Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum_Lost Opportunity of the Decade

Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum

Jaraga ledu Jagannatakam…Jaragaledu Jagannatakam.

Awesome plot in binder, raw resources at disposal, eager audience to celebrate……Krish you lost a chance to produce trend setter of the decade. Rana nowhere it’s a “Khaidi” for you. The 9 minute title track lost the punch.

Movie is culmination of independently dependent superb scenes. You spend first half waiting for second half to arrive and then start waiting for the final “Dashavatar” high. But sorry, you realize at the end you are watching any other Telugu potboiler, where a hero was forced by circumstances to kill the baddie that’s it.

Rana was stone faced for most of the part with those “Heman” moves. Strangely the protagonist is not clear with his purpose till 12^th reel of the movie. The movie flows with leading lady’s findings and purpose. Surprisingly supporting cast is more watchable than mail lead. Brief stint by Posani was worth mentioning.

May be high expectations from Krish or hype created by the title track or enthusiasm created by the promos…….not able to find the reason but the movie nowhere near to the likes of Vedam, Gamyam.

As the title track says…Nuvvu nilichina ee nelanu adugu,

Nee oopirilo gaalini dugu,

Nee adugula akashannadugu….

But you fail to find “Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum…. Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum… Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum”

                                                                                                                    …….Venkaat

CMGR : Ordinary Movie with Extraordinary Scenes...

Ordinary Film with bunch of ExtraOrdinary Scenes : CMGR

Right dose of ointment for all the media menace & T agitation itching. Pawan continuing the ride post Gabbarsingh and Puri found the Midas touch. Thanks to unknown aunty for serving all those coffee shots in beach (Bankong), during this scripting.

Puri tried to break the norm by introducing the movie plot with an “Fever” item number and continued the heat through out to end it with an unconventional silent climax (though graphic part was weak). Visuals of the tracks were colorful and back ground score is up to the mark of Mani Sharma. Beauty of the movies was, every character elevated at some point or the other. Tamanna is as glamorous as any other her recent movie with different mannerism this time minus belly moves.

Pawan continued his satirical saga, including one on him with élan.  Testosterone level move up in few scenes, in the order of “Extra Ordinary scene with Tamanna”, “National anthem scene with Prakash Raj” and the “Climax “ra” “raa” scene”.

The hard work of Pawan and perfect planning of Puri are clearly evident on the screen. A note about a junior dancer to the left of Pawan in the song “Extraordinary” is also worth mentioning. He deserves a break in Tollywood.

Movie equipped with all the ingredients of Pavanism, Cheguvera print at the back drop, satires, trademark gestures and dialogues with mega power.

If you are a fan of him, this is an extra ordinary movie, if not an ordinary movie with extra ordinary scenes.

Check out the screens for a MATINEE show, O Panai poddi ra ra.

Venkaat

From the look of it, it’s another take on Encounter killing cops, but the focus is more on Police and Politician’s nexus, internal politics of the police department and cops personal life.

Director Kabeer Kaushik made a wonderful debut with “Sehar” but faltered with “Chamku”; though, one thing common among all his movies is the central theme based on various facets of Police department.

Lead actor Sonu Sood has yet to establish himself as a main lead and rest of the supporting cast too comprising of, Neha Dhupia, Anjana Sukhani & Amit Sadh doesn’t make it exciting enough. Naseerudin Shah’s presence and also the song “Aa Ante” upto an extent does add weightage to the movie, but not enough to make me go to theater.

Movie is going to be a more of word of mouth, but there again movie may find it difficult to sustain because next week “Bol Bacchan” will take up all the available screen space.

Jism2_Cashing on weakness...shame

Trailer of “Jism 2” reaffirms my theory about Bhatt movies – Sensationalism & Sex – and they have tried to utilize Sunny Leone for what she is best known…her body, so much so that Randeep Hooda and Arunodya Singh seem to play second fiddle to legs, cleavage and bikni of Sunny Leone. Alas Indian Censor doesn’t allow an X rating or else Bhatt’s certainly would have obliged Indian audience with Sunny Leone’s porn movie.
Whatever little plot has been revealed, it seems to be on line of earlier “Jism”, with focus on deception through the manipulation of desires and lust.
This movie certainly will be a money making product for Bhatt’s, another hit to strengthen their formula.
Will be back next week with another article…till then…..

