Telugu Film News

Story

Eeswar Prasad (Venkatesh) is the commissioner of police of Hyderabad. One day he receives a call from a stranger (Kamal Haasan) that he has planted bombs in various cities and they will be trigged off at 6 pm if Eeswar Prasad does not release four most dreaded terrorists from the police custody. Eeswar alerts his team and makes arrangement to release the terrorists and at the same time he tries to trace the stranger. The rest of the story is all about whether Eeswar finds who the stranger is or not.

Kamal Hassan: Kamal Hassan has done a brilliant job as a stranger in the movie. However, the characterization in Telugu/Tamil version is too strong for Kamal. Kamal behaves as if he has upper hand over the commissioner right from the first scene. With that characterization, the sympathy we have for the common man character doesn't get created. Another point to note here is that the strengths and ability of the stranger is slowly revealed over a period of time till the interval in 'A Wednesday' and it adds up to thrill. Where as in Eenadu, they tried to show Kamal Hassan as a stud right in the first scene where he prepares a RDX bomb.

Venkatesh: Venkatesh is nice as a police commissioner and it is a welcome decision for him to shed his star image to do a different character. Except for a couple of small glitches in dialogue delivery, Venkatesh did well. Again the comparison with the original character is inevitable here. In the original Anupam Kher played the role of an officer who was almost on the verge of his retirement when he gets a call from a stranger. Where as Venkatesh's character in this movie is a middle aged. How an old man deals with such an unprecedented crisis situation is much more fascinating than a young guy dealing with it.

Others: Anuja Iyer is alright as a TV journalist. Gowtami seems to have dubbed her voice. Ganesh Venkatraman (who did the role of Trisha's boyfriend in Aakasamantha movie) did the role of a hot-blooded cop and he is alright. Dr. Bharat Reddy is good as a sincere cop. Lakshmi did an important role of chief secretary to the CM. Poonam Kaur did a small role.

Story - screenplay - directon: Story of the movie has the right blend of thrilling elements coupled with nice message. Screenplay of the movie is adequate. Direction of Chakri Toleti is good in parts. However, the characterizations should have been much better. As I mentioned in artists performances, the director made Kamal Hassan's character too strong. A feeble guy like Nasiruddin Shah achieving such a huge task of planting bombs and taking the Government for ride was thrilling. Where as a person like Kamal Hassan who is shown as a great bomb assembler in the first scene doesn't give the same kind of effect. The characterization of hot-blooded cop played by Ganesh Venkatraghavan doesn't have the required precision. The character of Lakshmi is also little confusing. The conflict and friction between Venkatesh and Lakshmi looks too personal (like in between family members or friends) than between two top brass officials.

A Wednesday
1. The scene in which police commissioner gets the CM to give all powers to him in order to negotiate with the stranger.
2. The rowdy pissing in pants and telling the truth the moment he sees Arif Khan.
3. The scene in which director dupes us into thinking that Arif Khan catches hold of the stranger on the top of the under-construction building (a similar screenplay technique was used in ‘The silence of the Lambs’ where the director dupes us to think that heroine surrounds the house of the killer)
4. The way the stranger sips coffee and eats sandwich while negotiating with the police force.
5. The final twist when terrorists are taken to Juhu air-strip.
6. The scene in which the stranger reveals the cause behind his act.
7. The terrific encounter between the two in the last scene

Eenadu
1. The characterization of Lakshmi diluted the required effect.
2. Arif Khan's character is not properly etched and this scene in the movie is ineffective.
3. This scene is also not effectively handled.
4. This scene is alright.
5. This is nice.
6. The reason given by stranger is appears out of place. This movie is about terrorism and the reason given by stranger is irrelevant to terrorism.
7. This is good. Finally I saw both Kamal and Venky in the same frame of the movie in the end.

Other departments: Music by Sruthi Hassan is nice and it suited with the tone of the movie. Dialogues by Neelakanta are adequate though I expected more powerful and realistic ones from him. Manoj Soni's cinematography is good. The usage of RED camera seems to have worked for the movie. Movie is slick and sophisticated on the technical aspects. And Chakri should be commended for assembling the right work from the technicians. Editing is fast.

