Apocryphal Stories !!!

  I am writing this after Shahrukh Khan came out of the box-office rut with a movie called “Pathaan”. I am writing this about a movie that contributed to the box-office rut; Jab Harry met Sejal.   What can you say about the movie that’s unsaid? It’s an Imtiaz Ali movie. It will showcase travel. It will have the protagonists mouthing philosophical dialogues about love, life and relationships. It will have the protagonists “finding themselves” during the journey.   Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma put in earnest efforts in the movie, but the movie lets them down. While I was watching the movie, the person next to me (who wasn’t even watching) asked if Anushka Sharma was playing a Gujarati in the movie. That in my eyes is Anushka Sharma nailing her bit.   The problem with the movie isn’t the premise but how the director deviates from the premise often. While it may be deliberate, it does seem that the director wants to leave his “signature”. At times, the mo...

Why waste dialogues when a few visuals can convey them? Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum sets the tone early in the movie when they show a tribe getting displaced because of mining activities in the region Why waste dialogues on an actor, when his eyes can do the trick for you? LB Sriram, often an underrated actor has but a few dialogues in the movie. He is always digging and storing away soil for future use. He says, “Thindi lekapoina parvaledhu, mattini adigithe peduthundhi. Matti-e lekapothe? “ (We can always depend on the soil for food (agriculture), but what if there isn’t soil available?” Dialogues in the movie are the lifeline. It helps that the diction of Rana is top notch in the movie. Early in the movie, when the credits are rolling, a couple sitting on the porch say, “Nyayam, annayam lo Annyayam chelltuthundhi, endhukante annyayam lo oka aksharam hechhu ga” (When it comes to justice and injustice, it’s injustice that always prevails because it has more alphabets) ...

The problem with genres in Telugu cinema is that there exists a template for every genre. The same is true for the so-called ‘Fantasy’ or ‘Socio-fantasy’ genre too. The premise for these movies is established in the beginning and the audience are all waiting for the good to prevail over the evil. Dhamarukam, a movie that has faced problems from the time the makers announced a release date. After postponements and public humour, the movie’s prints did turn up at the theatres today. The ticket counter people themselves were perplexed at the multiple postponements. In fact, yesterday when I asked them as to why the internet booking wasn’t opened for the movie, they replied saying they weren’t sure if the prints would come. Once you get to see the movie, you would be surprised that the amount purported to have spent on the movie was actually spent. The CG work on the movie is nothing to write home about. What makes you sit through the movie is dashing Nagarjuna. The directo...

When asked his opinion on Monty Panesar, the legendary leg spinner, Shane Warne said “Monty hasn’t played 33 Tests, he has played the same Test 33 times.” Hilarious, it surely was, but it also tells us that the lack of variety can never go unnoticed. Puri Jagannadh is also treading the same path as Monty Panesar now. His movies have become monotonous. No two ways about it. Protagonist leading a normal life, rises in staure, opposes authority and finally, gets his way. This has been the standard flow in the majority of his movies. A more recent addition is the way they talk to/about women. In spite of all these blemishes, there are moments of brilliance in the movie, depending on your perspective that is. The scene where Pawan Kalyan confronts Prakash Raj on his knowledge about Telugu Thalli and the scene where he explains to Tamannah that every man is a poet in his own right are pointers to a brilliant dialogue writer hidden in the reckless director that we have come to k...

Ravi Teja must be in a huge quandary right now. Once acclaimed as a minimum guarantee hero, he is craving for a minimum guarantee movie now. With Mirpakaya it seemed as if he had reached a level of stardom. Pity then, it has been all downhill after the hit of Mirpakaya The movie in question, Devudu Chesina Manushulu, has nothing to satiate an average viewer. Nothing at all. For a Ravi Teja fan like me, it is a different matter altogether. I can watch the crappiest of films that he has a role in and not complain. So looking for complaints from me on this movie would be futile. *This is a rant, you can progress to the next Para and wouldn’t have missed anything* In December 2008, Neninthe released and was blasted back from the screens because it criticised certain sections of media crudely. There wasn’t a single review that had good words for the movie. Today, as I couldn’t see the movie FDFS, I did check in to find a few reviews. I wasn’t surprised by what Deepa Garimella...

