Pyar to hona hi tha ("Love had to happen").

Sanjana (Kajol), an orphaned Indian living in Paris, is engaged to her sweetheart Rahul (Bijay Anand).  Rahul's business takes him on a trip to India, where he is swept off his feet by a sexy modern vixen named Nisha (Kashmira Shah), and breaks his engagement to Sanjana.  Heartbroken, Sanjana heads to India to win him back.  On the way, she meets the roguish thief Shekhar (Ajay Devgan), on the run from his one-time friend, Police Inspector Khan (Om Puri).  Circumstances conspire to strand Shekhar and Sanjana in Shekhar's village, where she learns that inside scoundrel there beats a heart of pure gold.  Shekhar agrees to help her win back her lost love.  Sanjana and Shekhar pretend to be lovers to make Rahul jealous.  But as the film's title suggests, it's not long before the pretense becomes reality.

Pyar to hona hi tha is an innocuous and pleasant romance.  Like any romance, its charm depends upon the appeal of its principals, and they deliver well enough to make the movie engaging and sweet.  Kajol is talented at physical comedy, and that talent is put to good use in Sanjana's clumsy streak; her klutziness is cute and funny (though, unfortunately, it has no real bearing on the story).  And Ajay Devgan is better here than in some films where he broods and mopes incessantly; Shekhar is permitted moments of insecurity that show through his facade of cool.  The result is an endearing pairing that the viewer can really root for.  

Pyar to hona hi tha is a remake of a Hollywood romance film called "French Kiss".  I've never seen the original, but most people seem to think the filmi touches are an improvement.  I guess that Bollywood really does have a way with romance.  Some of the better filmi elements in Pyar to hona hi tha are the songs, which are very cute; they are mostly innocuous pop, but surprisingly catchy.  There are entertaining picturizations too, especially the village engagement party and a trippy song that takes place on an airplane.  The latter includes segments having different musical styles, including a qawwali and a uniquely filmi adaptation of the Macarena.The less felicitous additions from the filmi bag of tricks include a couple of lengthy car chases and a random, unnecessary shooting and hostage sequence in a shopping mall.  On balance, though, Pyar to hona hi tha offers a pleasant helping of everything one might require of a Hindi popcorn romance.  

there is a one song in this movie which is my alltime fav song.."Jab Kisi Ki Taraf Dil"

Lyric Name:     Jab Kisi Ki Taraf Dil
Lyricists:     Vinoo Mahendra
Music Director: Jatin-Lalit
Singer:     Kumar Sanu

To fall in love is Easy but to believe in Love is the true essence of LOVE!

its a great movie

Its very good movie,

This is one of the most pleasant movies I have seen this year. Even though Rock On (directed by Abhishek Kapoor) is almost three hours long, I didn’t get bored at all. But I guess it helps if one is a rock music fan like I am. Music is what this movie is about.
This story is different and shows us the most common problems in a rock band, and above them the friendship. it sports four cool guys in a rock band, bass guitar, keyboard, drums, a husky voice, friendship, love, fight of egos, corrupted music leaders, breakup, reunion, and the end of it, a loss and a gain. Abhishek Kapoor hasnt moved a lil from his main track, dats music. and side by side, he has shown the life's ups and downs, what happens when u choose a path different from normal. And the music, which reunites those friends who broke up many years before to lead a normal life.. It may look boring to some, who dont understand the language of music but those who do, this movie is for them.
The story is about the music band, Magic. And it’s about four guys who create some inspiring music and have dreams of making it big. But that is the past. The story takes place when these guys are in their thirties and the movie traces their relationship (and life) over the previous decade. We see them change as their life changes…from a free-spirited student existence to a life where earning a living and supporting their families becomes all-important…
Aditya is the worldly wise one, willing to make compromises to become successful, even when it comes to his music. Joe is the idealistic one, unable to come to terms with the idea of changing his music to suit anyone else. Rob is obsessed with their band Magic and KD, the least serious of them all, manages to ease tensions between the four.
This movie is essentially about two things…about relationships and about music. It shows us the strong bond that music creates between the four. Music is what brings them together and it is what almost breaks them apart.
There are two significant women characters - Sakshi (Prachi Desai) who plays Aditya’s wife and Shahana Goswami who plays Arjun’s wife. Both are shown to be strong characters. It is interesting to see how one woman manages to play the catalyst in the relationship between the four friends even though she is a new entrant into their lives. And the other almost tears them apart even though she is the one who has been with the band ever since they began.
I loved this movie and perhaps it is because I could identify with it instantly. For two reasons. The story is about going back into the past and reminiscing with old friends, it’s about bringing the magic back into one’s life, and it’s also about rock music. The movie tells us all something, that life is not worth living if it’s just about making money. Life has to be about passion.

Can a good film be made with only some high technical values? This question comes to the mind whenever we see some films made with lot of grandeur and glitz falling short of expectations because of weak presentation. Every one in the film industry agrees that the script is by far the most important part of a film and it is the foundation on which the entire strength of the product is built. But we see many young directors falls a prey to technical values and think that well captured sequences and finely tuned choreographic numbers are the essential ingredients of a film. The film under review 'Mungaru Male' (The mansoon rain) raises the same questions.
'Mungaru Male' has no story element as such as the whole narration stands on a very thin line. It may be like a very small story told with high-sounding meaningless and lifeless words.
The good points of 'Mungaru Male' include the fantastic songs composed by Mano Murthy of USA (It is really surprising to see that this gentleman who stays in America is giving consistently good music for many Kannada films he has worked) and good camera work by Krishna. The major portion of the film is shot in outdoors in the background of rain and it has a spectacular look on screen. And the dance directors have also worked well. But the main weakness of the film lies in its lopsided script which goes haywire in the second half of the film. But for some lighter elements in the first half, the film could have ended as a big bore from scene one. Director Yogaraj Bhatt who showed lot of promise in his first film 'Mani' utterly fails to deliver what was expected from him.
A city bred youth Preetham is fascinated by a girl whom he sees. To his surprise he sees the same girl in distant Kodagu where he accompanies his mother for a marriage. Though Preetham knows that her marriage is fixed in a week, he falls for her. Even the girl challenges him. Finally when both of them want their love to be cemented, there comes a twist. And finally Preetham is reconciled to the fact that the girl has to marry a groom who has been engaged to her.
The main draw back of this film is the weak characterization of the heroine and the villain. The newly introduced heroine Sanjana Gandhi makes a mess of her opportunity and fails to emote. The director seems to be totally confused as to how the film is to end and has dragged the film to test the patience of the viewers. The background score is also a minus point in the film
Ganesh has worked hard to deliver a lively performance. The heroine in wasted. Anant Nag shines in his role.
If your desire is restricted to watching two good songs and well photographed outdoor spots, then 'Mungaru Male' will be your cup of tea. Otherwise you can give a miss.

