Category: Movie Reviews

Before it is taken off theaters due to elections, I ventured out to watch the “Lion Roar”. And roar he did. I’ve never been a far of Balakrishna, and mostly find it disgusting when he romances girls younger than his daughters. But if I choose to ignore that, Legend is actually a decent film.

Boyapati Srinu likes his movies being grand, and he made sure this film is no less. He knows the pulse of the masses and Balayya’s strengths, and therefore was able to pull off a loud yet watchable movie. Direction is neat, and I thought the screenplay was very good. However, the second half could have been short and crisp. Dialogues by M. Ratnam are a definite plus point to the film.

On acting front, Balakrishna is perfect as Jai Dev. Except for the fact that he wears his watch over his shirt sleeve, there’s no false note in his acting. However, he either needs to stop romancing young girls, or lose tons of weight to make sure that he doesn’t look like their dad. Both Radhika Apte and Sonal Chauhan are decent, while the rest are alright. The ‘Nanamma’ character could have been cast better though. Though its Balayya’s movie, the undoubted star turns out to be Jagapathi Babu. His antics and body language as the antagonist are just brilliant. Big thanks to Srinu for showcasing this side of Jagapathi Babu.

On technical front, while music by Devi Sri Prasad is mediocre, editing is neat and cinematography is pretty good. Production values are excellent, for the richness of the sets and locations could be seen on-screen.

Is it worth your time and money??: If you can sit through loud movies, and can stand Balayya, then yes. The first half is entertaining and short, while the second half is full of violence and at times, a drag. Plus points are brilliant acting by Jagapathi Babu and strong dialogues. Overall, a decent film.

Worth mention: Balayya’s dialogue targeting Chiranjeevi in the climax.

Acting: 7.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 7/10
Technical Aspects: 8.5/10

Verdict: 7/10

Right from the word go, I was cursing myself for coming to watch this movie. The family sentiment seemed contrived, acting too loud, romance illogical, and the list goes on. But surprisingly, after almost 3 hours, I left the theater satisfied (how is that even possible?).

Scripted and directed by Surender Reddy, Race Gurram starts off just like any other commercial Telugu movie, with phony sequences and loud acting. Entire first half continues on the same path, where it is established that our hero, Lucky has irreparable issues with his cop brother, Ram. The reasons for this hatred between them seemed so stupid that even their parents can’t help. While these guys are fighting, in comes our (can’t even lip sync) villain, who wishes to kill Ram. And the rest of the story, or second half, is about how Lucky gets involved in between. Luckily for us, this is when the movie gets interesting. While the first half seemed dull with mediocre screenplay, Surender manages to pull half the later half exceedingly well. The overall direction though could have been much better.

On acting front, it’s more or less a cake walk for Arjun. His body language is superb, and he performs with ease. In my opinion, he is talented to take up further challenging roles than the ones he’s essaying at the moment. Shruthi looks gorgeous in her “heroine” appearance (a couple of scenes and all songs). Shaam seemed alright while Ravi Kishan was over the moon loud, and irritating to an extent. The fact that there is no lip sync for both these characters even in close up shots was sad. The rest of the casting is alright, but acting wise, everyone was below par. Nevertheless, one man, in his brief appearance towards the climax, makes you forget the mediocre acting and every loophole thus far in the film. Brahmi a.k.a Kill Bill Pandey, take a bow! After a long long time, it was great to watch Brahmanandam in a strong role. He is absolutely entertaining.

Though almost every songs barges in for no reason, music by Thaman is pretty neat. I liked ‘Cinema Choopista’ and ‘Down Down Duppa’, the latter especially for the choreography and picturization. Background score was decent. Editing by Gowtham Raju is alright, while cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa is of top-notch quality. Production values are excellent.

Is it worth your time and money??: If it weren’t for Kill Bill Pandey, I probably would have said NO. Except for Arjun, I thought everyone else including the senior actors acted miserably. Add to that the pretentious characterizations. Nevertheless, the screenplay in the second half, Bunny’s strong screen presence and Bramhi come to the rescue, and you walk out of the theater satisfied (like I did). So just for that, you can give it a watch.

Worth mention: Every frame with Kill Bill Pandey!

Acting: 6.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 6/10
Technical Aspects: 8.5/10

Verdict: 7/10

Though I’ve watched some really good movies in the recent past (American Hustle and Wolf of Wall Street to name a couple), I haven’t felt inclined to write a review, mostly because enough has already been said about these movies. But after watching 1: Nenokkadine, I feel compelled to write one.

Having read some mixed reviews about the movie, I was eagerly waiting to watch it to judge it myself. It finally released in Singapore a week later after it did in India, and spending as much as I would for an IMAX movie ($20), here I was in a packed auditorium on a Sunday evening.

Scripted and directed by Sukumar, 1: Nenokkadine is a sigh of relief from the regular commercial Telugu movies coming out lately (where Brahmanandam gets slapped for no reason). The unique concept was very well conceived by Sukumar, and Mahesh Babu did a tremendous job to pull it off. The first half of the movie is really gripping (especially the first fight, and few of the Goa episodes). However, the lack of effective screenplay pulls down the movie in the second half. Though the direction is neat, the screenplay which is great in parts, could have been way better. The length (close to 3 hours) also doesn’t help viewers sustain interest for this genre. Nevertheless, the twists were good, and Sukumar did a good job to explain most without leaving any loose end (But for the hero getting away with multiple murders in a foreign land).

On the acting front, it’s more or less a cakewalk for Mahesh. He looked great, and was amazingly good in the imaginative episodes. His dances definitely need a mention. It was good to see the heroine get a full length role. Newcomer Kriti Sanon looked gorgeous and did a decent job. Posani was a little irritating with his fake Punjabi accent and “Dudu”. The rest of the cast was alright.

Music by DSP is more or less mediocre, but the background score is pretty good (and haunting). Cinematography by Rathnavelu is of top-notch quality. However, just like the screenplay, editing work by Karthika Srinivas is another negative. As already mentioned, films of such genre need to be short and crisp, and this is where 1: Nenokkadine loses out.

Is it worth your time and money??: As you must have already read, this is not a film for everyone. It’s a thriller with pretty good twists and turns, and some great acting from Mahesh. On the flip side, the ineffective screenplay and the run time make the film lose steam. Nevertheless, 1: Nenokkadine is a good watch. If you appreciate different genres, I’d suggest you watch this one.

Acting: 8.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 7/10
Technical Aspects: 8/10

Verdict: 8/10