Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Srihari, Rajasekhar's Poru started

Srihari's Poru in the direction of Amma Rajasekhar is started today with much fanfare at Savela Function Hall in Yusufguda on Friday. Congress MP Mukesh Gowd gave the clap while Bhogavalli Prasad switched on the camera. First shot was pictured on Srihari as he was saying 'nannu namminavallevvaru mosapolede.. nammaka mosapoyaru.. thammudu.. nuvvu nannu nammavu.. antha manche jaruguthundi'.

Talking about the film, Srihari said that the director did lot of home work. 'Photo session itself is done in a novel way. He has a good understanding of the film making. I am sure this will stand as a milestone in my career. Regular shooting of the film will start in September', said Srihari.

Director Rajasekhar said that the film is about sympathy war. 'What war and sympathy on who should be seen on the screen. Srihari will appear in three getups. This is an emotional movie. I worked on 2 years for the script. Srinivas Yadav, producer of Bheebatsam, is producing the film', said Rajasekhar.

Mani Sharma composed music and Bharani will handle camera. Ghilli Rajasekhar is roped in for fights.

Salute Movie Review

Vishal, Nayana Tara starring Salute, directed by Rajasekhar and produced by Vikram Krishna, does not stand up to the expectations. The trailors and promo assure a good movie but the film turns out to be filled with illogical sequences, unnecessary songs and half a dozen fights. Most disappointing factor in the film is how there is no link between scenes.

Satyam (Vishal) is a sincere police office who goes by the book. Law is above all for him. He handles a case of three murders of political leaders. He is astonished to know that the murderer is none other than his role model ex-cop Pratap Rudra (Upendra). Pratap Rudra challenges that he is doing the role of cops while Cops are sticking to the books. Satyam experiences a bad taste after arresting the goons and they walk out free. Does Satyam still stand by the law and book or does he take the law into his hands to eradicate the evil?

Vishal is perfect in his role. His physique gave him all the more macho look. His body language, styles etc aptly suited his role. Nayana Tara is pretty much restricted to songs. Even though she had plenty of scenes, none of them really contribute. Mayuri Sudha played mother to Vishal. She did not have much scope either. Ravi Kale is good in the negative role. Ali, Brahmanandam, jeeva, Thanikella Bharani, Hema and others are content in their roles. But the highlight is Upendra, who did a good job as ex-cop. the scenes between Upendra and vishal came out very well.

This is the first film for debut director Rajasekhar. Even though story is old, the point brought in is good. However, screenplay is not tight. To fill up the gap, several unnecessary and unrelated scenes are added. Also, songs pop at the wrong time. First half of the film tests the patience. Second half turns decent after the entry of Upendra. When the film falls into a serious track, hero remembers heroine and pops a song. The songs are not that great to watch either.

Music and background done by Harris Jayraj are content. Shashank Vennelakanti's dialogs are typical translations. Dialogs like Demudu chattam okkate.. demudu chachipodu.. chattam chachipodu is just an example. Cinematography by R.D.Rajasekhar is good. Editing by Anthony could have been better. Actions scenes composed by Stunt Siva are good. In fact, he should be appreciated for bringing in some novelty in every fight. Because the film is filled with fights, if they did not impress, the film would have turned out a squib. Production values are good and the feel is seen on the screen.

Overall, Salute might be a big film so far for Vishal but might not impress the audience. Vishal, Nayana Tara glamor, fights and second half are good.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Sowryam title for Gopichand's film

Bhavya Creations film starring Gopichand and Anushka is titled Souryam. Cinematographer Siva is making debut as director while Anand Prasad is the producer. The character is tailor made for Gopichand and will surely be loved by his fans, said the makers. Talking about the film, Gopichand said that the film will be on the lines of his previous hit films Ranam, Yagnam, Andhrudu , Lakshyam etc. Mani Sharma composed music for this film. 3 songs are left in balance to be pictured. Makers are planning to release the film in September.

5 Lakh award to survive Phoonk alone

Ramgopal Varma, who is never tired in making probable spinechillers, is gearing up with his Phoonk and he is here in Hyderabad to promote his film. He talked to the press at PVR Cinema on Sunday. Taking questions from media, he compared his attempts of making scary movies to that of Vikram Bethal. 'Bethal will climb the tree when he is satisfied', said Ramgopal Varma.

He confesses that he was heavily inspired by Yendamuri's Tulasidalam which he read during his college days. 'Phoonk is loosely based on the novel but the treatment is different. The narration revolves around one girl. What I tried to show is the fight between belief and non-belief, science and faith. I am not endorsing that one should believe it or not. It is just a film. It is up to the audience to decide if they want to go for it or not', said Ramgopal Varma.

