Cast: Nagarjuna, K Viswanath, Brahmanandam, Nayanatara, M S Narayana, Ashish Vidyarthi and others
Music: Thaman
Cinematography: Anil Bhandari
Screenplay: Kona Venkat, Meher Ramesh
Story-Dialogues-Direction: Dasarath
Producers: Siva Prasad Reddy
Release date: 3rd May 2013


After experimenting with different genres for a while, hero Nagarjuna has finally returned to his favourite and lucky one, romance. And with Dasarath on fire for his family dramas like ‘Mr Perfect’, this latest film ‘Greekuveerudu’ got huge expectations. Let us see how they are.


The CONTENT


Chandu (Nagarjuna) is born and brought up USA and do not believes in sentiment and love, and never vows to go to India, where his father comes from. He uses girls for pleasure and later avoids them simply. Along with his uncle (MS Narayana) he runs an event management company, in which Maya (Meera Chopra) is his secretary. Chandu advises Maya to marry an old doctor Kamaraju (Brahmanandam) against her wishes, such that she can later apply for a divorce and sue him for one million dollars alimony. After marrying Kamaraju, Maya hatches a plan and flops an event show organized by Chandu. Chandu’s client (Asish Vidyarthi) comes to sue him in Court and then it is revealed that Maya is behind it. When the Court orders Chandu to pay a compensation of 10 million dollars, he thinks of going to India to meet his grandfather who is having 1000 crores worth assets. During his journey, he meets Sandhya (Nayantara) and flatters her, and when she comes to Chandu’s village she is mistook for Chandu’s wife. Intelligent Chandu convinces Sandhya and makes his grandfather (K Vishwanath) believe them and cons them for money. But when he is returning to USA, he feels like cheating his family and reveals the truth. From then, how Chandu corrects his mistakes in life and how he really manages to win the heart of Sandhya forms rest of story.


The EFFORT :

On-Screen:

Nagarjuna should be appreciated for his looks and he will dominate the show with them. He is good at comedy and witty dialogues, but missed the bill while delivering emotion part. Sometimes he looked artificial and sometimes he convinced. Still it is his show all the time.

Brahmandam plays the lead role again in second half of the flick, giving much needed comic relief. But his monotonous expressions and acts look jerky for a while, though everyone enjoys them. Also MS Narayana did his part well delivering comedy from other side.

Nayanatara is neither gorgeous in glamour department, nor stunning acting wise. She happens to be the heroine of this film and hence she performs what is given to her.

K Vishwanath is proven for doting and philosophical grandfather roles, while Asish Vidyarthi too is known for his critical expressions. Both did the same with perfection again. Meera Chopra has nothing to offer, while Kota Srinivasa Rao does a blink and miss role. Rest did their party whenever a scene called them for.

Off-Screen:

Dasarath tried to weave another story by simply altering the characters of Mr Perfect and holding the characterization intact. His dialogues are entertaining but the screenplay written by some other writers is simply boring. The very idea of portraying human relations and love is good, but if a proper screenplay is not etched for it, then results tumble. As a director, Dasarath failed to keep the momentum of the film high.

Only next technician you will notice in this flick is Thaman. He tried different kind of background score this time and is successful. But songs scored by him evince no interest. Cinematography by Anil is partly okay, but it looks like Color Grading guys at Annpurna Studios failed to maintain an even color palette. Choreography is not as stunning as said by Nagarjuna, and Ganesh Swamy master needs to improvise his compositions.


