Rowdy Boys Telugu Movie Review

 Rowdy Boys – Youthful drama that works in parts

Rowdy Boys telugu movie starting Ashish Reddy, Anupama Parameshwaran, Sahidev Vikram, Karthik Ratnam, Tej Kurapati, Srikanth Aiyyengar and others directed by Sree Harsha Konuganti.

Starring: Ashish Reddy, Anupama Parameshwaran, Sahidev Vikram, Karthik Ratnam, Tej Kurapati, Srikanth Aiyyengar and others

Director: Sree Harsha Konuganti

Producers: Dil Raju and Shirish

Music Director: Devi Sri Prasad

Cinematography : Madhie

Editor: Madhu

Rowdy Boys movieAshish Reddy is making his debut with the film Rowdy Boys, and he was Producer Dil Raju Nephew.

Movie is releasing today.

Rowdy Boys is an youthful film with decent first half and fizzled out later.Lead pair, Production Values and Songs are plus points . Negatives are Story which lacks minimal emotion, Other cast, second half. Comedy could have been better. Debut hero Ashish has ease in performance, decent screen presence. Youngsters can give this film a try . Finally, Movie ends on Happy Note !

Story:

Akash(Ashish) is a carefree engineering college student who falls in love with a medico named Kavya(Anupama Parameshwaran). After a while, even Kavya starts loving Akash. Unfortunately, the rivalry between Akash’s college with the other creates problems in the love story. Left with no choice, both Akash and Kavya take crucial decisions in their lives. What happened later? Does Kavya become a doctor as she wished? What did Akash do for his love? To know the rest, you need to watch the movie on the big screen.

Hindi Movie Atrangi Re Movie Review

 Sara Ali Khan-Akshay Kumar’s magical mystery tour is a misfire. But thank God for Dhanush

So Complicated, Yet So Simple! A Twisted Love Triangle With More Than Three Angles

The brilliance of Himanshu Sharma's script is that it doesn't rely much on 'the twist' as it keeps building to one soul-fatiguing climax.

Even Dhanush can’t save this weird take on love

Star Cast: Dhanush, Sara Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ashish Verma

Director: Aanand L Rai

What’s Good: It’s a twisted love triangle with its edge so sharp that it busts all the perceptions of “What romance should be?” & the urge of finding someone as hopeless as romantic as Dhanush

What’s Bad: It makes you cry but fails to make toh laugh apart from a couple of funny sequences

Loo Break: Definitely, not during the songs!

Watch or Not?: This will test your patience at times but trust me, it’s all for the better!

Available On: Disney+ Hotstar

Runtime: 138 minutes

Language: Hindi

Okay, so, before we get into the story let me be as clear as possible, I won’t be able to explain it fully keeping the twist & thrills intact. So, whatever I write about the story, take that as just a fraction of what’s in the film. The story revolves around Rinku (Sara Ali Khan) who is madly in love with her magician boyfriend Sajjad Ali (Akshay Kumar). Due to the obvious cast-clash, Rinku’s toxic family does her ‘Jabariya Shaadi’ (forced marriage) by kidnapping a groom for her named Vishu (Dhanush).

Vishu, a polite & obedient doctor, before landing in this situation was all set to raid his girlfriend’s wedding to make a heroic entry making it memorable for them. But, fate brings Vishu & Rinku together who ultimately fall for each other. This leads to a love triangle between Vishu, Rinku & Sajjad (I’m making it sound simple to not spoil anything, trust me it’s not) and it’s a lot more than which guy would get the girl in the end. (Phew! I managed to tell the crux without revealing anything).

Hindi movie 83 Movie Review

 Ranveer Singh is the throbbing heart of this carnival of a film.

Kabir Khan’s sports biopic not only captures the emotional heft of the success story of the underdogs, but also delivers a well-researched document in the popular idiom.

Many feared if an event that happened in the distant past could be fictionalised for the present generation. The discerning even feel that a documentary could have been a better choice to depict one of India’s biggest triumphs in team sports; many would not like to contaminate their cherished memories of watching the World Cup on a black-and-white television set, with a fictionalised account projected in 4K.

83 not only captures the emotional heft of the success story of the underdogs, but also delivers a well-researched document in the popular idiom. It comes through early in the film when Kabir tells us a sweet story behind the team photograph, blending the real with the picturised one. The behind-the-scenes segments, the dressing room chats, and, of course, the recreation of Kapil’s devastating innings in the crucial India-Zimbabwe match (which wasn’t covered by the BBC), makes for a riveting big-screen experience.