It is quite surprising that a director, who had 42 films to his credit is making an attempt in his own production, sans a perfect story. As the title suggests, the entire film is haphazard and has literally nothing to talk about. Despite having a huge star cast, with a whole lot of senior comedians, the director is unable to reap good entertainment and almost groped in the dark. Though there is a hero and heroine, they just remain namesake and hardly appear on the screen and shake legs and vanish.
There is an industrialist who has a big bungalow in Hyderabad. He keeps one Kasi Viswanath as caretaker of his house and leaves for the US and settles there. However, the caretaker dies and his nephew (menalludu) Chintu (Venumadhav) takes over the building and rent it out to four families. One family is headed by Pekata Papa Rao (MS Narayana). His son Prabhu (Prabhakar) and daughter-in-law, both are employees and the man is a hen-pecked husband.
Prabhu has a brother (Yashwant) who is fond of photography. So the wife looks her father-in-law very mean, but he never cares. Another portion is occupied by a factionist, the third one is being occupied by a former film actor (Balayya). His daughter (Farjana) works in a bank, his son (Raghubabu) craves to become a film hero. There is another portion occupied by a middle-class family. The man (Brahmanandam) who heads the family, marries his daughter (Hema) to a boy (Krishna Bhagawan), by making a false claim that he owned the house. Prabhu falls in love with the actor's daughter and appeals to her to act as his model. Though she refuses his offer in the beginning, she agrees after seeing his honesty. She too accepts his love. At this juncture one Munna (Ali) comes to the house claiming that the house belongs to him. Chintu welcomes him and at one stage, he gets a doubt, where Munna is going when he gets a phone call. He comes to know that Munna is not the real owner and the actual owner is in hospital. In fact, Munna is a petty thief and he tries to steal the brief case of Bhupati Raja (Kota Srinivasa Rao) who is hit by a trunk box accidentally and loses consciousness and suffers amnesia. So, he admits Bhupati Raja in hospital and comes to the bungalow on his name. Here there is another twist that Bhupati Raja has a step brother (Kota Srinivasa Rao), who is searching for his father to take revenge against him for deserting his mother. He finds Bhupati Raja in the hospital and he too reaches the bungalow claiming that he is the Bhupati Raja. Munna, who knows that he is not Bhupati Raja, warns him and all the three Chintu, Munna and Bhupati Raja's step brother decide to sell off the property and share the booty. At this juncture, Bhupati Raja regains his knowledge and recovers from amnesia rushes to the house. When his step-brother attempts murder, Bhupati Raja reveals that he has come to give the property to him. So the film ends on a happy note.
PLUS: The only plus point in the film is the glamour of Farzana. As usual she is quite liberal in exposure of her beauties. The cinematographer has tried his best to portray her beauty on the screen, especially during the songs. Comedy by Kota Srinivasa Rao, MS Narayana and Raghubabu is just okay. Venumadhav and Ali have given their best of performance in the film. Yashwant, though this is his second or third film, still have to learn a lot and shed a lot of weight. The director tries his best to expose how the gullible artistes get cheated by people in the film industry.
MINUS: As the title rightly suggests, the movement of the story is quite haphazard. Though there is a hero and heroine there is no prominence for them, as the entire story revolves around three characters, Ali, Venumadhav and Kota Srinivasa Rao (in dual roles). Comedy by other artistes including seniors like Brahmanandam, Krishna Bhagawan, Costumes Krishna, Ram Jagan, Uttej, Harshavardhan have failed to tickle the funny bone. With no gripping story and awful screenplay, the audiences will not understand what is happening on the screen and who is the real hero in the film. Neither the songs, nor its tunes are melodious, but are literally used to attract the mass audiences with the heroine's exposure of glamour. Even the voice dubbed to her is very dramatic and has no depth in it. The director could not establish some characters. The climax is further atrocious, as the director made the audiences fools by enacting a bank robbery drama.
REMARKS: It is once again proved that bringing out a film totally based on comedy is not that easy and one need good time sense and comedy timing to tickle the funny bone. Mere experience in films would also not fetch knowledge and the director cum producer have failed to catch the pulse of audiences.

Baladoor features a popular actor from the '70s well past his prime. Unfortunately, it also has a script from the '70s well past its prime. Combined with dialogues so cliched that they make Tinkle look like a Booker Prize nominee, and jokes so banal that you'll want to destroy all evidence that you heard them, it becomes a movie that seems to do the impossible - make a Ravi Teja movie more boring than just anything else you can do instead.
Chanti (Ravi Teja) is the son of Purushottam (Chandramohan), who, after the death of his wife, stays with his super-rich elder brother Ramakrishna (Krishna), managing the latter's financial affairs. Chanti is a fun-loving guy who fools around with friends in his spare time, which should normally not bother his father too much except that all the time that Chanti has is his spare time.
Now no father likes his son to be that jobless, and Purushottam constantly snubs Chanti for being a good-for-nothing lout, but the conversations are mostly one-sided since Purushottam is alone when they are happening. Chanti however is a total family person, and when his sister-in-law is secretly shot by a goon when she is changing in a store's trial room, he beats the crap out of him.
The goon however is the brother of realtor Umapathi (Pradeep Rawat), who hates Ramakrishna for so long now, he's an expert at it. And so they attack Ramakrishna's family at a family function, and while Chanti rescues them, he is thrown out of the house by Purushottam for causing such an incident. Chanti cannot explain things since his sister-in-law's respect is at stake, since he thinks self-sacrifice is an end in itself, and since this movie has such a sorryass script.
In love with Chanti is Bhanu (Anushka), who serves no other useful purpose. Oh yes, she has a body which they need for the songs. Which, incidentally, pop up so infuriatingly obtrusively and old-fashionedly, you wish you could blow someone's head off, even if you won't get reimbursed for it.
Anyway, Ramakrishna's family starts squandering his wealth, Purushottam is slighted, and Chanti has to come to the rescue. Can he save Ramakrishna and his wealth? Can he reform the family? Will he get to marry Bhanu? Will you be able to erase memories of this movie? Answers to these form the rest of the film.
There's good news and bad news for Ravi Teja. The bad news is that he will have to wait a long while for the next bit of good news. The good news is that little after this can be bad news. Krishna is well and truly past his acting days, with little energy in the dialogue delivery - a full role for him is a significant compromise. All other performances are professional. The music is quite average, and you won't call the movie slick-looking unless you are part of the crew giving a TV interview 2 weeks after release talking about how the film is rewriting box-office records both in India and abroad.
You can watch Baladoor if you are desperate for a Ravi Teja flick, and that is likely to be the cure for the desperation.

