Telugu Movies

Film: Don
Rating: 2.5/5
Cast: Nagarjuna, Anushka, Nikitha, Lawrence, Kelly Dorjee, Chalapathi Rao, Jeeva etc
Dialogues: Abburi Ravi
Fights: Vijay
Art: Ashok
Editor: Marthand K Venkatesh
Camera: S Golapala Reddy
Producer: ML Kumar Choudary
Story, Screenplay, Choreography, Music, Direction: Lawrence
Released On: 20th Dec 2007

It’s film that proved to be toy in the hands of Lawrence. He used the opportunity to do everything he wanted to do. Yes, from direction to choreography to music to action to story!!! It sounds ludicrous to see how Nagarjuna agreed for this subject. It’s a wrong choice for him.

Story:
Suri (Nagarjuna) is a Hyderabadi based Don but does only good for society. Raghava (Lawrence) is an orphan who lives with Suri since childhood as his younger brother. A Mumbai based don Stephen eyes on Hyderabad and wants to capture. But Suri interrupts him. Then the Mumbai don wishes to put an end to Suri. The power stunt starts. Finally as expected, after a series of kidnaps and abductions the film comes to climax. Obviously, good wins over evil. There is nothing big to say than this. It’s all the screenplay, camera work and sound effect that are required to make this plot as a film. Screenplay is average, camera work is good and sound effects are again average.

Performances:
Dialogues by Abburi Ravi are not so interesting. They are quite ordinary and nothing worth to say about. Comedy is missing in the film but the audiences have to adjust only with the situational humor by Lawrence (in fact that hardly brings laughs). Lawrence appears to be very comfortable with sentimental tracks. He proved that he is poor in dealing a mafia oriented subject. He is poor with comedy too.

Nagarjuna proved to be a wrong choice for this subject. The film is lacking in conviction completely. The bearing of Nagarjuna as Don with gelled back hair style is not impressive. The only relief for audience in this flick is Anushka. She has shown her oomph factor and also acted in a lip locking scene with Nag. Lawrence over-acted in the film and his dubbing is below average. In fact it is the same voice that has been lending for him.

Music is just average. Lawrence has shown a little maturity only in music direction than in anything else. ‘Entandanga unnave…’, and ‘Su Su Soori Anna…’got good response from the audience.

Lawrence has to do home work with respect to blending proper comedy in the film, screenplay and bringing in grip in narration with right tempo.

Positive Things In The Film:

Nikitha’s suspense episode
Cinematography
Style that tried to meet Hollywood standards
Mafia don’s cruel game with a fight

Negative aspects:

Lack of comedy
Lawrence’s over action
Predictable story line and narration
Nagarjuna’s bearing as Don

Analysis:
The film is a clear inspiration from various mafia oriented films. The opening scene where the father of a college girl approaches Don’s gang to save his daughter recalls the film ‘Sarkar’. And the ‘bomb in shopping complex’ episode reminds Basha. And the name of Mumbai Don’s confidante, Anthony, recalls Raghu Varan’s character name in ‘Basha’. The film has myriad shades of ‘Basha’. On a whole the film lacks in freshness in narrating the main plot. It’s a film that shows the power stunt between a crooked Mumbai Don and a good Hyderabadi don. Lawrence blended a beaten formula with little sentiment and some love tracks. The film is not for the crowds those relish intelligent games on screen. It’s only for the audiences those like to watch their hero’s brawn. Being a mafia oriented flick; the film has shown more muscle power instead of showing the might of brain.

First half of the film runs with high voltage introduction of Nagarjuna and his love track. Second half becomes serious with the fight between Mumbai Don Stephen and Hyderabadi Don Nagarjuna. Climax concludes the film abruptly.

All the characters in the film (be it Mumbai based mafia dons or Goan ladies) speak only in Telugu. There is a ‘Note’ in the beginning of the film stating “We are showing everyone in the film speaking only in Telugu to make the Telugu audience understand the film”. So one has to go with the note and watch the film.

Lawrence made the film depending only on style and technical aspects. The required spirit in the film is lacking.