But, ultimately, it is Ranveer Singh as Kapil Dev that makes a fanboy’s flourish feel like a lived experience. He almost becomes Kapil Dev for two-and-a-half hours, and is the throbbing heart of this carnival of a film. It is not just about the disarming toothy grin, the body language, prosthetics, and the hairdo, Ranveer also embodies Kapil’s never-say-die spirit and doesn’t allow himself to become a caricature. The Haryana Hurricane’s English might not have verbs, but the man is all action. Perhaps, the missing apostrophe before the title is a metaphor for the throbbing narrative and the personality of ‘Kapsi’; all heart, no malice.

Be it Kapil’s relationship with Sunil Gavaskar (Tahir Bhasin) or the debonair ways of Sandeep Patil (Chirag Patil) or, for that matter, Mohinder Amarnath (Saqib Salim) living under the shadow of his illustrious father Lala Amarnath, the storyline is interspersed with important facts, trivia, little-known curios. More importantly, Kabir and co-writers Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan and Vasan Bala have put them in context. The cricket action, shot by Aseem Mishra, doesn’t look fabricated and the sound of reggae — every time Richards takes the guard — adds to the atmospherics.

Beneath the light-hearted exterior, a layer of the narrative provides an incisive commentary on the times and what the victory meant for the country. We can’t forget that 1983 was also the year when the Nellie massacre happened. Kabir not only tracks what was happening on the grassy pitches of England, but also gives us a sense of the sticky socio-economic wicket India was grappling with in the 1980s when cricket emerged as a unifying force.

And yes, even Pakistan makes it to the story. No, not the players, who made it to the semi-finals, but the army for the nuisance that it created during the matches. Be it Ek Tha Tiger or Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Kabir loves to stir up nationalist sentiments. They could be simplistic at times, but he seldom forays into the jingoistic territory. Here he pushes Muslims in skull caps waving the Tricolor in multiple frames.

Apart from Ranveer, Jiiva gets the swashbuckling soul of Krish Srikkanth almost right, but Pankaj Tripathi as the team manager seems a little too eager to uncork the tear ducts of the audience. Casting Mohinder and Mali Marshall in the roles of their celebrated fathers comes as a pleasant surprise, and so does Deepika Padukone’s turn as the stylish Romi Dev. But some of the choices are baffling; Hardy Sandhu could not get the body language of Madan Lal right, and Vivian Richards (Jacques Taylor) has been reduced to just a gum-chewing bloke. One also can’t become Clive Lloyd by merely wearing spectacles! The hairdos of some of the West Indian fast bowlers are ridiculous. The film demanded a rousing music score, but Pritam fails to live up to the expectations. The English and Hindi cricket commentary could have been checked for grammar.

These are small quibbles in a film that makes us laugh, sob, and consistently manages to recreate moments that give us goosebumps even four decades after the historic victory. A fantastic way to bring an end to a difficult year.

83 is currently running in theatres

Content Courtesy: The Hindu

Konda Polam Telugu Movie Review

 2 Hrs 22 MIns   |   Love   |   08-10-2021

Cast - Vaishnav Tej, Rakul Preet, Nassar, Kota

Director - Krish

Producer - Y Rajeev Reddy

Banner - First Frame Entertainments

Music - MM Keeravani

Ravi (Vaisshnav Tej), who fails to get a job for four years after his degree, returns to hometurf where his family is struggling to make ends meet. He along with his father goes to Nallamala forest to do Konda Polam for their cattle. This changes his life and gives him the much-needed self-confidence. He opts for Civil Services and gets selected as an IFS officer.

Vaisshnav Tej has chosen yet another heavy role after Uppena. It is not easy for him to pull off such a heavy subject early in his career. At times, he shines. In some scenes, he fails to create the impact. Rakul Preet is good as shepherdess Obu aka Obulamma on screen. Her screen presence, performance, and accent bring the much-needed relief in the rather dull movie. Sai Chand has come up with the finest performance. But it becomes redundant over the period of time. Kota Srinivasa Rao is alright as the grandfather. He gets limited screen presence. Character actor Ravi Prakash gets a decent role. His phone call scene to wife conveys how family relations are affected. Rest of the characters are not serious enough to care about. All the characters speak with an authentic Rayalaseema accent which brings authenticity.