Ek tha Tiger_Rahega bhi EK

Movie anyways is hot enough being the Man of the season - Salman Khan’s - release after one year, and going by the kind of heat generated by the teaser expectation from the trailer were high and man does it lives upto the expectation….trailer just doesn’t lives upto the expectation but takes it to another level altogether….to describe the trailer in one single word….Mind blowing.
Trailer begins with the fight sequence in Istanbul, shown in the teaser, and then goes on establishing the character of Tiger and introduces Katrina Kaif, showing the glimpses of the love story and then comes the killer of tag line – All his life he fought for his country, this Eid he will fight for his Love – followed by some wham bam action and high octane chases…whoo…making it difficult to wait till 15th August. And, that’s the kind of impact a movie trailer should create, it means half of the battle is won, ensuring a good opening.
Added bonus with this movie is that coming after “Ready” and “Bodyguard”, apart from usual entertainment and worth of money expected from a Salman Khan movie, this one seems to be rich in content too
Wait for the movie to explode on screens in 15th of August, it will break all the previous records, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration if movie ends up touching “3 Idiots” or even surpassing it in terms of business. Movie anyways has 5 days of extended weekend, and one thing is certain that this most expensive movie of Yash Raj Films will end up doing the business worth its budget on first weekend itself and will be the fastest, so far, to enter the 100 crore club.
Long after the era of Amitabh Bacchan, Salman Khan has emerged as a Star capable of getting the movie an opening and turning it into a success by just his presence in the movie – “Bodyguard” being the best example…..so make way Salman Khan is going to strike at box office like a tornado.

Gangs of Wasseypur_Kehke Collections le rahi hai...

.......probably may prove to be Anurag Kashyap’s biggest commercial success so far.
Movie is an attempt to create Mahabharat style epic revenge drama and it succeeds too up to an extent. Movie is set in the hinterland of Dhanbad and the two things which take the cake are the performance by the cast and the colorful language, infact the volume and variety of expletives is the maximum I’ve heard in a Hindi movie so far.
As far as the performance goes Manoj Bajpayee walks away with all the honors, his is a totally human and grey character, for that matter all the characters have shades of Grey, Manoj Bajpayee keeps you entertained through out; it will go down as one of his best performances.
Richa Chadda is the find of the movie, though she was good in “Oye Lucky Lucky Oye” too but this probably will be her career defining movie. Next in the line is Tigmanshu Dhulia, director of recent hits “Paan Singh Tomar” & “Saahib Biwi & Gangster”, he is a surprising debutant as the antagonist. Rest of the cast including Pankaj Tripathi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Piyush Mishra, Jaideep Ahlawat, Vipin Sharma are fabulous in their respective roles.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui didn’t have much to do in this part, it was sort of a establishing his character and will be coming in his own in the second part.
Music by Sneha Khanwalkar is another highlight, after “Love Sex aur Dhoka” & “Gangs of Wasseypur” she is soon becoming a brand name for quirky electric mix of music.
Anurag Kashyap has made a gritty and a gory movie, but has succeeded in maintaining the entertainment quotient through the quirky characterization and witty one liners. This movie is essentially not meant for faint hearted.
Though the length of the movie acts as the spoil sport, but I still am looking forward to the second part.

Teri Meri Kahani_Kahaani less

The movie takes us through three generations, portraying the meeting and falling in love of the same couple in three eras; and no it’s not a reincarnation movie.
Movie takes us through three love stories in three different eras but the graph of the movie remains pretty flat throughout the movie. It’s like a boy and girl meet, fall in love get together & over.
Shahid Kapoor has somehow failed to capitalize on the hype generated by “Kaminey”, though “Badmaash Company” worked upto an extent but the later movies didn’t do much to his career. His coming movies like “Namak” and remake of “Vettai” may do the trick but if he doesn’t pull up his socks soon he will end up missing the bus, where Ranbir Kapoor, Imraan Khan & Emraan Hashmi are already riding the bus and Ranvir Kapoor & Arjun Kapoor are close on his heels.
Priyanka Chopra too didn’t add much to the movie.
Kunal Kohli has not been able to deliver post his disassociation with Yash Raj Films. His movies bear a heavy hangover of Yash Raj.
Though, I liked the innocence of 1960s and Shahid’s character in 1910. And songs were the saving grace upto an extent, with beautiful lyrics by Prasoon Joshi.