Several films have come with treason by extremists as the backdrop. In most of the cases, the extremists made use of religion, politics as the source to show extremism. Director Srikanth, went a step ahead, and tried family system too as a source in this regard. Once again the Telugu film industry tries to highlight how the innocent are getting caught in the cobweb, despite the high-level patriotism they have in mind. He was able to maintain a good amount of suspicion to certain extent, but he lost grip on the subject frequently which has caused a bumpy movement of the film.
Bharat (Rajiv Kanakala) is an orphan and brought up in a orphanage. Sreenu (Uttej) is his close friend. Bharat studies hard and becomes a software professional. Being an orphan, he loves children very much. Once someextremists plan to attack the police and gain entry into his car and forcibly take him with them to the outskirts of the city. By the time, they were about to blast the police jeep and van, Bharat drives his car to block the movement of the police and saves them. As a result, the government announces Best Citizen Award and he is expected to take the award from the President of India on Republic Day. At this juncture, he comes across Sameera (Sindhu Tulani), who is doing fashion designing. Their friendship grows and turns into love. With the acceptance of Sameera's parents (CVL Narasimha Rao and Ayesha Jaleel), they get married. However, Sameera keeps a condition that their first night should be only after completion of her studies. Meanwhile, there is an attack on Bharat and somehow he survives from it. Again there is another attack in the form of electric shock and accidentally Sreenu gets it, and he too survives from it. Just before the Republic Day, i.e., on January 15, Bharat tries to surprise Sameera and wish her happy birthday at midnight and she hits him with a flower vase causing grievous injury. So, left with no option, Bharat tells Sameera to go to Delhi and receive the award. At this juncture, a bomb blast occurs in Hyderabad in which two persons get killed. The case is handed over to CBI. The CBI officer Khan (Jackie Shroff), who is very shrewd, notices a car in a video footage and finds that it belongs to Bharat. He questions Bharat, but could not find any conclusive evidence. On investigation, the CBI sleuths notice that Sameera's parents were Muslims. Then they arrest Sameera's father, who reveals the entire story. Sameera is a Muslim girl and her fiancee, who masterminds blasts in Mumbai gets killed just before their engagement. So, she had decided to avenge the killing. As per a plan, she cornered Bharat and married him. On learning this, Khan and Bharat go to the function, but could not stop her from going to the dais due to some security reasons. However, Bharat to prevent a disaster, snatches Khan's revolver and kills Sameera.
PLUS: The director has maintained suspense all through the film and the storyline though not predictable appears to be somewhat interesting. Rajiv Kanakala gave an impressive performance. Sindhu Tulani is at her best. She not only filled the glamour slot, but also appeared romantic in some scenes and got good opportunity to prove her acting capabilities. Jackie Shroff, though appeared a little old, did justice to his role. Uttej is good as hero's buddy. However, Rajiv Kanakala's performance is the only highlight and plus point for the movie.
MINUS: Though the storyline is average, the director gave a good twist to it. Though it was he who penned the story, screenplay and dialogues, the director due to inexperience remained butter-fingered. He lost grip while running the subject many times. Music by Vijay Kurakula though not very impressive in songs, with no foot-tapping numbers, his background score is good and has elevated the mood of the film in some scenes.
Remarks: Camera work by Joshi is not bad and Marthand K Venkatesh did a neat job. Production values of UK Avenues are okay. The film is good for serious viewing, and the entertainment values are very less. Placement of songs is also improper and spoiled the tempo of the film. Srikanth Vemulapalli, however, appeared a promising director, and hopes he could deliver a good film in his next project by learning from the drawbacks he faced in this film.

Allari Naresh is known for providing good comedy. With all the other heroes are looking for mass, action and love entertainers, Allari Naresh started concentrating on comedy flicks. Like the comedy heroes of yester-years like Rajababu, Chalam and most recently Rajendraprasad, it is Naresh who is getting an image of a comedy hero. However, this time, the director tried to experiment a little love, faction elements besides comedy and entertainment. But the film went beyond logic and it appeared bits and pieces of various films including Arya, Samarasimha Reddy, Seema Sastry and Leela Mahal Centre which were tagged together to prepare the subject.
Siddhu (Naresh) is basically from Srikakulam and he joins a college in Visakhapatnam. He falls in love with a girl called Sailaja (Manjari), but does not reveal it directly. After a couple of encounters, he reveals his love to her and she too accepts his love
A few days after the incident, the college declares vacations, Sailaja reveals that her father Obul Reddy (Jayaprakash Reddy), who is a big factionist has settled her marriage with Bhuma Reddy's (Vijayaranga Raju) brother. On learning that Sailaja's father is a factionist, Siddhu tells her that it would be better to separate than love as he loves his life and doesn't want to lose his life. He thinks everything practically and reveals his decision. However, Sailaja agrees to separate from him on one condition that Siddhu should come to her marriage and stay with her till the tying of knot by the bridegroom, that too with a smiling face. Siddhu accepts her condition and reaches her village. He withstands his emotions and the teasings of Sailaja. At one stage, Siddhu too tries to tease Sailaja by moving close with her cousin Nisha (Shradha Das). However, in the climax he comes out in open that he too loves Sailaja very much and can not live without her. He reveals that love is greater than life and he is ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of love. At the same time, being an intelligent boy, he creates a situation where Sailaja's father himself comes to Siddhu to marry his daughter. Like this, the film ends on a happy note with the union of Siddhu and Sailaja.
PLUS: Naresh is at his usual best. Besides comedy, he has got a very good opportunity to perform and show some feelings and expressions in many of the scenes and he too stood to the expectations of his fans. Manjari is okay as heroine. She has the looks of Keerthi Reddy and cooperated well with the hero in many scenes. Besides filling the glamour slot, she appears romantic in some scenes. The director has moulded her character also with a little scope for performance. There is absolutely no need for another heroine in this film, but the director chose to use her as a defense to thwart the attempts of the heroine luring the hero and to tease her the hero needed another girl. Shradha Das has played a very hot role and done a lot of skin show. Comedy by Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Venumadhav, MS Narayana and Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao is quite pale and has failed to tickle the funny bone of the audiences. Once again, Ahuti Prasad has played a different role as a very lazy fellow, while Jayaprakash Reddy is routine as a factionist.
MINUS: The story has no twists and is pretty predictable. There is nothing new to talk about the film. The director has failed to provide a crisp screenplay and the narration is too lengthy and boring. The establishment of love between the hero and heroine, the heroine's teasing the hero in the second half, with no one at home (all through the night) are too lengthy and they should have been cut to size. Camera work is okay while the music is average. Choreography of a couple of songs is okay but the overall situation in music and dance department is just average. The director has abruptly cut the second heroine's role and the climax is quite cinematic and without any knowledgeable reasoning. It is not known why and how the comedy track went off the track on many occasions. The suspense at the time of interval was good.
REMARKS: The director, who was inspired at the success of films with mind games, tried to do a film on those lines but miserably failed to present his ideas on the screen. As a result, the film has remained a routine regular commercial formula film, sans any good twists. Moreover, the romance between the hero and heroine is too sexy and it is not known how the censor accepted those scenes without ordering cuts. There are many unwanted comedy scenes and dramatic twists, which are really not needed for the flick. In fact, they slowed the movement of the film. Though the hero tried his best and took the responsibility to move the film on his own, the film could be avoided without any hesitation.

Lakshyam is a revenge drama complete with the trademark smirk and imposing physique of Gopichand.
A journalist father (Kota); an almost invisible mother; a righteous cop (Jagapthi Babu), his homely wife (Kalyani), and their little daughter, and a happy go lucky young son (Gopichand) make for a charmingly functional family. As a part of the media the father covers events fearlessly. And the cop-son fights injustice equally intrepidly. The righteous cop takes up the challenge of catching a dreaded criminal: Shankar (Yashal Sharma). Shankar's business is settling land disputes in his own way with scant regard for the law of the land. His favorite modus operandi is to kill anybody that comes in his way and report to the police immediately after the incident that the deceased had attacked him. Of course he has the DIG of police as a partner in his criminal activities for a share in the illegal earnings.
Shankar takes a loan of 1000 millions from a bank. When the payment falls due he decides to eliminate the bank chairman. Once the chairman is killed, the manager fails to convince the public of the disappearance of the cash. Jagapati Babu knows that the bank manager is innocent and wants to save him. While he cajoles and tries to extract the names of people involved in the scam from the bank manager, Shankar strikes. Can Jagapati Babu fight Shankar alone? Does he get help from his younger brother Gopichand? Where is the revenge factor? Find out.
If Lashyam sounds like a Jagapati Babu's movie, be informed that it's not. It's essentially a Gopichand movie with Jagapati Babu playing a vital role. Parallel to the crime fighting story of Jagapati Babu, Gopichand has a romance track interspersed with comedy. And during the second half Gopichand becomes a one-man army.
The opening scene of the movie Lakshyam is about when 75% of the story is complete. Then the narration goes back to the beginning of the story and runs till the opening scene. After which the remaining 25% is added as the ending part. That's refreshing. The debutant director Srivas has mixed it like a professional. He has been able to create curiosity in the opening scene itself. A decked up bride running away from her marriage function, the hero escaping from the clutches of the police and shooting the DIG of police on the tip-off given by an inspector of police; these all heighten the curiosity of the viewer.
The story is nothing new. But the treatment is slightly different, though not entirely unique. Credit should be given to the director for making two stars comfortable with their share of screen times.
The glamour factor in the movie is sustained by the flawless beauty Anushka.
The ending is not as intense as it should have been. The plot gets typical in the second half. Both these factors contribute to the movie being a slightly above average fare. But full marks to Jagapati Babu, Gopichand, and Anushka.

