Puss in Boots | Movie Review

 

Its a story about how Puss turned out to be Puss, far before he met Shrek. Its a pretty decent watch, nothing as great as Shrek. Its got its own twist and turns, but the story lacks the punch. The animation was spot on, 3D effects not so great (definitely not an IMAX film).

Bottom line, its an average movie which will make you laugh, but doesnt leave you spellbound. Watch it at your leisure.
 
Verdict: 7/10

The Dirty Picture | Movie Review

The Dirty Picture

Plot 
The Dirty Picture tells the story of Reshma (Vidya Balan), a small town girl who wants to make it big in films. She runs away from her house to Chennai a day before her wedding. She tries to get a supporting role in a movie but is insulted for her looks and is rejected. She somehow manages to get the role of an erotic dancer at a later stage. Her act goes viral and she is christened ‘Silk’ by producer SelvaGanesh (Rajesh Sharma). She continues to act in sleazy film and achieves fame envied by her counterparts. The rest of the story is about how she handles the criticism and responds to it.

Artists Performance
Oh Vidya Balan, you have stumped me!
It’s an out-and-out Vidya Balan film and she oozes out oomph factor in each and every frame. She should be really appreciated for taking up such a role, shedding all her inhibitions. She looks dusky and really good during the first half of the film, and then puts on flab like crazy for the second half (I know how difficult it is to lose those tummy tires, god knows how she managed to lose it so soon). She was absolutely brilliant, and is sure to bag all the awards for best actress in 2012.

Naseeruddin Shah is excellent in the role of the elderly actor who sleeps around with all his female co-stars. I cant imagine anyone else doing a better job. Its one of the best roles Tusshar Kapoor could have got, and he doesn’t disappoint. He looked idiotic in his costumes, but he does justice to the role. Emraan Hashmi has limited presence in the film, and portrays a character very different from his usual genre. He was very good as well. Rajesh Sharma (SelvaGanesh) was excellent as the director. Rest of the cast was alright.
 
Story-Screenplay-Direction
It is very difficult to make a film based on the life of an actress who committed suicide (Silk Smitha). But writer Rajat Aroraa (story, dialogues and screenplay) comes up with a very good script without going too deep into details on Silk’s personal life. The plot of the film is something similar to that of Kalki Koechlin role in Dev.D – people want and watch girls in skimpy clothes doing sleazy dances on-screen, but then insult the same girls and label them as sex-sirens off screen. The story revolves around how Silk handles this situation, and how she gives in into it towards the end. Though well written, the story tends to lose steam towards the second half of the movie. Dialogues are brilliantly written and act as the second lead in the movie. Screenplay could have been more effective towards the climax. Direction by Milan Luthria is good. He’s certainly improved on his directorial skills since Taxi 9211.
 
Other Departments
Music by Vishal-Shekhar is alright. Audiance were going nuts for “Ooh La La”. Background score is good. The south-Indian track “Naka Muka” is very effective as the BG. Cinematography by is pretty good and editing by Akiv Ali is decent. Production values by Balaji Telefilms are very good. They did a very good job recreating the 80’s.
 
Analysis
As already mentioned, it’s a Vidya Balan’s film. If it weren’t for her, this film would have been crap. She has portrayed the best role of her career so far. Brilliant dialogues, superb acting by Vidya and Naseeruddin Shah, effective background score, and the oomph factor are the plus points of the film. On the flip side, since its based of a true story, it might/will bore you. It’s not a great film by any means, and even I found it boring at times, but Vidya made sure that I walked out of the theater satisfied.
 
To quote Vidya, ‘Filme sirf teen cheeso ke vaaje se chalti hain – entertainment, entertainment, entertainment.’ She definitely was Entertainment!!
 

Verdict: 7/10  + 1 for Vidya 🙂

Desi Boyz | Movie Review

Plot
Jerry (Akshay Kumar) and Nick (John Abraham) are two friends living in London. Both of them lose their jobs during recession period. Unable to find anything else, they end up working as male escorts with ‘Desi Boyz’ as Rocco and Hunter. Nick’s fiancee Radhika (Deepika Padukone) soon finds out about his job and dumps him, and Jerry loses custody of his nephew to a foster home. Rest of the story is about how Jerry and Nick accept responsibility and find better jobs.

