'Mr Perfect' Review: Perfect With Slight Imperfection

Rating: 3/5Banner: Sri Venkateshwara Creations
Cast: Prabhas, Kajal, Taapsee, K Vishwanath, Prakashraj, Sayaji Shinde, Nasser, Murali Mohan, Brahmanandam, Raghu Babu, Master Bharat etc
Music: Devisri Prasad
Cinematography: Vijay K Chakravarthy
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Director: Dasaradh
Producer: Dil Raju
Release date: 22/04/2011

Prabhas is back and after almost a year. He paired up with Kajal and it is also a crucial big budget venture for producer Dil Raju. Let us see how perfect this gets..

Story
Vicky (Prabhas) who lives in Australia grows with a rule that he would never compromise for anything he doesn’t like. Given his practical thinking, he wants everything to be perfect, even in relationships. The marriage of his sister gets him to India and here he meets Priya, daughter of his father’s friend (Murali Mohan). As such, Vicky’s father (Nasser) wants him to get married to Priya.

Initially, both Vicky and Priya feel repulsive but in no time, Priya starts falling in love. She begins to change herself to suit Vicky’s life and thoughts. However, when the moment comes, Vicky gives his practical outlook and returns to Australia.

Here, he meets Maggi (Taapsee) through a competition and feels she is the perfect one. How perfect is Maggi for Vicky? How true is Priya’s love for Vicky? How correct is Vicky in his thoughts? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performances
Prabhas has given a decent performance. He scores in his outfits and timing of dialogues but he should have reduced the mannerism of keeping his hand in pant pocket in almost all scenes, might look like fashion and style but felt like an overdose.

Kajal Agarwal is expressively beautiful and is drop dead gorgeous in sarees. She is a visual treat to the audience and steals few more hearts with her endearing smiles. Performance wise, she was apt.

Taapsee looks hot and fits the bill rightly given her character. The dubbing suited her expressions and she fills the glamour quotient.

K Vishwanath was elegant, Prakashraj was matured, Sayaji Shinde was noisy, Nasser was natural, Brahmi tried to bring few smiles, Raghu Babu was jarring, Master Bharat was regular. The ladies did their bit to support.

Highlights

• Prabhas- Kajal screen chemistry
• Locations and cinematography
• Costumes
• Theme of the film
• Screenplay

Drawbacks

• Second half
• Weak emotional scenes
• Overdose of moral preaching

Analysis:
The film comes across as a clean, family entertainer and the intention of the makers must be appreciated. Their attempt to reiterate the values of love, life, relationships in today’s world is acknowledged. However, dealing with such human subjects requires humane feel and a deft handling of the script, that was missing here.

As such, the protagonist goes with the flow of destiny but there is nothing significant he does to perfect the situations. He is more on the receiving end most of the time. On the other hand, the idea of a girl willing to adapt herself like that was rather unconvincing (of course, finding a girl like that in today’s times is jackpot fortune).

First half comprises with good humor and flow of drama. And second half also continues in similar fashion recalling the blend of Santhosham and Bommarillu but with weak handling of emotions. Required emotion is not carried in the fag end of the film and hence it appeared weak.

The film deals with the understanding of relations between younger generation and the older ones. The plus point in the film is that all the songs are good with pleasing music and sensible lyrics. But all are situational songs and no duets are seen in this genre of film, surprisingly.

Having said that, the film appeals largely due to the conviction in the belief of love, sharing and how few things in life cannot be got merely by rational thinking. At the box office, this is a treat for the family audience and given the craze for Prabhas and Kajal, the openings will be strong. Overall, this would be anywhere between an average and profit grosser.

Bottomline: For family audience

'Dum Maro Dum' Review: Drugs, Desires & Death…

Rating: 3/5
Banners: Ramesh Sippy Entertainment, Fox Star Studios
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Pancholi, Bipasha Basu, Rana Daggubati
Music: Pritam Chakraborty
Cinematography: Amit Roy
Director: Rohan Sippy
Producer: Ramesh Sippy
Release Date: April 22, 2011

While Abhishek Bachchan is taking his litmus test owing to his string of flops, it is also the debut of our Daggubati Rana in Bollywood. Let us see how much ‘Dum’ the film has got

Story:
Set on the backdrop of Goa, the story is about how drugs have taken over the paradise city and the increased presence of drug mafia.