The PLUSES:

·         Popcorn comedy in second half
·         Slightly comical climax


The MINUSES:

·         Slow pace of entire movie
·         Lack of impactful emotional sequences
·         Dragged second half


BREAKDOWN:

Both Nagarjuna and Dasarath are very excited about this flick, but right from start one will get confused as to why this film is named ‘Greeku Veerudu’. Even their first choice ‘Love Story’ is not an apt title for this movie. Coming to content, Dasarath is not able to come out of Mr Perfect for sure. Maybe he can deliver same stuff with alternate screenplay, but the very basic things like impactful emotional scenes are missing. All the time, a scene is either elevated by background score or by simple dialogues, but there is no depth in characterization and screenplay. You cannot expect this one from the guy who wrote Santosham and Mr Perfect. At least a couple of commercial elements would have saved the flick, but Dasarath missed that one too. And scenes leading to climax look quite jerky and Ala Modalaindi kind of comedy climax is bringing both laughs and tears. On a whole Dasarath missed something right from beginning, a gripping narration.


A soulful music album with colourful songs would have worked but poor songs with poor choreography are never interesting. Somewhere in second half, this film turned love story from family drama and then family drama without proper journey of characters. For entertainment seekers this flick is going to be a bore Summer treat, while for fans it takes time to digest and cheer for it.


The FINISHING Line:  Just Average fare, strictly for fans!

(Disclaimer : This happens to be an opinion of one individual and it is no way intended to hurt or criticize anyone involved with the film or outside. Real movie lovers are advised to watch movie in theaters for cinematic experience rather reading review)

 

 

Cast: Venkatesh, Srikanth, Nagababu, Taapsee, MS Narayana, Jayaprakash Reddy, Geetha, Aditya Pancholi, Subbaraju, Sayaji Shinde and others

Music: S S Thaman
Dialogues: Kona Venkat, Meher Ramesh
Story-Screenplay -Direction: Meher Ramesh
Producers: Paruchuri Prasad
Release date: 26th April 2013

It has been long time since Venkatesh scored a hit with a proper commercial entertainer. Also director Meher Ramesh is determined to give a blockbuster this time after delivering all commercial failures. Let us see what this combination has done with ‘Shadow’

The CONTENT

Way back in 1992, Raghuram (Nagababu), an undercover journalist, works as an associate of mafia don Nana (Aditya Pancholi) and prepares a file that contains all the data of Nana’s activities including 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts plan. He asks his brother-in-law (Surya) to handover that file to a magazine editor CP (Sayaji Shinde). But finally the file lands up at Nana’s den and he in turn sends goons to eliminate Raghuram and the evidences he might have saved at his home. Nana arrives at the scene to kill Raghuram, when his brothers catch hold of Raghuram. However before the attack has begun, Rajaram tells his son Rajaram to take care of mother (Geetha) and sister. While escaping, both mother and sister dies in bomb blast and Rajaram decides to seek vengeance against Nana and his gang.  Cut to 2012, a grown up Rajaram (Venkatesh) starts eliminating Nana’s men one by one, while sincere police officer Pratap (Srikanth) also tries to catch those goons. The story is about how Rajaram kills everyone and how Srikanth is also related to him.

The EFFORT :

On-Screen:

Venkatesh is as usual natural in his performance in this stylish role of ‘Shadow’. In action scenes he is perfect in physique and delivers needed strength. At the same time his other side of making comedy too clicked quite well. His comic sequence as a memory-loss patient is hilarious.

Srikanth too delivers a serious performance in the role of a sincere IPS officer Pratap. All the time, he maintains that police discipline and fits the bill perfectly.

But it is MS Narayana who sets the theatre crackling and bursting with laughs in the role of Psycho Sreenu aka Donga Srinivasa Rao, Psychologist. His comic timing through imitation of other star heroes when delivering one-liner dialogues is quite exciting.

Taapsee is as usual glamorous and she has nothing to do with her role but in songs she shows her potential. Her glamour gives superb relief for the slow songs composed by Thaman.

Krishna Bhagawan, Srinivas Reddy and Nalla Rajesh succeeded in delivering entertainment, while Subbaraju, Madhurima and Dharmavapu got some meagre roles.

Off-Screen:

Meher Ramesh is always successful when delivering stylish looks and needed comedy. This time too he made ‘Shadow’ look quite interesting with his superb visuals. He is able to make some gripping screenplay this time but not an exciting one. For the content that is there on paper, Meher’s direction has done justice.