Artists Performance
After delivering series of flops for the last 3 years, I don’t know what better I was expecting from Akshay Kumar’s movie (other than the loud cheap comedy and double meaning dialogues that is). On the scale of pathetic acting, he scores a perfect 10. He’s a 44-year-old guy, why doesn’t someone tell him that he should start acting in sensible movies now at least. He’s a good actor, but I don’t understand why he’s wasting his talent by acting in such second grade movies.

John Abraham scores even better than Akshay, for he cant even act. As in Force, his body looked a little too beefed up. He seriously needs to go train at an acting school before it’s too late. Deepika is alright as Radhika, but even she needs to find better scripts to work on. Chitrangda Singh had no major role, and looked horrible in the film. Anupam Kher and Omi Vaidya are wasted. The kid couldn’t act for nuts. Rest of the cast was mediocre.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
David Dhawan was very famous for his cheap comedy, but his movies did make sense even if they were too loud. But his son, Rohit Dhawan (story, screenplay and direction) seems to have forgotten to use his brain while scripting and filming this movie. The story made no absolute sense. The best part is that Jerry doesn’t lose his job because of recession, but because of his careless attitude. But then, he’s good enough to become male escort. Nick joins him because he doesn’t want to leave his friend alone (I have tears in my eyes). I don’t wanna talk of rest of the movie, cos it will take forever for me to finish. To nail the coffin, direction is pathetic. Forget John, he couldn’t even make the kid act. Screenplay was mediocre.

Other Departments
Barring two songs (Desi Boyz and Hero), music by Pritam is nothing great. I liked ‘Hero’ song quite a bit. Background score by Sandeep Shirodkar is alright. Cinematography by Natarajan Subramaniam is pretty decent. With so many films being shot in London, he dint have anything new to capture. Editing by Nitin Rokade was alright. Production values could have been much better, for the sets used in the film are worse then the ones used in 1950’s (a very bad painting of a skyscraper at the window is supposed to make us believe that the courtroom is in London).

Analysis
Unless you are jobless like me, or unless you have a thing for cheap senseless humor, please avoid this film at all costs. It’s an absolute waste of money. The story is pathetic, direction worse, and acting mediocre. I wish Akshay Kumar would stop acting in such ‘ghatiya’ movies.

If you want to watch this film even after reading this review, go watch this film with a group of close buddies so as to have a laugh at least.

Verdict: 4.5/10

Rockstar | Movie Review

Spoiler Alert!!

Plot 
Rockstar Janardhan Jakhar/JJ/Jordan (Ranbir Kapoor), a middle class Haryanvi guy is a wannabe Jim Morrison. His college canteen owner, Khatana bhai (Kumud Mishra) philosophizes that a person needs a heart break to create awesome music. Going by this, JJ tries to woo the heart-breaking chick of the college, Heer (Nargis Fakhri). After a series of comic episodes, they become very good friends, and JJ helps organize Heer’s wedding. The rest of the story is about how JJ and Heer realize their love for each other, and how the heartbreak makes JJ a Rockstar!

Artists Performance
Ranbir Kapoor is fantabulous in the lead role. Its clearly visible that he had put in a lot of effort into this character. He has about five different get ups in the movie, and he carried all of them with ease. The only problem was his characterization (Il get into that later). Nargis Fakhri is a good find and looks really beautiful (though I thought that she looked very very lean). On acting front, she ain’t that great. It looked like she tried to imitate a number of actresses through the film. She’s definitely got talent which can be probably be put to use in better films. Shammi Kapoor has a very small role, and was good. Kumud Mishra is excellent as JJ’s manager. Aditi Rao Hydari was good as the journalist, who later becomes JJ’s ***. The rest of the cast was relatively new, and alright.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
Boy oh boy, where do I even start?? After roaring success of Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal, director Imtiaz Ali seems to have lost his head. With Rahman to support him on music front, all he could churn out was a pathetic story; a married woman suffering from cancer, who cant even stand on her feet, sleeps with the lead actor, gets pregnant, and then slips into coma. And this forms the core story around which our loser becomes a Rockstar. Seriously dude, WTH?? I don’t even want to get into rest of the details. The first five minutes of the film had brilliant screenplay and so I was hoping for one hell of a film. Even the first half of the film actually turned out to be good. But post interval, everything went down the drain. The guy sitting in the next seat kept repeatedly asking his friend “Why is he doing this???”. We all need an answer Imtiaz!.