Maximum

From the look of it, it’s another take on Encounter killing cops, but the focus is more on Police and Politician’s nexus, internal politics of the police department and cops personal life.
Director Kabeer Kaushik made a wonderful debut with “Sehar” but faltered with “Chamku”; though, one thing common among all his movies is the central theme based on various facets of Police department.
Lead actor Sonu Sood has yet to establish himself as a main lead and rest of the supporting cast too comprising of, Neha Dhupia, Anjana Sukhani & Amit Sadh doesn’t make it exciting enough. Naseerudin Shah’s presence and also the song “Aa Ante” upto an extent does add weightage to the movie, but not enough to make me go to theater.
Movie is going to be a more of word of mouth, but there again movie may find it difficult to sustain because next week “Bol Bacchan” will take up all the available screen space.

Shanghai & Rowdy Rathore Week @ Bollywood

Next in my series, where I express my opinion / expectation on the Friday releases as a movie goer.

This week has one movie releasing – Shangai as was one movie released last week.

Let’s begin with last week’s release – Rowdy Rathore.

Movie has proved one thing that if the movie brings in big moolah if it works on single screen. Movie is on its way to become biggest success of year, Akshay Kumar & Sanjay Leela Bhansali so far.

Movie had all the masala of the 80s movie. As I mentioned 95% movie was an exact cut & paste job, with the dialogues too being same at many of the places. Still somewhere I felt that the film lacked the grip and repeat value of the original, I think that’s where the credit goes to the genius of S.S.Rajamouli. Akshay Kumar works well in action & comedy role but somehow I sorely missed Ravi Teja. People who have seen the original shared my opinion. As I’d mentioned it’s not possible to match Ravi Teja’s energy, comic timing and mannerisms.

Coming to the current release - Shangai

Shangai is another film from talented Dibanker Banerjee. It is based on “Z” an old political Thriller Novel. It begins with a murder working as an expose of current political situations and its dark side.

Dibankar and Abhay together have given “Oye Lucky Oye Lucky Oye” earlier; and, Emraan Hashmi appears to be a role similar to his debut movie “Footpath”, where as I’ve mentioned in my earlier article, he ended up stealing limelight from the lead actors of the movie.

This movie comes on the heels of super success of Rowdy Rathore, which will prove to be tough competitor, as it still occupies majority of the screens in second week running. Otherwise also, like other Dibankar Banerjee movies it’s more of a Multiplex movie and will rely on word of mouth.

Though, trailers don’t look exciting enough; coming on the heels of Emraan Hashmi’s recent successes, it would be interesting to see how does his newly found star quotient helps this movie to open at single screen.


Will be back next week with another article…till then…..

Happy Movie watching.

 Gagan

Disclaimer - Please refer to the earlier post under the heading of Introduction and Disclaimer.

Trailer Watch...this week

Looks like a perfect combo of Rohit Shetty’s style of film making and original “Golmaal”. Trailer looks grand, a perfect family entertainer and sure fire hit.

Cocktail in a sense looks like an extension of “Love Aaj Kal” – a story of three fun loving friends turning into a love triangle; with Yo Yo honey Singh’s popular track playing in the background. Trailer in itself doesn’t look exciting enough, seems targeted for Multiplex audience…will have to watch further promos before forming any opinion. Though, would be interesting to look out for Homi Adjania’s direction post “Being Cyrus”.

Shirin Farhad ki to nikal padi, now this happens to be an interesting watch, starring Boman Irani and Farah Khan in lead, as two singles on the other side of 40s. If the trailer is anything to go by, movie is going to be another quirky and fun outing.

Will be back next week with another article…till then…..

Happy Movie watching.

 Gagan

Rowdy Rathore

Next in my series, where I express my opinion / expectation on the Friday releases as a movie goer.

Finally IPL is over and the summer movie season kicks off.

There was no major release last week, mainly due to IPL finals and current week’s major release – Rowdy Rathore – which will eat up majority of screen space.

Now IPL seems to have settled down with many of the movies releasing along with it; and some turning out to be hits of various degrees – Housefull 2, Jannat 2, Ishaqzaade & Vicky Donor.

Once again I was bang on, both in terms of the business and content of the movies.

Department was another let down from RGV. And, Chotta Bheem was a surprise success with the limited screen space; I managed to get the front row tickets in nick of time, show was houseful with plenty of kids and their parents & Grand parents.

Now, coming to the current week’s release – Rowdy Rathore 

Rowdy Rathore is coming post the IPL, in the same week as Ready last year. Rowdy Rathore is carrying lot of hype and is being considered a certain entrant to Rs.100 Crore club. 

Trailers look dhinchaak masala, Akshay Kumar has had a major success in Housefull and above all it happens to be a remake of Telugu blockbuster “Vikramakudu” directed by the man with the midas touch S.S.Rajamouli….this guy has a 100% success ratio with 8 back to back blockbusters.

