16 Days (Telugu)

Starring: Charmi and others

It's better I don't talk about this movie. The worst ever I've seen.

If there is a movie rating in the category of the worst movies, what ever parameter you choose, this movie surely stands out to be the top contender.

Cheers

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (Hindi)

Starring: Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma

This movie starring Sharukh with a simple look, infact not at all a Hero or a Macho kind of look was one of the awaited movies of 2008. The promos showed the lovely song Haule Haule with Sharukh's magic.

Anushka played her part well, a debut movie opposite Sharukh Khan is an awesome launch for any actress.

The songs in the movie have been composed well, and the song 'Dance Pe Chance' is very well choreographed. Anushka danced really well to the tunes.

This movie is a love story and the focus is on loving your life partner to the fullest. Sharukh plays two characters, Surender and Raj, how Anushka falls in the magic of Raj and later realizes what true love is forms the story line.

The movie may not appeal to all forms of audience. It is a bit slow, however, this movie needs to be at that pace. The director has put up a good show. People in Love, married couples, people who believe in love will definitely love this movie.

Overall the performance of all the stars is good and as always Sharukh has done a great job. It's a good movie to watch. I would rate it 3 on 5.

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Siddham (Telugu)

Starring: Jagapathi Babu, Sindhu Menon

JD Chakravarthy, the actor turned director, trying his luck with re-makes of Hollywood and Bollywood has done a fair job in the movie. This movie is remake or so to say exact replica of 'Ab tak Chappan' bollywood movie.

The lead role played by Jagapathi Babu, has done lot of homework before this movie, giving himself a different hair style. Jagapathi Babu playing a cop who leads the task force has done a decent job (nevertheless should not be compared to Nanapataker in Ab Tak chappan). The movie has been treated well, with momentum being carried throughout, the only flaws would be that the movie loses momentum 15 mins before the end.

Sindhu Menon had nothing to make an impact. The other characters in the movie played their part well, especially the team which Jagapathi Babu leads has done well. The dialogs in the movie have been straight translation from the original version. For those who have not seen Ab Tak Chappan and who enjoy watching cop stories, this is a good watch.

Overall, it's a decent short movie. Would rate it 2.5 on 5.

Cheers

Arundhati (Telugu)

Starring: Anushka, Sonu Sood

One of those fictional movies with mystery as the main story line. The movie has lot of positives and has done well. The director and the editor of the movie have done a great job in sustaining the interest of the audience till the end.

The story revolves around the lead role (Anushka) who is being haunted by an evil soul. The connections with past life and how the story unfolds make this movie interesting.

Anushka played her part exceeding expectations and has done a great job, Sonu Sood did justice to his negative role and shown his class. Shiaji Shinde playing a supporting role has done a great job, this role has given him a scope to perform as an artist rather than playing the same old cops or negative roles.

The best part of the movie is undoubtedly Graphics and background score, which elevated the performance of not only Anushka but also the movie.

As Alfred Hitchcock said: "where drama begins logic ends" seems very true when one watches this movie. The interest of the audience is sustained throughout the movie which makes it a worth watch.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

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LuckByChance (Hindi)

Starring: Farahn Akhtar, Konkana Sen, Hrithik Roshan, Rishi Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor, Juhi Chawla

Luck By Chance was the much awaited movie of Farahn Akhtar after super success of Rock On!!! The movie potrays the journey of an artist to make it big in BOLLYWOOD. Starting from taking training in acting to the making of a star, the experiences in the journey have been shown in the movie.

Farahn has done an amazing job, the movie though seemed like flipping through the channels on the TV and pause where you find some stars giving some fundas briefly. The screenplay of the movie has been good and the roles played were justified. The movie is little slow given that it has potential to make it faster. However, the journey has been shown well.

The struggling stars, the daughter of ex-actress making into the movie, the producers struggle to convince the gen-x actors, the stupidity of directors and the friends support during the struggling times have been potrayed well.

The path that needs to be taken by aspiring female actors and how the producers use them for their own means have been explained in a subtle way, the promises that were made to a new comer and not kept also forms an important part.

However, the idea of being one-self at the end of the day, being self-content forms the conclusion part.

Hrithik Roshan plays a star in the movie and drops out of an assignment, which gives an opportunity for Farhan. How this happens forms the base of the story.