Being titled Rockstar, there is nothing rocking about the script. All the characters were very badly scripted, worst being Jordan. This guy seriously doesn’t know what he wants. He initially cant even pronounce Prague properly, but then becomes perfect at everything. He is supposed to be in love with Heer, but is more than happy to kiss and play around with other girls. There was absolutely no conflict point in the movie for Jordan to actually go through pain, cos Heer is more than willing to sleep with him (forget constantly kissing him backstage, while her husband is sitting in the front row). The most disappointing part was the lead up to ‘Sadda Haq’.

Imtiaz was able to get awesome performance from Ranbir, and even from Nargis in parts, but with such a weak, draggy script, Rockstar/Imtiaz disappoints!!

Other Departments
The pre Slumdog Millionaire Rahman is back, and he absolutely mesmerizes us with his music (though it aint exactly Rock music). The background score is very good as well. I loved the way he mixed the tracks for the bg. I was disappointed on the fact that my favorite song ‘Sheher Main’ was missing in the film. Lyrics by Irshad Kamil are a lil too complicated to figure put, but good. Cinematography by Anil Mehta is excellent, but most of the shots in Himachal looked similar to the ones in Jab We Met. Editing by Aarti Bajaj is pathetic. The story itself was such a drag, and on top of it, there are like ‘n’ number of scenes which could have made the cut but dint. Production values by Eros and Ashtavinayak are excellent.

Analysis
I’ve been waiting for this film for a long time now, and was really hoping that it would do well. But alas, it competes with Ra.One on the level of stupidity (actually, ignore that, nothing can ever be compared to Ra.One). As mentioned, the first of the film is pretty decent and promises a good film, but the interval bang and post interval episodes are pathetic. I really couldn’t understand why Heer would sleep with Jordan in the first place, and then scream her lungs out after everything was done. And this leads to ‘Sadda Haq’ (listen to it lyrics, then you’ll  probably understand why I keep saying that). The audience started clapping when Heer slips into a coma, which proves how good the movie was. And later when she steps onto the stage for ‘Tum Ho’, followed by the end credits, I could hear at least ten people scream ‘What the …’.

So that basically sums up my Rockstar experience. I got out of the theatre with a nice head ache. Except for the music, this film doesn’t even deserve a one time watch.

Verdict: 5/10

PS: Go get a DVD of a Telugu movie ‘Prema’ which runs on a pretty similar but much better story line instead of watching this!!

The Adventures of Tintin – TSOU | Movie Review

Plot 
Tintin (Jamie Bell), a young journalist, happens to buy a model ship named Unicorn. Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (Daniel Craig) tries to buy the model from Tintin, but fails. The model is stolen from Tintin’s possession, and he soon discovers that there’s more than meets the eye. He goes on about an adventure trying to solve the puzzle, and meets Captain Archibald Haddock (Andy Serkis) through his journey. The rest of the story is about how they solve the mystery together, and discover the lost treasure of the Unicorn.

Artists Performance
Honestly, it was quite difficult for me to judge the artists performance, as it was motion/performance capture film. It was also hard to imagine most actors in their respective roles. Jamie Bell was alright in the lead role. Andy Serkis was brilliant as Capt’n Haddock. His comic timing was superb. Daniel Craig was good as the sinister. He was the most difficult one to imagine (James Bond playing a negative role!!). The true star of the movie though was Snowy. He was a brilliantly created traditionally animated character.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
Based on three of Herge’s original comic books (The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure), screenplay by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish was very well written. Ive never read the comics myself, but do remember watching the cartoons as a kid, and I thought these guys did a pretty good job of combining the three to write an effective screenplay. I did feel that it was a little too long at times, but with a running time of 107 minutes, it actually wasn’t. Direction by Steven Spielberg was again very difficult to judge. Id say that he did a pretty good job. I thought a couple of scenes in the movie were brilliantly shot: the one where Haddocks recalls the story of the Unicorn (running in parallel to reality), and the scenes after Haddock  blows the dam in Bagghar. Though he dint direct the movie, the motion capture work by Peter Jackson does deserve a mention in this section.

Other Departments
Music by John Williams was a disappointment. For a franchise of such magnitude, I expected a haunting theme music. Cinematography by Janusz KamiÅ„ski was excellent. The zoom out shots were really good.  My only problem was with the 3D. Except in a couple of scenes, there were no 3D effects. It looked like a 2D film being screened on 3D. Editing by Michael Kahn was pretty decent. The animation was of top notch quality, and every character and location looked very believable.

