Vikram New Film Villain, Ravanan Telugu and Tamil Movie Review:
After long gap Mani ratnam New was back with his new film, Villain. So many stars are putted many hopes on this film But this movie seems to be not worked so that big. its not a mani like film.
Story: well coming in to story, Dev (Prithvi Raj) - Superintendent of Police takes up his new post in a small tribal town. Veera-Veerayya (Vikram) who sets his own rules and guards poor people. The Law enforcing team lead by Dev is after Veera. Veera Kidnaps Ragini (Aishwarya rai) and takes her into the forest, this draws Dev also into the forest and the forest becomes their battle ground. Who wins over who forms the rest.
Artist Performance: Vikram- the versatile actor has given his best till date and has come up with another mind blowing performance. He emoted well in all the Scenes. He dubbed his own voice. Aishwarya looked beautiful (even in the Forest tribal episode- don’t ask me from where she got the make-up kit).Rohini dubbed her voice .Prithvi Raj is impressive as police officer. Priyamani is okay as sister to Vikram; her role is limited to a couple of Scenes only. Prabhu suited to the role of Vikram’s brother. Karthik’s role was not moulded well.
Other Performance: cinematography is by Santosh Sivan, who replaced Manikandan as the cameraman and he has given the film a never before seen look and feel. Mani Ratnam – Santosh Sivan duo has worked wonders before in blockbuster like ‘Roja’, ‘Thalapathi’, ‘Iddaru’ and ‘Dilse’. Music of the movie is composed by Oscar winner A R Rahman with lyrics penned by Veturi. The Music is good and in perfect sync with the mood of the film. The background score is very impressive. The dialogues are not effective, Could have been better. One dialogue of Aishwarya Rai impressed me, the one when she prays to God- “Chedu ni Chedu gaane choopinchu Manchi gaa choopinchaku”. The Art direction and editing are good. The Graphics work in the climax (Bridge Broken Scene) was done to perfection.
Movie Analysis: Mani Ratnam’s modern adaptation of Hindu mythological epic Ramayana with a twist, is a film made with good intention, beautiful music and mind blowing cinematography but unfortunately lacking everything else! To start with, the story of the film as if on a long pause, just doesn’t move ahead for a good one hour after the film begins. The scenes seem repetitive with Ash screaming from the bottom of her lungs even when she speaks. ‘Villain’ is the dubbed version of Tamil Film RAVANAN; this is the most anticipated film in recent times as it was directed by Mani Ratnam. It is supposed to be the modern day version of the great Indian epic Ramayana. The story runs in the same lines with a twist in the climax but the execution was not up to the mark. First half is okay and the pre climax episode was good. Like Mani’s previous films you can find half of the movie filled with rain Scenes (Songs). The crucial Scenes are unimpressive and don’t emotionally touch you. The movie doesn’t entertain you. This movie too lacks comedy/Entertainment like any other Mani Ratnam’s film. The basic idea of modernizing Ramayana was a good one but badly executed.
Final View: The Movie is strictly for upper classes who like Mani’s Movies. Vikram and his performance is the only reason you can find to watch this film. Cinematography is good, weak script and poorly executed. Mani Ratnam’s Mark is missing. Not up to the Expectations.
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram
Direction/Screenplay: Mani Ratnam
Music: AR Rahman
Dialogues: Vijay Krishna Acharya
Cinematography: Santosh Sivan, V Manikandan
Genre: Drama
Release Date: June 18’2010 worldwide
Rating:
RAAVAN HINDI MOVIE REVIEW:
After a long gap Raavan was seems to be not worked that big for Mani and his troop. It is an average film. This film was superb when look on big screen but when comes to story and other ones it was dissapointing one.