Original was the perfect blend of Action, Drama, Emotion, Romance and most importantly Comedy; it is dubbed in Hindi as “Pratighaat” and can be seen at Sahara group channels or Star gold. Apart from S.S. Rajamouli, the major factor working in original’s favor was the lead actor – Mass Maharaja “Ravi Teja”, every star worth his salt has a title in Telgu and Tamil film industry – this guy has an unmatched energy and his comic timing and mannerisms are seen to be believed; he added tremendously to the movie. Those who have seen the original, will definitely compare Akshay Kumar with Ravi Teja, which will be a challenge for Aksha Kumar if he tries to emulate him rather than giving the character his own touch; which though doesn’t seem to be a case by looking at the promos. 

I’ve seen few of the movies directed by Prabhu Deva, and he usually goes for remakes and follows a cut and paste policy, with minor tweaking for regional audience; considering which “Rowdy Rathore” too should be an entertaining movie. There are few areas in original which need to be tweaked to make it more family friendly, hope Prabhu Deva has taken care of them.

Gagan

Gabbar Singh – Pawan Powerism

Gabbar Singh – Pawan Powerism

The meaning of “Pawan” is same in both Hindi and Telugu. This time he is not “Pawan” but a wind on Tsunami scale as “Gabbar Singh”, which hit the Tollywood recently. The thunderstorm collections across the globe and “Innocence of a 5 year old Yashwant” are true witnesses of this massive hit tale. 

About my friend “Yashwant”, he is my partner in crime of watching latest Tollywood movies week after week. This is time I was bit apprehensive of taking him alone for this movie with out his parents, but trust me he was completely glued into the movie/characters all the time. His demands were only Large Tub of Popcorn and a Regular Pepsi during the break, that’s it. He was dancing on the floor to almost all the tunes, especially for “Dekho dekho Gabbar Singh” and “Kevvu Keka”. The moment the end titles started scrolling, he started crying for one more show. I failed to convince him on my way back to home; only his father’s assurance of a show next day cooled him for a while.  The next day when I visited their home @ 0700 AM, surprisingly “Gabbar Singh’s” tunes at high pitch and moves at his peak energy welcomed me. As of now we have compromised ethically and provided him with a pirated copy of the movie to satisfy his hunger for repeated watchings.

Do you need further analysis of the movie? Absolutely not…. Go for it as many times as you can. It has everything you get in an “Andhra full plate meals” and additional desserts, extra sweet pan and much more….

The arrogance and don’t care attitudes of Power Star are major plus to the story board. Even he travelled a bit to score levels against few actors in the Tollywood industry (with the anthyakshari scene) with aplomb. The movie is doing more than what “Dabbangg” did for Salman.

We love our reel heroes in our real lives. That is the reason we have a huge list of stalwarts on the Tollywood radar starting from SVR, NTR to Chiru.

Unlike bollywood, we make an average movie a hit, good movie a super hit, a super movie a blockbuster.

…it’s a genuine blockbuster. Trust me……I can lie but Kids and Shakira’s Hips don’t.

Venkaat

Endukanta Premanta...a trade mark love story

Endukanta Premanta...a trade mark love story

…Nee choopule naa oopiri…. Osaarila choode cheli….these lines are setting the right expectations for this movie and the Midas touch of Karunakaran (Director) love stories. It seems the guitar strings/chords of this song are perfect to titillate your senses.

Charm and energy of Ram and tempting Tamanna are perfect combo for a director like Karunakaran, who born with a blockbuster “Toli Prema”, a Power Star Pawan movie, which went on to set trend in Tollywood. The tunes by GV Prakash Kumar (AR Rahman’s nephew) with meaningful lyrics by Srimani and Ramajogayya Shastri already scored a hit.

So far the movie is spreading positive vibes around. Should be a decent hit for “Sravanthi Movies”, a banner owned by Ram’s uncle.

….ennadu vaadani Swiss bank balance kakoodadu ga happiness………

Venkaat

Ek Tha Tiger

Ek Tha Tiger

Just happened to see the first look of one of keenly anticipated movie of the year - Ek Tha Tiger – it begins with a voice over and some random shorts, laying the foundation of movie, a story of counter-intelligence between RAW & ISI. Half way through the trailer voice over ends with ye kahani hain Tiger ki….and boom….Tiger…..Salman Khan…..explodes on the screen and owns it up in short duration of few seconds. The impact is astounding.

Movie looks slick and edgy. One thing is for sure, keeping director Kabir Khan’s past track record in mind, this is going to be one Salman Khan movie different than his past two movies and will have more meat in the content.