The producer of the film, Azam Khan, announced 5 lakhs remuneration for any one who can dare to watch the film alone and survive through it. 'That is all part of the promotion', says Ramgopal Varma. The film is shaping up to release on 22nd of the month in Hindi.

Pooja held for Arya-2 launch

It is already known that Aditya Arts production banner is planning Arya-2 in the combination of Allu Arjun and Sukumar. Pooja ceremony was held for the film on Friday at Vinayaka temple in Ramanaidu studios. Ramcharan Teja, Allu Aravind, Dhil Raju, K.L.Narayana attended the event. Bhogavalli Prasad presents the film while Aditya Babu is the producer. Kajal is the heroine in the film while Navadeep plays a special role.

Rajnikant gets ready to shoot Robot

Tamil superstar Rajnikant is likely to leave for the US shortly to join the US-based production team of his Rs.1.5 billion (approximately $35.5 million) venture "Robot", said publicists.
"Robot" will be a sci-fi movie and stars Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai in the female lead. She has already reported for the photo-shoot schedule. It is being directed by Shankar whose last offering with Rajnikant "Sivaji - The Boss" broke all box-office records, publicists added.
The movie will be simultaneously produced in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and two other Indian languages besides being later dubbed into English, Japanese and Malay. After Rajnikant agrees to the final script, shooting will commence from August 15.
The extravaganza is being jointly produced by London-based Ayngaran International and Eros Entertainment, said a statement.
While Rajnikant's "Kuselan" is schedule for July 31 release, he has almost completed his daughter Saundarya's Ocher Studios' Rs.2 billion (approximately $50 million) animated production which has live shots of the superstar.

Kathanayakudu Movie Review

Kadhanayakudu is based on Malayalam hit film Katha Parayambol. Even though the film released with good hype with associated entities – Rajani Kanth, P.Vasu, Aswini Dutt, Jagapati Babu; the film ends up as one of the several films that dealt with friendship. That is all can be said about the film. Friendship is a fresh subject anytime. What went wrong is the kind of screenplay and non-related sequences. Narration is what disappoints in this film.

Balu (Jagapati Babu) runs a hair salon. He is married to Sridevi (Meena) and has 2 kids. With his outdated equipment and salon, Balu has a tough time making the ends meet. To that extent, even his assistant Kanta Rao (Sunil) opens a modern salon next to his and that makes his life all the more difficult. That is when the story takes a turn with superstar Ashok Kumar (Rajani Kanth) entering the town for shooting of a film. The entire village knows that Ashok Kumar is childhood friend of Balu. The villagers start pestering Balu to see Ashok Kumar once. Balu, shy by nature, is hesitant to go to Ashok Kumar fearing rejection. This brings lot of troubles in his life to the extent that even his kids insult him. So did Balu finally go and see Ashok Kumar? Did Ashok Kumar realize who Balu is? See it on the screen.

Rajani Kanth is as usual in his role. There is nothing new that one can write about a proven actor and star. However, it is worth mentioned that Rajani Kanth is excellent in the final 20 minutes of the film. Jagapati babu is impressive in his role. Meena, who came in a noted film after a gap, is very impressive and will score big. Nayana Tara is limited to songs. In fact, she has only two dialogs in the entire film. One dialog she utters through out is ‘Hello Sir Good Morning’ and the second dialog is a dialog on film sets.

Prabhu, Nilagal Ravi, Vijay Chander got limited scope to do. Sunil’s character overdoes the comedy part. Dharmavarapu, Ali, Brahmanandam, Duvvasi Kohan etc are in the cast but comedy is not impressive. Mamata Mohandas appears in a miniscule role.

In the cast, there are only four characters well established or the story revolves around. The rest are all dummy characters.

Srinivasan gave the story. Even though the story is old, there is always a freshness attached with the friendship element. the issue comes with the screenplay and narration. They disappoint. No novelty in scenes or sequences, comedy that falls flat, predictable narration pull down the film. In fact, some scenes are confusing. Songs pop up randomly. Even taking wise, there is no freshness. Even though P.Vasu and Rajani Kanth go with a great track record, P.Vasu could not deliver the same in this film.

If there is anything to talk about in the film, it is the last 20 minutes of the film that is very touching. Even though it is predictable ending, it is narrated with balanced composition.

Music by G.V.Prakash is content. There is a shade of Enigma in the background score. Editing could have been crisp. Cinematography by Aravind Krishnan is very good. Dialogs by Marudhuri Raja are good but very good in some sequences.

Overall, the film might disappoint those who expect a Rajani style film.