Lakshyam is a revenge drama complete with the trademark smirk and imposing physique of Gopichand.
A journalist father (Kota); an almost invisible mother; a righteous cop (Jagapthi Babu), his homely wife (Kalyani), and their little daughter, and a happy go lucky young son (Gopichand) make for a charmingly functional family. As a part of the media the father covers events fearlessly. And the cop-son fights injustice equally intrepidly. The righteous cop takes up the challenge of catching a dreaded criminal: Shankar (Yashal Sharma). Shankar's business is settling land disputes in his own way with scant regard for the law of the land. His favorite modus operandi is to kill anybody that comes in his way and report to the police immediately after the incident that the deceased had attacked him. Of course he has the DIG of police as a partner in his criminal activities for a share in the illegal earnings.
Shankar takes a loan of 1000 millions from a bank. When the payment falls due he decides to eliminate the bank chairman. Once the chairman is killed, the manager fails to convince the public of the disappearance of the cash. Jagapati Babu knows that the bank manager is innocent and wants to save him. While he cajoles and tries to extract the names of people involved in the scam from the bank manager, Shankar strikes. Can Jagapati Babu fight Shankar alone? Does he get help from his younger brother Gopichand? Where is the revenge factor? Find out.
If Lashyam sounds like a Jagapati Babu's movie, be informed that it's not. It's essentially a Gopichand movie with Jagapati Babu playing a vital role. Parallel to the crime fighting story of Jagapati Babu, Gopichand has a romance track interspersed with comedy. And during the second half Gopichand becomes a one-man army.
The opening scene of the movie Lakshyam is about when 75% of the story is complete. Then the narration goes back to the beginning of the story and runs till the opening scene. After which the remaining 25% is added as the ending part. That's refreshing. The debutant director Srivas has mixed it like a professional. He has been able to create curiosity in the opening scene itself. A decked up bride running away from her marriage function, the hero escaping from the clutches of the police and shooting the DIG of police on the tip-off given by an inspector of police; these all heighten the curiosity of the viewer.
The story is nothing new. But the treatment is slightly different, though not entirely unique. Credit should be given to the director for making two stars comfortable with their share of screen times.
The glamour factor in the movie is sustained by the flawless beauty Anushka.
The ending is not as intense as it should have been. The plot gets typical in the second half. Both these factors contribute to the movie being a slightly above average fare. But full marks to Jagapati Babu, Gopichand, and Anushka.

'Shankar Dada Zindabad' is all about a transformation: from punches to peace.
Unlike 'Shankar Dada MBBS', where Shankar (Chiranjeevi) the good natured 'anna' wanted to study MBBS here he wants to marry his lady love Jahnavi (Karishma Kotak). Jahnavi is a radio jockey and Shankar dada is besotted by her voice that cheerfully greets the Hyderabadis everyday. For the sake of his love he has to become an expert in Gandhian philosophy.
And there is Gandhi in the movie - Yes, the one who brought freedom to India. Well not him actually, but his inner spirit.
Shankar Dada Zindabad is all about Gandhigiri and not dadagiri. The movie depicts the transformation of Shankar Dada from a criminal to a Gandhian. But in today's world does Gandhian values yield any result? The movie holds the answer.
It's original Hindi version was a massive hit. 'Shankar Dada Zindabad' too is going to become a hit. It caters to all types of people in the society. Rich, poor, educated, uneducated, young, and old: all can enjoy this movie.
Families would want to watch this movie together. But they might have to wince at one item song. Other than that the movie can be seen by the family.
The movie will attract large number of school children who will be encouraged by their teachers to see the movie, the item song notwithstanding. And there are a lot of positive things that can be learnt from the movie.
Direction, acting, and music have been good in Shankar Dada Zindabad. Chiranjeevi, the maestro just enacts the scenes with perfect ease. Srikanth matches him frame to frame. But circuit was far better than Srikanth.
Karishma Kotak impresses. So does the music of Devi Sri Prasad.
'Shankar Dada Zindabad' has everything. There is a mega star and four small stars, a beautiful actress, a strong social message, and some good songs. In the final analysis, Shankar Dada Zindabad is a poor copy of 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'. But for those that haven't seen the original 'Shankar Dada Zindabad' it is solid entertainment.

Well, Jr. NTR rocks in his new slimmer avatar. And Yamagola, sorry Yamadonga, has initiated the process of being a big, very big hit.
Those who have seen Yamagola will be in for a pleasant surprise if they watch Yamadonga. Yamadonga is loosely based on Yamagola, the hit comedy of the late seventies. Yamadonga is vastly different from Yamagola. Except for the main protagonist getting killed before his time, a few yamaloka scenes, and both Yama and Chitragupta descending on earth, the two movies do not converge on any other count.
Raja (NTR) is a thief. Mahi (Priyamani) is the daughter of a rich village land lord. Mahi lost her mother when she was still a child and soon her father also dies. Her uncles (Jaya Prakash Reddy and Raghu Babu) and aunties are unscrupulous people. They are hell bent on usurping Mahi's wealth of around 200 crores that her father has bequeathed in her name. They are constantly scheming to achieve their target. They torture her and treat her like a servant.
Mahi always dreams that her prince charming would one day come to rescue her. And her dream comes true when she meets Raja in a very filmy situation.
Mahi's uncles hire professional killers to kidnap her and kill her so that they can acquire the wealth she owns. Luckily, she gets a chance to escape from the clutches of the goons. She meets Raja while she is on the run. Raja is immensely capable of fending off hired killers and self seeking relatives of Mahi. But can he put off death that seems to be chasing him prematurely?
Raja is supposed to live for hundred years. But in an inebriated condition he dares and hurls abuses at Yama (Mohan Babu), the God of Death. So Yama wants Raja dead even before he is actually supposed to. What can Raja do to ward off the wrath of Yama and save Mahi?
Yamadonga holds the answer.
Yamadonga is a good movie on many counts. First, it mixes heavenly (or should we say hellish) characters with human characters perfectly. Second, the songs are good and a lithe NTR dances better accomplishing some difficult steps to send the crowd in to raptures. Third, the sets and costumes are impeccable. Yamaloka and the costumes of Yama leave no room for complain. Four, the choice of actors (Mohan Babu for Yama) is perfect. A better actor than Mohan Babu for that role cannot be thought of.
To top it all Rajamouli's near flawless direction complimented with NTR and Mohan Babu's superlative acting takes the movie a level up.
In the final analysis Yamadonga may not be a critic's movie, but its very much a viewer's movie. People are going to enjoy the comedy as well as the drama thoroughly.

