Okka Magaadu (Bharatheeyudu minus the good things about it)

View my review of the movie Okka Magaadu here

Happy days movie (Happy times watching Happy Days)

View my review of the movie Happy Days here

Dubai Seenu

What is the movie about? Ravi Teja
Who is the hero of the movie? Ravi Teja
What is good about the movie? Ravi Teja
Why should you watch this movie? Ravi Teja

Ravi Teja has established himself as a different actor with his coastal andhra accent and highly energetic performances. I have not seen anyone in Indian Cinema who has more energy levels than Ravi Teja. There is a song in "Naa Autograph" where one line about Ravi Teja goes like this "alupantu eragani ravitejaanni" (ravi means sun and teja means radiance. the phrase describes him as sun's radiance which doesnt know what is being tired). I couldnt agree with it more.

Pre-movie Talk
There was a lot of hype surrounding the movie as Srinu Vytla's previous movie Dhee was a super hit movie and Srinu Vytla-Ravi Teja's earlier combination was again a super hit comedy riot. This movie was supposed to be a milestone in providing entertainment and Ravi Teja was to repeat his magic.

Plot
Ravi Teja plays a character, Srinivasa Rao who is known as Dubai Seenu for his passion to go to Dubai. He gets tricked in Mumbai and had to put up a vada paav shop there. He gets to meet Nayantara and follows her to Hyderabad. There is a small suspense element and what Ravi Teja does is the 2nd half.

Entertainment
Entertainment is mostly provided by Ravi Teja. Though there were 2 booze scenes (booze scene in Srinu Vytla movie is defined as something that makes people laugh non-stop from 15-20 minutes), they werent as effective as they were in Dhee or Venki or Anandham. Shayaji Shinde wasnt effective in making audience laugh with him. He looks funny though. Raghubabu as Shayaji Shinde's side kick is good. Brahmanandam is wasted in his role. MS Narayana steals the show in the 2nd half very well supported with an excellent characterization.

Music is average unlike Dhee or Venki. Dubai Seenu title song is good and a melody "Kanyaraasi".

Dubai Seenu has most of the cast, hero's friends, Krishna Bhagwan, Brahmanandam, heroine's father, Mallikarjun Rao, as in Venki. Movie narration is different from those of Srinu Vytla's movies. The way movie starts makes one feel that it might be an action movie. Srinu Vytla tried to put in lot of entertainment and mix it with drama and revenge. Of course there wouldnt be any movie these days without a little romance.

Ravi Teja was in his usual self. He drives the entire movie. Ravi Teja shares a good chemistry with Nayantara. Nayantara looks good (and great when she wears sarees) but is without any expression in some scenes and in some songs as well. She suddenly changes her expression. It looks as if she was not informed before the camera was called. MS Narayana looks awesome as SalmonRaj, the aged actor who intereferes in all the roles and is a nuasance to everyone on the sets. He was clearly protraying a leading actor in telugu cinema.

Overall, the movie makes a good watch. Suitable for Category A, B, C & D viewers.

Aata - Puli meedha swaari!

Aata is one of the most awaited movies this summer. Aata means game. Aata also means movie show. The movie talks more about the movie show than about playing game. The punchline for the movie is Puli meedha Swaari (ride on a tiger).

Reasons for hype:

1. Sidharth's previous movie, Bommarillu was a mega blockbuster
2. MS Raju is an ace producer. Though his previous movie, Pournami did disappoint, this was to be his comeback movie
3. DeviSri Prasad has been on a high after Bommarillu and the audio was already a hit before the movie was released
4. VN Adhitya's (manasantha nuvve fame) previous movie Boss was an average movie. But people have still not forgotten Manasantha Nuvve and expect him to recreate the magic with Aata.
5. Ileana - Her previous movie Munna is not doing well. But she is still considered lucky mascot and the most glamorous heroine in Telugu Industry now.