Film: Mantra
Rating: 3.25/5
Cast: Charmy, Sivaji, Chitram Sreenu, Jeeva, Mallikarjuna Rao etc
Art: Y Satyanarayana
Editing: Upendra
Camera: Dasarath
Dialogue: Surendra Krishna
Choreography: Prem Rakshit
Music: Anand
Producers: Kalyan Ram, Ravi Prakash
Direction: Osho Tulasi Ram
Released On: 14th Dec 2007

It recalls the flicks like ‘A Film By Aravind’, ‘Ave Kallu’, ‘Chandramukhi’ and similar ones. The film is completely treated with horror and leaves the audience with many questions in head until the climax.

Story:
Mantra (Charmy) is a parentless girl and the owner of her ancestral estate ‘Mantra Nilayam’. She wants to sell that big house at the outskirts of the city. But whoever comes as tenants in that house will be killed in mysterious way. Hence no buyer comes forward to buy that house. Finally a person comes to buy the house on a condition. The condition is that someone should stay there for 3 months and stay alive. Then Mantra herself thinks of living in that bungalow along with her friend. But her friend notices some evil spirit and gets frightened.

They vacate the place and come back. Meanwhile, Hero (Shivaji), a rowdy who lives on land settlements approaches Mantra. She asks him to stay in ‘Mantra Nilayam’ for 3 months saying about the place and mysterious deaths. Her thinks to take some commission from Mantra after selling that house. Hence he starts staying there along with his three friends. Suddenly on a day, one of his friends in the group gets killed in mysterious way.

Then the story takes a full horror swing from then. What is Mntra Nilayam? Why there are mysterious deaths? Who is Mantra? Watch on screen to find answers for all these.

Performances:
Charmy excelled in her performance. Especially while showing fear in her face in second half she outshined. She added right tempo for the film with her glamour and performance. Shivaji is appropriate in his role.

Others are up to their mark.

The backbone of the film is music and sound effects. There are many moments where the audiences shake with fear. Editing also appeared to be very sane.

Cinematography should be lauded. Especially the toning effect is used appropriately. Direction by Tulasi Ram is up to the mark and production values are also very well within the requirement.

Analysis:
It is common that majority of horror films many a time justify with rational reasoning at the climax. The horror graph falls down at that point. The crucial part in dealing with a horror subject lies at that point.

The belief and disbelief on evils and spirits depend on the faith of the beholder. It is not required for a horror film maker to justify that there is no evil spirit. That may not be relished by a set of audience. At the same time the director need not prove that there is ‘evil spirit’. Rational minds dislike that. So, a horror film can be concluded with a doubt on existence of such spirits. Such conclusion haunts for longer time. But there would be no doubts in mind once this film concludes. Everything is rationalized at the end.

First half of the film is a mixture of little comedy and some horror. Second half is completely treated with high dose of horror. On a whole, it’s film for good time-pass. The presence of Charmy pulls young crowds to theaters. Music is another added factor for pulling youngsters. The film may go successful if youngsters become its patrons.

Film: Godava
Rating: 2.75/5
Cast: Vaibhav, Shradhdha Arya, Venu Madhav, Chalapathi Rao, Delhi Rajeshwari, Shayaji Shinde, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Annapurna, Brahmanandam, AVS etc
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Dialogues: Paruchuri Brothers
Art: JK Murthy
Camera: Dinesh
Producer: A. Bharathi
Screenplay, Direction: Kodanda Rami Reddy
Released On: 7th Dec 2007

Story:
Anjali (Shradhdha Arya) is the daughter of a rich man who studies in a college. Balu (Vaibhav) also studies in the same college. Balu hates to love any girl and there will be a personal reason for that.

His parents marry after love, but keep on fighting everyday. Hence he wants to get married only in arranged way. After a few routine dramatic incidents Anjali happens to fall in love with Balu but she understands that Balu is against love.

Then she plays various tricks to make Balu fall in her trap. Finally the climax can be easily imagined. There is no big story in the film other than this.