Knowing right people and being there in the right place at the right time will transform into LUCK. Overall, it's a decent watch, for a film lover, this movie provides an insight on the inner side of Bollywood. If you happen to like it, I would say the director has got LUCK BY CHANCE.

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Koncham Ishtam Koncham Kashtam (Telugu)

Starring: Siddharth, Tamanna

Koncham Ishtam Koncham Kashtam, the movie had lot of hype and I should say the producer has done a great job on casting, advertising. The posters were awesome. The choice of music directors - Shankar Ehsaan Loy, I should say WOW!!! with amazing hits behind them, they make an entry into Tollywood, lot of expectations and a fair job done on music front. The casting was very good and the locations of the movie were really good.

With lot of makerting startegies that were used, this movie has been awaited by most of them, lot of postponed release dates and releasing the movie at 1:01PM taking care of the auspicious time was also one of the notable points of the movie.

With all the above mentioned, the movie did not live up to the pre-release drama. Tamanna plays a village girl who is close with her father and Siddharth is one of the happy go lucky kind, flirting and passing time out. Ramyakrishna, who plays the role of Sid's mother, has done a decent job and Prakash Raj plays father of Sid. The combination of Sid and Prakash Raj playing son and father was kind of boring as it seemed to be repetition of the relation between Sid and Prakash Raj in Nuvvuvasthanante Nenuodhantaana. Few points being taken from Bommarillu, especially the monologue of Siddharth, which was a hit in Bommarillu, in this movie, a similar scene with Nazar, where Siddharth tries to talk about his love initially and few scenes later has similar kind of monologue which seemed, one too many.
Bramhanadam, playing Gacchibowli Diwakar, a hard core cricket fan, had little scope and could not deliver as much as there was not much he could do. Nevertheless, he was able to create some humor for a brief period, which definitely was not enough.
The songs are OK, I should say good.

Overall, the movie according to me is really boring and if any one plans to watch it, my suggestion would be just think before you dive. I would rate it 2 on the scale of 5.

Cheers

Raaz2... The Mystery Continues...(Hindi)

Another attempt to make a sequel, I should say did not work out as expected. The first half of the movie seemed OK, however as many movies these days, Raaz also failed to live up to the expectations. The momentum which was built up in the first half of the movie was not carried to the second half. The second half of the movie seemed to be a kids story.

Kangana played her part well, however, seeing her in these kind of stressed out roles seemed kind of monotony. Emraan with a new look did not make an impact on the movie as there was nothing that he had to do, except for carrying his posters and move around. The character opposite Kangana did a fair job.

This movie lacked strong convincing story. It seems, the same PLANT funda used in Sarkar Raj, but with a different problem being projected. As RGV says, the idea of making sequels is to have the same fun again. The director might have had fun making it again, as a movie audience, I did'nt have fun watching it. Overall this movie is worth giving a miss.

Cheers

Shivaji – The Boss

A Movie that was awaited like anything by not only the whole south India, but also some major parts of the world. Just can’t imagine the fame Rajnikanth has. His presence over 30 years in movie industry has gained him fame in countries like Japan!!!Coming to the movie…Shivaji – The Boss. An amazing combination of Super Star RajniKanth, Shanker, AR Rehman. What else can any fan ask for?

The movie starts off well, with the introduction of the Superstar, not much hyped but effective. As most of the reviews are now out the story line is well known to everyone.

Rajni’s trademark mannerisms are indeed appreciable in the movie. The way he has his chewing gum and also the flip of the coin style are notable mannerisms in the movie.

Manish Malhotra has done a great job by giving Rajni awesome look and totally different looks in the movie, his age is not at all prominent in the movie. The kind of attire worn and also new hair styles caught eye of the audience.

Shanker, did an ok job, the story line is not as gripping as it was in his other movies but add Rajni to it, anything to everything looks special. The Shaker touch with Lavish Sets in songs was clearly seen and it’s his brilliance in making songs much beautiful than they are.

Suman, it was refreshing to see this actor come along so well, the body language, the style, his dressing, goggles everything was just perfect for this role and Suman did a great job, executed the role very well and did justice with his good performance.

Rehman did a good job with good background score and also two numbers are catchy.

Shriya, as in Shaker movies the female lead role is for glamour, she was cute and good looking.

Vivek (comedian) next to Rajni did a good job and added lot of humor with spontenity.

The translation of the movie from Tamil to telugu for the first time, I guess, worked really well as the comedy scenes carried the humor and were not disturbed by the dubbing.