Sri Krishna is a movie freak who spends his entire life in watching aata (movie shows). He cries whenever the aata gets finished and eagerly waits for the next aata. Sri Krishna grows up watching aatas of different languages and genres. This 15 mins episode is used to establish hero's character and VN Adhitya used it to say how smart the hero is. This episode starts with hero shown in a cradle (sort of) in a theatre screening room and ends with a small chase-n-fight scene where grown up hero gets to demonstrate his wits. Shortly after this, heroine (in trouble) runs into hero and hero decides to help her. How he does it is the second half.

The first half goes well at a decent pace. The second half, though heavily inspired by Gudumba Shankar, is good. Vicky, the villian is introduced as a spoilt brat who doesnt have any soft corner. But the way he changes himself just for a bet isnt convincing. There are many such scenes which arent logical. I guess VN Adhitya would have envisioned an entertaining movie with a great climiax. But the climax isnt as good as he might have expected. He should have worked more on the script. At least one song in the second half can be removed to reduce the time and maintain the continuity.


Sidharth did well in the role of Sri Krishna sporting a cool hairstyle. It is good to see that non-telugu actors like Sidharth learning the language instead of resorting to non-matching lip sync during the movie and dubbing post movie. Though the pronounciation isnt perfect, it is ok. I havent seen the kind of dresses Sidharth wore in this movie. The wardrobe looked fresh and appealing. Ileana is quite glamorous in the role of Satya. There was a little scope for acting in this movie and she did it ok. Otherwise she was confined to most of the songs in the movie. Comedy by Sunil is good in parts, especially the Rajasthan Hotel episode is bound to tickle your funny nerves. The new actor who performed the role of Vicky is ok. Though he did ok, he doesnt quite look like an andhra person. He looks more like a north Indian. Jayaprakash reddy, Shayaji Shinde and others have little scope to perform.

The movie isnt a great one. It isnt quite Puli Meeda Swaari (read adventurous or thrilling). But is not boring either. It can be watched for the comedy & the music. Of course, Ileana fans wouldnt want to miss this for anything. This is ideal for category A, B, C viewers.

Spiderman 3

Spidey3, the movie the entire world has been waiting for the past 2 yrs. The most expensive movie ever, the most waited movie and one of the most hyped movies got released last friday. I had thoroughly enjoyed the first 2 series of Spiderman. I watched the first of the Spiderman series 4 times and couldnt wait for the next part. After watching the spiderman 2, i was waiting for Spiderman 3 even more desperately. Watching spiderman swing across the busy Newyork streets is still one of the best things to watch on silverscreen. Whats more enjoyable is to watch spiderman on IMAX screen, the biggest screen in the world. I loved spiderman and his adventures from my childhood. I grew up watching the super heroes He-Man, Spider Man, Batman and Super man. Spiderman has been my favourite among these.

The latest Spiderman series is not all about action adventures of the superhero. You dont see spiderman fighting his enemies in this movie, for most of the time. The movie deals with the worst enemy, the enemy within. I personally dont accept with people saying that superheroes cannot be human and cannot give in to emotions. I heard lot of people, media talk about the latest superman series. But I loved the latest superman movie much more than the previous ones. The fact that even the superheroes have emotions makes them more human. It is their belief and confidence that makes them what they are. This makes one believe that even humans like us can be superheroes if we believe in ourself.

The spiderman3 deals more with human aspects of the Peter Parker rather than the adventures of Spiderman. The movie deals with complacency, revenge, jealousy and anguish. In addition to these emotional aspects, Spiderman has to also deal with 3 other enemies, his friend Harry, Sandman and the Venom.

Spiderman 3 doesnt meet the standards set by the first 2 of the series. It doesnt leave a message to the viewers as the previous ones. The pace of the movie is pretty slow with the pace gaining only in the climax. The graphics and visuals are stunning as usual. The background music is also good. The movie would definitely be worth watching for Categories A, B and C. The cateogry c viewers can also give it a try.