Story And Movie Analysis:
Personas are often deceiving. A man who comes across as evil and menacing can be godly in reality, if watched closely and vice versa. Deception rules and dominates the world. Although, once the truth unravels, bad starts seeming good as in the case of Beera (Abhishek Bachchan). Beera hides in the dense forests of north India from where he orchestrates his criminal activities against the police, a la Veerappan. He ruthlessly kills the policemen and loots their weaponry. Going by Beera’s sharp hunting skills and knowledge of the jungle, even the police is now scared of the dangerous outlaw except for SP Dev (Vikram). Right after being posted to Lal Maati, Dev finds his wife Ragini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) caught in Beera’s clutches as he kidnaps her and takes her to the jungle where he resides. Turns out Beera has been meaning to settle a personal score with the police for a long time. Dev takes the help of a funny forest guard (Govinda) in order to get back his wife. Ragini on the other hand oblivious to Beera’s power, does every thing possible to escape her nightmare.
Mani Ratnam’s modern adaptation of Hindu mythological epic Ramayana with a twist, is a film made with good intention, beautiful music and mind blowing cinematography but unfortunately lacking everything else! To start with, the story of the film as if on a long pause, just doesn’t move ahead for a good one hour after the film begins. The scenes seem repetitive with Ash screaming from the bottom of her lungs even when she speaks (in a voice that seems inspired by Vidya Balan’s from Bhool Bhullaiyya, after she is possessed that is) and Abhishek doing some weird jig jig jig...not a dance, but the words he says as he shakes his hands around his head vigorously when either angry or amused.
The two keep staring, screaming at each other when not climbing a rocky mountain or jumping off a cliff as they play hide n seek in the forest for almost an hour. Their chemistry and the dialogues fall short of portraying the angst or the attraction they hold for each other thus making their interaction simply a waste of time. A brooding Vikram keeps flashing his forehead frown lines and quizzical eyebrows as he hunts for Beera in the forest using minimal dialogues but maximum action & style (His fans will like it). The only actors who provide good comic relief with their words and bindaas act amidst this insipid chase are Govinda and Ravi Kishen... both wasted to a large extent.
The dialogues are highly uninspiring for a film that intends to tackle a subject of this stature. (Ash asks Vikram: Yeh Beera Robin Hood hai ya Raavan) Raavan is no Mani Ratnam signature film at all. It in fact looks like Mani attempting a Ram Gopal Verma (in terms of camera angles and direction) or even a Vishal Bhardawaj (feel, setting and twist of the film) while being inspired by Ghai’s Khalnayak (story). The filmmaker seems inspired by so many things at a time that he forgets to retain his own USP. There is no punch in the script which doesn’t rise above clichés, no tenderness in the love between Dev and Ragini and no depth to Ragini or Dev’s character as they come across as silent spectators to Beera’s eccentric antics. The ten facets of Beera’s personality too doesn’t stand out.
Artist Performance:
The film moves you only when Abhishek and Priyamani come to picture. Both actors act superbly and infuse soul into this otherwise lifeless drama. Abhishek walks away with the main role and does a good job as he gets into the skin of his character very well. Wish his character would have been written better. Ash holds one disgruntled expression on her face throughout and so does Vikram.
Other Performance:
The film can be watched for its brilliant cinematography by Santosh Sivan and V Manikandan. Jungles, waterfalls, rains...have never looked so beautiful in a Hindi film before nor has a de-glam Ash in an extreme close up. Music by AR Rahman is mesmerizing. Behne De, Ranjha Ranjha and Beera Beera are tracks that grow on you and are capable of being listed in Rahman’s all-time hits. Outfits by Sabyasachi go perfectly with the theme of the film.
Final View:
We assume Mani Ratnam went through a writer’s block this time around which is natural for creative geniuses of his calibre. We hope he regains his brilliance that gave us Roja, Bombay, Guru and Yuva. If you are a Big fan of BACHAN'S family, then go watch the film in this weekend.
One of the most powerful and pertinent political parables in India undoubtedly happens to be Mahabharat where brothers fought against each other to gain ultimate power. Prakash Jha employs the same politics of power in his contemporary adaptation of Mahabharat, deriving its primary plot and central characters from the epic. Amidst continual character introductions, technical political procedures and several subplots, it takes a while for you to grasp the scheme of things in the initial reels. Here’s an attempt to summarize the multilayered story in the most elementary manner.