In an attempt to do justice to the novel, director Krish seems to have put the commercial elements aside. This makes the film dull and flat. Instead, he should have just taken the essence of the story from the novel and should have made it into an appealing feature film. Scenes should have been written keeping the feature film in mind. Krish makes honest attempt in translating novel. The subject itself is such that it is more of novel-like. It’s not an easy task. Keeravani’s music and background score are the biggest strengths which rescued the film. Visuals in the jungle are appealing. Lensman did an impressive job. CG work is good.

Literature and movies often get inspired from one another. It is challenging when a literary work is being made into a feature film. Even an experienced and critically acclaimed filmmaker like Krish couldn’t overcome this hurdle. That is the biggest drawback for the Konda Polam which suffers right from the word go. Krish took a chunk of time in establishing the characters, their lifestyle, their pain, agony. Lot of energy and effort has gone into this which delayed the conflict point. Krish tries very hard to evoke some laughs through sidekicks. But these seem forced and inorganic. Rakul Preet and Vaisshnav’s chemistry is refreshing. Songs are well shot.

The film throws light onto the lives of shepherds in drought-hit regions. The makers succeeded in giving the audience an authentic jungle ambience. Tiger in the jungle resembles the fear in the protagonist and how he faces it shows the transformation in his character. The pre-interval fight episode is interesting. It appears to have lifted the film ahead of the interval and keeps the hopes on the film alive.

But post-interval, the film travels at its own pace, style. The emotion has been there throughout. But it is not enough to engage the audience hooked to screens. There are no goosebump scenes. The film sans a strong villain. The ordeals in the jungle for survival, lack of water, food and fighting the smugglers, saving lives from wild animals are the hurdles. Background score saves the film at several portions. Overall, Konda Polam is a genuine attempt with some cinematic liberties. But art and literature have dominated the cinema. Konda Polam may disappoint the masses. After Uppena, Vaisshnav offers a raw deal.

'Bhoot Police' Movie Review

 All I could see was an old-world Bollywood “project”, post Stree, with four stars (male, female), shot during pandemic, with restricted locations, by horror movies’ director of Ragini MMS, and Phobia, that I’ve heard good things about. With nothing here to write home about

Saif Ali Khan, I suspect, will go down in Hindi movie history as the ’90s carat star, who made the most interesting choices in his later career. And sometimes, out of boredom, or sheer momentary excitement of a script-narration, showed up on a set to simply shoot the breeze!

Since, publicly, he comes across as self-aware, you can’t help but feel he’s actually mocking himself on screen, doing what he does—or indeed the movie he’s in! Bhoot Police is one such. 

It’s about a pair of exorcists (“vashikaran specialists”)—two nomadic, dude babas, from nowhere, travelling in an American style RV—expelling evil spirits from people/places. Saif’s character doesn’t believe in this bhoot-pret line (of clothing/work). His brother (Arjun Kapoor) does. Their father was a famous baba, which calls for a nudge-wink inside-joke on nepotism!

They’ve been hired to clear a tea-estate of a particular ghost variety called Kichkandi. This is where two brothers meet two sister-owners—Yami Gautam, and Jacqueline Fernandes, with the camera lens subtly seduced by her posterior. She’s interested in selling off family property to serve Long Island ice teas at a London bar instead.

Saif’s character addresses tea-estate gaon wallon with, “Mitron”, posing as man with answer to all their prayers. The two men meet a monk who says, “Bhaag jao (run away)”—which is apt instruction for audience, right before interval, given the limited jokes dry up after half-time. They refuse, because they have to “get to the bottom of the story”.

Saying interval, since that’s how I watched this supposed horror comedy, at a press preview, in a dark hall—as against randomly surfing online. Which is how it’s dropped on an OTT, and that could be a less intrusive experience. 

All I could see was an old-world Bollywood “project”, post Stree, with four stars (male, female), shot during pandemic, with restricted locations, by horror movies’ director of Ragini MMS, and Phobia, that I’ve heard good things about. With nothing here to write home about. 

I know you’re not supposed to take this film seriously—even when the film does. But how do you take this film, after a point, is the more serious question!

