Vedam Movie Review

I have to say, after a very long time the Telugu Film Industry, sweetly called Tollywood, has produced a wonderful movie. Vedam is a movie with content, message to carry home, action, a little romance and some very good comedy.

Padmashri Bhramanandam appears very early in the movie and has a short stay. However the remaining part of the comedy is attributed via the wonderful dialogues of Allu Arjun, our hero and few others. The comedy dialogues are actually punch lines which one cannot forget so easily.

The movie revolves around different individuals & their personal lives. Finally the story line connects everyone and shows how can everyone try and live together progressing towards prosperity. It also show how dogmas/prejudice can be proven wrong. Every human being should be considered by what they are rather than their caste/creed/sex/citizenship. That is the baseline.

According to me, it should be a career milestone for Allu Arjun and Manoj Manchu. Manoj Bajpai did wonderful however his performance in Rajneeti overwhelms most of his other performances. Similarly Anuskha's Arundathi is a top rank in her career ladder till date.

Anushka, put in a sleazy role did very well. However her role is mostly for the masala. Yes she was looking great just as usual. Moreover you get to see her hot bod in this movie; longtime after Billa. If that is what is the interest of the audience :-)

Overall the movie is very good and is a must watch for all those who understand Telugu language. After watching this movie one would understand how vital is money and how will your financial requirements change when you do not have the right attitude.

My rating: 4/5
My verbal rating: Must watch. Don't just watch, carry the message home.

Darling Telugu Movie Review

Darling, name given for the heck of filling the title is a good comedy movie. Prabhas and his group of friends including the villain have put decent efforts to make us laugh almost every moment.

The story runs around Prabhas and his childhood love and another girl who falls in the triangle. The movie was shot in the wonderful locations of Switzerland showcasing decent locations.

Now the best part I like in the movie is this. Once due to certain difficulties the hero and his group get, kind of jailed in a slum in Switzerland. Then a guy in the group says I never thought there were slums in Switzerland; why the heck was "Slumdog Millionaire" shot in India when there are slums even here? I clapped heart-fully to this dialogue. Something to ponder???

Well the movie is worth the money invested as it really gives you the comedy ride and makes you laugh well. However there were two minor things which I wanted to highlight in spite of them being minor.

1. Prabhas Wardrobe: I am not sure which idiot took care of his new style of clothing in this movie, however the clothing was awful and pathetic.

2. I have an example. If you goto any small restaurant for lunch/dinner in South India you would observe that many items which are supposed to be dry are generally wet and in fact contain a lot of water. If you bring the same chef home and tell him there is no need adulterate for profits he still mixes water because that is in his blood now.

Similarly Andhra movie directors, however good they make a film they can't spell complete without one or two silly/sleazy scenes which look awful for any ordinary human being with brain.

My rating: 3/5
My verbal rating: Watch the movie for a good laugh. Its a family movie. Actress Kajal Agarwal somehow kept all her clothes on.

Kedi - Movie Review

Number 13: It is ominous even if it does not fall on a Friday. Yes, it was proved once again when I saw Kedi, the Telugu movie in which Akkineni Nagarjuna and Mamata Mohandas were the main cast.

Unless you are pretty dumb, after reading the above line, you do not expect me to tell you how the movie was. Well to substantiate my conclusion ... 

In the recent times I watched movies like 3 Idiots & My Name is Khan. Actors Aamir and Shahrukh have waited for long time to find such wonderful scripts; also SRK took time to learn how a person with asperger's disability would be, so that he can perform in a perfect manner. Look at Taare Zameen Per how well the movie was taken. The most important thing of all these movies was there is a message for the audience, which was well depicted.

Nagarjuna, however after these many years of acting and at such an age does not have even a percent maturity to find some story which at least has a story line if not a message. In any number of ways you abuse Nagarjuna for his immaturity, I am sure it would fall short in insulting him.

Its time Andhra Pradesh citizens show a minimum class of dignity and maturity when it comes to what they watch. And those in Tollywood show enough maturity to produce decent movies.

There is no film in Tollywood which can even run for a week without Shri. Padmashri Bhramanandam in it. This movie too is no exception. 

My rating: 1/5

My verbal rating: If you find Nagarjuna, say this, "Get well soon".

My name is KHAN and I am not a terrorist - Movie Review

Hum Honge kaamiyaab hum honge kaamiyaab hum honge kaamiyaaaaab ...... Ek Din!