Performance:
The film ran within the formula track and Vaibhav tried to showcase enough of his talent although a debut. He has ease in dialogue delivery and needs to work more on expressions.

New entrant Shradhdha Arya has only fair skin but not anything interesting. It is difficult for her to have long life on silver screen with the acting prowess she has shown in this film.

Dialogues by Paruchuri brothers worked well in this flick. The subtle humor and their trade mark of coining full forms for various words are observed. “The word PE KA (playing card) is named so because it loots both ‘PEdavadu’ and ‘KAlavadu’ equally”, is one of the dialogues written by Paruchuri brothers in this film. There are a few more dialogues those stand subtle sometimes.

Kodanda Rami Reddy’s screenplay proved to be obsolete. Especially the scene of Vaibhav beating the S.I and the constables encouraging him appeared absurd. The scene was wrongly composed to establish a love track between hero and heroine. The Tamil-Telugu comedy between Chalapathi Rao and Delhi Rajeshwari sounded good for sometime.

Music is up to the mark for this film. The song ‘Kayapanda..’ sounded like ‘Adapilla Aggipulla’ in Sainikudu to some extent.

Analysis:
First half of the film is ok but the second half appears to be dragging. As soon as the interval completes the main theme in the film starts, and within 15 minutes the audiences understand what the climax would be. Excepting a few humorous dialogues, the film has nothing big to attract audience.

The come back of Annapurna appeared something new on screen.

Shradhdha Arya’s exposing and voluptuous postures have received good response in the theatres. Songs are composed in rich way but they are proved to be ‘cigarette songs’. And the action episodes are also within in the limit.

The film lost its score for second half. The tempo that was maintained in first half is not continued in second half. Some bizarre is observed in second half that makes the audiences lose interest. The film is targeted on youth and it has to be seen how far they patronize.

Film: Mysamma
Rating: 1/5
Cast: Mumaith Khan, Prabhakar, Shayaji Shinde, Ranjitha etc
Choreography: Swarna etc
Fights: Ram-Laxman
Editing: Krishnam Raju
Story-Screenplay: Dasari Narayana Rao
Producer: K Rama Krishna Prasad
Director: Bharat Parepalli
Released On: 23rd Nov 2007

Story:
A sincere police constable’s daughter will be raped and killed by a group of rich guys in an AC compartment of a train. Police Officer Mysamma chases them in mufty and kills. Her senior officer knows that and asks her to kill all criminals in that way as they are being handicapped to do that with uniform due to political pressures. Mysamma has got a flash back. Her elder sister (Ranjitha) gets betrayed by a rich and cruel man (Shayaji Shinde). So Mysamma’s vengeance is to put an end for him. She executes that at last. There is no other big theme in the film other than that. Police Constable Rama Swamy (ETV Prabhakar) wants to be sincere but he lacks the shrewdness that Mysamma has. He loves Mysamma in first half and he is made a dull effigy in second half. His character has got no value at the end.

Performances:
Mumaith Khan as usually exposed on screen in big way and there is no big deal to talk about her performance. She failed to give proper expressions for many dialogues. ETV Prabhakar hasn’t gelled well in the role. The duet composed on him with Mumaith tests the patience of audience. Shayaji Shinde and Pradeep Rawat are as usual.

There are a few mass appealing scenes and dialogues here and there but the tempo is not maintained on a whole. Fights by Ram Laxman are superlative and beyond requirement.

Director proved that he is amateur. Songs are good for ears but worst on screen. There is nothing to talk about other departments.

Analysis:
The film is a dud and it tests the endurance. The first half of the film scores a wonderful ‘zero’ while the single point that is given to this film is after watching second half that is considerably bearable. The film appears to have two directors where the narration style of first half is different from second half. The film has many nonsensical scenes those make the audience scratch their heads till they bleed.

Especially the fights in the film make audience inconvenient. The Matrix range fights composed on Mumaith Khan hold no conviction and they are no way in tune with the requirement. People would certainly fool themselves if they assume ‘Mysamma IPS’ to be another ‘Osai Ramulamma’ or ‘Karthavyam’. The film can no way be compared with them. Even Dasari Narayan Rao’s story holds no value. It has no grip. Above all an amateur director brought more rotten smell to the dish by faulty screenplay and scene composition.

