine. The second half, though talked of as slow and boring, is substantially better in quality, showing traces of Bhaskar's trademark. The conversation between Prakash Raj and Arjun, when he expresses what he is going through, is the highlight of the film. The climax too, is pretty slow, and makes you hope that whatever happens, happens fast. Though Bhaskar maintains a realism and practicality throughout the movie, towards the end, he plunges into the all-too-familiar formula of tollywood. The comedy is perfect in timing, and all the comedians did their job well. The Ali comedy sequence is also good.

The music is average, ' Chal Chal' and 'Yelagelaga' are the best of the lot. The title song is ok, but the picturisation would remind you of Titla in Vikramarkudu. Mani Sarma, definitely, not at his best.

Overall, the movie is worth a watch, if only to realise that eloping is not what we think it is; the agony and frustration invovled, the swirl of emotions, the pride of the father and the insecurities of the daughter. Director Bhaskar is capable of much more than this, we know.

Rating: **1/2

Jalsa

Starring: Pawan Kalyan, Ileana, Kamalinee, Mukesh Rishi, Parvati Melton
Direction: Trivikram Srinivas
Music: Devi Sri Prasad

Jalsa Jalsa everywhere.. on the radio, posters all over the town, trailers, and more than all these combined, Tv9. Morning News, 30 minutes, and all those other shows dedicated only to the release of the flick, interviewing hordes of fans, all gone crazy over the stills of the actor. The hype would have blown your brains out. Tickets sold out for two weeks, and entire theatres booked by fan clubs. Even Chushma, said, " I can't get you tickets ra", before i even opened my mouth. (:D) Hmmm. What's the big deal? Anyways, within a week of release, with my friends jumping up and down with glee, and tickets in hand, i finally set foot in the theatre, wondering what the whole noise (which had died down substantially after the release) was about.

The story: Sanjay Sahu is a happy-go-lucky kid (i think), who drinks like he was born for it, and who acquires degrees, also like he was born for that purpose. His girlfriend, Kamalinee, gets married off to another. Bhagyamati (Ileana) and Parvati Melton ( i can't recollect what she was called) are freshers, who Sanju previously rescues from a bad guy. He rejects Parvati's proposal of love, but is ok towards Bhagi, who tries her best to get his attention (and is pretty successful). You might have thought it would be a sweet little love story. Then, in comes Mukesh Rishi, a brutal regional don, who operates from jail. He throws a fit when he sees Sahu ( Why? - the element of suspense) and so send out some cronies to finish him off. In one of the brawls, Sahu's best friend gets injured, and in a fit of emotion, he tumbles out his flash back, how he had taken to factionism, and how he changed after that. The rest of the story is why they became rivals, how they get even, etc. Oh, and Kamalinee turns out to be Ileana's sister. So, then, how the love birds get together, will they get together, also adds up.

The performances really give the movie a boost- Pawan really toned down in his jumpings-around, carries the element of youth, a college student, wild, and perfect in his comic timing. I never thought i'd say this, but Ileana actually looked gorgeous, a wide-eyed beauty, slipping into her role of a wool-brain, head over heels in love. Her clothes, expressions, lines were perfect, like it was tailor made. One of her best performances. Parvati Melton was ok, not looking as elephantine and drugged as she usually does, and of course, Prakash Raj, no comments about him. The saving grace of the movie is Comedy-king Brahmanandam, who gives u every penny-worth of entertainment, makes your sides split, laughing. If you decide to watch it a 2nd time, it would only be solely for his moments with Pawan. It would even make you forgive Trivikram for this ordeal. Sunil and Dharmavarapu did a good job too.

Jalsa is a perfect example of how some things can go really wrong. Either the director could have modified the story a little more the other way and cast Balakrishna as the hero( no offence, please) or he could have scalped out the factionism part of it, and made it into a love-story entertainer. Why be so confused about it? What did he have in mind? The songs, playing over and over again in radio stations, addictive and foot tapping, were totally wasted, with D-grade picturisation. And with evident grains of 'Athadu' sprinkled all over the movie, people are bound to compare. The over-expectations too, add in to the disappointment. Unnecessary elements like chandeliers and hoardings crashing, etc, could have really made the movie much more economical, if given attention to. Why 'Jalsa'? The movie cold have really made a mark, and lived upto everyone's enthusiasm, if the director had meditated over the plot for a little while more, and got his ideas straight.
Overall, the movie is a good watch, if u can close your eyes to the innumerable flaws it holds. All-in-all, it entertains, and if thats what you have in mind, go for it.