Story: Cousins Veerendra Pratap Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) and Prithvi Pratap Singh (Arjun Rampal) are heirs of a powerful political party. When Prithvi gets to take the lead, Veerendra teams up with a backward class leader Sooraj (Ajay Devgan) to plot against Prithvi and evict him from the party. Prithvi’s younger brother Samar (Ranbir Kapoor) who is studying abroad and has no political aspirations gets sucked into the political rivalry between the families. Under the mentoring of senior party and family member Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar), Samar takes charge of the conniving affairs of state to start their own political party, gather funds and get Prithvi contest against Veerendra. Those acquainted with Mahabharat will certainly comprehend the character analogy. Veerendra (Bajpayee) is derived from Duryodhan and Sooraj (Devgan) from Karan. Samar (Ranbir) corresponds to Arjun who fought the battle under the guidance of Krishna equivalent to Brij Gopal (Nana) – the passive participant in the war. The characters are effectively recreated and the core concept and conflicts are ably redrafted in the modern milieu.
Movie Analysis: The screenplay by Prakash Jha and Anjum Rajabali is crisp and has a dynamic flow with the drama building up through the political one-upmanship between opponents in every passing act. With the premise that politics corrupts every soul, almost every central character in the film is sketched with shades of grey. So much so that till a point you are puzzled on who’s the protagonist and who’s the antagonist. But by the second half the two are distinctly demarcated with Ranbir’s character coming to forefront. Other than Mahabharat, there’s also a hint of Godfather in the writing when Ranbir stays back in India to win over his father’s lost empire. And here’s where the film shifts track from a political saga to being a regular revenge drama. The formulaic climax adds to the vengeance plot but at the same time complements the original essence of Mahabharat. Samar’s entire quest to find his father’s murderer seems frail since the assassin’s identity is obvious with no other character left to gain the benefit of doubt. Arjun Rampal’s arrest in the first half seems as much forced as much as Naseeruddin Shah’s presence in the film’s prologue. The firebrand leftist leader suddenly disappears into oblivion. However the minor loose ends in the narrative are overshadowed by it’s brisk pace and deft direction.
Prakash Jha is the best in business when it comes to handling political drama. While his Hindi heart-belt dialogues and political jargons add authenticity to the film, at times it may be difficult for the audience to appreciate the proceedings. Nevertheless his storytelling is simple, effective and gripping never letting you lose the film for any moment. The hypocrisy of the two-faced politicians that he brings out through the film, as they smile externally and scheme internally is admirable. Also while having a star-studded cast, at no point does he exploit the heroism of his stars but focuses only on the performance of his actors. There are no snazzy entries, starry songs or heroic action sequences. The script gets the better of the actors.
Raajneeti is an absolutely performance driven film and Jha not only extracts excellent performances from his cast but also balances each role so that no actor overshadows the other. Ranbir Kapoor as the protagonist who is willing to go to any extent to win the political race stands out from the towering cast with the most poised performance of his career so far. Manoj Bajpayee is theatrical but since his character demands that, he doesn’t end up hamming like he has been doing in recent roles. In fact he is in superb form and delivers a vicious negative act. Nana Patekar as the silent spectator and guide is so effective that despite taking a backseat his screen-presence is never diluted. Ajay Devgan, once again, speaks through the intensity of his eyes and is remarkable. Arjun Rampal is amazingly confident, playing a character divergent to the roles he has done so far. Katrina Kaif adds dignity to her role and also speaks fairly decent Hindi. Nikhila Tirkha as Ranbir’s mother is impressive. Shruti Seth is effective in her two-scene slattern act.
The epic tale of Mahabharat has been repeatedly adapted on the small screen ever since B.R.Chopra first did it more than two decades back. But barring Chopra’s version, all other direct derivatives have been shoddy and forgettable. All those losers and other aspirants can take a lesson or two from Prakash Jha about the politics of the trade. Raajneeti is the most effective cinematic interpretation of the Mahabharat since Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug (1981).
