PRAYANAM REVIEW

Pravin rating: 3/5

Punchline: love in airport

Genre: Romance/Comedy

Type: Straight

Banner: Aryaki Arts

Cast: Manoj Manchu, Harika (Payal Ghosh), Brahmanandam, Kalpika, Janardhan, Tamim & Daniel

Music: Mahesh Shankar

Cinematography: Sarvesh Murari

Editing: Mohan Rama Rao

Story - Screenplay - direction: Chandra Sekhar Yeleti

Producer: Seeta Yeleti

Release date: 29 May 2009

Review

Story

Dhruv (Manoj Manchu) is on a world tour along with his friends and he is about to go to Singapore from Malaysia. Harika (Harika aka Payal Ghosh) is a Telugu girl doing masters in Malaysia and she is going to India to have a look at a prospective groom. Dhruv falls in love at first sight with Harika when he sees her in airport. But he has only two hours to make her fall in love with him. The rest of the story is all about how he succeeds in it.

Artists Performance

Manoj Manchu is different in this movie. He put on a bit of weight and made sure that his dimples are always showing up. Payal Ghosh (Harika) is adequate as heroine. Sunita’s dubbing for her is good. Janardhan is very good and he has got nice diction and dialogue delivery. Tamim is like a character in comic book. He is extremely good with comedy and his body language is hilarious. Kalpika is cute with a big framed body. The chemistry between Tamim and Kalpika is very well established. She is extremely natural. Brahmanandam provided comedy in a few scenes. Daniel is adequate.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: Story of the movie is simple. It is about a boy falling in love and convincing her. The backdrop and costumes are limited as the entire movie takes place in an airport in a time of few hours. It is extremely difficult to write a gripping screenplay for such a time-based film with love subject. Director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti created interesting premise for the characters in airport. But he could not sustain the interest in narration as the movie entered into the latter part. The best thing about the movie is the thread between Tamim and Kalpika. You feel like reading comic book when you see both of them in the same frame. The scene in which Janardhan narrates ‘Ukku Naram’ script to Brahmanandam is hilarious (bomb ni nalipeyyadam). Direction of the movie is good in parts. But a film with this kind of thin story line and limited location/costumes need some cushioning in terms of dramatization. A good dramatization makes audience feel more familiar with movie. But director didn’t do any dramatization though there was scope. The director should have handled second half in a crisp manner. Characterizations are good as each and every character is established effectively. The way hero lifts heroine without touching her is pretty poetic.

Other departments: Background music by Mahesh Shankar is excellent. Songs and songs picturization are good. Cinematography by Sarvesh Murari deserves appreciation. Many of the dialogues are witty. Lyrics by Anant Sreeram are good. Editing by Mohan Ramarao should have been crisp. Producer should be commended for coming forward to produce such a movie.

Analysis: The initial 15 minutes of the movie might give you a wrong impression. The movie is good in the first half from the time the airport episode starts. There is lag and dillydallying in the second half. The climax gets better, but it should have been tighter. The plus points of the film are interesting premise, music and class comedy. On the flip side, the director should have made second half more interesting. Movie lacks pace. On a whole, Prayanam is a different film that caters to multiplex crowds.

KICK REVIEW

PRAVIN RATING:3.25/5

Punchline: catch me if you can

Genre: Comedy

Type: Straight

Banner: RR Moviemkers

Cast: Ravi Teja, Ileana, Shyam, Brahmanandam, Kota, Venu Madhav, Sayaji Shinde, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Ali, Benerjee, Chalapati Rao

Music: Thaman S

Cinematography: Rasool Ellore

Art: Narayana Reddy

Stunts: Vijay

Editing: Gowtam Raju

Screenplay - direction: Surender Reddy

Producer: Venkat

Release date: 8 May 2009

Review

Story

Kalyan (Ravi Teja) is a kind of guy who prefers a life full of thrills than leading a regular life style. He seeks kick in whatever he does. He finds liking in Naina (Ileana). They separate due to differences. Krishna (Shyam) is a young cop who is in lookout for a big ticket thief who happens to be Kalyan. Meanwhile, Naina agrees for an engagement with Krishna. The rest of the story is all about how Kalyan wins back his lady love and the real intent behind the robberies of Kalyan.

Artists Performance

Ravi Teja: Ravi Teja is known for entertainment and he made sure that he contributed a lot for this movie with his kind of antics. He also mimicked many actors like Amitabh Bachchan in an entertaining way. You can see lot of similarities between Ravi Teja’s character in this movie and Pawan Kalyan’s character in Jalsa.