Here comes ACP Vishnu Kamath (Abhishek) who decides to clean up the place. On the other hand, there is the social celebrity Lorsa Biscuita (Aditya Pancholi) who in the garb of social service runs a big drug cartel.

Caught in between the clash of Vishnu and Biscuit is DJ Joki (Rana) whose girlfriend Zoe (Bipasha) now stays with Biscuit, Lorie (Prateik) who aspires to go abroad and study but gets caught taking drugs. The search is on for one Michael Barbossa, the kingpin of this drug ring. Who is Michael Barbossa? What happens to everyone’s life forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
Abhishek Bachchan has come up with a strict performance and though there are those blank expressions, he makes his presence felt.

Daggubati Rana can be called the hero of the film. His screen time is longer than Abhishek, he has a significant role in the entire story and he gets to have the hot Bipasha. Performance wise, his stiff expressions still carry. He is yet to get that versatility of expressions on his face. Otherwise, his screen presence is good. He is worth getting another chance on Bollywood screen. 

Bipasha Basu is seductive as usual and she does her bit as required.

Aditya Pancholi was handsome as usual and though his presence as the baddie doesn’t give that impact, he has given a sincere performance.

Prateik Babbar was apt, Govind Namdeo was great, Gantois Gomes was neat, Anaitha Nair was sweet. Deepika Padukone’s item song was not up to the hype. Vidya Balan’s cameo was brief but graceful.

Highlights:

• Cinematography
• Dialogues
• First half
• Scene compositions

Drawbacks:

• Dragged second half
• Deepika’s item song was dull
• No impacting scenes
• No character has significance

Analysis:
The basic plot of the film reminds us of the exceptional thriller ‘Usual Suspects’. However, the makers were clever in switching the characters here and there, changing the script with additional characters.

On the good side, the film was stylish, glossy and attempts to give some reality bites of Goa. On the flip side, the film passes off without any gripping moments or sequences that can strike a chord with the hearts of the audience.

Editing was much needed during the second half and if the film was trimmed there, it would have created good impact. But still, the attempt was novel, the essence was appreciable, the presentation was effective. At the box office, this will appeal to the multiplex audience so if word of mouth publicity goes strong, it can reach profit zone.

Bottomline: Watchable but will not give you the ‘High’!!!

'Teenmaar' Review: It's Good

Rating: 3.25/5 Banner: Parameswara Arts
Cast: Pawan, Trisha, Kriti Kharbanda, Paresh Rawal, Sonu Sood, Tanikella, Koyalagundla Harish and others
Music: Mani Sharma
Cinematographer: Vincent
Dialogues, screenplay: Trivikram Srinivas
Direction: Jayanth C Paranje
Producer: Ganesh Babu
Release date: 14/04/2011

Pawan Kalyan is back after his debacle ‘Komaram Puli’ and he has teamed up with his favorite Trivikram Srinivas (with dialogues and screenplay) who is also recovering from his debacle ‘Khaleja’. That helped director Jayante Pranje a lot. Let us see how they have fared in this.

Story:
Set on the backdrop of South Africa, Michael Velayudham (Pawan) is a happy go lucky man who doesn’t believe in love and lifelong commitments. He meets Meera Shastri (Trisha) and both of them hit off and get intimate without any strings attached.

The story takes a turn when Meera decides to go to India to pursue her career of art restoration and they decide to break up. It is here that Michael meets Senapathi (Paresh Rawal) who notices Michael’s affair and recalls the love story of his friend Arjun Palwai (Pawan again) which happens thirty years ago in Varanasi. The girl in his life is Vasumathi (Kriti).

