Mahaanati

It’s been ages since I write something about a movie. There are many films released at the box office this year but Mahaanati has its own speciality, This is the biography film of the legendary actress, Ms. Saavithri, I prefer not use, ‘Late’, as she is living in us with her memories. I’m not sure whether I have ample maturity to scrib something about the great actress. After watching the movie I learnt that she is not just a great actress but also an altruistic human being. At last, I believed I must write something about this film in my style.

When the director and producers make an announcement about biography of legendary actress, Zillion questions run on my mind, How this celluloid would be? How would the director manage to cast all the star actors? Can any contemporary actress dare to step into the shoes of the Nadiyagar thilagam?!

To answer my questions, the first look is released, It’s a Jaw dropping moment for me. I could not able to believe my eyes for sometime that as if I see Keerthi Suresh as Mahaanati or some graphical image? Her look perfectly suited to the role then I get a little hope on this biography film. The shooting progress and updates have raised the my curiosity levels too.

Someone needs a lot of courage to make the great actress biography into a celluloid.Kudos to Nag Ashwin for coming forward to introduce Mahaanati to the present generations. The film narration is the evident of director’s hardship.Even though this is his second film, Nag brilliantly executed it with the assistance of Siddhartha sivasmy (Screenplay), and Sai Madhav burra (Dialogues). Dani Sanchez lopez’s camera work is another assest to the film. Mickey J Meyer composed Title track and Sada nannu are the chartbusters. Background score synchronised very well with the frames.

Lookwise, Keerthi Suresh perfectly suited as the great actress but I have my qualms on young actress about stepping into the role of Nadiyagar Thilagam. As I’m watching the film, I don’t see Keerthi in any frame. Her performance gives me goosebumps especially in Aha na Pelli anta song. This performance will take career to the next level. Dulqur Salman played the role of Gemini Ganesan. He pulled it off with ease. Naga Chaitanya’s cameo is another highlight of the film. Samantha, Krish, Sandeep Vanga, Rajendra Prasad, Bhanu Priya, Vijay devarakonda and other roles are good.

Mahaanati is just not a biography film .Her life story is an inspiration and lesson to many people out there.There is no exaggeration in saying that this is one of the best films ever made in Indian cinema.

Yuddham sharanam Review

The latest outing of Naga chaitanya’s Yuddham sharanam, opened in theatres world wide today. A debutant director Krishna marimuthu, directed this film . Lavanya Tripati played the female lead. This film marks the 10th production for Vaarahi creations.

Yuddham sharanam is the tale of a happy go lucky guy, Arjun played by Naga Chaitanya, who leads a happy life with his parents (Rao Ramesh and Revathi), sisters and girlfriend ( Lavanya Tripathi). As things are going well, a trajedy abruptly makes his life worse. In the meantime, A cut-throat criminal Naik (Srikanth), do nefarious activities in the city for his own gains. How the gangster activities effected Arjun? What is the trajedy that hits him? How Arjun would cope with the baddie? are the highlights of the film.

Krishna marimuthu weilded megaphone for the first time for David Nathan written action thriller story. Although it’s his first film, some key scenes are very well executed like an established director, especially the first half which have heart warming bond among family members. Popular writer Abburi Ravi and David Nathan tried to keep the audience intriguing with their non linear screenplay but failed to do it throughout the film. There are few impressive dialogues and go well with the audiences. The story is quite hackneyed. Pelli Choopulu music director Vivek Sagar composed the music for this thriller too. All the songs are mediocre but the back ground score in key scenes is amazing. The best thing about this film, is cinematographer, Nikith bommireddy’s work. His sense of lighting, the way he shot the scenes according to narration, is just brillaint. I felt, 140 minutes length is quite long for this film, should have been trimmed a few minutes.

After a notable hit with Ra randoi veduka choodham, Naga Chaitanya has done this film, His characterisation is somewhat similar to Gautam menon’s Saahasam Swasaga Saagipo but the stages are different. Since the young actor played similar role in SSS, You would have a deja vu. Andhala Rakshasi,  Lavanya Tripati has got a meaty role. She did it well. Rao Ramesh and Revathi lived in their characters. It’s been a long time to watch actor Srikanth in a negative role. His intensity in eyes is palpable. This is one of the good performances in his career but dialogues written for him are not upto the mark. Murali sharma and other cast members have done their job very well.

Over-all, Yuddham sharanam has a cliched revenge story blended with intriguing screenplay. It may even perplex some audiences. Heart warming bond among family members in the first half. Antagonist enthralled the viewers in the latter half with his mind game. you could once watch this action thriller to beguile your time. 

