Vedam: One of the best ever Telugu movies

Krish's 'Vedam' is an apt follow-up to his debut 'Gamyam'. As honest as his earlier work, 'Vedam' is more ambitious in content and succeeds too to a large extent. Adapting the multiple story thread narration, Krish narrates about five parallel lives, their ambitions and conflicts in this appropriately titled 'Vedam' (Literally meaning 'Knowledge') and reveals how in this one big world people live in their own life bubbles grappling their own ambitions, problems and vulnerabilities. Despite this being the first attempt at a multiple story narrative in Telugu movies, Krish manages to keep the soul of the movie stay atop the narrative style. All credit goes to Krish for being such a thinker and a filmmaker with heart.

If at all I felt something amiss, it is only in the last half hour. After managing the content and screenplay wonderfully till then, the movie seem to be forced towards the 'action' in hospital. While clearly the Mumbai siege inspired that part, it lacked the depth the movie had all through in its characters. While all characters we saw till then are fleshed out so wonderfully with their human vulnerabilities, the bad guys who arrive announced in the climax are cardboard cutouts. The climax could have been put up to make the movie commercially viable. And honestly it would have been quite a task to imagine a climax for 5 parallel story threads whether the threads converge or not. So this standard action climax could have been employed as it is 'safe'.

Nevertheless, long after you leave the theatres, you still have the very real characters and the emotions they evoke lingering around. Whether it is the poor weaver from Sircilla, the humiliated Muslim or the bigoted police officer, you cant help but admire the casting, the acting and their lines. The authenticity seen in the language, dialect, costumes employed in these threads depicting diverse cultures show that lots of thinking went into the movie. Contrast this with how the same 'Sircilla' lingo was depicted in 'Jalsa' or how Muslim customs are portrayed in general. Allu Arjun, Manoj and Anushka for once played the characters asked for and not acted like stars. However what was surprising is that Manoj was credited for a 'Guest Appearance' while he is in there all through from opening scene to closing scene! Was that because his 'senior' co-star felt insecure? And that after all the self-congratulatory noises from the stars about ushering in 'multi-starrers' keeping aside their king-size egos! Well, lets hope some of the abundant wisdom in the movie rubs onto the stars!

'Vedam' also has some wonderful and timely songs that adds flavor to the theme. The lyrics are great depicting realities of our lives and the background score is superb switching between the five threads. The editing and photography is top-notch. The movie of course would ignite the debate about 'sad ending' in Telugu film industry. As blogged earlier, I never thought Telugu viewers are particularly averse to so-called 'sad endings'. But we can debate that another day. For now, let us cheer 'Vedam'. Let us also hope it will wake up the Telugu movie industry from its delusional world and make more meaningful movies.

Prasthanam: A delight to watch

Deva Katta seems to have a fascination for human complexities, in a Shakespearean way. And just like the bard's plays, Deva Katta's 'Prasthanam' (Journey) too leaves a grain within us, that comes back at you the morning after you watch this drama. In his debut 'Vennela', he made us walk through the transformation of Sharvanand's character from a hero type to a anti-hero type. He portrays the frailties of human mind and so the plot always look larger than sum total of characters in such stories.

I loved Deva Katta debut and I was curious how he would follow it up when I heard about this second movie. He only got better and Prasthanam is a delight to watch. It is as realistic and dramatic Telugu movies can get without boring the viewers. As in Vennela, Prasthanam has its strength in layered characterizations, story and dialogues. And that is where Sai Kumar shows what a dynamic actor he is to play multi-layered characters. He subtle action does not conceal that he is a volcano with its inside waiting to explode, and quite rightly so.

The movie is set in Gannavaram and Vijayawada and has a political backdrop. The dialogues make the movie real with its portrayal of politics, contracts, drugs etc and the exploration of human ambition, greed and relationships elevate the movie into a plane unseen in Telugu movies. The casting is good. Sharwanand does well. After Vennela and Gamyam, this is yet another movie he can be proud of. Even small characters leave their mark because they are well-written for.

The negatives are the long duration, the unnecessary songs and insufficient background score. The movie could have been edited shorter and made more engrossing. Mahesh Shankar could have elevated the movie with a better score.

And finally, the title is in line with literary bent of the movie and it makes me wonder Sri Sri's 'Mahaprasthanam' influence. Ironically, among today's directors, Shekhar Kammula, Krish and Deva Katta seem to have the literary touch in dialogues/songs and all three are US returned film school products. What a refreshing phenomenon. Hope to see more of the works of these sensible filmmakers which in turn may inspire many more newcomers to charter new paths for Telugu movies.

Ye Maaya Chesave (Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya): About the 'unpredictable woman'!

So, K Balachander has written to Gautam Vasudev Menon raving about his latest movie Ye Maaya Chesave (Original 'Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya' in Tamil meaning “Will You Come Down the Sky?”) and told him he is the next icon. It's unfair to compare both the versions as the climax seems to vary. The producers of Telugu version, in line with widely-held belief that Telugu audience would NEVER accept a sad/less-than-shubham card kind of ending, changed the the original 'unhappy' climax. So the very intent of the movie is lost in Telugu version. That is because the movie was implying an unhappy ending all through. There was hardly a scene where the two lovers were uninhibited about their love. In fact, the movie was peppered with dialogues like "she is my one-way ticket to heartbreak city!" from the guy and "let me feel this pain, I like this pain" from the girl. It is the stylised picturization, background score and Music that makes this movie look like a mushy love story and not the content.