People agree vehemently that no Telugu movie had ever created so much of curiosity or publicity as Chiruta has done. We have the local government officials put in to service for overseeing the smooth issuing of tickets in the face of complaints regarding sales of tickets in black. This is a rare thing in any film industry. Such is the brouhaha generated about Chiruta that young guys were seen pleading with theatre managers and owners with recommendation letters from local politicians for tickets.
So obviously the billion rupees question is: does Chiruta measure up to the hype generated around it? It does, magnificently. And Chiruta unveils the talents of a raw Ram Charan Teja with full splendor.
Ram Charan Teja, the son of megastar Chiranjeevi has been groomed perfectly to become a star. He does become a star with the movie Chiruta. And why wouldn't he? He emotes well, dances like his father used to do when he was decades younger, and fights better than you would expect.
Every about Chiruta is secondary, including the story. The movie is all about the launch of Ram Charan Teja. Ram Chran Teja is lean, mean, and hungry for success. He doesn't have a single ounce of fat on his body. He is very agile. He dances with unmatched suppleness and rhythm. Manisharma's music provides the perfect alibi to show off his dancing talents.
Ram Charan Teja has passed every possible scrutiny with aplomb. He has more than met the expectations of people. Watching Chiruta makes you forget that you are watching the son of a rich star son in action. Ram Charan Teja looks every inch a lean, mean, and ruthless 'mass' character that he plays in the movie. There is not a single shot where he gives away. There is a lot of promise in this young star. He can be cast in romantic roles too in future.
Chiruta is not a great directorial venture of Puri Jagan. He doesn't do a bad job either. Yet Chiruta is a good entertainer. It's Ram Charan, Ram Charan, Ram Chraran all the way. No Telugu movie lover can afford to miss the movie.

Happy Days is a movie that has happiness and goodness writ all over it. Every scene drips entertainment and values. Watching the movie makes you feel good and noble about you. I sincerely wished that the movie Happy Days never ended and had to drag myself out of the theatre as the curtains closed on the silver screen. If that doesn't help in qualifying the movie as a good one then consider these factors: the movie is clean with very little violence. It adds a whip of freshness to the art of filmmaking. As like all of Sekhar Kamula's movies, Happy Days is very much a neat piece of artwork that reflects life, campus life to be precise. At the same time the movie has not divorced social responsibility out.
Sekhar Kamula is a sensitive filmmaker that has taken up the goal of making clean and sensible entertainers. After Anand and Godavari he scores again with Happy Days. Make one movie a year: Is it the mantra of Sekhar for good filmmaking? May be yes; because, he made Anand in 2005, Godavari in 2006, and now Happy Days. Sekhar has the amazing ability of making arty kind of movies with tremendous box office potential. All his movies have picturesque scenes and enthralling music. This time he takes Mickey J Meyer instead of Radhakrishna to score soft tunes and avoid getting repetitive.
Conforming to his brand of movies, Happy Days truly reflects campus life. The eight fresher of Chaitanya Bharati Institute of Technology (Sekhar's alma mater) are typical students of any engineering college. Happy Days, that's part autobiographical and part imagination, revolves around these eight fresher as they go through regular campus life experiences that include: studies, ragging, love, friendship, betrayal in love and friendship, and career concerns.
With Happy Days Sekhar Kamula writes Telugu film history quietly and yet authoritatively. Here is a director that dares to take a totally different approach to movie making and story telling. It's a wonder what Sekhar has done with seven raw talents that had hardly faced the camera before. He extracts the best from these greenhorns and makes the characters as real as it's possible. The entire Telugu film industry that made totally unrealistic and bizarre student themed movies replete with mindless violence should sit and watch Happy Days. There are a lot of things to be learnt from the movie.
The viewers must watch Happy Days to take a nostalgic trip down the memory lane and recollect the sweet as well as bittersweet memories. For those that are still in college, Happy Days can provide a newer perspective of their campus lives. And what better excuse can one get than watching Happy Days to cozy up with friends in a relaxed atmosphere and experience real happy times.

Tulasi is about a young man of the same name. Tulasi (Venkatesh) hails from a village where faction clashes decide the fates of people. Though highly educated and an architect by profession, he finds himself dragged in to one such skirmish that snowballs in to a major embroilment around which the entire plot of the movie rivets.
But Tulasi is in love with a girl (Nayantara) that he befriended on a trip to the USA. They get married. For her he is willing to sacrifice anything, even violence at the cost of getting beaten up badly. He gives up violence when his wife disapproves it strongly. And moreover, they have their first baby boy. For the sake of family Tulasi stays away from violence totally.
Just when everything is going smoothly his brother-in-law gets involved in a brawl. Tulasi finds himself again in the thick of action. His brother-in-law gets killed in the fracas. And in anger Tulasi kills the guy that killed him. The plot thickens now with gangs from Rayalaseema to Bangalore getting involved in seeking revenge.
Since all these happen right in front of Nayanatara, she takes away the baby with her and asks Tulasi to stay away from them. She does this for the sake of the baby boy. Which right thinking mother wouldn't do that? Whether she lets Tulasi into her life again? How does the boy try to bring his parents together? Does the little one succeed in his efforts? The movie holds the answers.
Tulasi is a pretty average fare. The movie offers nothing new, except repackaging numerous violence scenes and an item song. Why would Venkatesh choose such a script that has more reels about swinging axes and throwing punches is something that is baffling? At this juncture in his career he doesn't require such an out and out action film. His movies generally have a mixture of action and emotion in equal measure. Comedy also is conspicuous in the Tulasi by its absence.
Venky is clinically professional and perfect in the movie. But the real hero of the movie is the child actor Atulit. His presence in Tulasi is a soothing factor amidst all the Katchupshed.

It's another flick based on the infamous Rayalaseema faction feuds. But then it's not just another such movie; it's an uncommonly boring movie.
Srihari ends up in another role that he has donned for umpteen numbers of times. He is a revered faction leader of Rayalaseema region that stands for justice. Taking lives is an ordinary thing for him. He dotes on her sister (Neha Jhulka) and wants to get her married to his cousin (Brahmaji). But Neha has a mind of her own and falls in love with a city guy (Uday Kiran). Uday Kiran runs a beauty parlor.
Instead of marrying secretly in a temple they decide to tie the knot after getting approval and blessings of the elders. But both Srihari and Uday Kiran's father (Sayaji Shinde) oppose the marriage. Srihari looks down on Uday Kiran's profession and thinks of him as nothing more than a barber. Sayaji Shinde is a conscientious retired judge and is dead against having any links with the family of a faction leader.
It's good to see Uday Kiran back after a brief hiatus. He is good but far off from the charming lover boy that he was in Manasantha Nivve.
The first half of the movie belongs to Uday Kiran and Srihari dominates the second half. Srihari is as usual at his macho best.
The movie is devoid of any good comedy. Venu Madhav tries his best, but ends up sounding too repetitive. A similar movie "Dhee" was enjoyable because of comedy. God knows when the Telugu movie industry will stop making senseless movies with white Sumos and sword wielding goons.