Get ready for the most expensive Yashraj Movie.

Salman Khan is back with fireworks….a sure shot hat trick of Eid success…..blockbuster or not will depend on the content and succeeding trailers and songs.

Happy Movie watching.

 Gagan

Disclaimer - Please refer to the earlier post under the heading of Introduction and Disclaimer.

Ishaqzaade & Dangerous Ishq

current week’s releases – Ishaqzaade & Dangerous Ishq

Ishaqzaade has certain amount of buzz surrounding it.

Trailers look exciting, debutant Arjun Kapoor looks confident and Pariniti Chopra has already impressed sundry through her debut performance in “Ladies v/s Ricky Bahl”.

It’s director Habib Faisal’s second movie after an impressive “Do Dooni Chaar”; though, it looks completely opposite of his debut movie.

The movie looks edgy love story with the undertones of inter-religion tension, set up in the political background of U.P., something on the lines of Romeo Juliet.

Second release – Dangerous Ishq, has Karishma Kapur returning to silver screen after a long break.

Movie is a thriller based on past life regression, visiting your past births to resolve the difficulties of your current life. As is apparent from trailers movie takes back to at least three eras – Mughals, Rajputs (during the times of Mirabai) and partition.

Vikarm Bhatt has been relying on the formula of merging past with present since his past few movies and has been successful with “1920” & “Haunted” while missed the bus with “Shaapit”; so let’s wait and watch how he fares this time.

The concept sounds interesting.

Am interested in watching both the movies, but am eager to go for “Ishaqzaade” first.

Let’s see how well these two movies fare.

Friday Releases – 11th May’12_Jannat

Friday Releases – 11^th May’12

Next in my series, where I express my opinion / expectation on the Friday releases as a movie goer.

Another week another set of movies to go for – 2 new movies releasing this week and 2 released last week.

Let’s begin with the analysis of last week’s releases.

Once again I was bang on, both in terms of the business and content of the movies.

As I mentioned Fatso wasn’t a noteworthy successor to “Mithya”; movie didn’t open well, word of mouth was also not too encouraging.

Coming to the second release Jannat 2

As predicted, movie opened well in mass centers, affirmation to Emraan’s growing clout over mass centers.

Movie religiously followed Bhatt’s rule book:

1. Music has to be good.
2. Economics of the movie should work.
3. Controversy – more the merrier.
4. The latest addition, post the success of “Murder 2” is – make a franchisee.
5. Some dose of erotica, with mandatory kissing and love making sequence.

“Jannat 2” started as “Informer” but post the success of “Murder 2” has been rechristened. They have followed rest of the rule book to the T. The only connection it had with “Jannat” was Emraan Hashmi, his character’s death in climax and a shot of a ring falling on ground in climax, signifying the broken relationship.

Emraan Hashmi can sleep walk through such roles, he starts as a character with Delhi/haryanavi lingo, but it vanishes as movie progresses.

Randeep Hooda was the surprise package and towers above everybody else in the movie, as a brooding, angry, drunkard cop on mission.

Esha Gupta resembles Angelina Jolie in certain scenes but the resemblance ends there; she is another pretty face with strictly limited acting skills.

Story has his share of flaws, it’s little hard to digest – an educated doctor with a past marrying a street smart guy, with a jail record which she is aware of, without getting to know about his background.

Music was a typical Emraan Hashmi/Bhatt catalogue, will be in vogue till another album is out.

Direction of Kunal Deshmukh was okay, he should try for no hold barred masala thriller next.

The biggest drawback of the movie was the liberal use of Cuss words, it could have worked as a lingo used by characters, but an expletive in almost every second scene was little too much.

As per the trade film opened well and became an earner due to its limited budget, but started sliding down from Saturday itself; in total had a bountiful weekend.

Happy Movie watching.

 Gagan

Disclaimer - Please refer to the earlier post under the heading of Introduction and Disclaimer.

Friday Releases – 5^th May’12

Next in my series, where I express my opinion / expectation on the Friday releases as a movie goer.

Though I’ve been away for a while, but would try to compensate in coming weeks.

Another week another set of movies to go for – 2 new movies releasing this week and 1 released last week.

As I’ve always believed First look or the trailer of the movie is a give away on the movie. Same thing happened with Tezz from the first look itself movie looked thanda. Though the first half of the movie was indeed tezz the second half was not at all tezz and the motive of the characters was not convincing enough, where you could relate to the character.