Rating: ***

Jodhaa Akbar

Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Sonu Sood
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Music: A.R. Rahman

Whew! Hrithik's drop dead handsome looks havent sunk in as yet.. so i'll attempt to do justice to the other aspects of the movie too. Far from looking like a fat Turk with an ugly wart on his nose, Hrithik absolutely manages to mesmerise with his green (i think) eyes, bringing out all his emotions - fascination, joy, anger, power, elation, i could go on and on. Ok, now, a little about the movie and back to discussing Hrithik. A movie with an Ashutosh Gowariker trade-mark, not only the length, but the eye for detail, and the streak of patriotism, which he manages to squeeze in even in an epic love story like this. Love story, he should have left it at that, instead of adding a typical climax, with the hero finishing off the bad guy, maybe saving about an hour and a half of history and politics, making it look more like a weekly TV- serial. . That, and the speed of the narrative apart, the movie is a visual treat, with the cinematography, the massive armies clashing, the majestic emperor in all his glory, the delicate, but bold Rajput princess, not to mention the entire royal ambience.
The main storyline is about Akbar, the Mughal emperor, and his wife Jodhaa, who embark on a marriage of alliance between the Rajput kingdom of Amer, and Akbar's. The defiant and self-respecting princess refuses to be a pawn in the political drama, but she has no choice, and accepts what comes to her, as a Hindu bride would do; for she refuses to walk out of the relationship, even when Akbar tells her she is free to do so, saying that the bond of a husband and wife is that of seven lives. And so, an epic romance begins to blossom, culminating finally into true love, which overcomes all obstacles and crosses all hurdles. Their intimate moments are depicted with so much tenderness, which, maybe few other directors can bring out. Intertwined are family and court politics, which blend into the story, but without which, the movie would have run with more subtlety. The plot is downright loose, considering that the length had been reduced by more than half of the original, and so the movie finally ends up looking like a jigsaw puzzle fitted with the wrong pieces. Hrithik and Aish give you the sole reason to sit through the entire length.
From the way he walks, to the way he throws his chin up as the almighty ruler of Hindustan, and then switches to looking like an innocent school boy in love, Hrithik steals the show. The delightful surprise in his eyes, when he learns that his wife has cooked his meal, the elation when she comes back to him, telling him that he has won her heart, and the pure happiness, when his name is the first thing she learns to write in Urdu, the power in his voice, the authority, and his anger upon learning that the princess has set conditions for him, the Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah, are nothing short of wonderful. I knew Hrithik was a good actor, but now, i look at him with renewed respect. Aishwarya too, complementing him beautifully, as Jodhaa, looking splendid, deserves a mention. The rich design and costumes, which show all the hard work of the designers, also lend a hand in carrying off the show. And of course, the maestro, Rahman, living upto high expectations, with each song picturised perfectly, that the overall effect is simply superb.
There's one thing I'd really like to ask Gowariker. Why Jodhaa and Akbar? The actor doesn't look a tad like the Akbar in our textbooks (I don't really know about Jodhaa). Neither was the emperor so flexible, nor did he treat his wife as the Empress of India, nor did he respect her wishes of not changing her religion. Why? To mentally prepare the viewer of the magnanimity of the personas he portrays? When he is very much capable of portraying an emperor and his empress, pretty well, why manipulate history and evoke contoversies?
Apart from the gruelling three-hour-twenty-minute length, and a few unnecessary digressions to the plot, Jodhaa Akbar would have been a cinematic masterpiece, had Gowariker given it a proper plot, with a little more attention. Definitely worth watching. For Hrithik.