The protagonist of the movie rightly asks - what are a common man left with when the big shots distribute the sky (air spaces and satellites), earth, water, wind, and energy among themselves? A common man has to fight for everything from the air he breathes to the house he lives in. Life is a continuous struggle.
One such common man, Sanjay Sahu ( Pavan Kalyan) finds that life is a continuous struggle not because of God's design but because the plots and schemes of self seeking big shots. Growing up in a village Sanjay Sahu witnesses helplessly as his brother, father, and mother die. His mother dies within six hours of his father dying. The root cause of the untimely deaths is money, or more appropriately the lack of it. Frustrated, Sanjay Sahu hits back at the henchmen of the landlord (the biggest shot) of his village. At this juncture he is spotted by a naxal leader and invited to join in.
Kamaleeni Mukerjee is madly in love with Sanjay Sahu. They plan to marry. She asks Sanjay to talk to her father about the marriage. Her father (Prakash Raj, who else) instead of giving permission, gives a sound lecture and their marriage doesn't materialize. Kamaleeni Mukherjee marries a person that her father has picked up. Sanjay shamelessly takes his friends to the wedding reception to enjoy the food.
Ileana and Parvati Melton are friends. On their way back from a game of squash they are harassed by the same big shot's son and his group of friends. In comes a drunken Sanjay Sahu, a kung fu champion and multiple academic degree holders and stylishly bashes the guys to pulp. Both the girls get smitten with love for Sanjay.
Sounds like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle? These and other pieces when put together they present a beautiful picture in Jalsa.
And Jalsa is an excellent socially relevant movie if you can tolerate many bottles of blood (or ketch up) spilled in some scenes. Jalsa mixes social issues, with trendy love, and stylized fights. All the scenes are garnished with super comedy. Good comedy sustains the interest of the audience throughout the movie.
Trivrikram's brilliance in direction is palpable throughout the movie. The script and direction show a lot of depth of understanding human psyche. For instance, Sanjay refuses the love advances of Parvati Melton. Ileana rightly ponders whether her love will be reciprocated by Sanjay as he has refused the love of a more attractive girl. Or when Sanjay comes back from the cremation ground to find his mother dead, he just tells his friend "we have to go to the cremation ground again".
Sunil as a guy that's ten seconds faster than any other person in everything that he does and Brahmanandam as a cop whip up good comedy. But it's the talent of Trvrikram to present even the most serious scenes in a comical fashion that wins the viewers over. Pavan Kalyan has a hit after a long time. I almost forgot to mention, the music is good too.

Not many times people get a chance to see a movie the shooting of which they had watched. When they do, the feeling is special. Driving down the famous beach road in Visakhapatnam one March morning I stopped by at a film shooting. To my joy the heroine was Charmmi and she was there in the set looking as gorgeous as she can get. Also there was Prabhu Deva. Little did I realize that the movie would hit the screens within a month. Well, Prabhu Deva behaved as if he was just a crew member or some ordinary dance artist - totally down to earth and almost invisible. Charmmi's attitude was a cross between a star and an ordinary young girl. She was the center of attraction.
Nidhi Prasad endeared himself to the Telugu audience with his hit comedies: 'Andaru Dongale' and 'Bhagyalaxmi Bumper Draw' - both starring Rajendra Prasad. This time he selects Srikanth and Prabhu Deva and makes them chase Charmmi. Michael Madan Kamaraju is a comedy that's nowhere near Andaru Dongale.
Madan (Srikanth) is an award winning ad maker and designer. He meets Charmmi in a fashion design competition in Goa. He hires Charmmi to work for him. Kamaraju (Sunil) is Srikanth's cousin and partner in business. While Srikant hates the word 'love' Sunil falls in love with a girl in Goa. Srikanth chastises Sunil for falling in love. He says this is nothing but lust and that the sooner the relationship ends the better. Sunil is truly in love and wants to marry the girl. For this Srikanth has to give permission as he is the guardian of Sunil and have been taking care of him since his childhood. So Sunil hatches a plan to make Srikanth agree to his marriage. What's Sunil's plan? How Michael (Prabhu Deva) plays a central role to that plan forms the rest of the story.
Brahmanandam rocks as a gun wielding serious betrayed lover. Prabhu Deva dances and emotes with novelty. Charmmi gives a staple performance and Srikanth finds his roles shortened and lime light stolen from him by others. Ali and Venumadhav just crowd the scenes. Kota Sreenivasa Rao excels as a classic actor.
I was happy to see the movie because I had seen the shooting of a scene. But others may not subscribe to the view and may find that the story has good twists but somehow the entire movie doesn't give a solid kick.

Allari Naresh has become synonymous with comedy movies in Telugu. Krishna Bhagvan is known for his trademark comic timing as well as smooth delivery of digs and jibes. They teamed up in the movie "Bommana Brothers Chandana Sisters" to give the summer crowd their dose of laughter. The catchy title based on two of the biggest cloth merchants in Andhra attracts a fair share of movie watchers.
BBCS is an innocuous rib tickler. The story is about two Bommana brothers (Naresh and Krishna Bhagvan) belonging to a family of thieves that fall in love with two sisters from the rich and established Chandana family. The two scammers actually love the two sisters at the first sight, but soon get hooked to their riches. They plot and scheme with their parents (Tanikelabharani and Kovai Sarala) to trap the girls in their love. They succeed in wining over the girls with a lot of acting as do-gooders aided by professional junior artists led by Jeeva. Kota Sreenivasa Rao, the father of the girls, breaks off their engagements with the sons of Jayaprakash Reddy and gets his daughters married to Naresh and Krishna Bhagvan. The scammers are now gleefully expecting to enjoy and inherit the vast wealth of their father-in-law. But there is a stumbling block named - Dharma Varapu. Dharma Varapu is an ex-bank manager that is hell bent on exposing these two scammers. Why? The movie holds the answer.
The story line of the movie is convincing. But the comedy lacks punch at times. Krishna Bhagvan is slightly under utilized. Naresh takes the audience to the realm of boredom with an extra song or two. He should put more passion into his acting. Dharmavarapu gets a meatier role and doesn't do full justice to it.
But there are many moments of sheer comic relief. Krishna Bhagvan as a blind man is brilliant. It's his comedy that sustains the movie.

"Bujjigadu", only meant to be a feast for Prabhas' fans, is a mix of fist-feats, feeble characters and floundering finale.
One can easily discern that this Prabhas-Trisha-Mohan Babu-starrer, whose script and direction have been credited to Puri Jagannath, has been 'inspired' by past Chennai-made hits like K. Balachander's "Maro Charitra".
The geographical separation of lovers, a villainous brother and breathtaking locales are some of the key elements of this weak plot.
Fisticuffs and the skimpily clad leading lady's abhorrence of violence are 'modern' elements added by director Puri.
Platonic lovers Bujji (Prabhas) and Chitti (Trisha) quarrel over a trifle and decide stay away from each other for years.
After roaming aimlessly in the cities of Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad, the hero morphs into a sidekick of a gangster Shivanna (Mohan Babu) and hides the secret from the baddie's sister (the separated girlfriend), who hates violence.
A combination of brain and brawn eventually buys the belle before the bell.
Though an obvious attempt by Puri to provide grist to Prabhas' histrionics, it is Mohan Babu who attracts the applause. Trisha merely lends oomph. Sanjana and Rao are mere props.
While the first half is passable, the second is a pure torture. A Rajnikanth-like element has been added to the movie to herd his fans into the cinemas.
While Sandeep Chowta's scores are scourging sounds of aural assault, Naidu's scintillating cinematography soothes the senses.

