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passionforcinema.comThere are some directors in bollywood who were tired of the same old ghisa pita stories and decided to give audiences some new movies like Khosla ga Ghosla, EK Hasina Thi, Black Friday, Blue Umbrella, Ek Chalis ki last local etc., here are five movies from down south which I would like to *Introduce* — I chose the word introduce because, sadly, the main stream media avoided talking about most of these movies — that were, irrespective of their box office earnings, successful in their attempt to be different.
Mogudu, Pellam, O Dongodu (Husband, Wife, and a Thief)
Mogudu Pellam O Dongodu (MPOD) is a unique movie, probably the first of it’s kind in Telugu. It’s a movie with only 3 characters who, for different reasons, end up spending time confined to a one room.
Raja (Anand in Anand) and Shriya (the lass who saves Sivaji’s ass by waving her Red *dhavani* flag) get married. Shriya is a traditional girl who believes in the panchang (the muhurat and the traditional Hindu/Indian way of scheduling auspicious tasks). For their first night together as a couple (the nuptials) they enter the room at 10:00P and have to stay apart until 12:00P which is the muhurat time for their union.
Unknown to them, there’s an outsider sharing their room that night. Brahmanandam (”nee ulla po Jaanu” - the not so friendly neighbor in Mozhi) is a first-time thief and he chooses this bedroom to hide from the cops. And the fun starts.
Raja the NRI doesn’t want to waste the two precious hours of their first-time together. Shriya the village belle has to convince him that first night is more than just a physical thing, without spoiling his mood. And Brahmanandam is both the audience and the jury to all this drama.
Venky, who with his hilarious debut movie Kabbadi Kabbadi reminds you of Vamsy, has made a sincere attempt to engage and entertain the viewers but his attempts fall short due to the wafer-thin storyline. I would like to appreciate director venky for coming up with the idea of just making a movie with 3 characters and confining his locations to just a single room. Shriya in her traditional wear is a feast to viewers eyes. Raja is amusing and annoying at times. Brahmanandam shows his trademark moves, which, though not unknown to the Telugu movie viewers, are still entertaining anyways. Produced by Vakada Anjan Kumar (under his Ramalayam Banner, which debuted by dubbing Rajni’s Baasha from Tamil to Telugu), MPOD is a “rent and watch with your partner” kind of a movie.
Rating 2.5/5
A Film By AravindTwo friends, Rishi and Aravind (for ease of imagination think Om and Oz), who are buddies since their cheddi days. They become successful in realizing their dreams of making it big in movies. Aravind with his hard work and a bit of good luck becomes the most sought after movie director and delivers two big hits, both with Rishi as the lead.
They both take off on a long drive to getaway to his cabin in woods and discuss the story of their upcoming movie. Aravind is particularly interested in one script which is incomplete, thanks to his negligent assistant who apparently knocked an ink bottle and doused half the pages with ink. Aravind during the journey realizes that script he is reading is…. PROPHETIC! His life seems to be following that very scripted story, and every incident mentioned the script is happening in real. After this eerie realization, Aravind starts carefully comparing the scenes in the script and his life as it’s unraveling every minute.
As girl hitchhikes with them, just as mentioned in the script. Then Rishi gets attracted to her, just the way it’s been scripted. Aravind is terrified, contacts the writer of the script to know the climax and finds that the girl is about to kill one of them. The same night the police announces on TV that a deragned serial killer is loose in that very area. What happened next? Is the girl really a serial killer? Is the script really defining the fate of Aravind? What happens to this to be made film by Aravind?
Rajiv Kanakala (son of Devadas Kanakala) overacts his Aravind, while Rishi (Ajit’s macchan, Shalini’s brother, hero of Kaadhal Virus) underacts his Rishi. Mona Chopra as the hitchhiker girl is her usual scanty-clad buxom self. Ghazal Srinivas as the writer of the script is good. The outstanding features of the movie are the camera work by Ramesh Krishna, especially the road scenes in the first half and the night shots in the second half, and the amazing music score by Vijay Kurakula.
Sekhar Suri, with his debut movie Adrushtam showed that his take is different, again proves his mastery over the art of technical cinema. He must receive a pat on the back for giving us some thing different. I have seen his earlier movie Adhrustham, though I didn’t like it, but it was technically a solid movie, I always wondered where did he go after his first release and here he comes back………
The movie definitely has its moments. There are some breathtaking shots and some spooky twists which gives us a glimpse of what could have been. But the screenplay of the movie fails to make it a perfect thriller. However, it is one of the best movies to hit Indian cinema screens in a very long time. Watch it once for the thrills and chills! 17 years back a young man from Vijayawada always tried something new and something different and created his own cult following among movie goers in AP today we know him as RGV, You can see bit of RGV’s in this one. Telugu Film industry is in need of more shekar suri’s, Chandra shekar yeleti’s, neelakanta’s, venkey’s……………
Rating 3/5
Anukokunda Oka Roju (Suddenly One Day)Just Yellow! The banner is known across the Telugu speaking household for its TV series a (used to be) sensible comedy titled Amrutham (the nectar). The banner, headed by Gunnam Gangaraju an ex-ad-man, is also known for its aesthetically different movies such as Little Soldiers (Gangaraju’s directorial debut) and Aithey (what if), which launched Chandrasekhar Yeleti, Gangaraju’s protege, as director.