Others: Ileana is looking fresh and pretty in this movie. Shyam is perfect as a sincere cop who is set out to nab the robber. Brahmanandam did another entertaining role of Halwa Raj. Jaya Prakash Reddy’s role of comedy cop is funny (especially tom n jerry kind of sequence in police station). Kota did the role of chief minister. Venu Madhav, Ali and Sayaji Shinde are adequate.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: The story of the movie is about a guy with abnormal life style doing something purposeful. Though the story of the movie is pretty serious, the director has chosen comedy as the way of expression. Hence, you find only 20% of the movie to be serious and remaining 80% is dedicated for humor. Surender Reddy whose strength lies in conceiving good action episodes concentrated more on comedy and ignored his strength of technical glossiness. This film is entertaining as long as you don’t mind the script and story. If you look from the script angle, the fifteen minutes before interval and the last 20 minutes make sense. The director must have chosen to treat this movie with humor aspect after seeing another mass director VV Vinayak coming out with flying colors with humor treatment of Krishna movie with Ravi Teja. The idea of ‘loser’ code word is good. This film has similarities to movies like Gentleman and Dhoom. And the director has shown a noble intent behind hero’s robberies unlike Dhoom film where hero does it for fun. However, the sophistication and technical orientation in heist episodes is missing. The robberies and chases in the movie are unexciting.

Other departments: Music by S Thaman is mediocre. Cinematography by Rasool is just okay, however there is not much lighting used for the scenes shot in Malaysia. Dialogues are adequate. But, the heroine utters curse words very often (she said naa kodaka for four times, nee yabba innumerable times). The postproduction of the movie lacks finesse.

Analysis: The movie starts off with an entertaining first half though there is not much of a story. The movie lacks pace in the second half and do appear prolonged at times. But a purposeful flashback and an entertaining climax makes up for it. The plus points of the film are Ravi Teja, Ileana and comedy. On the flip side, the runtime of the movie is excessive and the sophistication/finesse expected out of such big projects is missing. On a whole, Kick is like a poor man’s Dhoom stuffed with ample Ravi Teja kind of comedy. You may watch it for entertainment.

BILLA REVIEW

PRAVIN  RATING: 3/5

Punchline: Billa Ranga

Genre: Action

Type: Remake (Don - Hindi & Billa - Tamil)

Banner: Gopi Krishna Movies

Cast: Prabhas, Krishnam Raju, Anushka, Namitha, Hansika Motwani, Jayasudha, Supreet, Kelly Dorji, Rehman & Ali

Music: Mani Sharma

Cinematography: Soundar Rajan

Stunts: Stun Siva

Story: Javed Akhtar

Screenplay - dialogues - direction: Meher Ramesh

Producer: D Narendra & Prabodh

Release date: 3 April 2009

Review

Story



Billa (Prabhas) is a don operating from Malaysia. Krishna Murthy (Krishnam Raju) is a cop who is on the trail of Billa. Billa dies in an encounter with cops. Krishna Murthy keeps it as a secret and brings Billa’s lookalike Ranga – a petty thief onto the scene. The rest of the story is all about how Ranga completes the job for Krishna Murthy.

Artists Performance

Prabhas: Prabhas is extremely stylish with well toned and highly muscular body in the role of the don. The blazers suited him really well. His second role as Ranga entertains us with the dialogue delivery he popularized with Bujjigadu film. His steps in Bommari Bommali song are good.

Others: Anushka is good with slim figure and she is extremely glamorous in revealing dresses. She has no significant role to play in this film. Hansika Motwani did a special role and she is good. Namitha entered in to Telugu film industry again with Billa. She is sexy and dubbed her own voice in Telugu. Krishnam Raju is adequate as the cop. Supreet is stylish. Kelly Dorji’s role is an extension of the one he donned in Nagarjuna’s Don. Rehman is competent in a vital role. Ali did a short, yet significant role. Jayasudha did a small, but nice role.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: Billa’s story is based on Don film penned by Javed Akhtar. Screenplay of the film is adequate in the first half and is little disappointing in the second half. Director concentrated more on the styling in the first half. Direction of the film is adequate. Though it is a 30 year old story, the director should have done modifications to it to make it more logical and convincing. The twists towards climax lack logic. The kids thread should have been extended into second half. It has tremendous potential with nice sentimental value. The following scenes are good in the film –

1. The scene of Billa escaping by using Hansika.

2. The chase on Malaysian roads. It’s fun to see Malaysian police cars flying around instead of usual Sumo cars in a Telugu cinema.

3. The introduction and training episodes of Ranga character are hilarious.

Other departments: Music and background score by Mani Sharma is average. Bommali song is the best in picturization aspect. Cinematography by Soundar Rajan is pretty good. Dialogues are adequate. The serious dialogues written for Prabhas in the first half (Can Can and other English dialogues) are not effective enough. Fights done by Stun Siva are efficient and stylish (especially superb chase sequence). Editing is alright. Production values by Gopi Krishna Movies are excellent. The entire movie is mounted on a grand scale.

Analysis: First half of the film is alright. Second half is little disappointing and is prolonged. The plus points of the film are Prabhas’s makeover and styling as Billa and good production values. On the flip side, the second half should have been effectively handled. Prabhas has terrific comedy timing in him (Bujjigadu film and pre-interval episode in Billa). Hope somebody would make the best use of it the future. We have to wait and see how audiences take Billa.

ANUKOKUNDA OKA ROJU

TELUGU MOVIE KHADGAM SONGS

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