Fidaa Review

After a commercial misfire with Mister, Mega prince Varun tej has teamed up with a famous director, Sekhar kammula for Fidaa. It is the tale of two love birds, who have parallely live in two different worlds. The guy name is Varun, who is a medico in US. The girl, Bhanumanthi is from a small town, Bhansuwada, India. Varun lives with his elder and little brother. One day he advised his brother to get married.

While searching for a girl, they stumble upon a village belle on a matrimonial site and decided to meet the girl. After landing in India, Varun elder brother liked the girl but wants to take the opinion of varun. Here, our protagonist finds his soul mate, who is the younger sister of bride. Bhanumanthi has her own qualms about the bridegroom. Initially, they teases each other.  Atlast, realise their feelings for each other but never express. 

In the mean time, Varun’s cousin meddle in between them. Bhanumanthi​ misunderstand Varun’s character in an incident. She abruptly start to avoid Varun. After wedding rituals, Varun and his family go to US. He has no clue what happened with Bhanumanthi. He proposed her on WhatsApp. What happened next is the rest of the story.

It’s​ been a long time since Sekhar kammula made a film. This time he has come up with a fresh love story which has too many emotions and subtle messages to the society. His screen writing grabbed the eye balls of  audiences. The way he infuse telangana accent in his characters is flawless. Jeevan babu scored background​ music and Shakti kathik composed tunes elevated the film to next level. Vijay Prakash’s camera work is brilliant. perhaps, Producer  Dil Raju is on film making marathon. This one might be a fourth film for producer this year. Production values are too good.Editor should have been chopped off a few in pre climax.

Varun Tej has choosen a good script and he  justified it with his acting prowess. The actor is in progress to continue the legacy of his family name. Unlike regular telugu film, Fidaa has too much importance for actress, Premam girl, Sai Pallavi nailed it with her talent. She won the hearts of audiences. Harshavardhan Rane played a cameo and did it well. The other cast members have done their jobs very well.

This film brings relief to the duo, Varun and sekhar kammula. Fidaaa feel good entertainer. I recommend you must watch this film.

Reviewed by Shrinu Nakka.

Ninnu Kori Review

Ninnu Kori is the latest outing of natural star Nani, who is on consecutive seven hits at telugu cinema box office. This romantic comedy is penned by a popular writer Kona Venkat who also co-produced the film along with famous producer DVV Danayya. Adi pinnisetty played a vital role in the film and Nani’s Gentleman actress Nivetha Thomas played the female lead.

Like all great romantic comedy films, This one also has novelistic narration. It is the tale of a PhD student, Uma Maheshwar played by Nani, who falls in love with a dance aspiring girl, Pallavi (Nivetha Thomas). The boy eke out his education at university hostel with scholarship and no big income. The girl’s father owns a super market and a practical man too. 

Uma maheshwar Rao has managed to become a tenant of Pallavi’s house during his campus holidays.All went well with the love birds until Pallavi’s father decided to perform her marriage with a well settled man. In the meantime, Pallavi try to persuade uma for elopement but the boy decline it owing to her father idealogy. Uma promises pallavi that he will seek her father’s consent for marriage after being settled.

Uma goes to new delhi to complete his PhD inspite of spat between lovers. In no time, Pallavi’s marriage is fixed with an NRI, Arun (Adi Pinnisetty). As Pallavi calls uma to inform about her marriage he is about to have a better career and the girl does not divulge. Atlast, Pallavi get married to Arun. you should watch what happened next on the big screen.

Directed by a debut director, Shiva Nirvana has a good creativity. The way he extracted the performances from his actors, is absolutely good. Screen writer kona Venkat narration is the soul of the film, It has the blend of balanced emotions too. Cinematographer, Karthik Ghattameni shot beautiful visuals which are more elevated by soothful music composed by Gopi sunder. Editing is too good.

Nani has been scaling the new heights with the consecutive hits. He hits the Bulls eye with his natural performance. Nivetha Thomas is the new find of telugu cinema. She is just impeccably portrayed all emotions. Adi pinnisetty played the vital role and did a great job. Murali sharma, Prudhvi and other cast members have supported well.

Love is just part of time. There are more things in life. Let’s celebrate with each memory is the theme of the movie.  You can happily watch this film with your loved ones on this weekend. 

Cheliya Movie Review

After a hiatus of two years, Veteran director,Maniratnam is back to box office with another romantic entertainer, Cheliya. Popular producer, Dil Raju who aquired the rights of director’s previous film, Ok Bangaram, even produced this film in Telugu. This film also marks the  actor karthi’s first collaboration with the director. Aditi Rao Huawei played the female lead. Mozhart of madras, Ar Rahman composed the music.