हम होंगे कामियाब हम होंगे कामियाब हम होंगे कामियाब ... एक दिन!!!!!!

Now have you ever heard this song??? If so ... then sing the below lines in the same tune.

We shall overcome we shall overcome we shall overcome ... One day!

Just keep singing and watch My Name is Khan, not one/some day, but today. In the movie Hurricane, where Denzel Washington casts as Rubin Carter, he says to a small boy, "Hatred for some society/creed/culture has resulted in me serving 25 years in prison; so do not develop that feeling towards anything". The movie completely runs on the same lines.

Till his last film, all of Karan Johar's films were so far from reality. They were full of love, heart breaks, songs and dances. But My Name is Khan is different from all those.

SRK plays Rizwan Khan ('Khan' from the epiglottis :D ), who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism.  SRK's performance was excellent. The story revolves around him, his wife Mandira (Kajol) and his son Sameer, and how their lives changed after 9/11 attacks. Rizwan Khan travels from San Francisco to Washington D.C to meet the American President, and tell him that all Muslims are not terrorists.

The message of the movie is old, yet unrealized. No religion, including Islam, preaches violence against the innocent. If one sect/caste/religion/country is called terrorist then mind you there is a terrorist in everyone. Those people who have made fun of democracy and stopped the filming of this movie in some parts of the country are also terrorists. Those people who went into a pub and misbehaved with young girls there in the beautiful town of Karnataka on the name of Lord Shri Ram are also terrorists. The movie sends this wonderful message, "No one is a terrorist by his caste/sect/religion/country".

My rating: 5/5

My verbal rating: A must watch ASAP for everyone.

On a lighter note: Today morning when I saw Times of India giving 5/5 for this movie, I thought these guys are too much. But the movie proved me wrong. Its certainly 5/5

Rann - Movie Review

After Ram Gopal Varma's recent failures, I was a little hesitant about watching Rann in the theaters, however the movie proved me wrong.

Rann is an unconventional movie. It highlights "Media Business" and how the fourth estate is cashing on people's insane craze for Sensational news. The movie has a strong theme, good casting, perfect background score and a nice story line. 

Vijay Harshvardhan Malik (Big B) owns a news channel called India 24x7, which runs on high journalistic ethics. In the age where news is edited, and presented with attention-grabbing headlines, Vijay Malik believes in showing people the true news and not in creating news. His son, Jai Malik, on the other hand, wants to use the channel to earn more money. He joins hands with opposition leader Mohan Pandey(Paresh Rawal) and Naveen Shankalia(Rajat Kapoor) , and turns his channel as a weapon which wins Pandey the Prime Minster's throne. The movie revolves around how Mohan Pandey plots to use the channel to win elections and how Purab Shastry (Ritesh Deshmukh) stops him from succeeding. 

The movie is not about media bashing. It is about how politics affect its transparency. The casting was perfect, with Amitabh Bachchan bringing in the seriousness, and Raj Pal Yadav adding humor. Ritesh and Paresh Rawal did justice to their roles. The background score of the movie was amazing, just like Sarkar. I enjoyed watching the movie, and you will too.

My Rating: 3.5/5
My Verbal Rating: The movie is for thinking viewers, go for it.

3 Idiots

3 idiots is an entertainer based on Chetan Bhagat's bestseller, Five point someone. The story is loosely related to the book. It is a story of three friends, Raju(Sharman), Farhan(Maddy) and Rancho(Amir), who join the country's best engineering college.

While Raju and Farhan are studious, Rancho is the odd one out. He is against the education system in India, and believes that learning should be passionate and practical. The movie is about how he explains the same to his friends and the director of the college Viru Sahastrabudhhe, aka Virus(Boman). Mean while he also falls for Pia (Kareena Kapoor).

Raju Hirani was all set to make the audience laugh and cry. The movie is a complete entertainer, and all the actors palyed their part well. The effort spent on deciding the casting did not go waste. Raju Hirani got just the perfect players for the roles. Personally, I liked the character of Chatur, aka Silencer.

To cut the long story short, the movie is a must watch for those looking for a complete entertainer.

My Rating: 4.5

My Verbal Rating: It's just awesome. Don't miss it.