While Michael defies Senapathi’s views on life and love with logic and practical thinking, he begins to feel the emptiness from inside. Meanwhile, Meera’s marriage is fixed with someone else.

What happens after that? Does Michael realize true love? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
Pawan Kalyan has given an energetic performance and he scores the brownie points with his timing of dialogues. He looks stylish in the modern role but should have been careful in choice of costumes in flashback episode.

Trisha looks good after putting on some extra pounds of flesh. She is cute as usual and fills the glamour and emotional quotient wherever required.

Kriti Kharbanda looks like a doll but then she should have been more versatile with her expressions. The innocence is there in her eyes but it is not done with conviction. Overall, she did a decent job.

Paresh Rawal was brief, Sonu Sood looks elegant, Donna looks sizzling hot, Ali brought few smiles, Koyalagundla Harish and Arundhati Aravind made their presence felt. Tanikella, MS Narayana, Kasi Viswanath, Mukesh Rishi, Pragathi filled the screen at necessary scenes.

Highlights:

• Pawan Kalyan’s performance
• Pawan- Trisha liplock sequences
• Songs, background score
• Trisha’s glamour
• Locations
• Cinematography and emotional sequences
• Second half, especially the last 30 minutes

Drawbacks:

• Ali, Pawan, Trisha’s drunk sequence at hotel was dragged
• Flashback episode missed natural appeal
• Mismatch of costumes for Pawan in flashback episode
• Comedy

Analysis:
After a long time, Pawan Kalyan was seen in full spirits and seemed to enjoy his role and characterization.

The film comes across with an ideology clash between the current generation and the generation that has gone by when it comes to essence of relationships. While the intention is noble, this may not be a recipe for the mass or commercial audience (B, C centers).

As such, this is a movie which appeals the class and urban (A center) audience. Also, with good technical and production values coupled with few nice songs, the film has a feel good factor and turns out to be a smooth breezy entertainer. Pawan Kalyan fans might get reminded of his ‘Khushi’ days. The film will connect well with those who haven’t watched the original in Hindi (Love Aaj Kal).

Overall, this comes across as a cool treat in the summer heat packed with the right dose of comedy, sentiment, romance and above all, dialogues. At the box office, this has strong chances of scoring success.

Pawan Kalyan has broken the rule this time and performed something out of the box (esp with lip locks). Trisha looked hottest in best way possible with ample thigh shows and deeper necks. She came out with full dose glamour.

The first half suffers little ups and downs while last 30 minutes stood as highlight with gripping. 

Bottomline: Fun filled and sensitive, watch it!!

'Gangaputrulu' Review: Raw And Truthful

Rating: N/A
Banners: K B R Productions, Sravya Films
Cast: Subbaraju, Gayatri, Ramky, Tanmayi, L B Sriram and others
Music: Praveen Immadi
Cinematography: Sabu James
Editor: Guha
Director: P. Sunil Kumar Reddy
Producers: Kishore Basireddy, Yekkali Ravindra Babu
Release date: 25/03/2011

The award winning director Sunil Kumar Reddy has come up with yet another hard hitting theme and this time, he chose a rather concerning life of fishermen. Let us see how it is

Story
Set on the backdrop of the sea coast, the story is about the lives of the fishermen. In that lives Bosanna (Ramky) and his friends Burugu and Satti. Despite their best efforts, their catch of fish is quite low.

A girl from the same community Nookalu (Tanmayi) is in love with Bosanna but he never pays attention to her. On the other hand, a noted industrialist Ajay Dheeraj (Subbaraju) casts his eye on the shore and wants to set up a fishing company. He uses his clout and begins to make his moves by hook or crook.

Then there is the enthusiastic news reader/journalist Swapna (Gayathri) who is keen on bringing a change to the society but has a taste of reality through a coverage of the fishermen’s lives. She also decides to expose the dark side of Ajay’s moves.

What happens to all their lives and ambitions forms the rest of the story.

Performances
Ramky is alright and though he doesn’t fit well as a fisherman due to his dressing and body language, he tries to do his best.

