ASHTA CHAMMA | |||
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Jeevi rating: 3.25/5 Punchline: Mahesh Mania Genre: Comedy Type: Straight Banner: Art Beat Capital Ltd Cast: Colors Swati, Nani, Srinivas Avasarala, Bhargavi, Jhansi, Tanikella Bharani, Hema etc Music: Kalyani Malik Cinematography: PG Vinda Lyrics: Sirivennela Producer: Ram Mohan Stoy - dialogues - Screenplay – direction: Mohana Krishna Indraganti Release date: 5 September 2008 | |||
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Friday, September 19, 2008
ashta chamma movie review
Lavanya (Colors Swati) is a hardcore fan of hero Mahesh Babu. And her ambition is to marry hero Mahesh. But her heart is broken when Mahesh married Namrata Sirodkar. She lowers her expectations and decided to marry somebody who has ‘Mahesh’ in his name. Anand (Srinivas Avasarala) is a lanky neighbor of Lavanya and he is bugged with ‘Pokiri’ songs played in loud volume by Lavanya. He decides that the only way to get rid of noise from her house is to hook her up with a good looking boy with the name Mahesh. And he finds a handsome guy called Mahesh (Nani). The rest of the story is all about the comedy of errors originated due to the Mahesh obsession of Lavanya.
Srinivas Avasarala: A real actor is the one who adds more to the table than what it is with his performance. Srinivas Avasarala is a born actor and he added 25% to the output of the film with his performance. Be it dialogue delivery, comedy timing, minute expressions or body language. He should seriously consider packing his bags and finding the next available flight to Hyderabad as Telugu film industry is desperately looking for such fine actors. He is a complete delight to watch. Srinivas Avasarala is selected for this film through a talent hunt conducted by Mohana Krishna Indraganti in idlebrain.com.
Colors Swathi: Her character in this film as an obsessed fan of Mahesh Babu is like a natural extension to her hilarious portrayal of girl in love with Venky in AMAV. She is completely natural and is herself while doing the role of Lavanya. She brought out lot of mischief and child-like stupidity that is needed for the character which her histrionics. But fans of Swathi will get little disappointed in the second half because her footage is relatively less compared to the first half.
Nani: Nani has sharp features, nice Telugu diction and amazing confidence levels. Doing a role that requires the attributes of Mahesh Babu is a challenge for a newcomer. And Nani comes up with a fabulous performance. He has a promising future if he selects the roles carefully.
Others: Bhargavi is good as the traditional village girl. Jhansi has done a variety role that reminds us of the harmless and witty mother-in-law character in ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’. Tanikella Bharani and Hema are adequate. The guy who played the server character in ‘Amrutam’ TV serial is fun to watch in this film.
Story – screenplay – direction: Story of the film is simple, yet complicated. This story is based on a play written by Oscar Wilde. Most of the film revolves around name confusion. A film like this needs an interesting screenplay to sustain the attention of he viewers. Mohan Krishna Indraganti succeeds in giving us a film that sustains the interest levels throughout by injecting the necessary twists at the right time. Direction of the film is good. The narrative style using which he introduced characters is brilliant. The director is supposed to take the comedy in the film to the next level during the last half-an-hour of the film where pieces fall into the place. Though the twists were well-placed in the last half an hour, the director could not get more laughs towards the climax.
Other departments: Music by Kalyani Malik is nice. The visuals and situations in the film add more to the music. Dialogues written in the film are witty and most of the time impromptu (except for the last half an hour where the dialogues are lengthy). Cinematography by PG Vinda is nice. The vintage song should have been done in black and white. Editing is nice. The product looks superior in terms of visuals and sound. Producer Ram Mohan should be commended for keeping faith on the director and on this genre.
Analysis: First half of the film is really good. The narration is little slow in the second half. The climax is interesting, but a better handled one would have added lot of the value to the film. The plus points of the film are casting and comedy quotient. The director and the producer’s decision for choosing a particular genre and sticking to it without diluting with formula commercial ingredients deserve applause. Probably Ashta Chemma is the first Telugu film where the entire story revolves around a real film hero. And it shows the kind of craze Mahesh Babu has in the hearts of people (especially girls). On a whole, Ashta Chemma makes a good viewing for multiplexes and A center crowds.