ETV Prabhakar has shown some heroism in first half. There is a duet for him with Mumaith Khan as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The considerable part in the film is that the songs are with mass punch but failed to picturize in right way. Director should be blamed first. He made some scenes which are absurd. Mumaith Khan strikes on her thigh to show her power. The glasses and windows break down with the sound of her thigh. She whistles in the police station and the ear drums of people reverberate with that sound. Such incredible scenes spoiled the tempo of the film. Mumaith Khan couldn’t give proper expressions for various dialogues.

Over dose of vulgar violence is added dirt for the film. It’s a strict ‘no no’ for sane audience. Or else just try to see how an absurd film can be made. It is a wonder to know that Dasari Narayana Rao is behind this ‘master piece’!!

Film: Takkari
Rating: 3/5
Cast: Nitin, Sada, Shayaji Shinde, Raghu Babu etc
Editing: Gowtham Raju
Choereography: Amma Rajasekhar
Art: Prkash
Dialogues: Marudhuri Raja
Producer: Paruchuri Siva Ram Prasad
Screenplay-Direction: Amma Rajasekhar
Released On: 23rd Nov 2007

Story:
Tirupathi (Nitin) is a guy who is shrewd and sane. He desires to do real estate business but his father (Chandramohan) holds no faith in him. He happens to fall in love with a rich girl Priya (Sada). Her brother Guru (Shayaji Shinde) is an affluent businessman who loves Priya a lot. Tirupathi approaches Guru and says he loves his sister. Guru negates the love pointing out the financial status of Tirupathi. Then eventually Tirupathi mortgages his love at Guru and takes Rs 25 lakh to start a business. What is that mortgage? How he takes Rs 25 lakhs has to be watched on screen. The story takes several turns from then and culminates at the climax in lighter note.

Performances:
Nithin looked like a macho man in this. There is some conviction now watching him battering muscled men. Earlier in the films like ‘Raam’ he looked like a kid with chocolate looks and fought with rough looking fighters. Now care is taken in that aspect with respect to looks. His body is now in tune with playing mass oriented roles.

Sada is as usual and shown some glamour in songs. People cannot recall that it is same pair appeared in ‘Jayam’. There is such notable change in the two.

Shayaji Shinde performed the role that is similar to the one he played in Devadasu of YVS. But here it is made with lighter comedy scenes.

Others are ok. Cinematography is good and editing is also appropriate. Music is not that good and there are no catchy tunes to recall. Dialogues by Marudhuri Raja are good in many scenes.

Nithin: “Andaru Prapancham choodalanukuntaaru…nenu mathram prapancham moththam nanne choodalanukuntaanu”

This is one dialogue that stands out to be on par with a quotation.

Inspirations:
Devadasu
Dhee
Nuvve Nuvve…..

Minus Points:
No comedy

Analysis:
The film stands out to be a better film among the recent ones of Nithin. But still it would have been made with more comedy to make it a perfect mass appealing blend. The subject is on the lines of YVS Choudary’s ‘Devadasu’ to some extent. But the execution is on lighter way.

Telugu films carry a standard formula of poor guy falling in love with a rich girl, facing the obstacles and then getting married. This has been in vogue with the inspiration taken from 1951 release-‘Pathala Bhairavi’. Almost all the heroes portrayed the role of Thota Ramudu in commercial social films. Even this ‘Takkari’ is on similar lines and Nitin played identical role. The effort of Amma Rajasekhar to show something different and interesting is seen.

First half of the film runs in the lines of ‘Devadasu’ while interval bang sounds something different. Second half runs well and the climax is composed in humorous note. On a whole the film would have been another ‘Dhee’ if right comedy track is added. Just imagine Dhee without Sunil and Brahmanandam. That will be in tune with ‘Takkari’.