Analysis
First thing I’ve realized after watching this movie is that its very tough to review an animation film (at least, this one was made using motion capture). Though everything seemed to have worked really well for the movie, I somehow wasn’t totally satisfied when it ended. The spark you expect in an animation was missing. The story also seemed a little complicated. It is a adventure film with its share of fun moments. Overall, a pretty decent watch, but not a classic!!

Verdict: 7.5/10

Real Steel | Movie Review

Plot 
Real Steel is set in the future, where robot fights are a craze. Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is a former boxer, who survives on unsanctioned robot fights. He comes to know that his ex-girl friend is dead, leaving him his 11 year old son Max (Dakota Goyo). To clear his debts, and buy robots, Charlie gives Max’s custody to his ex’s sister Debra on payment of 100 grand. Max stays with Charlie for a couple of months before Debra can take him along. During these two months, Max discovers a obsolete scrap robot Atom, and pesters Charlie to train Atom. The rest of the story is about how Max changes Charlie’s life, and how Atom goes on to become ‘The People’s Champion’!

Artists Performance
Hugh Jackman is excellent as the careless, indifferent father, who isn’t serious about anything in life. He plays his character to perfection. The true star of the movie though is Dakota Goyo. He brings in a lot of innocence to his character while thinking very maturely, and was really really cute. His expressions while talking to Charlie are brilliant. Evangeline Lilly has a limited role in the movie, and was good. I would have loved to see more of her on screen.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
The story of the film is very very predictable. Its got a Rocky Balboa kinda theme to it, but instead of boxers fighting out, its robots. Story byDan Gilroy and Jeremy Leven is pretty decent, but director Shawn Levy couldn’t get everything right. The story seems to drag many a times. He tried to play with a number of emotions, instead of sticking to one thread. He handled the scenes involving the kid very well. He was able to generate subtle humour through the father-son relationship. Screenplay by John Gatins could have been better, but I have no qualms.

Other Departments
Music by Danny Elfman is alright. I liked a couple of soundtracks. The sound effects weren’t as great as Super 8, but were pretty decent. The Animatronic robots used looked very real and believable (Tom Meyer). Cinematography by Mauro Fiore was excellent. The scenes involving shadow fighting were shot brilliantly. Editing by Dean Zimmerman could have been way better. As already mentioned, the film dragged in parts, and a lot of scenes could have made the cut. Production values by DreamWorks are good.

Analysis
I didn’t like the trailer, and therefore was planning to skip watching this movie. But I finally did after a number of people told me about it (and in fact asked me for a review). And thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed. But I wasn’t too happy either (mainly because of the Dolby turning on and off during the movie in the theatre, Inox). It was a pretty decent movie which had its moments. The climax of the film was brilliantly shot, and makes up for most of the flaws in the movie. Plus points are Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo and the shadow cinematography. But on the downside, I could see similarities to a number of hit flicks. I actually felt like I was watching a Bollywood film because of the drag and sentimental scenes.

It’s Rocky Balboa, but instead of Sylvester Stallone, you have Atom fighting the fights.

Verdict: 7.5/10

Super 8 | Movie Review

Plot 
Super 8 tells the story of Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), a 14-year-old boy who recently lost his mom in an accident. His dad, Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler) is the Police deputy of the small town they live in. Joe and Jackson are going through a tough phase with the recent death. Joe, his secret crush Alice (Elle Fanning), and his friends are shooting a Zombie movie at an old train depot, when a huge train crash occurs. The event gets recorded on their camera. The rest of the story establishes reason for the crash and its consequences.

Artists Performance
Every artist in the film was absolutely brilliant. Joel Courtney was excellent as the lead kid. His expressions were good towards the climax of the movie. Kyle Chandler was good and fit the bill perfectly. Riley Griffiths was fantastic as Jack’s best buddy, and the director with a secret crush on Alice. I loved the scene where he asks Jack if he could manage things without him. The best performance though, is by Elle Fanning. I was absolutely spellbound by her act as the heroine (like everyone else), and even as the zombie. She looked really mean and scary while dressed as the zombie. Other friends of Jack were great. It was a perfect ensemble of cast.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
Written and directed by J.J. Abrams, Super 8 is one of those freaky, sci-fi alien movies which makes an impact. It was like watching a Steven Spielberg’s film, but with a different take on things. I loved the screenplay. The way he scared the living hell out of the audience, without actually showing us the alien was brilliant. Also, I liked the way he established the animosity between Jack’s and Alice’s dads as the story progresses. The direction was spot on. He was able to generate the best out of the kids, while infusing subtle humor throughout the film. The movie never lost its momentum. The Zombie movie during the end title credits was brilliant.