Anasuya is a murder mystery that turns into a violent horror story in the second half. The movie is as repulsive and murky as it can get. That's precisely what the makers wanted it to be as a horror and murder story. Ravi Babu, the director of the movie establishes his credentials as a director firmly this time. His previous venture 'Party' was a damp squib. Anasuya compensates for that.
Anasuya (Bhoomika) is an investigative journalist working for a TV channel. She is smart, gutsy, and yet vulnerable. Abbas is a police officer working in the task force. He is not exactly very efficient, but he is entrusted with high profile cases.
There is a psycho on a killing spree. Abbas gets the case to solve. Anasuya comes face to face with the killer when he kills her uncle. Anasuya clearly recognizes the killer that is working in a hospital as a ward boy. But the killer acts as an invalid and even after getting apprehended he is allowed to go scot free without any charges because of his physical disability. Anasuya has a gut feeling that the suspect is the actual killer and the physical disability is a sham. Her apprehensions get confirmed when she follows the activities of the suspect closely. The killer is an able bodied huge male with an unhinged mind that's bent on killing and taking away body parts (this is one murky part). The trouble now is that the killer has Anasuya as the target.
As a movie it's conceived well and the scenes are constructed neatly. But what's repulsive is the way some scenes have been shown. There are a lot of gory scenes and eerie frames. That's what is required in such a movie and the director Ravi Babu scores heavily there. Also the construction of the plot is remarkable. The talk of DNA testing, organ donation, and stuffs like that shows the caliber of the director. As an ad film maker he has got the story right as well as the lights and the colors.
However, the director dwells more on the anti hero or the killer here. Though he doesn't glorify the killer, but there are a lot of heroism exhibited by the anti hero (like taking 3 bullet shots from a close range and yet running away and then doing a few things an otherwise unhurt person cannot do). The movie could have been better had it included some more scenes about Abbas. His character doesn't emerge clearly.
The expression that Bhumika gives when she comes face to face with the killer for the first time says it all about her acting. She is brilliant as usual. Ravi Babu as the killer has elevated his position as a negative role actor to the highest echelons.
In the final analysis, Ravi Babu proves his mettle as a director of caliber. He has the capability to make movies on the strength of the script without using big names as crutches. Of Course, Bhoomika was a pull factor for Anasuya, but really the trailers shown before the movie was released were too powerful. The onus is now on him to make movies with strong social messages upholding the good values of life, either with or without comedy. He is the one capable of doing it.

Apart from 10 different avatars (incarnations) of Kamal Haasan, the only thing worth writing home about "Dasavathaaram" is its technical brilliance. The roles are myriad. Kamal plays US President George Bush, a bumbling RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) operative, a selfless scientist, an old hag, terrorist, Dalit activist, a medieval Vishnu devotee, a cancer-stricken Punjabi pop singer, Kung-fu martial arts expert and a 10-ft tall Muslim - not necessarily in that order. Starting with the drowning punishment of a Vishnu devotee, "Dasavathaaram", for no apparent reason, morphs into an action extravaganza - full of chases over a deadly virus involving a scientist and assisted and hindered in turn by the other characters - all played by Kamal. Asin plays a double role in the film that is a part-comedy-part-tragedy mishmash. Mallika Sherawat flits across the screen in skimpy costumes and ends up dead. While the cinematography by Ravi Varma, background score by Devi Sri Prasad and Kamal's acting are the film's highlights, the Himesh Reshammiya numbers have as much Tamil nativity as George Bush. Dramatic incidents galore are actually one of the minus points of the film, of which there are one too many. Kamal is in every frame of the movie and knowing his methods, director Ravi Kumar's role in the film seems to be seriously limited. The unsolved puzzle as to why there are 10 Kamals when one would have been more than enough remains an unpleasant hangover long after the movie. In all, "Dasavathaaram" is a movie that every Kamal fan would want to watch. As for the rest of the audience, it is the case of a Kamal-overkill.

Dasari Narayana Rao proves just one point with Maisamma IPS. The point is: item girls can be given the chance to become lead actors. Why not? Side actors could become lead actors, so why not an item girl? So does Mumait Khan turns in to a heroine? Not completely. To become a heroine acting talent is required more than the physical attributes. Mumait khan is well endowed in the latter but severely deficient in the former. Her expressions are not at all convincing in Maisamma.
The consummate film maker that DSNR is, gives a good script and story to the director. And the director turns it into a caricature. Dasari's dream turns into a nightmare in Maisamma. Even Dasari can be faulted for many unbelievable things. Being a veteran in the field and also having been in politics, he should know how different functionaries in the system really operate. But his dragging the IPS down to the level of a circle inspector is unpalatable.
We expected the staple dose of social theme in the movie as with all Dasari movies. But the unsophisticated and utterly unrealistic developments of scenes let everybody down. The movie on the whole is so different that the main character seems to have come from the comic books and have little resemblance to reality.
Here is the story:
A girl is born right in the middle of the goddess Maisamma festival. She is named after the goddess as Maisamma. The parents of the little girl Maisamma (Mumait Khan) get killed in a flood. Maisamma and her elder sister survive to take the story further. Maisamma's elder sister takes all care of her and raises her with a lot of care and sacrifice. Then the elder sister falls prey to a scheming and unconscionable politician named "Guru" (Shayaji Shinde). Shayaji Shinde uses her as pawn to rise in politics. When Sayaji Shinde turns his lustful eyes on Maisamma her elder sister sacrifices her life for the sake of her younger sister.
And now Maisamma has only one aim in life: to avenge the death of her sister.
Maisamma is a totally revolting fare.

Thirupati (Nitin) is a wayward boy. His father (Chandra Mohan) hates the wayward ways and wishes him to settle down in life. So Thirupati goes and falls in love with a rich girl (Sada). His main aim is to trap the girl in love and then start blackmailing her brother (Sayaji Shinde, again) for money. Sayaji Shinde is against their love. So Thirupati strikes a deal with him and agrees to go out of the life of Sada for 25 lakhs.
Wait, I am just joking! That's not true. How can a hero of Indian films sell out his love? Find out yourself watching the movie?
A few years back Nitin and Sada, the hero and heroine of the movie Takkari endeared themselves to the young Telugu audience with the movie: Jayam. The movie stayed in the psyche of the movie watcher as well as other movie makers for long, so much so that the dialogs of their movie have been repeated in at least a score of movies after that.
Reminded of their past hit pairing, people are thronging the theatres to expect something similar. But Takkari doesn't recreate their past glory. It just reminds about Jayam patchily. Yet Takkari is good. The movie qualifies for its realistic approach. Viewers would like the idea of a young man applying his brains and energies instead of fists and swords to get his love. And there is a lot of comedy used by the hero himself. This gives the movie a fresh look that is easy on the senses.
Nitin's comedy itself is sufficient in the movie. There was no need of Venumadhav and Ali's comedy track. Their comedy track is totally unrelated to the story. Though the faces of Nitin and Sada look washed out, Nitin's body looks good with some muscles on it. Nitin's acting is commendable. Sayaji Shinde is brilliant.
Takkari could have been a great movie had the songs been a wee bit better. And the movie seems as a rivalry between the hero and the heroine's brother rather than a romantic story between the hero and the heroine. There should have been some more romantic scenes. The girls are flocking the theatres to watch Nitin romancing Sada and not playing mind games with Sayaji Shinde.