Tanmayi looks natural and given her rustic looks, she fits the bill. She is not much of a looker (due to over skin tan) but has shown good confidence and ease in front of the camera.

Subbaraju looks handsome and does his bit as required. However, he must stop imitating the mannerisms of Mahesh Babu. He has enough potential within himself to be displayed.

Gayathri Rao looks sweet and she carries her role with aplomb.

Ravu Ramesh was intense and he is exceptional when it comes to serious roles, LB Sriram was brief but gives a riveting act, Gundu Sudarshan brought few smiles. The characters of Burugu, Satti tried to fill the gaps. The others were quite realistic and gave good support to the lead cast.

Highlights

• Theme of the film
• CG work
• Ravu Ramesh’s dialogue on media and people
• Dialogues
• Lyrics
• Realistic approach in many scenes

Drawbacks

• Select audience genre
• Overdose of negativity
• Purity of Language, not all audience can follow

Analysis
Firstly, the makers must be commended for coming up with such a glaring issue and bringing it as close to reality as possible. At the same time, they must realize that this is a film which has to be made for satisfaction and creating the awareness but cannot expect this to fill their bank accounts.

Director Sunil Kumar has shown that there is an artistic soul in him and the scenes where he captures the sensuousness of the leading lady along with the flavor of eroticism is quite evident. He must be appreciated for his lyrical fervor and romanticism in thought.

There was good balance between realistic portrayal and appealing glamour. Overall, the film is meant for art-house audience, film festivals and special screenings but not for Aam Janata.

Bottomline: Good attempt for a cause, cannot be for cash

'Chattam' Review: Jagapathi Babu Kills Kasab!!

Rating: 2/5Banner: Visakha Talkies
Cast: Jagapathi Babu, Vimala Raman, Murali Sharma and others
Music: P M M Srilekha
Cinematography: Jaswant
Editing: Gautham Raju
Story, screenplay, direction: P A Arun Prasad
Producers: Natti Kumar, T Rama Satyanarayana
Release date: 25/03/2011

Noted actor Jagapathi Babu is back and this time he is donning the role of a cop. He is flanked by his regular favorite Vimala Raman so let us see how the movie is.

Story:Gowri Shankar (Jagapathi Babu) is a police inspector and he believes in doing settlements, taking commissions for his work and is corrupted. He is assisted by his constable Ranga Rao (Jeeva).

A case of acid attack on college students and the kidnapping of a girl and her killing brings some tension but things get complicated as the criminals in both cases are also killed. In comes CB-CID officer (Murali Sharma) to investigate the deaths and he is assisted by Gowri.

His investigations lead him to discover that Gowri is the killer. Why does Gowri kill them?

Why he decides to kill even the dreaded terrorist Hasab (Amit Dhawan)? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performances:Jagapathi Babu does his bit as required and it is a cakewalk for him. As such, there is nothing impact creating from him and he goes about doing his job mechanically.

Vimala Raman is there to add the glamour for the songs and indulge in some skin show. Though she doesn’t have that sort of body or curves to flaunt her sex appeal is quite natural.

Murali Sharma is a natural performer. He is a strong talent who deserves more chances. He does his bit effectively and has a strong screen presence.

Asha Saini looks sizzling and seductive, she has that oomph which can raise the heat. Jeeva was usual. Amit Dhawan was eccentric. Ravu Ramesh was consistent. The others didn’t have much to do.

Highlights

• Last ten minutes
• Murali Sharma’s performance

Drawbacks

• Weak direction
• Predictable storyline
• Low technical values
• No grip in any scene
• No comedy
• Dull romance

Analysis
To start with, director PA Arun Prasad must be appreciated for involving the terrorist Ajmal Kasab in his film and the fact that our hero goes and kills him. Apart from that, the rest of the film has taken the lead from the acid attack cases on Praneetha (whose killers were encountered by police as wished in this film) and the boiler killing of the little girl Vyshnavi in Vijayawada.

