Guru - DD review

Language: Telugu
Genre: Action, Sports

It's been long time tollywood has witnessed film based on sports. Last movie I remember was "Aswini", a biopic based on the life story of Aswini nachappa. Any well made biopic of any sportsperson is well received by audience. Dangal, Bhag milka Bhag received tremendous response from audience. "Saala khadoos" is tailor made from stories  of many athletes. Guru is remade to Telugu from Hindi movie "Saala khadoos".

This movie is a life story of a coolie from vizag (Rameswari) who wins women boxing world championship. It tells how her coach Aadi (Venkatesh) struggles to overcome politics in sport and overpowers the evil of the sport to make her a world champion forms the Crux of the story. Junior coach's struggle in finding women boxers, ill funded sports acamedies, senior coaches taking advantage of the athletes, what not, everything is well told by Sudha kongara (director). Best part of the movie is the conversations between hero and heroine. Their egoistic attitude and dialogues keeps you engaged throughout. Emotions are well portrayed and audience leaves the theatres with heavy hearts.

Venkatesh is best as national coach. No other actor of the tollywood can fit in this role. His appearance and adamant behaviour on screen shows you a different Venky. Star of the movie is Ritika. She is simply fantastic. No words to express. She is the best. Mumtaz sorcar, Bengali actress acted as Ritikas sister. Nasser as junior coach. Hindi villain Zakir Hussain acted as national selector. "Jingidi jingidi" and "ey sakkanoda" are shot well. Others are just time lapse songs.

+++++++++++
Ramulu expressing love to Aadi
Climax
Ramulu intentionally loosing a match

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Few may not connect to the nativity feel

My rating:3.25/5

Final touch: Sure watch over weekend. Venky and Ritika rocks.

PS: I did watch "Saala khadoos". Still I liked it.

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Katamarayudu - DD review

Language: Telugu
Genre: Action, Factionism

First half is decent with comedy. Second half did lag often. After a debacle, Pawan Kalyan came up with a remake of Ajith starrer, Veeram. Aakula Shiva has made lots of changes to look different than the original film. Except for the main theme, the story is customized to the core for Pawan Kalyan fans.

Katamarayudu (PK) lives with four brothers and he doesn't like women. He believes his wife may bring strain in his relation with his brothers. However his brothers plans to make pk fall in love with a girl, avanthi(Shruthi). Eventually pk falls for avanthi. He comes to know she is in some trouble. How katamarayudu saves avanthi forms the rest of the story?

Pawan Kalyan is at his best. Especially in the introduction scene, you will get goosebumps. You will see comedy angle in pk in this movie. There is a scene with Shruthi, which evoked laughter.
Shruthi: meeku yoga telusa
PK: alanti cheap brands nenu thaganandi.
Shruthi is glamorous in parts. In few scenes, she looked good. Dolly has done enough justice to the script in elevating the mass angle in PK. Biggest let down is BG score and songs. Except for Mira Mira meesam and  jivvu jivvu, others are  worth not mentioning. Adding to the old script, music played the role of salt on wounds. Had it been a interesting second half and good music, fans would have seen a blockbuster.
Ajay has got a good role among all the four brothers. Rao Ramesh has added another interesting role to his career. Ali and prudhvi's comedy evoked few laughs.

+++++++

Introduction scene
Comedy scene of Shruthi and Pawan
Pawan proposing Shruthi

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Ancient story
B grade songs
Lack of novelty in scenes

But then, this movie is a sure shot movie for masses. It is no surprise if it becomes one of the top grossers.

My rating: 2.75/5

Final touch: new pk in old story

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16 every detail counts - DD review

16 every detail counts - DD review

Language: Telugu
Genre: Crime, Thriller

"There are no heroes and villains in this world, only characters" , a famous dialogue from a Telugu movie suits the story of this movie. 16 characters and story timeline of 16 hours justifies the title.

An aspiring police officer meets a retired inspector Deepak (Rahman) about an unsolved case. Inspector explains how he investigated the case. An accident by 3 youth eventually turns out to be a murder mystery. Director took the route of non-linearity in telling the story. If you connect the dots of sequence of events, you will understand the chronology of the scenes.  Good thing is Director didn't leave audience to connect the dots. The story deals with how any case is solved using leads/mis-leads. Twist in the climax reveals why the aspiring police officer chose Deepak to get that case information.

Rahman looks handsome even at that old age. His attitude exactly suited the role. His dubbing is top notch. The actor acted as constable Gautam is impressive. Others are just characters and motives of characters. Hero of the movie is Director. I was surprised to hear that a 22 year old made this movie. His story telling and screenplay is #awesome. On the other side, no villains and heroes made me little disappointed. May be I expected a lot from the trailer.

My rating: 3/5

Last words: Experience a new way of story telling.

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Logan - DD review

Genre: action, sci-fi,super hero
Language: English

******* Spoiler alert *******

After a series of prequels and sequels, Marvel has come up with Logan - 10 th in the xmen series. Amidst huge expectations, Logan is released on this friday. Unlike other action packed movies of the series, this part is more dramatic and emotional.

Getting into the story, after all the years of turmoil, Logan aka wolverine lives peacefully in Mexico with prof Charles. Their life is disturbed by a group of mercenaries, who tries to nab a young mutant (Laura), who has similar skills as Logan. Mercenaries belong to Transigen, mexican company which produces biologically modified mutant soldiers. While the young mutants tries to escape to US mexican border, mercenaries tries to bring them back to the company. Logan helps the mutants to reach the border.