Rating: ****

Krishna: The Power of Indrakeeladri

Starring: Ravi Teja, Trisha, Mukul Dev, Sayaji Shinde

Story: Boy Meets Girl. Falls in Love, at first sight. Girl has a big brother. The big brother is okay, but the villain wants to marry her. Boy rescues the damsel from the bad boy and marries her. Oh, yeah. Damage to Scorpios whenever the director wants to add sound and colour to the scene.
See something different? I'll answer that. No. Krishna (Ravi Teja) is a post graduate in computers from Vijayawada, who has conveniently sacrificed his job ( so now he is unrestrained in his wanderings). He falls in love with Sandhya(Trisha) in a temple. So, being the true-lover that he is, he follows her around, all the way to her brother's place in Hyderabad. Her brother, was actually a good guy, but turns into a semi-bad guy because he need to protect his sister from the real bad guys. And so, Krishna, in his following her around, runs into them an takes it on himself to protect her. Thus the chase begins, culminating at the all-too-familiar ending. Interposing, are fights with breakables around (a pity, bangles in this case), Black-Scorpio-convoys for the villain, accidents where the cars do pirouttes in mid air, the hero's ability to survive a hundred blows on his head and still dig his way out when he's buried alive, and still take on a superbly unhurt and healthy bad guy, one-on-one. The first time, maybe ten years back, this style was new, creative and a huge hit. But really, how many times does one have to take this over and over again? What does Vinayak take the public for? The average response its going to get, is purely earned by performances. Every actor does his part, as chalked out for him. Ravi teja as the Angry Lover-boy, Trisha as the delicate little sister-girlfriend, and Mukul Dev as the hearltess philogynist, who's lost his heart to the girl. Comedy-king Brahmanandam steals the show as Bobby, Sandhya's Brother. The other comedians did a good job too. (Where does "The Power of Indrakeeladri" figure?)
Direction is trademark Vinayak style, aimed blatantly at the masses, with nothing much to mention about the script. Having become a fan of Ravi Teja's ever since Rajamouli's Vikramarkudu, I found the movie pretty tolerable, but then i guess, its watchable once. If, there is nothing better to do. Considering the other movies released parallelly, This is the best of the lot.
Rating: **

Okka Magadu: One And Only

Starring: Balakrishna in a double role, Ashutosh Rana, Simran, Nisha Kothari, Anushka
Director: Y.V.S. Chowdary
Music:Mani Sarma

Truly, Balayya is THE ' one and only'. No one born is even worthy of imitating his capers and histrionics. I'm not writing this to criticise Mr. Balayya, (in fact, i'm his fan, so you see i've chosen his movie to inaugurate this blog) but it takes an effort to be positive about the performance. In a nutshell, if you've seen ( and enjoyed, like i did) Palnati Brahmanaidu, Vijendra Varma, Maharadhi, etc. this wouldn't be as frightening, or mind-blocking. I was rather disappointed, having expected a lot out of this, because nobody i knew had dared to watch the movie, or atleast sat through the whole of it. Balayya- starrers give the audience a break from law, logic, reason, and at times, even sanity, and that is the pure reason i'm so much in love with them. Now, about the movie. To write a review, any movie would require a basic storyline. Since it's missing here, i will somehow feebly attempt to write one ( i'll take it as a challenge). Balayya is introduced as a highly respected individual in some remote village, who stays with his grandmother, Baby (Simran). He rushes to the scene when something goes against the law or the likes of it. Parallelly, and old man keeps popping in and slashing the screen with his Chinese sword, and according to himself, appears wherever there is a threat to peoples' lives (out of nowhere). The police manage to videotape him, and since his gymnastics cannot be performed by someone so old, they think it's the young Balakrishna using make-up. So a series of events follows, where both appear at the same place but its actually the grandfather ( that's suspense, you're not supposed to realise till about half the movie) who causes all the action to take place, and the police mistake the younger one to be responsible ( a lot of scenes were deleted by the time i got to watch it so i'll have to again) and set off to arrest him. They realise they're wrong anyway, but on his track, they go to meet the younger one, and in the process learn that he was a great freedom fighter ( Raghupati Raghava Rajaram, nicknamed 'Okka Magadu' by Simran) and that they actually got him wrong. Oh, and there's a tiff with the chief minister because the younger Balayya gets his son married to his girl-friend. He's actually corrupt, so the older one targets him. That took some effort to digest didn't it? Thats only a part of it. To see what happens next, watch the movie. About cinematography, direction, script, i have no comment ( there is actually nothing to comment about) so i'll just skip the part. Songs too, as expected of Balakrishna's movies, but not as expected of Mani Sarma. My favourite concepts deserve a mention:
6. The policeman's finger gets cut off on the Chinese knife.
5. Balayya escapes death and comes out of a trunk thrown into the sea using some Chinese trick to go back to Simran just cos he promised to.
4. His name ( the triple R, and nickname)
3. The 'OM' tshirts, and him leaving an 'om' symbol as his sign- actually for o-okka, m-magadu.
2. How current passes through him and electrocutes the other two he's holding, but he's fine (and ninety years old)
1. The climax scene which i'm sure you must have heard of, but i'm not revealing cos i follow the ethics of review-writing.
A word about the heroines - they could give any prostitute (no offence please) a run for her money any day.
Movies like this aren't made very often, so they shouldn't be missed when they do release. A highly mutilated and ironical version of Shankar's hit flick, Bharateeyudu, but a very feeble attempt at movie making. It's not as bad as the others, but, i repeat it should be watched atleast once. Popular opinion is that it's a movie you gotta make your enemy see, its the best way to take revenge; but i say its a welcome break from rationality, and all of us do deserve it. Movies like these make you appreciate a proper movie when it comes, wholeheartedly.

Rating: Beyond the 5*s