I’ve always maintained though the item numbers are an in thing and a right item number does boost the chances of the movie’s success but just making celebrity gyrate in skimpy clothes doesn’t make the item number; it has to have an X-factor, it should be sensuous, playful, something which forces you to put on your dancing shoes. Lot of hue & cry was made about the “Laila” song but that too couldn’t salvage the movie.

Though acting wise Anil Kapoor was good in a major role after a long time. Ajay Devgn is a good actor, is an established fact, but cruising through such a role must have been a cakewalk for him.

Interestingly it was second Priyadarshan directed movie, after Aakrosh (which was an enjoyable thriller), which has acted as speed breaker in the dream run Ajay devgn has been having on the box office for past few years.

Now, coming to the current week’s releases – Jannat 2 & Fatso

Let’s first begin with Fatso

Fatso brings back the talented bunch of Rajat Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Ranvir Shourey. The only major difference is Gul Panag replacing Neha Dhupia.

The movie has been ready for some time and was waiting for release. This talented group’s last worthwhile outing was “Mithya” which was actually the “Don” with a twist.

This movie looks like a comedy but in today’s times when “Jannat 2” is releasing with all the hype and next week’s release “Ishaqzaade” too looks all set to storm the box office, “Fatso” will have to rely on word of mouth to work on box office.

Coming to the second release Jannat 2

Though Jannat 2 happens to be the big release of the week and more so due to the failure of “Tezz” last week, I’m picking it after “Fatso” just to discuss it in detail.

Bhatt’s follow a rule book when it comes to movie making:

1. Music has to be good.
2. Economics of the movie should work.
3. Controversy – more the merrier.
4. The latest addition, post the success of “Murder 2” is – make a franchisee.
5. Some dose of erotica, with mandatory kissing and love making sequence.

“Jannat 2” started as “Informer” but post the success of “Murder 2” has been rechristened. They have followed rest of the rule book to the T.

“Tum Mile”, the earlier outing of Emraan Hashmi and Kunal Deshmukh was a dud at the box office, but “Jannat 2” looks interesting and should open well. The added advantage for “Jannat 2” happens to be the dream run Emraan Hashmi has been having at the box office off late.

Emraan Hashmi was the only bright spot in his debut movie “Footpath”, which interestingly was a remake of an earlier Mahesh Bhatt movie ”Angaarey”, he has coe a long way since then. He first tasted success with “Murder” and has been around doing similar kind of roles. But off late he started experimenting with his roles outside Bhatt banner, though the basic mean streak remains constant in all his characters, which has paid him rich dividends as far as fan following is concerned. He has become one of the dependable opening fetching star in the mass circuit, with multiplex audience also coming in with his last few films like – “Dil to Baccha hain ji”, “Once upon a time in Mumbai” & “The Dirty Picture”.

He so far has been treading the path of Salman Khan & Akshay Kumar – becoming successful without the support of big guns of the industry – and in a similar fashion has still to get the acceptance to which Ranbeer Kapoor & Imran Khan are treated. Though he has been signed Yashraj & Dharma Productions.

I’m planning to watch “Jannat2” tonight.

Let’s see how well these two movies fare, will try to connect again net week.

Happy Movie watching.

 Gagan

Disclaimer - Please refer to the earlier post under the heading of Introduction and Disclaimer.

Virus “Gabbar Singh” at its peak in Andhra

Burst of a new virus called “Gabbar Singh’ is causing havoc in the state of Andhra Pradesh, some parts of Delhi and Seattle, USA.  Officials are taking all the measures to control further damage by this virus. Due to this impact so many other tiny worms (eg. Adhinayakudu, Nuvvu ekkadunte Nenu Akkadaunta) are struggling for survival. Beware this virus has got a “Thikka” and a “lekka” to it.

An immediate meeting is called up by the officials Government of AP to handle this crisis. It is diagnosed that “he (virus) is coming all the way to do something special”. Bunch of NGO are also involved in the rescue by motivating the population of Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad with a slogan “jo dargaya samjho margaya”.

On the basis of the investigation so far, it is confirmed that the trio of “Power Star Pavan, DSP and Harish Shankar are the master minds behind this attack. It is also believed that Malaika Arora Khan is also involved with this attack to an extent.

Sampant Nandi, another Pharmacist who recently handled similar kind of virus attack called “Ram charan”, has been roped in for possible remedies. It is believed that the industry is ready with the medication, which will be available across the world post 09^th May 2012.

Till then it is advised to have “Mandu with Avakaya Badda”, two times a day to avoid “Kevvu Keka”………………..Venkatesh B.