The film sets in the time of Kargil war 1999. An air force  officer, Varun (Karthi) AKA VC, captured by pakistan army in an attack. Then, Varun narrates his love story to the viewers. One day he meet with an accident. A doctor, Leela ( Aditi Rao) rescued him. Eventually, Both Air officer and doctor falls for each other.Varun wants to introduce Leela to his parents on his brother wedding.The family feud leads to their break up. On the other hand, Varun makes prison break while memorizing his love story. Now the air officer wants to apologise his girlfriend. What happened next is the rest of the story.

As the film is progressing on the screen, there is one question on my mind.How is it possible for this veteran film maker to make this kind of contemporary love stories.The story written by director is a wafer thin but the execution is outstanding. The way Maniratnam manipulated his characters is a treat to watch. Another best thing about this romantic entertainer is DOP. S Ravi varman shot picturesque frames are treat to eyes. Rahman composed songs and Background​ music is soothful. Editor Sreekar Prasad should have been chopped off few frames in the second half. Production values by madras talkies are good.

For the first time, Karthi worked with Mani Ratnam. He nailed the role of shortair force officer.His chemistry with the female lead, Aditi Rao hyadri is superb. RJ Balaji tickled the funny bone intermittently. Rest of the cast have done their parts well.

The first half has engaging love story when it comes to the latter is all about the spat between love birds and struggle of reconciliation. This romantic entertainer screen writing might be a tedious to some section of audiences. All over, Mani Ratnam fans would treat this romantic entertainer as another feather in his cap. 

Reviewed by Shrinu Nakka.

Katamarayudu Movie review.

One of the most awaited films of this year, Katamarayudu opened in theatres across all over  the world today.After a commercial misfire with Sardaar Gabbar singh, Pawan kalyan has teamed up with Gopala Gopala director Kishore pardasani AKA Dolly.Sardaar Gabbar singh producer sharath marrar shelled out his money on this commercial potboiler too. Shruthi hassan  played the female lead. This film is touted as Tamil super hit film, Ajith starrer Veeram remake. Akula shiva made some changes in the story for telugu audiences.

Katamarayudu is the story  of a powerful man in a village, Thaalapaka, Rayalaseema. Whatever he say it is like a decree to the people of that region. He lives with his four brothers played by Ajay, Krishna chaitanya, Kamaraju and Shiva balaji. They are his strength and weakness. Linga (Ali) is personal legal adviser and friend to Katamarayudu. One day a business (Pradeep singh rawat) approached rayudu for his support in an illegal business but rayudu declines it in his style. Meanwhile, Owing to things happened in his child hood, He turns out misogynist.

In the meantime, His brother falls in love with sweethearts, They don’t have courage to tell their love matter to their elder brother. Rayudu comes across a classical dancer, Avanthi (Shruthi hassan), Who is a peace lover. Rayudu brothers tried to set up the damsel with their brother and they succeed. Rayudu falls in  love with avantika so does the dancer. Avantika wants to introduce rayudu to her father who is pacifist in her village.In the meantime, A gang attacks rayudu infront of avanthi. What happened next is rest of the story.

It is like a deja vu feel to the telugu cinephiles as they watch katamarayudu on the big screen, The story is quite banal and screenplay  is cliched. Dolly exploited the stardom of the protagonist in introduction and key scenes very well but he failed to show the antagonist in the same manner. Prasad murrella shot frames are extremely good. Music  composed by Anup rubens is not up to the standards of pawan kalyan film.  Gautham raju should have scissored a few scenes in the second half.   Production values are good.

It is a one man show through out the film, Pawan kalyan screen presence is one of the positive points to this film. His mannerism  in folk song and chemistry with the female lead is a treat to watch. Shruthi hassan has got a meaty role, She did her part well.  Antagonist Tarun arrora is shown in a poor light. Rao Ramesh, Pradeep singh rawat did not do much in the film.  Versatile actor Nassar made his mark in a pivotal role.

On the whole, Katamarayudu is a treat to pawan kalyan fans who have been waiting to see their idol on the big screen. First half has a great entertainment but it doesn’t last in the latter half. However, You can watch this film for heartful laughs.

Reviewed by Shrinu Nakka.

Ghazi Movie Review

 

It’s been a great year for telugu film industry, Most of the films are fared well at the box office. The new outing of Rana Daggubati is a bilingual film (Hindi and Telugu) opened in theaters across the world. Ghazi is all about the under water war between india and pakistan  in 1971. Kay Kay Menon played an important role in the film along with Atul Kulkarni and Tapsee Pannu. New director Sankalp reddy directed this rare genre film in telugu cinema. This is also the first under water war film in indian cinema too.