Analysis: Remaking a Hindi blockbuster featuring character actors with stars in Telugu/Tamil is always a risky proposition. A Wednesday worked purely on content with actors complementing it. By adding the stars to Telugu/Tamil version, the characterizations got changed. Hence the needed effect gets diluted. The plus points of the movie are Kamal Hassan, Venkatesh and technicians. The negative points are characterizations and script changes. Kamal Hassan and Venkatesh should be appreciated for doing this movie that has single costume, no songs and no romantic angle. Since I have seen the original and reviewed it too, I couldn't resist doing vital comparision. However, the fate of the Eenadu will depend on how people who haven't seen A Wednesday receive it.

123-Telugu Rating: 2.75/5
Punchline: an honest film
Genre: Action
Type: Straight
Banner: Three Angels Studio

Story

The story of the movie happens in the year of 1989. Bhagat Panigrahi (Nara Rohit) is a son of ex-maoist Chandra Sekhar Panigrahi (Sayaji Shinde). He is a man of principles and he always thinks about solutions within the system. His goal is to become an IPS officer. Sakthi Sahu (Ranadhir) is a dreadful mafia guy in the same area. They cross each other's path in an incident. It becomes a personal issue for Sakthi. But Bhagat treats it as a failure of system. The rest of the story is about how he corrects the issue while becoming the IPS officer.

Nara Rohit delivers what is needed for the character. His voice is an asset. He looks pretty good in close up shots. He has got adequate screen presence. He need to shed a little more weight look leaner on the screen. He also need to acquire flexibility in his body language. He Need to Improve Dailogue Delivery And Dances And Expressions. Overall Film He wear Glasses that y we cant find His Performance well or not. At this juncture, Nara Rohit seems to be perfect fit for author backed roles. Vedika did the role of a traditional Brahmin girl and she is apt. Sunitha dubbed her voice. Ranadhir is perfect as the villain. Sayaji Shinde gets another noteworthy character in this movie after Arundhati film. Rajiv Kanakala does his character with panache. His get-up and mannerisms are realistic. Bhanu Chandar is good. This movie sports mostly new faces and all of them did well.

Story - screenplay - directon: Story of the movie is about how a righteous guy tries to be morally correct while wiping out the evil forces in the society by adhering the rules and regulations of the system. Chaitanya Dantuluri makes a honest and sincere attempt to narrate the story without deviating from the content. He was able to present whatever he wanted to tell in a clear and lucid manner. The way he has avoided showing action sequences in a couple of fights in the first half is very creative. Screenplay of the movie is nice. And this movie reflects realism. However, I expected a better narration in the movie after hero employs four officers. He should have shown how these four officers eliminated faults in the system in more effective way. Nonetheless, Chaitanya Dantuluri should be commended for making a honest movie without falling prey to the so-called commercial elements. Watching Baanam is like watching one of those Vishal Bharadwaj's realistic Hindi movies. The director also devised the movie into three chapters (Quentin Tarantino style).

Other departments: Mani Sharma gave apt songs in the movie. They are like a part of the background music. In my opinion, the background music given by Mani Sharma for Baanam is the best in his career. It infused life into the movie. Cinematography Anil Bhandari is excellent. The framing and execution of camera is very untypical of regular Telugu cinema. Dialogues by Nagarju Gandham are seamlessly integrated into the script. No dialogues are written just for the heck of it. Editing by Marthand K Vanekatesh is crisp and the movie's runtime is around 2 hours. Art direction is nice and fights are realistic. The locations are good in the movie. Proper care is taken to suit 1989 era by the art director. Lyrics of the songs make an impact. Seshu Priyanka Chalasani should be appreciated for coming forward to make a movie that has no typical commercial elements. These kind of films work only if the content is good in the final product. And it is highly difficult to judge if a new director could pull it off at the time of script approval. It is nice to see Vyjayanthi banner that is known for commercial films is trying to enter the futuristic arena by producing realistic films..

Analysis: I can't divide this movie into first half and second half to tell how it is. The entire movie is realistic and honest. It is a well handled movie with technical work complementing the content. I feel that director could have devised a better way of showing pre-climax (cleaning/correcting the system) with more mind play so that it would take the graph of the emotions to the peak. There are also little bit of slowness in the film regarding heroine's thread. The plus points are honest direction, brilliant music and nice camera work. After Gamyam movie, I have seen another honest and path breaking movie. Let's hope that the audience will also like it and make it a hit. Success of films like these will infuse novelty and honesty in Telugu filmmaking standards. Otherwise, we end up watching the same formulaic films dished out mercilessly week after the week.