Overall, it’s an ok movie, but if you are a Rajnikanth fan it’s a treat. Wonderful movie to watch for a Rajni’s fan.

MayaaBazaar

Release Date: March 27, 1957

Color: Black & White - 35MM

Photography: Marcus Bartley

Direction By: K.V. Reddy

Story: K.V. Reddy (Film adaptation) and Pingali Nagendra Rao

Editor: C.P Jambulingam, Bhaktavatsalam

Screenplay, lyrics and dialogues: Pingali Nagendra Rao

Choreography: Pasumarti Krishnamurthi, Gopinath

Art: Madhavapeddi Gokhale, Kaladhar

Makeup: Pitambaram, Bhaktavatsalam

Playback: Madhavapeddi Satyam, P. Suseela, Ghantashala, P. Leela, Jikki Krishnaveni, M.L Vasantakumaari

This movie is one of the all time telugu industry hits and every movie lover knows this movie.

I was just wondering how this movie could take over the industry? And I finally could find out one of the answers.

The reason is the ground work that has been done before the movie making began. The story has been beautifully written and lot of improvisations was made before they concluded on the story.

Once the story was concluded then the characters of the movie were chalked out and then the script penned beautifully.

Every character in the movie had importance and each character was justified.

I would like to share an incident from this movie, which is what according to me makes it a beautiful movie that is fresh even after 50 years.

One of the comedians in the movie was given the script to study and understand before hand. The comedian was good at improvisations on the sets and was have amazing spontaneity. Now this spontaneous actor knew what his strength was and he requested the director asking him whether he can improvise on the sets to add more value to the scene.

Then the director of the movie Mr.K.V.Reddy, without any hesitation requested the comedian to read the script again and then asked him to make improvisations in the script. Also said very clearly, once the script is concluded it has to be blindly followed on the sets.

This comedian goes back re reads the script and then comes back to the director and says that it was perfect and just saluted the director.

This incident shows how this movie was planned beautifully and also executed perfectly.

There are lots of things that contributed to the movie’s success apart from the star cast.

It was so well planned and organized. Everything was ready before the team went on to the sets and no compromise on the quality. This reminds me of the camera man of the movie, who was a foreigner, a specialist in his field and the lighting effects and the quality of the work I just can’t express how beautifully it was done.

The story behind the scenes shows us that to get a product out which can live for more than 50 years, that too in entertainment industry where people tastes change is quite difficult and it was truly done with great discipline and I proudly salute to each and every one who has contributed to this success.

Pokiri

Pokiri

Starring: Mahesh, Ileana, Prakash Raj

Director: Puri Jagannadh

The first that this movie offered, during the promo days was I should say the beauty of Ileana. The posters and the wallpapers released were very attractive and this has been I should say, the art of good commercial photography and good way to advertise the movie coming up.

The craze for the movie already had a head start with a wonderful star cast with Mahesh in the lead role, with a hit ‘Athadu’ and Ileana shown up beautifully.

The movie had lot of promise and I’m glad to say that its not disappointing.

The character of Pandu played by Mahesh was simply superb and the way he acted in the movie was I should say the best of Mahesh. The way he carried himself through out the movie was excellent.

The character of Shruthi, played by Ileana, sadly did not have anything to offer except for her beauty and to attract the masses.

The comic role played by Bramhandam and Ali was stretched too much, which in the end did not turn out as expected. Also it was not a part of the story line it appeared as if it were just an attachment wherever some place was found.

The role of the police played by the bollywood actors is justified and the way the media was made fun was very good, today media does exactly what has been sarcastically told in the movie.

The character Ali Bhai, played by Prakash Raj, lost the hype and the strength which it had in the first half. It was just too much of experimentation with that character.

The movie was basically a one man show. The dialogs in the movie were excellently written and also the delivery was very good. Few scenes were screen played very well especially criticizing the media was shown very well.

The twist in the story is the key to the movie, but it was just like any typical old Indian movies. But that made audience stick to their seats till the end.

The songs were picturized very well attracting all the cults of audience, the first song of the movie did not make any sense, it was there just for the heck of it I guess so. The other songs of the movie were above average but the way heroine was shown, added up to make them good enough.

Overall I would say that the effort of Puri Jagannadh was fruitful in making this a good movie to watch and in the current scenario where no movies are up to the mark, this is obviously a super hit.

Rating: 3.5/5