Anukokunda Oka Roju (AOR) is the third production of Gangaraju, and second directorial venture for Yeleti.
Sahasra is a full time student and a part time chorus singer, who aspires to be a lead singer someday. Once, when her family is away, Sahasra attends a Friday night party with a friend. Being drugged at this party when someone spikes her soft drink, and she wakes up thirty hours later in her own bed not remembering any details of her night out. Thus begins the series of bizzare incidents in Sahasra’s life. She will be chased by people, people try more than once to kill her, she is pestered by a taxi driver who says she owes him money. And upon playing an audition tape of hers she figures that she was someone’s car on that night and then comes to know that the person who rode with her is now dead. Who is chasing her? Who wants her dead? Who benefits from her death? What really happened that night when she was out?
With a colorful assortment of mad cap characters the story starts with a cheerful note and maintians its subtly humorous tone all through, in spite of the grim and gory — with not a single scene/ element/ incident/ actor out of place. With the multi-layered script dealing with different themes - drugs, amnesia, cults and schizophrenics - and the lack of any thriller movie cliches combined with the logical ending makes this movie watchworthy, more than once.
Charmi who plays sahasra is a revelation and Shashank is another guy who needs a special mention, from aithe to Anukokunda oka roju he improved his acting skills. M.M Keeravani’s (M.M kreem ala Jism) music is another assest he used his skills and experience of classical and new wave music very intelligently through out the film. Harsh vardhan who plays tuition teacher is very good with his confused hindi and English dialect, Some of his lines are damm funny. Jagapathi babu was ok as police officer who helps charmi solve the mystery. Rest of the cast was good. I hope chandu keeps churning out these mysteries and thrill audiences.
AOR is the new wave cinema that the Indian movie goers especially the Telugu Film Industry (As Munna bhai would say TFI is suffering from hero worship) have been waiting for.
Rating 3.25/5
Pelliaina Kothalo (Just Married)This movie reminds me of Rajendra Prasad and Bapu combo’s that came out during late 80’s and early 90’s. Its a simple story about a newly married couple who try to dominate each other because of their respective friends who influence them to do so which leads to various misunderstandings that occur during this period of their married life. It’s a nice family entertainer which is kind of rare thing in Telugu Films now.
It’s a second effort from writer, director and producer Madan and he did a good job in handling such a delicate subject. His previous movie “Aa Nalguru” (The four) won rave reviews from critics and had a decent run at the box office. He was successful in convincing the difference between ego and self-respect and how to handle mistakes and weakness in married life. Jagapathi babu(Gayam - RGV’s version of godfather) and Priyamani (Paruthiveeran) were good.There are few unnecessary tracks that could have been avoided but overall its decent fare that could be watched by whole family.
Rating 3/5
Nandanavanam 120 Kilometers
How many of you remember Spellbound… Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman, Hitchcock’s psychoanalytic scare show? The best scene, and the only scene most of us remember the movie for, is the famous dream sequence envisaged by Salvatore Dali — twisted supernatural landscapes, huge floating eyes, a faceless man in a tuxedo, most astonishing images.
Now, imagine a movie where most of scenes - not the visuals, but the thematic structure of the story - play like the above mentioned Dali’s dream sequence… surreal and subliminal. Nandanavanam 120 KMs (N-120K) is a movie that comes close to this imagination of yours, if you’re able to imagine it, that is. Not exactly, but close; pretty close.
Backed with an excellent screenplay, and a refreshingly different storyline this movie is a breath of fresh air.
Amar (debutante Ajay Varma) is a con man, who ekes out a living by thieving and duping people. He is approached by Benarjee (Kota Srinivas Rao at his villainous best), who is an auditor of a huge estate named Nandanavanam, which is located 120 kilometers away from the city limits (hence the title). Benarjee deploys Amar in the estate in the place of Sandeep, who is the estate heir and also Amar’s lookalike. Sandeep, per Benarjee, is out of town and Amar, in his absence, is assigned the task of signing some legal documents as Sandeep to help Benarjee swipe huge amounts of money. Amar, after entering the estate, finds out that Sandeep is no longer alive and was perhaps killed by Benarjee.
Thus begins the racy pace of N-120K, which weaves an intricate web of deceit, drama and at times delirium, transporting the frenzied viewers through a dazy maze of twists, to finally arrive at the illuminating climax where the multi-layered mnemonics of the story are unraveled.
N-120K is a movie sans songs, but Vijay Kurakula’s adrenaline pumping, palpitation causing, hysteria inducing background score is sure to shiver your backbone and it stays with you even after you exit the movie. PG Vinda’s pristine camera work breathes life into every frame, giving the whole movie a dreamy look and feel.
Neelakanta who singlehandedly handled the story, dialogs, screenplay, direction and the production (excellent production values) of the movie, proves that the national award win for his debut movie Show wasn’t a fluke! I’ll definitely look forward to seeing more from this man.
Rating 3.5/5