Other Departments
I’ve seen quite a lot of movies, but I’ve never watched anything which literally made me jump of my seat for its sound effects. This film did that. Credit goes to Michael Giacchino for the mind-blowing music, re-recording and sound effects. CGI effects house Industrial Light and Magic are really good. The train crash scenes had the best effects, and was very well canned. Cinematography by Larry Fong was excellent. As already mentioned, the way the alien was never shown properly in any frame until the climax was brilliant. Editing by Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey was perfect. The film never dragged. Production values by Amblin Entertainment (Spielberg), Bad Robot Productions (J.J. Abrams), and Paramount Pictures are excellent.

Analysis
Its one of the best movies I’ve watched in recent times. It was spooky, freaky and humorous, all at the same time. The actors fit the bill perfectly, and did an awesome job. I felt that the movie had a message infused into it. Plus points are the casting, brilliant screenplay, direction, and the sound effects. I cant think of any negatives. It’s a film to be watched in a theater. I absolutely loved it, I hope you do too.

Verdict: 9/10

PS: The film released about 4 months ago in the U.S, but released just a couple of days ago in India. I’ve been waiting all along to go watch it in the theatre. And it was worth the wait!!

Oosaravelli | Movie Review

Plot
Oh boy, this is gonna be tough. Tony (NTR) and Niharika (Tamanna) are kidnapped by terrorists in Kashmir. They somehow manage to escape from there. Tony follows Niharika to Hyderabad, and makes her fall in love with him. At the same time, he is also plotting to destroy a gang of goons. The rest of the story deals with establishing why he is after the goons, and how Niharika is involved in all of this.

Artists Performance
NTR is good in the lead role. As the tittle suggest, he is a Chameleon in the movie, in all aspects. He is brilliant in few scenes, and sucked in a few others. You think that he’s looking good for a second, and immediately there is a fatso in the next frame. He looked terrible in the last song. But otherwise, he was pretty decent. His comic timing was good, and he was pretty much the only one to provide laughter in the movie. His dances for ‘Dandiya’ song are really good. It would be great if he could lose some weight and maintain his figure (sheesh, never thought I would say that for a guy!!).

Tamanna has a very very good role in the movie, and is excellent. She should be really thankful to have bagged such a meaty role in a Telugu movie. She was actually brilliant in few scenes, especially the flashback episode. She looked gorgeous in the songs.

Prakash Raj has a relatively small role, but is excellent. Jaya Prakash Reddy was really good, and so was Raghu Babu. Vidyut Jammwal (Force fame) was absolutely wasted. The girl who played Tamanna’s freind, Payal Ghosh, was good. The rest of the cast was alright.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
It was one hell of a story by Vakkantham Vamsi. It in itself was a Chameleon. It apparently is inspired from a Chinese movie ‘Vengence’. The first half of the movie made no absolute sense. It was only in the second half that the motive was established. The problem is that the motive aint strong enough. As mentioned, its a story which changes colors. A small girl sitting in the next seat couldnt make head or tail of the movie. But even though it looks so complicated, it is actually not. Its the screenplay which makes it look so. Director Surender Reddy did a decent job. Only glitch was that he tried to hold the main plot till almost the end of the movie, which made the audience feel uncomfortable, as they (me included) couldnt understand the motives behind what was happening. But otherwise, the screenplay and direction were alright. Unlike Dookudu, the movie didnt have much comedy, but makes it up with a better story line.

Other Departements
Music by Devi Sri Prasad is good. I loved the first track of the movie ‘Brathakali’. The background score, especially the theme bg score is excellent. Dialogues by Koritala Shiva are pretty neat. There were a number of words which made the cut during sensor, which was a little irritating. The climax set work (Art by Ravinder) looked really fake. Otherwise, it was pretty decent. Fights by Ram-Laxman are decent. If you thought that Dookudu was shot beautifully, watch Oosaravelli, cos the camera work by Rasool Ellore is absolutely brilliant. Graphics by Cgtrix are of top notch quality.  My friend who works for them just happened to mention that they they really had to work hard for this movie, and it shows on screen. Production values by BVSN Prasad are good.Thought he didnt spend a lot, he made sure to mint money by releasing the movie in record number of theaters.