Thaman once again proved that he is king of re-recording and his background score holds value in delivering this suave flick. But his songs are not up to the mark and except title song and Naughty girl song, rest are enjoyable but we cannot remember after stepping out of theatres. Thaman should be blamed for this.

All other technicians did their part to compliment Meher Ramesh’s work.


The PLUSES:

·         Venky’s looks and action sequences

·         Imitation of Gabbarsingh Antyakshari scene

·         MS Narayana as Psycho Seenu

·         Taapsee’s glamour in songs



The MINUSES:

·         Formulaic old story with no twists and turns

·         Routine screenplay and uninteresting dialogues


BREAKDOWN:

Meher Ramesh is still tumbling to deliver a decent commercial entertainer. His earlier movies got huge and interesting storylines but lacked punch.  This time he got punch, but the story lacked freshness. A remix of movies like Dookudu, Baadshah and other Telugu flicks is a boring juice to drink. Of course that might have happened due to writer Kona Venkat who happens to be the writer of all these flicks. All the time story is predictable as to what happens next but Meher’s stylish way of executing scenes will hook you to seats. Most of the time characters come and go, but as a whole they are not appealing as a story because of poor screenplay. Some interesting screenplay touches and avoiding silly loopholes would have made this routine movie look fascinating.

However Meher has decided to induce comedy well into the movie whenever there is a boring moment. We have to say that he succeeded quite well in delivering all required commercial elements though graph is little bit shaky at times. He made full use of MS Narayana and Venky to deliver comic sequences, while he made sure that Taapsee looks like a glamour-doll all the time to entertain frontbenchers. But he failed to bring intensity in Venky’s character and his dialogues evoked whistles only at places. Still Meher has to improvise his story a lot if he wants to settle here as master film maker.

If the movie is not made with some escalated and over-shot budgets, then it will give producers some profits and audience a value for their money. And Meher Ramesh should take Venky’s bike used in the film and start searching for a new producer!

The FINISHING Line:  Only if you have free time, watch ‘Shadow’

The time has come for yet another member from the mega family to arrive. This is Allu Sirish and whether his debut has been successful or not let us see.

Story
Arjun (Sirish) comes to his home village after many years with an intention to setup a plant. To his surprise, he discovers the village is still ridden with caste clashes.

In this process, he also discovers that his close friend Shankar (Madhu) who comes from a lower caste has gone missing after he eloped with the daughter of the village head Pasupathi (Prakash Raj).

Arjun along with his friend (Sricharan) starts enquiring about Shankar and he is helped by Yamini (Yami), a local girl. What are the challenges he faces and whether he is successful in his attempt or not forms the rest of the story.

Performances
Allu Sirish didn’t have anything special to offer. He needs to groom a lot to fit into the requirement of Telugu films. But he was sensible enough to choose a role which fits the character in the film. But it would take a long time for him to find acceptance.

Yami Gautam is a vision of beauty. Whenever she is onscreen, it is difficult to take eyes off her. On performance front, she is very natural in her expressions and has very good ease. She will grow big.

Prakash Raj was matured and elegant. As such, his screen time is not that much but whenever he was there he made his presence felt.

Sricharan brought few smiles, Elango Kumaravel was natural, Anupama Kumar was apt, Brahmaji was good, Nasser was very brief, L B Sriram was excellent, the others did their bit as required.

Highlights

• Direction


• Theme


• Yami Gautam

Drawbacks:

• Serious subject


• Overdose of emotional drama

Analysis
The concept of caste system is chosen as backdrop for this film. The concept is obsolete and the execution is old fashioned.

The very theme of the film revolves around honor killing and it has to do with caste differentiation which is rather high in the rural areas of our country. While the solution has been shown as it lies the hands of youth and students, it must be said that this has been an age old problem in our nation and no solution has come so far. Though the plot is old the director has shown his mettle by narrating it in a gripping manner and keeping the suspense element on.