Mantra is a horror movie. Reincarnation or a soul haunting a bungalow/palace as a ghost, or snakes taking the shape of human beings: such themes have become passé in the movie industry. The mobile phone wielding generation will not accept ghosts in white saris, or for that matter in any sari. If at all they accept it will be more as comic relief and less as a hair rising horror. Chandramukhi and Makdi, two big horror films in the recent past were based on flawed psychology and con game ideas respectively. Ghosts were alibis, while the real reason were something else.
So what Mantra is based on?
Mantra (Charmme) is an orphaned girl living with her sister. Her father had borrowed some money before his death and to repay the debt she needs to sell a farmhouse that she owns and is named Mantra Nilayam (the spooky house where all the action takes place). The problem is the house has earned a reputation being a haunted house. For whoever has tried to stay in that house has been either killed or thrown out of the house mysteriously. So there are no buyers coming forward to buy the haunted farmhouse. There is one professor though; who wants to buy the farmhouse provided that Mantra manages to make somebody stay in it for three months. Forget about renting out the farmhouse, Mantra tries to do that by paying money. But people can hardly stay for a night.
Hero (Shivaji) is a rowdy and works in a gang to settle property disputes. A person to whom Charmme's father owed a large sum of money hires Hero to collect the due from Charmme. So Hero arrives at Charmme's place and plunks himself there with booze and chicken. He is willing to leave only with the due amount. There he learns about Charmme's problem with disposing off the haunted house she owns. He proposes to stay in the haunted house in return for a commission. Charmee agrees to that.
Off goes Hero with three of his friends to Mantra Nilayam. But Hero finds soon that the house is indeed spooky. There is something wrong. One of his friends dies mysteriously in the second night. Others leave in fear after that. Hero stays to confront...
Mantra is a horrifying movie. It is heavily engrossing too. The crowd tries relentlessly to remove the elements of horror by shouting and hooting at the key moments. But still the director manages to terrify with appropriate sound, lighting, and timing. People with weak hearts and heart problems are cautioned: this movie is not for you.
So what's haunting Mantra Nilayam? Is it a deranged woman, an extra terrestrial, or really some ghost?

Siddhartha has always been representing movies of a different genre: the genre of success. From Boys to Aata, he has been associated with movies that are trendy, slightly off beat, and very peppy. All of his movies have been very popular with the audience and some of them have gone on to become great hits. Nuvvu Vastanante Nenu Vodduantana (NVNV) is his best movie so far and is etched in the memory of the audience forever, never to be erased.
Aata is his latest movie that has hit the theatres this week. Aata is not going to be a stupendous hit like NVNV, but it's going to be a hit nevertheless. The movie has a few things that school going kids that are hunting for entertainment during the summer breaks would love. There is a bike chase scene, a lot of comedy, and a whiff of romance that the young ones would appreciate. The kids would love to hate the new villain Munna.
And it's Siddhartha's palpable aura as a smart Romeo that is the main attracting factor. The youngman has the charm in his eyes and woos the females with his smart acting effortlessly. The dimples on his cheeks help a bit in the process.
Siddharta gets a slight image change in this movie. He is not a NRI offspring, but a poor movie projector operator's (Sarath Babu) son in Aata. He grows up on a heavy diet of movies. The movie theater is his classroom and movies are his lessons and teachers. Like the movie heroes he grows up to become a good man at heart and very romantic too. He mouths cinema dialogs at every opportunity.
He falls in love with Ileana that is on the run because the home minister's son (Munna) is after her to marry her. The home minister's son is no ordinary bridegroom. He has the added qualification of being a rapist and a murderer. And his victim is none other than Ileana's friend. So predictably Ileana falls in love with Siddhartha and seeks protection. The mighty villain is chasing them with his hired goons and the police. How can they walk down on the setting sun and live happily ever after? Siddhartha finds the way that you will know only when you watch the movie.
Trust us, watching the movie is like having a joy ride. The second half brightens up the movie. Though there are plenty of moments of ordinariness in the movie it's an entertaining movie. Even some of the jokes are straight lift outs from Mr Beans. And the director could not build on the premise of the hero's childhood centering on watching movies. But still the movie makes you feel better at the end.

Mahesh Babu is cool. Puri Jagannath is original, creative and daringly different. When such a director gets the authentic acting support from his cool lead actor you can expect fire works on the screen. That's what happens in Pokiri. Mahesh Babu, Shayaji Shinde, Asish Vidyarthi and Prakash Raj all give sterling performances to the shouts of 'action' and 'cut' of Puri Jagannath for Pokiri. The result is that we have a reasonably hit movie even in the face of stiff competition from other strategically released action movies this summer.
Mahesh Babu's character is that of a professional killer who speaks softly, directly and acts swiftly. Mahesh Babu dons the role with practiced ease. Shayaji Shinde, Prakash Raj and Asish Vidyarthi are seasoned actors who understand the nuances of acting and the demands of the roles pretty well. While Asish Vidyarthi and Prakash Raj are at their menacing best, Shayaji Shinde shines as a media bashing sincere police officer. Puri has given a lot of footage and clarity to their characters in Pokiri to extract the best from them. Here is a sample of Puri's directorial genius. It's a fight scene. Mahesh Babu lands just one solid punch on the face of Prakash Raj. The impact is so profound that Prakash Raj becomes totally disoriented as well as loses his sense of hearing for a brief moment and hears nothing but a continuous high-pitched buzzing sound at a low volume. The auteur shows this by switching off the sound track and the audience only hears the same buzzing sound that Prakash Raj supposedly hears; the camera all the while focusing on a panicky, clueless and disoriented Prakash Raj as he tries to figure out desperately what's going on around him. The audience experiences the character's sense of disorientation completely. That's trend setting direction for you. We will definitely see the act getting repeated in movies to come.
There is a scene in a station involving Ileana and Mahesh Babu where the later wants to eat the Upma from the former's tiffin box that reflects the longing of a man to be close with the woman he loves. Watch out for that scene when you see the movie. Love and craving for togetherness finds expression on a platform via the tiffin box much like it happens in real life.
If art reflects society then the violence in the movie is justified by the violence present in the society.
The only thing that Puri can be accused of is the under utilization of 'Ileana - the curvaceous'. Ileana should have been given more footage to add more meat to the movie with her depth of dulcet emoting. With just good songs the movie may face some competition from Bangaram, which have better songs. Yet at the end Pokiri would win and can hold it's own for 100 days.

Athidi is a banal and sophomoric piece of work by Surender Reddy. Despite the good work done by Mahesh Babu and Amrita Rao, Athidi doesn't titillate at all. The grim fare dished out by Surender Reddy has morbidity writ on all the scenes. From the very first scene itself the director gives clear indication that he isn't going to offer anything new. The way a young couple is shot dead, instantly reminds of Bruce Wayne losing his parents in the Batman movie franchise.
Athidi (waiting to grow up as Mahesh Babu) is an orphaned kid picked up and given shelter by a kind hearted couple (Rajiv Kanakala and his wife). Athidi is overwhelmed by the affection showered on him by the couple and the warmth of their daughter (the kid Amrita Rao). But his new found joy doesn't last long. His benefactors are killed right in front of his eyes. And to make matters worse he is thought to be the killer. So Athidi goes to juvenile jail. After 13 years he tries to locate the girl and talk to her once to convince that he is innocent. Does Athidi succeed?
Mahesh Babu has done his job. But this time there is neither a great story nor lilting songs to provide props to his effort. After a string of hits he can afford a flop. It can be a learning experience for him. But if his work is viewed in isolation he hasn't done anything wrong anywhere. However, Surender Reddy has to learn a few lessons with Athidi,
such as:
 * - Casting the best box office bet is not enough to make a hit movie.
 * - Copying from other movies also requires skill.
 * - Movies with have outlandish ideas doesn't have many takers, not even the front benchers (has anyone ever heard of a hardcore criminal becoming a high ranking police official at a young age).
 * - It doesn't hurt to study great movies made by others like Mani Ratnam and Sekhar Kammula etc.
 * - There is always a next time.
The lack of comedy and a creditable storyline seems to have undone Athidi. The huge Mahesh Babu factor doesn't quite salvage the movie. Amrita Rao is fabulous in the movie and could lead to many more offers.
Athidi will fade away from people's memories and the theatres soon. That's what happens to movies devoid of healthy imagination and without a personal touch.