No one can be sooo perfect as Hugh jackman, as Logan. He looks weak, old and diseased, yet looks powerful. Probably this is the last time fans see Wolverine. Wolverine is down and no more. Tears rolled out of my eyes in the climax. Charles is down too. We are not going to see charles and wolverine, unless Marvel makes a prequel. Sadly, we have to bid farewell to the two most powerful characters of Xmen series. Star of this movie is Laura, young mutant. Her skills are introduced with a power packed action scene. Scenes between Laura and Logan are engaging. Wolverine vs Wolverine fight scene is nicely choreographed. On the flip side, violence is bit high in few scenes. Concept of biologically modified mutants is not new.

My rating: 3.5/5

Last words: Emotional farewell for Logan aka Wolverine.

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The Ghazi attack - DD's review

The Ghazi Attack - DD's review

Genre: War/Thriller

Release date: Feb 17, 2017

There was a buzz in the tinsel town before its release because of its promotion as the first sub-marine (under water) movie of India. Story is pretty clear to everyone. Some of us knew about Ghazi. Some might have researched after the teaser release. The first 10 minutes of the movie reveals the plot. So, director has to bank on exciting screenplay and he did it absolutely well.

Set on the backdrop of 1971 war, where east Pakistan (Bangladesh)  was liberated from Pakistan by India.In order to support rebels, Pakistan plans to send supplies via Bay of bengal, which is under the scanner of India's prestigious air craft carrier, INS Vikranth. Powerful submarine Ghazi is sent to attack Vikranth and to blow up Visakhapatnam. India's submarine S21, under the command of Captain Rann Vijay singh (Kay Kay Menon) and Arjun Verma (Rana.D) is sent to interrupt Ghazi. How S21 sinks Ghazi forms the rest of the story.

More than story, screenplay is the key of the movie. Director Sankalp's effort is clearly seen throughout the movie. His research is extraordinary. He tried to show very minute technical details around submarine. In few scenes, high technical details killed the intention of the scene. For eg: To interrupt Ghazi's SONAR, Indian submarine crew sings Vandemataram and Janaganamana in high pitch. Idea is great but if a person doesn't understand how SONAR works, he will be in a confused state why they suddenly started singing National anthem. Climax is little flat.

Casting is the star of the movie. Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni, Rana, Tapsee, Om puri, Nasser, Milind Gunaji and others. They are natural performers. Kay Kay Menon's performance is one of his best in his lifetime.Others did their job perfectly well. Visual effects are of high standards in most scenes. 

My rating: 3.25/5

Last words:  Great attempt!!

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Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavaada - DD's review

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A Aa - DD's review

 

A Aa (Anasuya ramalingam Aanand vihari) - DD's review

Genre: Family drama

Language: Telugu

Release date: June 2nd, 2016

Simple story with soft comedy punches and emotional drama makes up A aa. Story is simple. Anasuya (Samantha) is the daughter of Mahalakshmi (Nadiya) and Ramalingam (Naresh), owners of Anasol pvt ltd. Anasuya attempts a suicide because of her highly micro managed mother. Her father Ramalingam sends her to her uncle's village (kalavapudi) for 10 days. Anasuya spends the best moments of her life in these 10 days. She eventually falls in love with her Bava Aanand (Nithin). But Aanand was already promised to Pallapu venkanna (Rao Ramesh)'s daughter Nagavalli (Anupama parameswaran - Premam fame). On the other hand, Mahalakshmi doesn't like Nithin's family because of past family issues. How Anasuya wins Aanand amidst all troubles forms the rest of the story?

Samantha is the real hero of the movie. Her role has too many emotions. Be it sadness, suicidal tendency , seduction, cute dog bark, frustration - she just nailed it. Samantha's characterization usually excels in Trivikram's movies may be because of special 'care' taken by him while penning down her character. Nithin acted well as village lad. His dialogue delivery is crystal clear. It is not exaggeration if I say this will become biggest movie of his career. Nadiya is as usual. Felt like watching 'Atha' in Atharintiki Daaredi. Rao Ramesh is at his career best. His role is like a rich spice in a hyderabadi biryani.  His dialogues in the climax are simply extraordinary. I felt Anupama Parameswaran is under utilized. Teja (varevah etv anchor) and Praveen's soft punches worked very well. Avasarla, Ananya got brief but important roles. Songs are shot very well. Lush green landscapes, tall coconut trees, cucumber fields, harvest, fresh serene climate, country side rivers what not. name it and trivikram showed in songs. Songs are good while watching. "Vellipoke Syamala" is my favorite number.  "Gopala Gopala" is my favorite line. I have to talk about climax. No 15 minutes chases and long fights, no adrenaline rushes, no lengthy challenging dialogues. Climax ends with few very funny dialogues. You will feel happy when you come out of theater.

Thumbs up scenes: (***** spoilers ****):

• Climax
• Dialogues between Samantha and Nithin ("nenu biryani gurinchi matrame matladanu")
• Rao Ramesh's climax dialogues ("Satruvulu ekkado undarra. Mana chellelu, kuthurula roopam lo mana munde thirugutuntaru")
• Dialogues between Nadiya and Nithin

My rating: 3.5/5

Last words: Simple and Sweet Trivikram's Treat.

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