Verdict
Its one hell of a movie. Whether you take it positively or negatively is your choice. It was a different film, alright, but could have been dealt with in a much better way, A strong motive in the flashback episode would have done wonders to the film. Its good to see a heroine oriented film in Telugu. Though its all and out NTR film, the narrative is based on Tamanna’s character. Plus points are NTR (not the fatso), Tamanna, good music and excellent cinematography. Though the movie was long, it dint feel long. On the downside is the complicated looking screenplay. Its a pretty decent watch, but everything depends on how audience reacts to such different story line. In my opinion, it is better than Dookudu (by a wafer thin margin), but am sure not all of you would agree with me.

Verdict: 7/10

Force | Movie Review

Plot
Yashwardhan (John Abraham) is a force/tough police officer working for the narcotics control bureau. He keeps bumping into a social worker Maya (Genelia D’Souza) often, and eventually falls in love with her. On job front, he kills a drug lord Anna (Mukesh Rishi). Anna’s brother Vishnu (Vidyut Jammwal) kills Yash’s team member to avenge his brothers death, and is after the rest of the team. The movie ends with an wrestle fight between Yash and Vishnu.

Artists Performance
“I don’t want to do action like that because it does not look real, but the masses like it and the film becomes a hit. Maybe sensible people don’t like it, I don’t know. I am comfortable doing realistic stunts.”
–John Abraham in an interview with Rediff.

Oh John, what was all that about?? He himself says that sensible people might not like it, and still goes ahead with the project. That’s fine, but I really dont understand why he had to look so beefy in the movie. He looked more like a goon or the villain than the hero. And in which country does a police officer walk around wearing a vest while on duty?? John is not a great actor, period. His assets are his body and good looks. But since they aint enough for a movie to work, he needs modulate his expressions in a better fashion. In certain scenes, it was like, as my friend put it, watching a piece of furniture act. He was alright, but could have been much better. I cant think of a better choice than him for this remake, but he was no where close to match up with Suriya (Tamil).

Genelia needs to realize that Bommarillu (Telugu movie) is a thing of the past. Yes, she is great while portraying such bubbly characters, but I believe this was a more serious kinda role. After watching Jyothika (Tamil) and Asin (Telugu) do such beautiful job in the regional versions, it was quite difficult for me to watch her. She was good in parts, and a little irritating in few other.

Vidyut Jammwal is a cool hunk. Similar to all the guys with the great body, he cant act much, but can do much better if he works on it. He gave a tough fight to John in the climax. Mohit Behl, Mukesh Rishi, Raj Babbar were alright. Sandhya Mridul overplayed her role.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
It is very tough to remake a film. There are a number of factors which help a film work, and you cant get all of them right every time. The original will always be better (and mostly work better) when compared with the remake. Keeping all this in mind,  I deem Nishikant Kamat did a pretty good job. He stuck to the original Tamil plot while making very few changes, but he could have worked a little more in fine tuning the script to suit Hindi junta. The screenplay was really good. I loved the way where in he showed multiple fights at multiple locations in parallel. Direction was good in parts. He should have tried to generate more from John while extracting little less from Genelia.

Other Departments
Music by Harris Jayraj  is good. He used two of his old tracks, Uyirin Uyire from Tamil original and Manasa from Munna (Telugu). Other than these two, the rest were nothing great (He should have used Ennai Konjam as well). Background score by Sameer Phatarpekar was mediocre. The sound mixing and recording was good. Action by Alan-Amin was fine, but went overboard at times. Cinematography by Ayananka Bose, and editing by Aarif Sheik was alright. It was comparatively low budget film.

Analysis
Frankly, I liked it better than the Telugu ‘Gharshana’ according to the story line. The Telugu one was a drag in the second half, but this one had better screenplay and left out lot of unnecessary senti crap. Acting wise, Tamil ‘Kaakha Kaakha’ wins the trophy hands down. Both John and Genelia could have performed better. Music is a plus. Overall, a gory but neat film, and a decent watch.