And compounding the intent-loss is the fact that as in his previous movie, Menon focuses self-indulgently on his story-telling and not the story. As he himself says "More than falling in love, therefore, the film’s story focuses on “what happens in the next moment.” It is kind of running commentary, day in and day out of a guy who just fell in love. The guy is spontaneous and the Girl so confused. And Love being such a complex emotion, the story shows its two protagonists in behaviours outside the realm of reason or logic. The lady is in a iterative loop of indecision and the guy in a similar loop of hope and frustration, depending on his lady's mood. All love stories dished out in Indian movies more or less revolve around external hurdles like families, villains or external circumstances. Maniratnam's 'Sakhi' (Alaipayuthey in Tamil, Saathiya in Hindi) was the only reasonable exception to dig into the lovers' psyche to create a conflict. But that was a case of love after marriage. But Menon takes the big challenge by creating conflict from the lovers' own complexities. After all, in a world this complex when guys and girls do lot of thinking to decide what they want, accepting someone as love and then life-partner is no simple thing. Menon exposes these predicaments, vulnerabilities and fragility in the romance by relying on the universally celebrated 'women are unpredictable' stereotype. Even in Telugu we have this famous line 'Adavaarimaatalaku ardhaleverule' (Women speak something but mean something else). So here, Jessi, the lady's characteristics manifest in all complexities this love cycle goes through. This is a very unconventional characterization by Menon as this is the first time, I saw, a complete movie is dedicated to the 'unpredicatble woman'.

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AR Rahman's BG score and Music captures the mood just right. The movie is stylishly made as is Menon's wont. The Alleppey shots are breath-taking and Rajeev Menon got a credit for the location. Samantha, the lady in Telugu version is perfectly cast. Her costumes are perfect and her acting elegant. I did not quite get Nagachaitanya's line of acting. He was just being himself all through the movie and could not present his character well. Even the earnestness seen in his debut movie is missing. Gautam Vasudev Menon continues his Surya S/O Krishnan (Vaaranam Aayiram) kind of musings in Ye Maaya Chesave.

Well, the 80 year old living legend of Tamil cinema Balachander wrote the viewers are wise and they got it, the viewers who liked the movie point to us Balachander is a legend and those who didn't say, rather uncharitably, that KB is now 80 and lost sense of judgement!

The reactions are so drastically different. Some rave about it and others completely trash it. One of my friends' mom supposedly said she always wondered why viewers would throw stones at a screen until she saw this one! Others with their brush with cupid can't stop raving about how the complexities of a crush are beautifully portrayed on screen. Ye Maaya Chesave is like poetry. Those who can relate to it appreciate it. Those who can't get bored like hell. It is an intensely personal experience, like Menon's earlier Surya starrer. It is a genuinely honest movie, well-made. The only mistake, I thought, was changing the climax for Telugu. The original climax would have avoided the confusion that now set in about the 'story' of the movie. Changing the climax killed the spirit of the movie and made the viewers wonder about the whole point of the movie.

ARYA2 is smart and great fun!

Arya is back with a bang. The new Arya is not as sure-footed as the street-smart Arya who was wooing his girl 5 years ago. He in Arya2 has shades of gray, is confused at times to choose between his 'best friend' and his love. But he still is quick-witted thinking brilliantly on his feet and continues to spring surprises with his eccentric unconditional love and friendship. And of course it is still Allu Arjun, obviously. Arjun displays an elan with the role which makes it impossible for us to imagine someone else in his shoes for Arya. Add to that his jazzy fluid dance movements that evokes utter awe. His energy lightens up the screen and brings to life a brilliant script from Sukumar.

Sukumar does not disappoint like he did with Jagadam and now lives up to the promise he made with Arya in 2004. He moulds the hero's obsessive and juvenile character very well and makes the whole plot engaging with a remarkable scripting effort. The dialogues are sharp. The picturization of songs is thoughtful and beautiful. The only glitch looked to be the lack of an emotional build-up to the love the Hero develops for his girl. However, the quick pacing of the movie does not leave us any time to wonder, Instead, we are thrown headlong into the sequences involving Brahmanandam which are rip-roaring. Devisri Prasad's music which is very hummable and which goes very well with the gregarious mood of the movie and amazing dance moves of Allu Arjun.

The production is excellent and all visuals display certain finesse, thanks to the DI and Visual Effects. Arya2 is unadulterated entertainment orchestrated well by Allu Arjun, Sukumar and Devisri Prasad. It's been quite a while since I had this much fun watching a Telugu movie on the big screen.