In a way, this is a safe bet for Sirish and he didn’t try to be a hero. Instead he just merged into the story and just contributed his part. The director has also scored in the technical departments in terms of cinematography, background score etc.

The film takes off on a shaky note but as it progresses it starts getting the attention of the audience. On the flip side, the subject and its essence is quite serious. Also, it may not be one of the regular films that a typical Telugu audience would like because entertainment is zero and seriousness is high.

Since the film is a bilingual it could work well with the Tamil industry. Overall, this is a film which deals with a society based subject and is rather sensitive given the caste flavor.

Bottomline: Cannot hook the audience interest

It is not a rule that those who don’t study cannot come up in life, there are many who were not educated sufficiently but reached great heights. Madhura Sreedhar’s attempt was to convey the same through this film. We have seen many flicks in that genre but by putting an attractive title ‘Back Bench Student’ and revealing that the student failed 16 subjects, he managed to raise curiosity. Let us see if he made the film in such an interesting way.

Story
Karthik (Mahat) is not interested in studies and he fails in 16 subjects in engineering. His girlfriend Priyanka (Archana) goes to US for doing her MS. Though he is not good in studies, Karthik is good in ethical hacking and with the help of his friend Chaitra (Piaa) he gets a job in her company. Karthik and Chaitra fall in love. But Priyanka returns to India discontinuing her MS to get back to Karthik. Who will Karthik choose forms the rest of the story.

Performances
Mahat doesn’t have Hero features. The director must have felt a hero is not required and Mahat will be a good fit. Keeping aside his physique, looks he needs to have the skill of acting. But if he goes to an acting school Mahat will definitely be a ‘Backbench Student’ there.

Both heroines are okay. More than Piaa Bajpai, the performance of Archana Kavi is better.

Ali did his best to do justice to the role but he was not given the right scenes or dialogues to bring humor.

Brahmanandam came in climax and tried something like comedy. Audience has seen him thousands of times and there are rarely instances when they get irritated with him. That rare instance has happened through his character ‘Kareena Kapoor’ in the film. Both audience and Brahmi had a tough time in this attempt to comedy.

Sarath Babu, Pragathi, Banerjee did standard parents characters. The artists who worked as friends of the hero and heroines did a good job.

Highlights

• There might be something in the backbench

Drawbacks

• All benches in front of backbench got filled with them

Analysis
Generally people becoming ‘something to something’ stories tend to attract. Someone who is useless achieving something big is definitely acceptable and ‘achievers’ stories are always inspiring. The point that Sreedhar chose has material but the narrative was not appealing.

The poor screenplay led to total boredom from start to finish. None of the characters were developed properly. Everything happens quickly. There is no spice in the romance track between hero and heroine. It is all about him failing 16 subjects and the second love track also goes stale. Here, the routine heroine was made an orphan and her love towards orphans locks the heart of the hero. There is no valid reason why he left the girl he loved for 4 years. The less we speak about romantic track the better. No words can also describe the ‘talent’ of hero’s hacking. Instead of making it a routine end, an attempt was made to satisfy audience using Brahmanandam but they expected something and result was something else.

You might get tempted to run away watching Brahmi’s comedy. There is no point in the cinema wherein we can connect or smile heartily. There is not a scope for even grace marks. Even the technical team didn’t contribute. Director must be held responsible because he failed to extract work from them rightly. Having experience of making two films, he should have known what to expect from his team.

Dialogues are very bad. Words have been written just to fill the scenes. Sometimes background score gives some life but Sunil Kashyap made a mess of the whole film.

Everywhere he created noise even when unwanted and tested the patience of the audience. One can dedicate two full pages to explain how pathetic his background score was.

Nothing much in cinematography, editing, they were mechanical. Sreedhar had many backlogs in script stage and he could not do a convincing work. Overall, the student turns out to be hopeless and proves he does not qualify to pass.

Bottomline: This student ‘tests’ your patience