Final View: Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti is a politically correct tribute to Mahabharat. Absolutely recommended! Go and watch it.
screenplay, dialogues and directed by: Radhakrishna (Krish)
Release Date: June 04, 2010
Rating:
Vedam Telugu Movie Review:
Story:
A routine tale told differently, the story is about people from different walks of life. There is Cable Raju (allu arjun) who is street smart living in a slum and wanting to marry his rich girlfriend Pooja (deeksha). He acts as if he is also rich guy. Then there is Vivek (Manchu manoj), an aspiring rock star wanting to make it big. There is Saroja (anushka) who wants to come out of Amalapuram and escape so that she can survive on her own and make more money. Then there is Raheem Khureshi (manoj bajpai) who is mistaken to be a terrorist purely for the fact that he is a Muslim. Last but not the least, there is Nagaiah (ramulu) who is desperate to get his grandson educated and decides to donate the kidney of his daughter in law (saranya) to arrange for the funds. Destiny gets them together under one roof and what happens from there forms the rest of the story.
Artist Performance:
When certain directors make movie, they make sure that each and every character is impactful and well-etched. Krish is one of those very few directors in Telugu cinema. Allu Arjun comes up with an awesome performance as cable Raju who pretends as a rich guy to his girlfriend. His performance in realization scenes towards climax is his best in his career. He has also entertained as a brat. Manoj Manchu comes up with another honest performance as an aspiring rock star. His performance in the hospital scenes and the scene with his mother is excellent. He performed the live action in the scene where he breaks the glass of car. Anushka titillates as the prostitute Amalapuram Saroja. She oozed sexiness and effused the vulnerability/innocence needed for the character. Nagayya is authentic for a first-timer. However, a better dubbing would have helped his character as his voice is little feminine. Manoj Bajpai comes up with power-packed performance as a righteous Muslim who is troubled by the cop. Deeksha Seth is sexy with nice smile and dimples. She has done well. The voice dubbed to her is excellent and that voice suited the Telugu we hear from the upmarket Hyderabad girls. Lekha Washingon is good as a companion of Manoj Manchu. Satyam Rajesh is excellent as side kick of hero. The person who has done the hijra role is the personal makeup man of Anushka and that person did an excellent job. Ravi Prakash comes up with his finest performance as a cop who hates Muslims. Brahmanandam is entertaining in a small role. Raghu Babu, Pruthvi and Posani Krishna Murali are entertaining in their brief roles. Giri is good in the noticeable character of a pimp. Director Krish who appeared in Che Guevara get-up as a naxalite in Gamyam appears again in Vedam as an entertaining Baba.
Technical and Other departments: Story - screenplay - direction: It is a multiple story film where all the stories converge into the climax of the movie. It is extremely difficult task to narrate five different stories in one film in a gripping style. Krish who is just one film old comes up with terrific work in his second movie. He connected all the stories with brilliant screenplay. Each and every character in this movie has human element in it. Screenplay of the movie is authentic though similar pattern is being followed since Ameros Perros (2000) and was popularized by the Oscar winning Crash (2004) movie. Krish has shown how he sticks to the core human elements without losing the undercurrent commercial elements with his debut film Gamyam. He maintains the same philosophy in this multi-storied film as well. First half of the movie looks little disjointed because, the director has to establish and narrate five different stories. He connects all the stories well and gave a gripping narration in the second half. He would have started the movie with the accident episode (pre-climax scene). If he had started the movie with that (like he did for Gamyam movie), then the audiences would have got connected to the first half more intently. He probably avoided it because there will be a direct comparison with Crash movie. The transformation of characters from having selfish goal to do selfless service might appear similar to crash where all positive characters turn negative and vice versa. The climax scene reminds us of 26/11 Mumbai episode. Music by Keeravani is good. Songs are nicely integrated into story line except for Allu Arjun’s party song. Background music is very good and very apt for the movie. Dialogues by Krish are an asset for the movie. He penned entertaining dialogues and humanity-oriented ones extremely well. Cinematography of the film is of top-notch quality. Action sequences by Ram – Lakshman are well-choreographed. Editing by Sravan is excellent. Art direction by Rajeev Nair is nice. Producers Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni should be appreciated for producing sensible/coming-of-age film like Vedam (more so because they come from the family of K Raghavendra Rao who is known for commercial cinema).