Film: Fun Aur Masti
Language: Hyderabadi Hindi
Rating: 3.25/5
Cast: RK, Payal Sarkar, Monica Nouva, Satya and Others
Costumes: Ashok
Story-Dialogue: RK
Co-Director: Nanda Gopal
Editing: Nandamuri Hari
Producer: RK, Sorai Swamy
Director: Sekhar Surya
Released On: 16th Nov 2007

It’s again a treat from ‘Hyderabad Nawabs’ team. The fun dose is good but not on par with their earlier films.

Story:
Johnny is the street smart guy who sells fake-medicines and quacks on streets. His friend Hussain is a painter who is a bit innocent and carries away by a good looking girl. David is a police officer who is hen-pecked at home. Johnny loves David’s sister. On the other hand Lallu Bhai is a street dada who assumes him to be a bhai on par with mafia dons. With this set of characters a story is narrated. It’s all screenplay based fun and masti on screen and there is no big story to write here.

Performances:
RK did a sober role in this film. He acted in a high voltage role in ‘Hyd…bad Nawabs’ but here he played a docile henpecked husband. Heroine Payal Sarkar is good looking and justified her role. Satya acted in dominating wife’s role in her own way. Her dialogue delivery in Hindi is also perfect. Others are ok.

The lead role Johny makes the audience laugh by emulating the voices of Amitabh, Shah Rukh, Nana Patekar and Dharmender. Lallu Bhai’s character is also splendid and the guy performed really well bringing in rib-tickling humor. He recalled Paresh Rawal to some extent.

Camera work deserves a mention in this film. The angles chosen to shoot a few frames are very impressive (Especially the scene at the outset where Hussain gets an award). Dialogues are simply superb. Direction is ok.

Analysis:
As the name suggests, the film has nothing but some fun and some masti. It is made completely in Hyderabadi Hindi. No Telugu word is used in this flick as it was used earlier in Hyd..bad Nawabs. So, it’s an out and out Hindi flick with Hyderabad nativity and slang. The film entertains the Urdu speaking Hyderabad population a lot. On a whole the pun in dialogues brings in lot of fun. First half and second half of the film is with complete entertainment but the interval bang is very weak. To sum up, the film deserves a watch by the people who are familiar with Hyderabadi Hindi and humor in it.

Film: Seema Sastry
Rating: 2/5
Cast: Allari Naresh, Farzana, LB Sri Ram, MS Narayana, Ali, Brahmanandam, AVS, Kovai Sarala, Rajitha, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Uttej, Raghu Babu etc
Dialogues: Marudhuri Raja
Choreography: Tara and others
Screenplay: Nivas, Nageshwar Reddy
Art: Babji
Camera: Arun Kumar
Music: Vandemataram Sreenivas
Producer: Chavali Ramanjaneyulu
Director: Nagehswar Reddy
Release Date: 16th Nov 2007

It can be called the thumbs down film of the season that showcased nasty comedy that brings less laughs or no laughs. The title pumped in lots of hopes among audience but it proved to be a dud at last. The openings of the film are also weak. It’s a film based on castes that mocks at a community directly, that too in nasty way.

Story:
Surekha Reddy( Farzana) is the daughter of a factionist in Kurnool (Jaya Prakasha Reddy). Subrahmanya Sastry (Allari Naresh) is a priest who falls in her love in the city. Surekha too reciprocates to him positively after a brief negation. Then the attempt of Subrahmanya Sastry is to convince the factionist-father of Surekha Reddy. He goes to Kurnool along with his family members in the disguise of factionists from the same Reddy community. Rest of the story is how factionist-father will be convinced for the marriage.

Performance:
Allari Naresh did as usual but his scope to perform something interesting is limited. Farzana is pleasing to the audience and she is good on a whole. LB Sri Ram, MS Narayana, AVS and Ali justified their roles.

Marudhuri Raja’s pen is not sharp for this film. Although a few dialogues in the starting impress audience, eventually the non-gripping dialogues are heard.

Music by Vandemataram Sreenivas is below average. Only the song ‘Manasa Vacha..’ is dinning for some time in ears but even that is an average tune. Last song, the parody of ‘Manchamesi Duppatesi..’ is somewhat nostalgic as it’s remixed from old song.

