100 Crore Club Cinema

Now a days the discussion of the movie starts with budget right from the launch to post release. Nobody measures, whether the movie was good or average or anything else. It’s all about collections. Thanks to the web world where we instantly get the geographical share of the movies, which serve no purpose at all to the cinegoers, except for the argument among fan clubs.  Earlier trade pundits used to compare/predict the current movie range with past movies of the same Hero or Director or production house but presently the comparison is orange to apple, Prabhas vs NTR vs Mahesh vs Pawan Kalyan. I believe (with my limited knowledge), the whole hype around collection facilitates the producers to arrange the finances to launch/float and sell the forthcoming productions.

NTR’s last outing as Temper was highest grocer in his entire career so far, that does not prove this is the best product. We have seen his potential in Simhadri, Rakhi many more and Puri's in Idiot, Pokiri n Neninthe. Same way Loukyam & Pandaga Chesko, template movies declared hit in terms of collections but what about the movie content, except locations everything including dialogues was same from previous templates from writer duo.

Mahesh’s “1”, so far the best attempt at the thriller genre by a top league actor and director in the recent past. But then the debacle of the movie apparently forced Mahesh to stop experimenting and he pulled himself out of Maniratnam’s bilingual project with Nagarjuna.  This project is now underway with Karthi and Dulquer Salman, recent heartthrob of Molly & Kollywood.

The point here is we do not mind a good movie raking moolah, because end of the day, a hit movie makes the whole industry, starting from a light man to cinematographer, happy and works as a “Sacred Fig” for many small scale movies. But the issue is gauzing the movie quality by its Crore club achievement.

100 Crore or 100 Days, which the real yardstick! Discussion starts here….

...Venkaat!

Srimanthudu Trailer Tracks & Takeways...

…”Ye kannooo yepudu choodani Pustakamai veeru...

                   Chadivestunnaraa…..anandanga  okarini  inkokaru”…

 

Claps…Cheers and respect for DSP & Ramajogayya Shastri garu!

Guys time up, come out of the excitement, exhilaration and enthral canvas of magnanimous ‘Bahubali’. Time to turn heads toward our conventional wholesome family entertainers. Who else other than Mahesh is better to get us out of Bahubali mania, at this situation.

Bahubali is a blockbuster and claiming as many awards as it can around the globe. However, somewhere it lacked the EQ/Emotional Connect as Chatrapati and entertainment element like Magadheera. May be the reason, we are served with fully cooked half meal. Hope the Part II connects all these quotients of the beginning part and becomes a sumptuous meal, complete.

 Coming back to Koratala Shiva’s wholesome entertainer, DSP came up with fresh sound and voices for ‘Srimanthudu’. The tunes are hummable & singable and seem to have long shelf time, till couple of weeks post release, at least. The album will not blow you away like Arya, NVNV or Gabbarsingh but the way DSP used the voices & modulations, will definitely tempt you to listen the tracks back to back couple of times for sure, specially the track above (web link is below). I kept the tracks on repeat mode indefinately on spotify, for now. The best from DSP after Gabbar Singh.

 Ramajogayya Shastri garu’s lyrical values are great with simple & commercial words, carrying few threads of story, here and there. The USP of DSP is that, he still believes in lyrics and voice dominating the instruments. The whole album gives you a blurred conscious of previous sound tracks from Khaleja, Athadu and recent S/O Satyamurty. However, the whole package is fresh, catchy and contagious; the tunes will keep on resonating for couple of weeks to come, which is a great take off for a movie before its lands in theatres.

Kudos to Madhi for the promising visuals, the trailers are rich with colours and locations in the back drop with stunning Mahesh & gorgeous Shruti on the front.

Takeaways from Trailers, one….Get one Bi-cycle to sweat it out and to look cool…two…start thinking of paying back to the roots, where we belong to.

Great! Wishing the whole team a Dimma tirige hit!!!

 ...Venkaat!

Venkatesh...the Other perspective!

NTR and ANR were at their helm, when a new root crept up the wall to claim the throne and to become The Megastar for two decades. He is a self-made man who build the empire of mega clan from the scratch. The 75 year celebration of Telugu cinema was the dais for his exit from Tolly to Poli. After his exit, top league personalities started becoming the Chief guests of various Tollywood functions, though Megastar was regular at all Mega stages.  The calmest and most non-controversial among the big four is Venkatesh, who never seen talking or even promoting his own movies, till recent past.

However his recent elevation of himself onto the PR stage is heart-warming, the gem of them all was TANA speech, where he revealed his other side.  His diction was perfect, thoughts were crystals and ideology was curious over 15 minutes where he discussed about the inner happiness, another dimension of Daggupati family.  Ramanaidu garu was aggressive, ambitious and more risk propensity personality quite opposite to Suresh Babu, who is quite organised, risk averse and believes in the culture of “no double standards” in family structure. Industry hates him because his projects move at a snail’s pace but when you hear him; you would like to have him as an elder in the family.

The movies are powerful medium and protagonists are larger than real life heroes for Telugu people. Let them inspire the generations to take the path of enlightenment…  

...Venkaat!

Bahubali & Pushkaraalu Impact

It’s heartening to see the pouring revenue in months old Baby state, Andhra Pradesh, of late, through cinema and spiritual pilgrimage.  The Telugu habitants die for movies and visit Tirupati after birth. Celebration means cinema and pilgrimage means Tirupati, where most of per capita income is spent.

The Karma principle of “You get back something from whatever you've put into it. The value of something is the direct result of the energy and intent that is put into it”, seems working in Andhra. Bahubali is raking moolah, Tollywood has never seen before with a straight cut of almost 1/5^th into states treasury as entertainment tax and on the other side Godavari Pushkaraalu fuming the vicious circle of economy, from small street vendors to state run transport.  These are first few drops of monsoon on the barren economy of baby AP.

The state bifurcation has been a classical example of national and regional political Fiasco. The political migrations have preceded the distribution of revenues, assets and manpower between the states. One CM is basking in the glory of lifetime achievement; the other administrator is struggling to live up to the towering expectations as high as Cyber city, amidst corruption, law and order and administrative hassles. The future is equally exciting with what next task for political outfits like Jana Sena and Loksatta; the only two appear to be honest at this moment.

Coming back to economic front, hope and pray for more extravagant revenue streams as magnanimous as Bahubali and as large as Godari to build a new shelter for baby AP as beautiful as Mahishmati!

   ...Venkaat!