Analysis:
The film is basically an attempt to show the human psychology and how things change as per situation. While the first half goes good and engages the audience, the second half falls down and the climax is not appealing. Technically, the film has been made very well but the makers should have focused on content as well. At the box office, the openings will be splendid due to the hype created but eventually, it will require strong publicity and word of mouth to succeed.
Final View:
Vedam has good performances, terrific cinematography and some heart-wrenching moments. Allu Arjun and Anushka should be appreciated for accepting this kind of movies, which doesn’t give them commercial mileage much. More than the director, it is actors who have brought novelty. It is a Average Film.
Cast: Gopichand, Priyamani, Roja, Kelly Dorjee, Jeeva, M S Narayana, Nasser, Ali, and others
Music: Chakri
Cinematography: Shyam K Naidu
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Fights: VijayArt: Chinna
Produced by: Bellamkonda Suresh
Story, screenplay, and dialogues and directed by: Puri Jagannadh
Released date :27-05-2010.
Rating:
Gopichand Golimaar Telugu Movie review:
Story:
The film is about an honest cop who is specialized in encounters. Becoming a police officer is Gangaram’s (Gopichand) childhood dream and when he joins the police force, he starts eliminating mafia men owned by Khalid (Kelly Dorjee). With the help of his DIG (Nasser), he kills several mafia men in encounters. On the other hand, an event manager Pavitra (Priyamani) falls in love with Gangaram. Pavitra’s mother (Roja) hates men and is against marriage. So she doesn’t accept Pavitra’s love for Gangaram. Meanwhile, Gangaram is wrongly framed by DIG and his trusted aide in a false case, on the insistence of Khalid who operates mafia here from Malaysia. How Gangaram comes out clean from the case and finishes his mission forms the rest of the story.
Artist And Other Performance:
Gopichand is okay in the role of encounter cop. Priyamani steals the show in the first half but after a time, she becomes repetitive. Roja, who was recently seen in Sambho Shiva Sambho in a politician's role, makes a thorough comeback and this time she plays role of a mother to Priyamani. Though she did the role of a mother in Sambho Shiva Sambho also, it was more a politician's role than a mother's and thus the role of a mother in this film is more like her first time on the screen (first time as a mother of one of the lead roles) but Roja proves her mettle. Kelly Dorjee as the main villain is perfect, and so is Nasser in the role of a DIG. Except one melodious song shot on the beaches, Chakri’s music is mediocre; the background score is straight lift from Pokiri. Cinematography by Sham K Naidu is top class. Puri Jagannadh proves once again that he writes dialogues superbly than most of our current writers/directors. The only problem with his films seems to be that he is increasingly repeating the same structure for all his films and therefore his films have become monotonous.
Analysis:
Golimaar script is designed on the life of real life Mumbai encounter specialist Daya Nayak. Although Ram Gopal Varma in Hindi and Gowtham Menon in Tamil and Telugu made films on the life of encounter cops, Puri Jagannadh has tried to present in his own style. The film offers nothing new; nothing is exciting in the movie. It is strictly an okay movie. In the first half, Priyamani steals the show with her drunkard antics and one-liners, post interval the movie shifts to action. Lack of entertainment or catchy songs is another drawback. Some of the dialogues by Puri are good, and the pre-interval scene and pre-climax twist are nice.
Final View:
Golimaar is strictly okay. Nothing new, nothing exciting. Just plain, ordinary, masala action film from Puri.