There are directors who know the mass pulse and can set the cash registers ringing. There are directors who can make the best of wooden faces act. There are directors who feel that it’s their job to make movies and make it the way they like it, regardless of the mass sensibilities. There are directors who mould their working style to the strengths of the actor, thereby bringing the latent talents to the fore. Trivikram Srinivas belongs to the last class of the directors Allu Arjun, for most of us, is known as an actor whose strength doesn’t lie in reciting pages of dialogues. It still isn’t. Trivikram comes into the picture here, as he doesn’t expose this particular weakness by giving him short dialogues and crispy one’s at that. Trivikram’s movies have all got similar ingredients- dialogues, romantic track of the hero with a weak female protagonist and a patriarchal character. From Jalsa on, he has had one more thing added to the list- comical performances by the protagon...

In the making for nearly two and a half years, Eega has a lot of box office hopes riding on it. Not because of the subject, not because of the script, not because of the actors, not because of the producers, but for the fact that it is directed by SS Rajamouli. It is because of his track record that there are a lot of expectations of riding on it. With not a star in the cast, it was a huge gamble to invest 30 crores on the movie. The money invested shows, as the CG work in the movie is something that has never been seen in a Telugu movie. What keeps the audience glued to the movie? They lay in wait for the housefly, and when it does come they want to see what made Rajamouli believe in this all through. The thing that made him postpone the release a few times. The effort is there for all to see. It is said that the barometer of a good actor is his/her performance in the close-up shots. The protagonist in the movie, Eega, has only close-up shots and the credit for it...

Are you a person who likes to go back into the past, to know why the present is so? Are you a person who wants to know how Bollywood movies are inspired from the one’s made in the southern part of India? Anurag Kashyap, in an interview mentioned that the genesis for ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ lay in a few Tamil movies he saw when he was in Chennai, the reason for him crediting the ‘Madurai Triumvirate’ of Bala, Ameer, and Sasikumar. The movie set in Wasseypur, talks about the rise of a selfish capitalist, and the exploitation of workers. The movie also talks about the Qureishi-Pathan clash in the town and how the capitalist uses the situation to his advantage. The magic of the movie is in the characterisation, rather than the story line. For instance, Richa Chaddha needn’t have such a lengthy role, but portraying her as a strong and a forgiving lady adds to the character of Manoj Bajpayee The movie, undoubtedly, belongs to Manoj Bajpayee. Every single scene that he is in, is...

When I heard the songs of Yendukante Premanta, I wanted to see the movie for one song- Nee Choopule. I learned later that it was a source of huge relief to see it in the initial frames itself. Job done, I sat through the movie and couldn’t find a single thing I would remember after two days, bar the song The initial scenes set the tone for the narrative. A narrative that refuses to move, and be linear. Karunakaran has a set pattern for his narrative. A motherless heroine, good in character, focussed, and morally on a higher plane. The goalless hero, whose life takes a turn after he meets the heroine and pining with unrequited love. And before we forget, the hero has a strict father (not in darling) who is made to look comical So the story has nothing new to offer, but for a twist(!) in the tale. The twist here is, that everything is going to be good at the end and that’s announced about fifty minutes into the movie. Well, it is that sort of a movie. Every movie, especially...

The first movie of Ravi Teja that I was impressed by was Avunnu Vallu iddaru Ishtapadaru. This was one of the first movies that I saw in my graduation days at Vizag. Strolling close to Jyothi theatre, in pursuit of Indra’s tickets, my eye chanced upon a poster of the movie ‘Idiot’. My brain registered it as a movie that would be adulterous. The poster was such that it created intrigue in many minds. It had the protagonist digging his head into the bosom of the heroine. I decided that I wouldn’t watch the movie, not that I was decent or anything, but I didn’t have enough money to splurge. I was also of the opinion that bar that scene, there wouldn’t be anything to look forward to in the movie. When I returned home for vacations, my father said that Idiot had the protagonist in a ‘different’ role. Still sceptical, I bought home a CD and admired the acting of the protagonist. I saw a few weeks ago in a diametrically opposite role and admired the acting potential. Little did I i...