Gabbar Singh Festival Celebration

Jangareddygudem a town known for rapid economic growth in West Godavari Districts.  Contains 21 panchayats, and carries rare distinction of having huge tobacco board of India.  But why this place is referred here…..This town is celebrated an occasion in big video screens set up on the roads on the night of 15^th April 2012.

The occasion was not less than any traditional festival in Andhra Pradesh, i.e Audio release function of Power star Pawan Kalyan’s movie “Gabbar Singh”.  So many other villages in AP have celebrated this festival with great enthusiasm.

Rare feet for any film star in the world cinema. Take a bow for Mega Power. Unlike other cine industries, Tollywood is fuelled by emotions of the fans. Birthdays, anniversaries, even courtships are celebrated with cinema. No celebration is quite complete with out a cinema.

Long live Telugu Cinema….hats off to Telugu cine Fans…..Venkatesh

Racha...my view

His name contributed to the title and his charisma worked wonders for the movie. All the way Ram Charan.

The movie is not one of the intellectual movies but full plate Andhra meals for “Mega” Fans. From reel 1^st to 12^th name of mighty mega star has liberally been used, which worked in the favour of the movie.

Charan has come up with a stunning screen presence and of course with trade mark dances and stunts.  He is only three movies old and already in the big league with contemporary stars of his uncle Pavan Kalyan.  

It reminds me how Chiru planted his early roots post blockbuster “Khaidi”.  It is said that the core strategic team of trio “Chiru, Allu Arvind and Kodandarami Reddy (Director of ”Khaidi”), used to plan the movie mix for Chiru.

Coming back to Charan, he is arrived as Mass hero with “Racha” post brief hiatus of “Orange”, though it was a clean sensible movie. The movie hit the bulls eye with the success mantra of typical mass elements i.e songs, dances, stunts and glamour. If you talk about glamour “Tamanna” is luring through out the movie. Specially the legendary “Vana vana Velluvai”, she is notch above the original lady Vijaya Shanti, with those Shakira moves and wet saries. Her kitty is probably full with more masala movies, by this time, with this success.

The presence of Mani Sharma can be felt after a long time.   Highlight is the remix of “Vana Vana Velluvai” song and the back ground score. Album of the movie is average, but with the kind of picturisation the songs are more entertaining on screen.

A person needs special mention here is the director, Sampant Nandi.  A pharmacist by education has shown a maturity of veteran in handling the movie of masses. Cavity, Starch, caramine and Narcotine are perfectly blended to make this medicament full of adrenalin rush.  Kudos to him, the way he handled a story. Though the story line is run of the mill, the crisp screenplay and the multi layered revelation in the second half is praiseworthy. The supporting caste is up to their metal. Almost all the major comedians of Tollywood can update their CVs with this movie.

The collection horizon is safe till “Eega” by Rajamouli is released. Surely this Cherry movie is a cheer moment for RBS Choudury (the producer) and distributors. The mix of Telugu and Tamil caste is another positive sign for collections in other territories of Tamilnadu and Kerala.

Guys….if you are missing Mighty mega start, watch this movie. A mini Mega Power star is in the making. .....................Venkatesh.  

Friday Releases – 9^th Mar’12

Next in my series, where I express my opinion / expectation on the Friday releases as a movie goer.

Another week another set of movies to go for – 2 new movies releasing this week and 3 released last week.

I didn’t get a chance to watch last week’s three releases – Paan Singh Tomar, London Paris New York & Will you marry me – though I’ll try to watch Paan singh tomar over this weekend.

Now, coming to the current week’s releases – Kahani & Chaar Din ki Chaandni

Let’s first begin with Kahani

Kahani stars the lady of the moment – Vidya Balan – another ‘Khan” or ‘Lady Aamir Khan’ as she is being called after successive success of “Paa”, “Ishqiya” and most importantly “Dirty Picture”. For that matter she also is the latest National Award winner for the best actress, declared earlier during the day.

Movie seems to be a mystery thriller with Kolkata as a backdrop. Premise of the movie along with Vidya Balan makes the package interesting.

As far as the Director – Sujoy Ghosh – is concerned, he has had a mixed outing at box office so far. He arrived with a quirky “Jhankar Beats” but lost the plot with following “Home Delivery” & “Aladin”.

Let’s hope movie is actually as thrilling as the trailers are.

Second Release of the week – Chaar in Ki Chaandni

The premise of the movie has enough ingredients to create confusion amongst the family members of the protagonist and to turn into a fun family comedy.

But you can’t be certain as to what to expect considering the past track record of the people involved.