There is nothing interesting to say about any other department.

Analysis:
This simple theme can be narrated in decent style and it has got very big scope to spill laughs. But unfortunately the screenplay killed the total dish. Predictable scenes and pale comedy spoiled the enthusiastic mood of audiences. Although a few scenes in climax bring little chuckles, they are completely conceptualized in old school. At last, the film makes no impact on viewers.

All the songs in the film are visually appealing due to Farzana’s beauty and nothing else left. It is observed that a good number of audiences getting out from theatres during songs.

It is more like a TV serial on a whole. First of the film is very dull and interval break pumps in some hope that second half would be interesting. But the director failed to impress even with second half. He couldn’t be able to utilize the scope for making a rib tickling comedy film.

Bottom line: Not good

Film: Nava Vasantham
Rating: 3/5
Cast: Tarun, Akash, Sunil, Rohith, Priyamani, Ankita, Kota, Tanikella, Jeeva, Telangana Shakuntala etc
Music: SA Raj Kumar
Choreography: Suchitra and others
Producers: NV Prasad, Paras Jain
Director: Shah Jahan

Story:
Vijay (Sunil), Prasad (Aakash) and Raja (Rohit) live together in a rented room making trials to become a mimicry artiste, IAS officer and a singer respectively. Ganesh (Tarun) joins them as another room mate who changes their fate. He holds only mission in life-that is to get his childhood love Anjali (Priyamani), the daughter of his uncle. But the uncle (Ahuti Prasad) shuns Ganesh as he is poor and has no position in society. Ultimately, the guy instead of becoming a respectable person in society achieves something beyond. He makes his friends as three celebrities in society. And those celebrities attribute their success to Ganesh. And these achievements are done not only with determination, but with a clean heart. To watch how friendship is shown in the film, watch it on screen.

Performances:
Tarun is ok but his dubbing sounds inferior in some scenes. On a whole his performance stands good with pathos. Sunil’s comedy is average. Akash and Rohit have nothing big to say about. Priyamani looked beautiful. She has something to perform as well. Ankitha is only a dummy in the film. She is just for screen sake.

Other departments are ok. Director Shah Jahan remade the film in Telugu but failed to add sufficient comedy track in the film. It’s the comedy that’s ruling box offices these days.

The film has some interesting dialogues those can be underlined.

“Chese Panullo edhee neechamainadi kaadu. Cheyakunda Undadame neecham”

“Andaroo manchivaallani choodalanukuntunnaaru kaanee, mnanchigaa undaalanukovadam ledhu”.

Music stands good in the film.

Analysis:
It’s a remake of Tamil film ‘Punnagai Desam’. It sounds to be narrated on beaten track for sometime. But is has got some substance that runs on sentimental platform through out. Although there is comedy in the film the sentiment dominated that. It’s the story of four guys living together holding some dreams for future. Did they make their dreams true? That takes to the culminating point in climax.

First half of the film goes very routine, with old flavor while second half picks up with sentimental stuff. Films like Raja, Satyam etc flash on mind’s eye to some extent.

Although friendship is shown in Utopian thought, it appeals for youth. There are number of young guys living in Krishna Nagar area of Hyderabad holding similar dreams as shown in the film. The film certainly appeals for those. It has got the sentimental depth, but appears to be on beaten track to large extent.

And coming to the flip side, the film is released on wrong day. That’s straight away on the day of Diwali. Although the morning shows see some audience, it is sure that the evening and night shows see no audiences in theater.

The film is made for youth but we have to see how many in that segment of audience would patronize this film.