Mahatma: Krishna Vamshi fails to measure up

Krishna Vamshi's ambitious 'Mahatma' evoked much interest as it is the first Telugu film with Gandhi as central theme. Especially with a top-notch 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' setting the trend, I had some anticipation on what KV has to say. After all here is the guy who is capable of a 'Sindhuram'. Of course he later veered off to produce some insensitive mass stuff like 'Khadgam' and 'Raakhi'. I thought he would be back to his 'Sindhuram' touch with 'Mahatma' but then KV showed he had no such plans. Mahatma as a regular Telugu film is average but as a film about Gandhi will be rated miserable.

KV, unlike lyricist Sitarama Sastry, does not show an understanding of Gandhi's principles. Sastry's lyrics about Gandhi are the high-point of the film and conveys the spirit of Gandhian principles and how we caricatured him in our present age due to our ignorance but KV does not carry forward any of that seriousness from songs into the movie. The hero claims to fight non-violently when in fact he does not even fight. Being non-violent does not mean being inactive and let things happen. Nor did it mean self-immolation! Did Gandhi say things would just fall into place if we just sit there in the middle of the problem non-violently or kill ourselves!? In fact in the climax, the hero refuses to fight the bad guys but gets away with his life purely on luck. That does not in anyway vindicate Gandhi's non-violent principle. Does it? My sky-high admiration for Raju Hirani grew even more after watching this fare. So bland is this one. Ironically, this has bucket loads of blood and a self-immolation scene, which again is supposed to be non-violent. If that's not enough, we have YSR's snap all over in the titles and in the movie. Wow, that's the cherry on the cake..YSR lauded in a movie preaching non-violence. Ultimate tribute i should say. Gandhi would have turned in his grave, that is if he were not cremated.

The biggest negative is that the movie couldn't focus on Gandhi and instead meandered aimlessly touching other topics like politics and Telugu film industry. The duets are misplaced and not even great to bear with. They slow the film down. While 'Mahatma' and non-violence preaching looked half-hearted in execution,the titillating item songs and few gratifying fight sequences are superbly executed! In fact hero Srikanth poured his heart out in these sequences! Maybe they are the only scenes where he is not confused :) Another positive is the casting. The actors suited the roles to the T. The guy who played Dada's (Jayaprakash Reddy's) son was superb as is the lady who plays his sister. The scene where the lady kicks Srikanth from behind is one flash in the pan that speaks eloquently of the creative director. KV also cleverly tries creating some sequences as pointers to real-life events for entertainment. So Ahuti Prasad's appa reminds us of Veerappa Moily sent by 'high-command'. The shooting episode resembles similar one involving congressman KK's son. The Gandhinagar constituency delimitation sequence reminds us of Khairatabad and the subsequent dynastic politics involving election contest of PJR's son and daughter. While the movie is littered with these details which shows that KV keenly follows regular politics, he hardly gives us any new insight or revelation into the affairs which is what we require especially in this serious subject. Even in his previous ventures like 'Raakhi' and 'Khadgam', KV did the same. He emotionally empties himself out but does not coherently say something meanigful at the end of the movie. On the otherhand, he picturized romantic sequences very well even in these otherwise serious movies. It looks KV is much more at ease with light-hearted romatic subjects. 'Ninne Pelladutha' was a trendsetter. I even liked his 'Sasirekha Parinayam' as it looked effortless and subtely gave the message even while entertaining. Here, it is just that this movie is not a honest attempt to understand and unveil the Mahatma, so it does not have a soul and fails in the core.

BAANAM: This arrow has no gamyam

If the point of making a movie is to avoid the beaten track and do something hatke, the makers of Baanam succeeds. However, if you wish to see a movie to get entertained, or to get an insight or feel a high, Baanam is not for you. Baanam has the flavour and is aesthetic but is a directionless (pointless) enterprise. And despite the raw rural/town feel in it, this is no Gamyam.

Baanam is a classy movie with short dialogues (from the same guy, Nagaraju Gandham, who written for Gamyam), meaningful visuals. You may not be any wiser about Police system after watching the movie for 2 hours but can make out about Chaitanya Dantuluri, the writer-director of this movie. A fleeting glimpse of 'Fountainhead' in couple of scenes and a chapter wise breakdown of the movies shows the influences. But sadly those influences doesn't elevate the content. Script and Screenplay are weak. What the hero set out for and what he achieved is unclear. A clear storyline and lack of conviction sinks the movie.

Nara Rohit walks his way to the closing credits, literally. All we get to see is he robotically walking and mouthing the dialogues dispassionately. His failure is to be credited to the director for the poor character sketch. Rohit's acting is made to look wooden and his body language awkward because the director apparently believed all IPS aspirants stand stiff all the time, almost never laugh and manages to fall in love and propose without ever feeling any butterflies in the stomach. Rohit is taught these aspirants are superhumans and he tries to be one and ends up a casualty. Rohit has to wait for the next opportunity to show any talent he has.

The background score is wonderful aided by crisp editing and apt camerawork. Ranadhir who plays the villain makes his mark and he is someone we can all watch out for. The shot-making is fantastic in the movie and with the right script, the director Chaitanya Dantuluri will hit the bull's eye. Sadly, for now, this Baanam has no target and nothing to hit or miss.