Just like a director has his strokes in a film, PA Arun Kumar shows his strokes by creating some raunchy scenes and inferior comedy. Overall, the film’s attempt to convey a strong message is appreciable but the logic and the way the message was conveyed was not practical.

It is true that looking at the present day functioning of law and order, citizens tend to incline towards tribal law that states ‘an eye for an eye’ and a ‘life for a life’. But the consequences of that are to be studied. That is a very big debatable issue indeed.

At the box office, there is nothing that the film has to hold the audience so the chance of below average result is high.

Bottom-line: Watch it for last ten minutes!!

'Aha Na Pellanta' Review: Comedy Entertainer

Rating: 3.25/5Banner: A K Entertainments
Cast: Allari Naresh, Ritu Barmecha, Srihari, Subbaraju, Anita, Nagineedu, Brahmi, M S Narayana etc
Lyrics: Bhaskarabhatla, Ramajogayya, Sirasri, Bhuvana Chandra
Music: Raghu Kunche
Story, screenplay, direction: Veerabhadram
Producer: Sunkara Ramabrahmam
Release date: 02/03/2011


Allari Naresh has arrived once again with yet another entertaining treat but this time it got bigger with the presence of Srihari, let us see how good it is


Story: Subramaniam aka Subbu (Naresh) is an honest, intelligent, kind and hardworking IT professional. However, one night at a party organized by his boss Balaraju (Brahmi) changes his life.

Next morning, Subbu finds himself in bed with Sanjana (Ritu) and feels that both got intimate in the night. Trouble begins as Sanjana has got three brothers (Srihari, Subbaraju, Samrat) who are powerful and feared a lot, their father J J (Nagineedu) is another kingpin.

Despite all his pleas and requests, Subbu is compelled to get engaged to Sanjana. Did something happen between Subbu and Sanjana that night? Why did Sanjana’s brothers target Subbu? All this forms the rest of the story.


Performances: Allari Naresh has come up with a matured performance and played up to his role very well. His trademark dialogue timing and soft humor tickles the audiences from time to time. He shouldered the movie till the last to entertain the masses in his own way.

Ritu Barmecha looks cute and her innocent sex appeal makes her attractive. She has to work on her expressions a bit and get that lip sync right if she wants a career in Tollywood. 

Srihari shines with his typical Telangana accent and his adjectives and one-liners deliver that punch which will entertain the masses.

Brahmanandam deserves a special mention as his track with Srihari is hilarious. Despite seeing him in eight out of ten movies, he doesn’t bore and has a good sense of comedy timing.

Subbaraju was handsome as usual and was effective, he must be given more opportunities and lengthy roles. Samrat was good looking and showed confidence. Nagineedu was natural and elegant, Ahuti Prasad was brief, Vennela Kishore brought few extra smiles, Anita looks hot and sexy, M S Narayana was regular, Hamsa Nandini was there to fill the screen but no dialogues. The others added to the comedy in their own way.


Highlights

• Three songs, especially the remix ‘Chinukula raali…’
• Glamour quotient of Ritu, Anita
• Direction
• Comedy track of Srihari- Brahmi

Drawbacks

• Few scenes were rehashed from other films
• Hiccups in editing
• Lengthy ending

Analysis
The true mark of a director is known in the way he handles the narrative despite having a story which may not be that appealing. Here, the director has shown his mettle though it is his debut attempt. Agreed he has picked up quite a share from different films like 'Dhee', 'Welcome' and other Bollywood flicks, he has sensibly mixed them with Telugu nativity and covered it up.

There is no link with Jandhyala’s ‘Ahana Pellenta’ as told by its makers. This new ‘Aha Na Pellanta’ is the film that entertains the masses with punch dialogues by Srihari in Telangana slang and Allari Naresh’s humor.

Coming up with a breezy screenplay and delivering doses of humor at the right points, the film becomes a smoothie.

However, this is a film that is targeted for the B, C center audience and those who seek pure time pass without much logic or sensibility.


Bottom-line: Go and enjoy with mass outlook!!

Courtesy: Greatandhra