Film: Athidhi
Rating: 3.25/5
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Amrutha Rao, Murali Sharma, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ajay, Rajiv Kanakala, Kota, Benerjee, Naazar, Sunil, Brahmanandam, Venu Madhav etc
Editing: Gowtham Raju
Camera: Sameer Reddy
Art: Srinivas Raju
Story: Vakkantham Vamshee
Dialogues: Abburi Shiva
Music: Mani Sharma
Producer: Ramesh Babu
Direction-Screenplay: Surender Reddy
Released On: 18th Oct 2007

Story:
The story of the film opens in Delhi. An orphan boy finds shelter in the house of a couple (Rajeev Kanakala and his wife). Their daughter is Amrutha (Amrutha Rao as a child). They all live happily together for a few days. They name that orphan boy as Athidhi. But unexpectedly, Amrutha’s parents get killed by an early teenage sadist murderer. The guy kills them for not giving sufficient money when demanded on road.  Athidhi tries to catch him but his efforts go vain. The killer escapes in masquerade. But looking at the pistol in the hands of young Athidhi , people believe him to be the killer of those wife and husband. Amrutha also believes the same.

After a few years, Amrutha grows up and becomes a painter. She lives with Nazar, the Home Minister’s family. She happens to encounter Athidhi (Mahesh Babu) as her savior. The theme is normal that she falls in love with him. She doesn’t know that he is the same guy who lived in her home for a few days. She takes him to her home later. Then he comes to know that he is at right place. But he doesn’t reveal the fact that he is the same boy. His mission is to put an end to the murderer of Amrutha’s parents. He finally knows that he is Kaiser is the gangster. Who is Kaiser? Where he lives? How he looks? How he operates kidnap and murder deeds sitting in remote? Breaking all these shells takes us to the grand finale of the film. How Athidhi reveals the truth to Amrutha? All this makes the rest of the film. Several twists and turns also appear good in the film.

Performances:
Mahesh Babu is at his best. His histrionics are marvelous. He developed more confidence in dialogue delivery. His dialogues are with full punch and power.

Amrutha Rao is sensible. She has some Manisha Koirala features. She proved to be good performer as well.

New villain on Telugu screen Murali Sharma did well as Ajay Sastry, a police officer. He is very good actor who tuned famous with the Deepak Tijori’s TV serial ‘Rishtey’. His popularity started with the eunuch’s role in Indra Kumar’s ‘Masti’. So far he acted in films like Main Hoon Na, Black Friday, Rewind, King of Bollywood, The Rising.

Ashish Vidyarthi spilled villainy along with laughs. He is given a typical get up in the film with long netted hair. He acted as associate to main villain Kaizer.

But our tall guy Ajay, although present in the film, is not given bigger role.

Cinematography by Sameer Reddy is good in some frames. Especially in the scene before climax where heroine’s sister gets killed, camera worked out well.

Music by Mani Sharma is disappointing this time. Mahesh has been saying, “Mani never disappointed me”. But this time he disappointed Mahesh and his fans as well. Tracks are old and BGMs appear to be routine. The song ‘Rathraina Naaku Ok..’ on Malaika Arora Khan is the only bit that is good.

We recall Malleeshwari to some extent while watching the film in second half. Direction by Surender Reddy is average. It became difficult for him to carry with the long story line of the film. He always kept his mind on bringing depth in every frame but he failed to develop a strong knitting point between the scenes. That’s the part of screenplay where he fumbled. But his effort in thinking something different is understood.

Notable mistake:
In the heroine introduction scene, Melkote explains himself as a bald headed man. But where is bald head for him? Director seems to be inattentive to this dialogue.

Highlights for Masses:

• Venu Madhav’s comedy while asking for hot coffee
• Broken beer bottle episode in Brahmanandam-Sunil scene
• Surender Reddy’s idea in focusing on throat of Benerjee during his death
• Fight between Mahesh Babu and Ashish Vidyarthi, just before the latter’s death
• Death of Amrutha’s sister

Analysis:
It’s a 2 hr 51 minute movie with heaviness in action episodes, subtleness in little comedy and some appropriateness in sentiment. On a whole it turns to be a considerable film but shouldn’t go with the expectations of Pokiri or Athadu. It’s a movie of its own standard.

First half of the film is with action episodes followed by some routine fights and some love track scenes between the hero and heroine. As the film approaches interval, seriousness starts surrounding. Second half is with heaviness of action. Though there is some comedy that is not sufficient.