Story

Satya (Naga Chaitanya) is a student who discontinues his college in Vizag and comes to Hyderabad to stay with his uncle (Sunil). He observes that a small time politician called JD (JD Chakri) manipulates two student gangs in a college to serve his interests. Satya joins the same college and tries to unite students and reform them. The rest of the story is all about why he discontinued his studies in Vizag and joined college in Hyderabad.

Naga Chaitanya: It's a big challenge to do a character that is underplayed for a debutant like Naga Chaitanya. And Naga Chaitanya passes it with flying colors. He is extremely good in emotional scenes. And he is a very good actor when it comes to scenes that require histrionics. However, he looked little shy in romantic scenes with heroine. He needs to be more casual in general scenes. His voice is good. With better modulation he can deliver any kind of Telugu dialogues efficiently. And he has got the same charming eyes and screen presence like Nagarjuna. If he gets the right scripts with apt commercial elements, he will become a huge star in the days to come. ANR and Nagarjuna are known for having tremendous female following and Naga Chaitanya inherits that legacy now right with his first movie.He must Improve Dancing and Dailogue Delivery and Expressions

Others: Karthika is adequate in the acting department. However, she didn't suit the character. This type character is tailor-made for actresses like Genelia/Asin who have tremendous mischievous screen presence. Dubbing done by Savita Reddy suited the character, but didn't match with the actress (Karthika). Prakash Raj has a relatively small role, but has a vital part to play in the film and he is extremely effective as the principal who brings change in hero's outlook. It's a sleep walk for JD Chakri to play this role and he is extremely casual. Brahmanandam entertains in a limited role. The guy who did the role of a student leader Guna is talented. Sreya D suited the role well. Two cute kids who follow the heroine have performed well. Sunil provides some comic relief. Surya, Hema and Sitara are adequate. All the new cast in the movie could able to bring freshness.

1. Hero going to the brink of fighting goons, but withdrawing at the last moment (tea stall where he hands over money to the canteen owner instead of fighting goons)
2. Police station incident (realistic with dramatic impact)
3. Speech of hero on the dais in flashback episode

1. Motive: The entire film is based on a 20 minute flashback episode. The flashback should be very powerful enough to give good motivation for hero to do something. Though the flashback episode is alright, it doesn't give enough motivation to hero to rectify the attitude of fellow students. The flashback episode indicates that hero has made a terrible mistake and he needs to rectify it. Treatment for redemption oriented movie story should be different from what director has done in Josh movie.

2. Conflict point: Audiences will follow the story more intently if there is a proper conflict in the movie throughout. Conflict point is missing in this movie because hero and villain have no direct conflict between then. Hero, heroine or hero's friend doesn't get affected by villain in the film. Hence, the required emotion goes missing when hero confronts villain in the final parts of the movie.

3. Scenic order: It would have been more efficient if the film is narrated in a linear format instead of flashback format.

4. Unnecessary scenes: A tight screenplay doesn't allow any scenes that wouldn't make any difference to the movie if they were edited from the movie. For example, there is an eve teasing scene by rowdy students gang which lasts for 2-3 minutes. This scene would have been useful for the movie, if there is another eve teasing scene at a later point of time during which hero shows a remedy. There are a few scenes like these which added to the runtime of the movie.

Other departments: Songs scored by Sandeep Chowta are neat. Title song makes an impact in the theater. Background music and mixing dominates the scenes at times. Cinematography by Sameer Reddy is nice. Dialogues written by Vasu Varma deserves applause (naa mundu nee paina jarchaku (hero to JD) and school paaTalu cheppi pariksha pedutundi, jeevitam pariksha petti paataalu nerputundi. etc). The location of college shot in Amritsir is aesthetic. Fights are good and bike races are shot slickly. Editing should have been crisper as there quite a few unnecessary scenes in the movie.

Analysis: First half of the movie is inadequate. Second half is better. This movie can be made in two ways. One way is to insert commercial elements and make it a masala movie. The other way is to stick to story and stay away from commercial gimmicks. Producer Dil Raju should be commended for sticking to the basics though it is a risky proposition. But films like these need a tight screenplay and gripping narration. The narration and screenplay given by Vasu Varma diluted the main point. Naga Chaitanya proves to be a prospective super star with his debut. All he needs to do is to select right scripts. The fans of Dil Raju will be disappointed with this movie. On a whole Josh movie lacks the much needed Josh. We have to wait and see how people receive it.