AMAV

The phrase "Aadavari Matalaku Ardhaale Verule (AMAV)" means what women say and what they mean are different and opposite in most cases. This phrase was first used by legendary Pingali in the evergreen Telugu comedy Missamma where NTR sings Avunante Kadhanile about Savitri and women in general. The lyrics became a rage then and are talked about till date. This popular song was made even more popular by Pawan Kalyan in his blockbuster movie Khushi. With such a background, the title itself was enough to generate curiosity amongst the Telugu movie lovers. Add to this, Venkatesh as the leading star, Trisha as leading lady and Harris Jayraj as music composer and the movie is bound to get all the needed openings.

AMAV is about not-so-young Venky who is a loser all the way. He gets inspired just by seeing Trisha and his lady luck gets him a job. Venky proposes and Trisha disposes as she is already engaged. But fate gets them together in a village for Trisha's marriage. Everyone knows what happens in the climax. If you wanna see how it happens, watch AMAV.

The movie AMAV doesn't live up to the expectations. The name doesn't quite suit the movie and there is not even a few scenes which make the movie title apt. The characterization of various actors in the movie is ambiguous and weak. One doesnt understand why Trisha was so rude, mean & agressive in first half and why she becomes so soft and meek in second half. One keeps wondering the basis for the father-son relationship depicted between Kota and Venky. Swathi (colors) did a good job. There is no role for Sunil. Srikanth did a decent job which is limited. Vishwanath did an important role. The movie has decent dose of entertainment along with heavy emotions towards the end of first half and family drama in second half. Songs are good with peppy numbers and soulful ones as well. Harris Jayraj did a good job.

There are not many movies around and AMAV can be watched once. AMAV is a good movie for Categories A & B. It also makes a watchable movie for Categories C & D as well.

Ta RA Rum PUM

Siddharth Anand continues his winning streak with Ta RA Rum PUM. Ta RA Rum PUM is a story about a person who sees the highs of life and then goes down and bounces back finally.

Saif is RV (RanVeer Singh). Initially a Tyre Changer in Racing who becomes the ace Racer. Rani is Radhika, a student pursuing Music as Major who is referred in the movie as the Best Piano Player. RV meets Radhika as a tyre changer and with his lady luck, he goes on to become the best racer in the world winning all the races for about 6 years. At the peak of his career, RV plans little to make any savings and leads a very lavish life living on today without thinking about tomorrow. With each win, RV gets complacent and the fate strikes on the track where he meets with an accident and the world turns topsy turvy for this ace racer. RV tries to get back to track but finds his mind coming in way with a fear for tracks. The best racer becomes jobless and finds it even difficult to get enough food and pay school fees for his children. His son falls sick and with no other choice, RV takes up racing again to overcome his worst fears coming from deep within.

Saif has come a long way from the yeh dillagi days to the present day. He is one of the few versatile actors in Hindi Cinema today. Saif rocks in this movie. Rani has always been good and is getting better with every movie. The chemistry between Rani and Saif is the biggest plus of the movie. The way Saif calls Rani Shona is cool. Be it in the Aveo ad or the earlier movies Hum Tum, Rani & Saif appear to be one of the cutest pairs in Hindi Cinema. Javed Jaaferi repeats his Salaam Namasthe magic with his Gujrati accent and excellent performance. The kids Haji Ali (Rehaan of Fanaa) and Angelina Irani did their part well and are adorable. Apart from these characters, you have another important character who has got nothing to do with the movie. The character is the name "Chevrolet" seen in most of the movie.

The whole movie revolves around the racing track. At times the track doesnt look good enough to be a racing track. Maybe it could have made better.

Music is good. Especially the Hey Shona song is excellent with Shan and Sunidhi Chauhan making you sing along by the time the song gets finished. The title song is very good well complemented by apt lyrics.

Ta RA Rum PUM is a cool movie to beat the summer heat. Catch it up on silverscreen and you would thoroughly enjoy.