First half of the film is about 1 hr 23 minutes in length while second half is about 1 hr 28 seconds. The interval bang in the film is interesting. The climax is prolonged. Coming to the comedy track in the film there are two tracks-with Venu Madhav and Sunil-Brahmanandam. They spill laughs for the brief time they appear on screen. But still there is no enough comedy that a commercial flick of this range should have. The film has the appeal to attract masses. Villainy of Murali Sharma is impressive.

The minus point in the film is lack of sufficient comedy, weak music and long story line. The plus point is Mahesh Babu.

The film appeals this way for different set of audiences:

• Masses: They say it’s long film but action part is good. They also say that comedy is good although short.
• Women: They say Sunil-Brahmanandam’s comedy is vulgar and violence is disgusting
• Class Audience: They say it’s heavy

Film: Tulasi
Rating: 3.25/5
Cast: Venkatesh, Nayantara, Sivaji, Jayaprakash Reddy, Ravi Babu, Raghubabu, Tanikella Bharani, Vijay Kumar, Ashish Vidyarthi, Master Athulith etc
Story: Akula Shiva, Boyapati Sreenu
Dialogues: Paruchuri Brothers
Choreography: Raju Sundaram, Brunda
Art: Ashok, Narayana Reddy
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Camera: Bala Murugan
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Producer: Daggubati Suresh Babu
Screenplay-Direction: Boyapati Sreenivas
Released On: 12th Oct 2007

Story:
Vasundhara (Nayantara) is the fashion designer who lives along with her brother Harish (Sivaji) and hostel warden (Tanikella Bharani). Parvathaneni Tulasi (Venkatesh) is an engineer who happens to meet Vasundhara in a foreign country. They fall in love and get married. They are blessed with a kid. But they get separated due to some circumstances. Why? What are those circumstances? The film unfolds the flash back.

Tulasi is the son of Dasaratha Ramayya (Vijay Kumar), ZP Chairman in a village. His rival is a factionist (Jayaprakasha Reddy). In a big tumult between Tulasi and the factionists, Tulasi shows his cruelty on them. Vasundhara hates that violent behavior in Tulasi. Hence she leaves him with an idea to safeguard her kid at least.

But Tulasi keeps on trying to see his son (Master Athulith). Why he does that? The unfolding of the reason behind that culminates at the climax.

Performances:
Venkatesh’s performance is really marvelous in the film. His dialogue delivery and ability to depict all expressions needs no explanation.

Nayantara is sufficient in her role. Ramya Krishna appears as Doctor in guest role. Master Athulith’s performance deserves great mention. He really did well in all the frames.

Comedy by Ali, Raghu Babu and Narsing Yadav is just ok. Villainy by Subba Raju, Ravi Babu, Jaya Prakasha Reddy and Ashish Vidyrathi is routine.

Action sequences are really hair rising. Dances are average. Music by Devi Sri is catchy at times. Especially the song ‘Nenu Chuk Chuk Bandini ro..’ for which Shriya acted as item girl got big response in theaters.

Dialogues by Paruchuri brothers make good sense.

The dialogue of Venkatesh on the meaning of marriage is really impressive. Hats off to Paruchuri brothers, for their ability in bringing out such sensible dialogue. The dialogue stands out to be highlight in entire film.

Story part is assumed to be made with novelty but when it came to execution part, it became like any other action flick.

Boyapati Sreenivas made the film as a minimum guarantee flick.

Analysis:
It’s an attempt to target youth, families, masses and ladies at a time. But the blends cannot prove to be a right mix. If ladies like sentiment, they can’t accept violence. If masses like violence they can’t swallow sentiment. But on a whole the film proves to be a right commercial masala flick. It has got the ability to sustain audience in theatres except a few cigarette songs.

First half of the film is made with humor and love track. Venkatesh’s pranks with Nayantara sound interesting. Second half is filled with action episodes. Sentiment follows under current in the film. Mass audiences cracked jokes among themselves when sentiment on Venkatesh is rolling on screen. So, the dosage would have crossed the expectation to some extent.

On a whole, the film proves to be a flick that can be watched once without expecting something unpredictable and novelty.