Samir Karnik has had a mixed bag with his earlier movies, while he started with a disastrous “Kyun ho gaya na” he salvaged a bit with “Heros” while “Vaada raha” & “Nanahe Jaisalmer” again went unnoticed, the breakthrough for him came in the form of “Yamla Pagla Deewana” but the first half of that movie too was little staggering in comparison to the whacky second half; that movie also benefited by the chemistry amongst ‘Deols’. So you can’t be sure how successful he would be with ‘Tushar’ and the able supporting cast of ‘Anupam Kher’, ‘Om Puri’, ‘Chandrachur Singh’, ‘Sushant Singh’ and ‘Anita Raaj’.

The leading actor ‘Tushar’ has not had a good solo run at the box office and is yet to prove his mettle in comedy outside the ‘Golmaal’ series (of course, if you discount a one off “Dhol”, which again was a multi-starrer).

So this movie may go either way – it may turn out to be a frothy family entertainer like “Yamla Pagla Deewana” or an average time pass, which can be very well watched on a dvd rather than venturing out in a theater….though I’ll try to keep you posted on which way it goes.

Till then… a very Happy Holi to everybody.

 Gagan

Disclaimer - Please refer to the earlier post under the heading of Introduction and Disclaimer.

Current week’s release – Ekk Deewana Tha.

It’s Gautam Vasudev Menon’s second hindi outing after Rehna hain tere dil mein, and is a remake of his own earlier versions - Ye Maaya Chesave (Telgu) &  Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (Tamil) – both with different endings and are considered classics in the respective original version.

I’ve seen the Telgu version twice (yes twice, with English subtitles), and was bowled over by it when I first saw it….am gonna watch the hindi version too (please don’t make faces, I told you movies are my meditation).

Movie is a love story with an uncomplicated story line and an old world charm to it. Telgu version worked pretty well for me, despite the fact that I’m not a big fan of romantic genre. The highlight of the movie was its innocence and the sparkling chemistry between the lead pair of Naga Chaitanya & Samantha.

Let’s see how well have they remade it in hindi.

The songs by AR Rahman have been playing on the satellite channels for some time, but like other AR Rahman music take time in picking up though the Hossana number has become reasonably popular.

I recently saw the talkie trailers of the movie which look good, but in my opinion should have been started airing little earlier.

Overall, considering the level of promotion and the box-office standing of Prateik, movie will depend on its content and word of mouth.

I hope makers have retained the feel, simplicity and innocence of the original…..am eager to watch it at the earliest.

 Gagan

Disclaimer - Please refer to the earlier post under the heading of Introduction and Disclaimer.

Friday Releases – 16^th Feb’12

Continuing with my series where I express my opinion / expectation on the Friday releases as a movie goer.

Let’s take a quick look at last week’s release – Ek main or Ekk tu.

I was (once again) bang on with my prediction.

Movie was a perfect date flick, released at the appropriate time around Valentine, which indeed added on to the business aspect of the movie.

Movie is not exactly a rom-com, it’s a mix between a rom-com and coming-of-age, but the fun quotient is maintained throughout the movie, through the witty dialogues, style of narrative and the comic timing of the principal cast.

It’s probably one of the best performances of Imran Khan, his comic timing is great and goes well with his poker faced dialogue delivery. In this movie he has acted differently than his past few rom-coms, in a mould he has been getting type cast. In Indian film’s the character underplaying the role usually gets overshadowed by the other vivacious lead, while here surprisingly Imran holds himself well enough, so much so that when the movie ends it’s his character you take along…which goes to Imran’s credit.

Like his contemporary Ranbir Kapoor, he may not have done a Rocket Singh – Salesman of the year, Wake up Sid or Rockstar, but this movie alongside the upcoming Vishal Bhardwaj’s Matru ki Bijli ka Mandola seems like a step in a right direction as far as variation in his characters/roles/movies go. Though he earlier tried to be different in Luck & Kidnap, an experiment which backfired due to reasons best left unsaid.

Kareena Kapoor plays the character in her usually bubbly self…which she’s best in. Her role is another version of Geet of Jab we met.

Baoman Irani and especially Ratna Pathak Shah, in her Sarabhai mould, add punch to the proceedings.

Credit should also go the debutant director – Shakun Batra – for his refreshing style of narration and for being adventurous enough to end a feel good movie in an unconventional way.

Music by Amit trivedi and lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya go perfectly well with the moods and flow of the movie.

And one thing, movie is certainly not a remake of - What happens in Vegas

Overall, it’s worth a dekko.