Aarya - II

Someone once told me that this movie sucks big time. Respecting that Mr.Someone's opinion I refrained from watching this movie. However after good enough time after the release, recently I thought why not give it a try. After watching, now I am trying to find out that Mr.Someone.

This movie is a sequel to a wonderful entertainer of 2004, Aarya. You need to understand, in India a sequel doesn't mean you would be finding the same story of part-I getting continued. A similar concept, is what a sequel means in this country. The reason behind it is LOVE. Yes, our audience love to see the concept of love in every movie. So if part-I had a successful love story then what is left in part-II? Simple another love story has to start. Heroine changes, Hero is constant. MALE DOMINATION :-)

So just like the part-I, its all about love and sacrifice which every time is offered only by our hero, Allu Arjun. As usual with hatred for the hero, the heroine falls in love with the side-hero. Then the remaining movie runs around our hero getting back the babe. Though the story outline is not new, the entertainment is absolutely fresh. Also this guy Navdeep, I should say, got a very good break by this movie.

Padmashri. Brahmanandam garu, did marvelously. His humour and the way he presented it was exemplary. The other good part of this movie is, the heroine who used only to expose did not have to do that. She was decent. No indecency. May be the whole family got bored of her cleavage :-)

By all these means this movie is a very good entertainer. The ROI is 100%.

My rating: 4/5
My verbal rating: Good to watch with everyone in the family. A very good entertainer.

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Stop Piracy

Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year

"Ethical movie of the Year"

Harpreet Singh Bedi(Ranbeer Kapoor) is an honest and ambitious salesman who believes in doing things the right way. After passing out from college with minimal marks, he decides to make his mark as a salesman. He joins in a company as a trainee, and soon finds out that the sales world runs on bribery and corruption. He innocently complains to a client organization about the bribery. Instead of the expected appreciation, he is treated as a loser and denied field work.

He secretly starts his own sales corporation while working as a trainee. His company has no employees, but only partners. He reaches out to clients and offers services honestly. He uses the old mantra of selling goods of higher quality for lesser cost. Soon his business becomes a great success. The rest of the movie is about how his bosses learn the lessons of running an ethical business.

Coming from the Chak de India team, Rocket Singh is a must watch movie for everyone. Ranbir Kapoor played his part really well, and I can surely say that he is a very promising actor. The best part of this movie is, there are no useless songs that disturb the flow of the story. All the songs are in the background. Shazhan Padamsee had a very short role to play, so I can not really comment on her acting.

My rating: 4/5
My verbal rating: Good for a onetime watch; can learn some ethics out of the movie

2012 - My Theory

Yepp, I was one of the early goers for this movie. However I have refrained from writing a review on this movie, pondering if I am really capable to write about such a creation. I am sure I can use the word creation rather than "making" for this movie. It is truly a creation of disaster one can't even imagine.

However after watching the movie and assimilating the facts the movie was based upon, I tried correlating certain recent events happening in the world. I thought I should key in my thoughts and just leave it for my readers to think.

1. China is building a dam on river Brahmaputra. Just google it and you would find a lot of controversial news.
2. China is claiming Tibet is theirs and also they claim Arunachal Pradesh is theirs.
3. Labor from both of these places are being hired by China in the dam work.
4. China has moved a lot of armed forces across the borders, however India does not respond to it.
5. India says there is no problem with China

Why is all this happening? Whenever borders of India were covered up heavily with other countries defense forces India never sat quiet. This is the first time.

Any other thoughts/facts I shall post them here. Lets just give it a thought.

De Dana Dan - A Storyless Wonderful Comedy

The million dollar question that should come to your mind after watching this movie is "Why are Sunil Shetty, Akshay, Katrina and Sameera Reddy engaged in the movie???". The only answer;  they are the unnecessary selling factors involved for a wonderful comedy movie.

If I need to recompile and tell you what the story line is, it becomes the tough part. However if I need to think how long I was laughing then I can happily tell you that it was almost all the tenure of the movie. The comedy was so great that you need to take deep breaths in-between and drink some water. The entire movie hall gets filled with NitrousOxide. This movie has one more feature, it can be watched by everyone in the family together. Full PaisaVasool.

My rating: 3.5/5

My verbal rating: Its a must watch for everyone who can understand Hindi.