Ghazi Opens with the voice over of Mega star Chiranjeevi narrating about the wars between India and Pakistan. In karachi, Pakistan Navy officials hatch a plan to destroy the India’s most disastrous weapon INS Vikrant. On an alert from Indian intelligence, The Navy officials deploy Captain Ran vijay singh (Kay kay menon) and Lieutenant commander, Arjun (Rana Dabbgubati) to keep an eye on pakistan nefarious activites under water and at the same time, command them to not to attack before opponent does.  They named the mission as sea sighting.

Ran Vijay singh is a very intelligent officer but he also turns hot headed  when oppponent rattles his cage. With his stubborn behaviour he was earlier suspended for two years. Meanwhile, Arjun is a disciplined officer, who oblige every rule. With the submarine, They search for opponent whereabouts under water but couldn’t able to find no clue. In the mean time, They comes across pakistan submarine called Ghazi. What happened next is the rest of the story.

Someone need a lot of courage to make this kind of film for his debut. Sankalp reddy  hits the bull eye with his debut project. He splendidly bring out the proper emotions from his characters. Most of the citizens are not aware of this battle but The writers Gunnam Gangaraju and Niranjan reddy made a brilliant effort to promulgate the unknown history to the audiences. Gunnam written dialogues especially the patriotic dialogues in the second half are too good. The best part of the film is its visuals, Madhie  who worked earlier for Srimanthudu, Jil and other films, did a fabulous job. Visuals are nothing short of a hollywood film. Musician K has composed background score gives  goosebumps to the viewers. Production values by PVP are too good.

While working with Baahubali 2 team, Rana Daggubati has done this film too, The young hulk did a fabulous job in emotional scenes. Kay Kay Menon played  an important role and stolen the hearts of viewers with impeccable acting skills. Atul Kulkarni also played a pivotal role. Tapsee did a cameo appearance. The other cast members have done their part  very well.

In the first half, Director takes time to introduce his characters and set the stage but the second half has too much intensity moments, Dialogues, firing, national anthems and outstanding performance of the protagonist. The whole cast and crew made an incredible effort and it palatable with the output. I would go with four out of five stars for this first under water war film in indian cinema.

Reviewed by Shrinu Nakka.

 

 

Singam 3 Movie Review

After a much delay in release, The third installment from singham franchise is opened in theatres today. Suriya , Anushka and Shruthi Hassan played the lead roles. Hari directed all the films. New man in the team, Harris Jairaj composed the music. The prequels had fared well.Lets see how this third part will do at the box office.

The singham kicks off with a clamour of karnataka legislativies for the solution of crimes in the state. The home minister suggested the CM to take help of neighboring state police officer, Narsimham (Suriya). In last two installments, The angry young cop solves the criminal cases in his state but this time, He posted to Karnataka as CBI agent to solve the murder case of a former commissioner who was assigned to unravel the mysteries behind crimes in the state. 

               In no time, He ascertain that MSN Reddy (Saxena) is a powerful man in the area, who is also henchman of central minister (Suman). Inorder to find out the murderer of commissioner, Narsimham initially act as favouring MSN Reddy.Meanwhile, In the progress of  investigation, Suriya comes to know that Reddy is manipulated someone from Australia. Who is that man? What is the mystery behind killing a commissioner? And How the protagonist solves this case are main parts of the story.

This time, Hari has done commendable Job in script work. From the opening title till the penultimate frame, The narrative is too detailed and the effort is palatable.Like other two previous installments, Even this one has too many high octane action sequences that keep audiences on action mode. Cameraman Priyan’s work is good. Harris Jairaj composed music is not up to the mark of singham franchise.The length is too long, could have scissored a few scenes. Production values are good.

It’s a cake walk role for Suriya as he has already portrayed the same role in previous installments too.Anushka Shetty associated with the franchise from first part, she has a minimal role. New lady in the franchise, Shruti Hassan also has a small role. Female leads have nothing much to do. Anoop Thakur did a fabulous job as the antagonist.Soori comic timing is okay. Suman, Sharath Kumar, Radhika Sarath Kumar, Jay Prakash and Saxena have done their roles well.

Singham 3 would definitely embrace by the action movie lovers. Even after much delay in release, This third part also lived up to the franchise name. I will go with the three stars out of five to this latest commercial potboiler.

Reviewed by Shrinu Nakka.

Raja The Great Launch Photos

Raja The Great First Look

Ravi Teja’s new film Raja the great is out. There was no release of this mass maharaj film in last year. Now this energetic actor is simultaneously doing two films (other one is Touch chesi choodu). Raja the great will be directed by Supreme director Anil Ravipudi. Produced by Dil Raju. According to sources, Ravi Teja is going to play a blind man in this film. Krishna gaadi Veera Prema Gaadha Actresses Mehreen Pirzada will play the female lead role. Stay connected for more details.