Seetimaar Telugu Movie Review

 Cast - Gopichand, Tamannaah, Bhumika, Pragati, Rahman, Digangana Suryavanshi, Tarun Arora, and others

Director - Sampath Nandi

Producer - Srinivasaa Chitturi

Banner - Srinivasaa Silver Screens

Music - Mani Sharma

Gopichand and Sampath Nandi’s last outing Goutham Nanda turned out to be a disappointment. After four-long years, the duo collaborated for an out-and-out mass masala film set against Kabaddi backdrop. Sampath roped in his lucky mascot Thamanna for the female lead. Check out what worked and what didn’t work in Seetimaarr.

Plot

Karthik (Gopichand), an assistant manager in a bank, coaches AP women Kabaddi team. He wants village girls to win the national championship which brings attention to the village problems. Karthik’s life turns upside down when his team of girls gets kidnapped just 2 days before the final match. Makhan Singh (Tarun Arora) is the mastermind behind the kidnap on one demand. What does Makhan Singh want from Karthik and why did he target him? Will the AP women Kabaddi team win the finals and will Karthik keeps up his dream about school? The movie answers all these questions.

Performances

Gopichand gets fit and moulds himself for the role of Kabaddi coach. He delivers noteworthy dialogues about women & their empowerment. He tells girls’ parents to encourage their daughters in careers of their interest. Tamannah gets the bold role as Jawala Reddy. Her glam show gets thumbs up. Her urban attire and Telangana slang strike chords. Digangana Suryavanshi is just a glam addition. She is seen in a role who has feelings for Karthik. Tarun Arora shines as a dreaded villain. Rao Ramesh’s character gets preference initially but doesn’t add much to the main plot. The squad of girls who acted in AP women’s team deserve special mention. They aren’t camera shy and expressed emotions well in the crucial scenes.

Technicalities

Sampath Nandi has come up with a dated story and flat screenplay. However, it is the mass episodes that act as the saving grace. Dialogues and background score work. Jwala Reddy and Pepsi Aunty songs offer visual treat, albeit they obstruct the narration. Cinematography is neat.

Highlights

Mass Episodes

Dialogues

Jwala Reddy & Pepsi Aunty Songs

Drawbacks

Routine Story & Predictable Scenes

Analysis

Mass masala potboilers have a special set of audience. Gopichand and Sampath Nandi’s Seetimaarr is aimed at those masses. It has moments that appeal to B & C centers. Hero takes on goons effortlessly and the gang of rowdies fly in the air with the hero’s single punch. Sampath is known for churning out masala potboilers and he did it again with Seetimaarr. Two scenes that earn claps from audience are senior actors Annapurna, Pragathi and gang of women try to spoil the matchmaking of Digangana. Annapurna’s hilarious dialogues bring laughs. In another scene in the latter half, Posani praises Gopichand and his selfless act for the girls squad. Both the scenes worked and played it to the galleries.

The hero has got good elevation as a coach as well as a responsible guy who doesn’t spare the baddies.  The hero and villain face-off is interesting to watch out for. The cat and mouse game where the villain hatches the kidnap plan and executes it brilliantly from a jail shows his network and abilities. How a hero fights a powerful villain and rescues his team makes for okay watch.

Towards the end, the protagonist inspires the girls to fight on their own in his absence. It is shown in an interesting manner. Kabaddi matches could be shown in a gripping way.  The climax portions rush a bit. Seetimaarr is not everyone’s film. If you love masala potboilers, Seetimaarr satisfies you. It is strictly for the masses.

Content Credit : Gulte.com

Thalaivi Movie Review

 Biopics are not simple to make and it is not easy to impress one and all with them. We have seen Mahanati, NTR Kathanayakudu, and Mahanayakudu in recent times, and now is the time for Thalaivi.

Thalaivi is the chronology of the life of late J. Jayalalithaa, whose life story is the most sensational among all the actors, politicians, and actor-politicians in India. Directed by AL Vijay of Nanna fame, Thalaivi hit the screens today. Let us see the review here.

What Is It About?

Thalaivi starts with the infamous incident of insulting Jayalalitha in Assembly when she was in the opposition. The story goes back to the past to show us many interesting incidents from her life and finally concludes with her sitting on the Chief Minister’s seat.

Thalaivi cannot be completely a biopic of Jaya, as the makers chose to show only ‘Actor-Politician-Chief Minister’ in short. The total life of Jayalalithaa has a lot of hard work, emotion, stubbornness, and guts that made her what she was. Thalaivi shows almost all that.