saroja movie review
 | Saroja | |||||||
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Punchline: Kidnap drama Genre: Thriller Type: Bilingual Banner: Amma Creations Cast: Prakash Raj, Srihari, Vaibhav, SP Charan, Sampat, Nikita, Kajal Agarwal, Vega, Brahmanandam Music: Yuan Shnkar Raja Cinematography: Sakti Saravnan Dialogues: Vennelakanti Producer: T Siva Stoy - Screenplay – direction: Venkat Prabhu Release date: 5 September 2008 | ||||||||
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Viswanatham (Prakash Raj) is a billionaire in Hyderabad. His teen daughter Saroja (Vega) is kidnapped and he is asked to pay up a ransom of Rs.20 crores. He takes help of his cop friend (Srihari). Meanwhile a group of four friends in Chennai take up a road trip to Hyderabad to attend cricket match. They are forced to take a remote route as the national highway is jammed due to a big accident. They enter a remote village in which they encounter with a gang of cold-blooded goons. The rest of the story is about how these four youngsters get connected with the kidnap of Saroja and what happens next.
We see Prakash Raj in Telugu films after a couple of months. He is good as usual. Srihari did the vital role of the cop. Vaibhav has improved a lot compared to his debut film and he is pretty good in the character of a youngster. SPB Charan (Balu's son) is cool. Vega is impressive as the kidnapped Saroja. Sampat is competent as the villain. Nikita did the role of villain's lady. Kajal Agarwal's character in this film is limited without any connection to the main story.
Story – screenplay – direction: Venkat Prabhu has taken a thriller subject and narrated it in a powerful, yet entertaining way. He also made sure that the film is technically sound. He made sure that there is bit of humor to make us feel at ease amidst terrorizing moments. The screenplay of the film is good. The director who narrated an interesting story has spoiled the show at the climax by showing a lame excuse for the kidnappers.
Other departments: Music by Yuan Shankar Raja is good. Background music is also nice. Cinematography supported by digital intermediate is impressive. The design of time stamp in the film is cool. The locations used as villain's adda are pretty good. Dialogues by Vennelakanti are good.
Analysis: Venkat Prabhu has taken an unconventional point and narrated it in an entertaining and interesting way. But by keeping an unconvincing excuse for the motive behind kidnap, he lets the audiences down in the climax. The way he molded the Premji Amaran character (the guy who falls in love with Saroja) in the second half is hilarious. But the climax of the film appears contrived and dragged with 9 people fighting simultaneously. Even with a couple of pitfalls, 'Saroja' film makes an interesting watching.gunde jallumandi review
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Balaraju (Uday Kiran) is an uneducated guy in a village. He wants to be the president of the village for which the minimum educational qualification is a bachelor degree. Hence he is forced to come to Hyderabad and join a college to pursue the requirement. Neelima (Aditi Sharma) also studies in the same college. In order to avoid the nuisance of love proposals, she tells everybody that she has a boy friend called Rajesh. In turn, Balaraju tells her that he has a girlfriend called Lavanya. The rest of the story is all about how they fall in love.
Uday Kiran: Uday Kiran has done excellent work in this film. He has put on a bit of weight as per the character demand. His body language as a village boy in the initial part of the film is very good. His histrionics in emotional scenes towards climax are mature. His dialogue delivery has improved tremendously. You will see a completely new Uday Kiran in this film.
Others: Aditi Sharma is pretty good as heroine. Srinivas Reddy has a variety role in this film. Venu Madhav entertains in his typical style. The kid in this film is good. Ajay did a negative role. Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Surekha Vani and Ahuti Prasad are adequate.
Story – screenplay – direction: Story of the film is novel. Madan came up with interesting screenplay technique in the film. The way he created Srinivas Reddy character as imaginative friend is of typical Woody Allen style. The 'macha' thread is also interesting. The resounding magic of Golkonda is cleverly used in this story. Direction of the film is a good in parts. Madan could not maintain consistency in the tone of the film. In certain situations the love is projected as a sensible and tender one and in some other situations it is completely commercialized. The concept of 'lovers union' is completely unconvincing.
Other departments: The major highlight of the film is excellent work done by MM Keeravani for songs and background music. Dialogues written by Madan are good. Cinematography is nice. Editing is alright. Production values are decent.
Analysis: First half of the film is pretty good. The second half is little slow. Gunde Jhallumandi looks very good on the paper and at the script level. The same level finesse could not be brought onto the big screen while executing it. The writer in Madan does an excellent job where as the director Madan could not match up with the writer. The plus points of the film are music and writing. On the flip side, the 'lovers union' thread is unconvincing and screenplay of the sudden appearance of real Rajesh should have been dealt better. Gunde Jhallumandi is a much better film for Uday Kiran in the recent years. And this film has got all ingredients of becoming a minimum guarantee film.
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