Verdict: 7/10

Dookudu | Movie Review

Plot 
Dookudu is story Shankar Narayan (Prakash Raj), a responsible political leader, who wants his son Ajay to follow his footsteps and become a politician in the future. Shankar is hurt in an accident and goes into coma. Ajay (Mahesh Babu) grows up to instead be a police officer, and is put in charge to track down a mafia don Nayak (Sonu Sood). Shankar recovers from his coma after 14 years, and to satisfy his father’s wishes, Ajay dons the role of a MLA. The rest of the story is about how Ajay hunts for Nayak, and takes revenge on the people responsible for his father’s accident.

Artists Performance
It’s a tailor made role for Mahesh Babu. He is absolutely brilliant in the movie. He looks dashing all throughout and I loved his styling (I believe he is one of the best dressed actors in the industry). I thought his dialogue delivery was a little awkward in few scenes, especially the use of Telangana dialect. Having said that he was brilliant, I feel that he could have done much better in senti scenes. Probably because of his films being dubbed into Hindi by Salman, he used a number of punch dialogues.

 
Bramhanandam and M.S. Narayana have better roles and more screen time than Samantha. They are outstanding in their respective characters. Bramhanadam once again proves his mettle. His portrayal in the scenes where Mahesh describes the requirements for the reality show, and where he talks to Nagarjuna over the pen cam is terrific. M. S. Narayan entertains us with his show reel.
 
Samantha is alright as the female lead. There is no proper characterization to her role, and had less than 30 minutes of screen time on the whole. I believe Samantha suffers from the same problem as Vidya Balan and Kamalini Mukherjee; after essaying a beautiful, deglamorized roles in their first movies, it is quite difficult to accept them flirting and romancing with the hero. It looked quite odd. She also looked very lean.
 

The rest of the cast was alright. Sonu Soon had a different get up and was good. I felt that Prakash Raj’s character went a little over board. Bharani, Chandra Mohan, Suman, Nazer, Naga Babu, Ajay, Subbu Raju, Bharat, Sayaji Shinde, Kota, Dharmavarapu, Shafi, Vennela Kishore, Sonia, Parvati Melton, and the list goes on – this movie had them all. It was like watching a mini Maya Bazaar.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
In the first ten minutes, I thought the screenplay was running really fast. At the end of the three-hour long moving, I realized why Srinu Vytla was rushing through the movie. It’s because he tried to infuse so many stories into one film. Funnily, the stories he tries to infuse are all from his old movies. It was like watching all his movies together, right from Anandam to Namo Venkatesa. Senti scenes, family bonding, comedy bits, marriage song, we’ve seen them all before. But luckily, it works for most of the while. He also inserted a number of unnecessary concepts which made the movie lose its steam in between. Though there is absolutely no freshness in the story line, the strong cast helps him hold the movie together.

I have a lot of qualms regarding the story, but since it’s a Telugu film, won’t complaint much. Most noticeable was the lack of chemistry between Samantha and Mahesh. Except for the first few scenes after they first meet, there is not much happening around them. Also, Sonu Sood, who is shown as a big time scary don, seems to lose his steam towards the end. Him running away from Mahesh in the climax fight made no sense.
 
The screenplay, as mentioned, though rush in the beginning was fine toward the end. Direction was good in parts. Srinu Vytla’s plus point is his ability to create humor without trying much, and he was able to do that through most of the movie.
 
Other Departments
Music by Thaman is average. Except for the title song, none of them had any impact. Background score was good in parts. Though the punch dialogues lacked punch, dialogues by Kona Venkat are really good. Editing by Varma could have been better. A number of scenes should have made the cut. Cinematography by Guhan and Prasad Murella is absolutely brilliant.  Thanks to them, people dint notice that Mumbai’s police commissioner had his office on top of a multi storied building. The shots in Istanbul, and for one of the songs in US are really good. The graphics could have been much better. Producers Ram Achanta, Gopichand Achanta and Anil Sunkara spent a lot of money and it was visible. They had most of the Telugu industry cast in the movie.
 
Analysis
It was a boring, draggy, potpourri of movies which would never end. But still, it had its brilliant moments which makes the movie work. More than being a Mahesh’s film, it had Srinu Vytla written all over it. Mahesh just helped it reach the pinnacle. Bramhanadam and M. S. Naryana’s video clips shall be on almost everyone’s facebook pages in the near future. Actually, its not Mahesh, but them who make the movie reach its pinnacle. Better editing and screenplay could have helped. On the whole, a decent film. Could have been much better, but with the recent dearth of good Telugu films, this movie is something most of us can feast on (count me out!!).
 
Verdict: 7/10