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Stop Piracy

Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahani

Complete all your nature calls :-) buy popcorn, soft drink, water, nachos, cakes whatever and just get settled down before the Certificate of the movie is shown; cos you are up for an amazing fun ride. Right from the word go till the end of the movie there isn't a minute that passes without everyone laughing.

Okay, now the boring part, the story. Regular story, idle lad of a middle class guy who does nothing except that he falls in love with a pretty woman, who (the girl) as usual loves some one else. Doesn't it sound pretty boring. Yes it is. If you want a story movie nope then this movie is not for you. However if you still attempt to see this movie you shall never regret.

Ranbir, I think its genes, that he does acting so well. To say it in the Indian way, its Khandani :-). I also felt that Katrina how much ever she tries can never get rid of her western accent.  Both did pretty well.

"Run away Bride" concept has become very common these days. Almost in all the movies the heroin gets ready to wed another chap and suddenly just few minutes before the marriage she realizes that he is not the one. And THE ONE is none other than the hero. And that's it .... she runs away.

Directors of these so called Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood made the values of marriage a fun. So brothers, I mean you directors, will understand this when either your daughters or would-be wives run out of the marriage you would realize how funny it can be.

Readers might think that I am getting serious unnecessarily, but friends there is a lot of influence on us from movies.

Well ...

My rating for this movie: 3/5

My verbal rating: Don't miss it; no story; but amazing comedy and you shall burst, laughing.

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Say no to Piracy

Inglorious Basterds

I am really wondering what should I write about this movie. It starts as a documentary showing us each and every Chapter which are to be compiled finally and ...

Well, I would give you a basic story. Its Nazis versus the Jews. A Jewish family gets killed by German soldiers and the lone person who escapes that tragedy is the beautiful lady below. Time gives her a chance to take revenge.

In an another episode there are a team of American soldiers who are named as BASTERDS by the Germans for their brutality in killing the Germans. These people make a plot to hit the German top brass big time.

Now the remaining part of the picture is their individual strategies against the Germans which become a combined effort by accident and lead to the Nazi downfall.

The movie is a must watch and that too in a theater. Every part of the movie has something to rejoice and has some funny element along with certain anxiety. Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz were extremely good in their action.

As the above picture narrates, its the BASTERDS' bat versus Nazis' heads.

My rating: 3.5/5

My Verbal rating: Must watch; in a theater

Wake up SID - (Before you make the audience doze off)

Take out a busy day of your life; book tickets for this movie for the last show of the day and I bet you would doze off before the break. *-Conditions apply, like theater ambiance etc.  :-)

Well its a routine story of a lazy, aimless, dull son of a hardworking, rich dad. The guy is goalless, does not pass the final exams and lands up in nothing. Irritated father scolds him and son leaves home. Ends up in a girl's home whom he got introduced to and helped some time ago. Rest is BS. Does any part of the narration sounds even a little novel or interesting?

The other worst part of the movie is there in the picture above. Bollywood is primarily about glam coefficient, next would be acting. We don't go to the movie to see some one so charmless so dull, I mean she does not have anything to be a heroine. I am not trying to insult anyone here, however everyone has their own place. Just as I cannot be the President of the United States, Konkana Sen Sharma does not deserve to be in Bollywood.

My rating for the movie: 2/5

My verbal rating: Please skip it; zero value for time or money or anything

Arundhati

Probably I am the last one writing a review on this, however. I am actually a little afraid of horror movies. People scared me that its the likes of Exorcist etc. However after my wife insisted I booked for it.

On the contrary its a very perfectly directed movie which is not so frightening except for few powdered faces which try to scare you in vain. Yepp the playback music guy did enough to scare you well. The movie runs around the same old concept, a man who dies and wants to take revenge. A little twist to it is, the demon is a rapist.

There are a few things which directly show the director's flaws but you know you can compromise these for a relatively good movie. There is nothing, absolutely nothing to be scared about and its a must watch for everyone.

My rating: 4/5

My Verbal rating: A cool ghost movie :-) (A ghost which can be killed by a weapon ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

Aakasamantha - A Sentimental Documentary

This is no nonsense movie. A very good one to watch with family. The story completely runs around a father and his love and affection for his only daughter. This is a must watch for all parents. Comedy is properly placed in the movie.

The father's affection for the daughter is properly shown and also teaches a lesson to all those guys who just took away girls away from their fathers in the name of love. 

I would give a rating of 4/5

My verbal rating: Must watch for all parents