Jayalalithaa (Kangana Ranaut) enters films at a very young age. MGR (Aravind Swamy) likes her innocence and attitude. Jaya’s stardom rises along with the intimacy with MGR after many films together. She starts admiring him, but MGR’s ambition is to serve people. MGR distances himself from Jaya for the political party he launches after walking out of friend turned foe Karunanidhi’s (Nasser) party. Jayalalithaa enters MGR’s political party but later gets evicted from the same. Her political journey with challenges, hurdles, and insults, and how she becomes the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu form the story.

Performances

Kangana Ranaut excelled in the role of Jayalalithaa. Kangana’s subtle variation from scene to scene enthralls us. Not just the makeup and look, but the difference in the body language and expression proves the prowess of Kangana once again.

Arvind Swamy’s acting is on par and more in many instances with that of Kangana’s. The veteran actor fits the bill as MGR and he dominates all others while he is on screen. One more superb performance from the Roja actor.

MGR’s close aide Veerappan’s role played by Samuthirakhani is another most important role in the film and he too gives his best performance to date with Thalaivi. Veerappan’s role goes along with Jayalalithaa and MGR all through the story.

Along with the three primary roles, there are other important characters like Karunanidhi (Nasser), Janaki Ramachandran (Madhubala), Jaya’s mother Sandhya (Bhagyasree). They all did well in their respective roles.

Technicalities

AL Vijay succeeds in connecting the audience with the 80’s era where most of the story belongs to. The director’s effort and vision can be seen in the set properties, reproducing the scenes from old movies and actors’ looks.

Thalaivi is technically top-notch. The artwork, background score, and sets match the timeline and the story perfectly. The production values are high. The editing could have been better.

Thumbs Up

Kangana Ranaut, Aravind Swamy, Samuthirakani’s performances
Elevation Scenes
Dialogues
Background music

Thumbs Down

Run time
Too much of Tamil nativity for Telugu audience

Analysis

Earlier Mani Ratnam made an ‘Iddaru’ movie based on Tamilnadu politics, but it remained as a cult or classic than ending up as a commercial or sensational success. Now with Thalaivi, Tamil Nadu’s yesteryear politics are retouched, but the makers appear to have avoided the unwanted troubles faced by Mani Ratnam back then.

Jayalalithaa’s life story has drama, controversies, and many more which are apt for a perfect commercial movie to be made. The director’s choice of scenes to start the movie with needs an accolade. AL Vijay decided to start the movie with the most unexpected scene of Jayalalithaa being insulted in assembly, which is usually expected to be used as a trump card somewhere in the middle of the movie. The director did not want to show us Jayalalithaa’s childhood and her life before entering the films.

Director AL Vijay started it by recreating yesteryear sets and colors for connectivity and relativity to the story. He presented the most emotional and magical movements that are famous from Jayalalithaa’s life and he narrated the regular story in between them. Whenever there is a documentary kind of scene in the movie, there follows a high moment getting the attention back. The performances of Kangana Ranaut, Arvind Swamy, Samuthirakhani along with magical moments at regular intervals make Thalaivi intriguing. The scenes between Veerappan and Jayalalithaa enthrall the audience.

While Jayalalithaa MGR’s love story is well known to the Tamil audience, those episodes can be thoroughly enjoyed by them. A scene about Jayalalithaa-Sobhan Babu’s story could have filled the space for the Telugu audience. Jayalalithaa is equally popular in Telugu, but not a single scene showing her Telugu movies might disappoint the Telugu audience. The makers should have at least included a scene or two from her Telugu movies in the Telugu version.

The director somehow pushed crucial episodes in Jaya’s life to the backseat, like Sasikala, her rivalry and vengeance act with Karunanidhi. It looks like the director did not want to touch and unturn the political controversies. He focused mainly on entertaining Jaya’s fans and Tamil audiences.

Thalaivi does not focus much on Jayalalithaa’s movie career. Jayalalithaa’s interest in jewelry, dresses, and properties was not shown. Neither her friendship nor relations with popular actors in the film industry have been touched.

One can’t help as Thalaivi reminds us of classic Mahanati and comparisons do come as both are the stories of two legendary actresses. Sympathy dawns on Jaya’s role for losing all and fighting all alone. Unlike Savitri, Jaya’s story has a successful ending. The underlying point in Thalaivi is that a woman succeeds in the male-dominated fields – politics and films. This is where Jaya’s story touches the hearts. She deserves a befitting tribute and that’s what Thalaivi offers.