'7th Sense' Review: Lacking in Common Sense

Rating: 2.25/5
Banners: Lakshmi Ganapathi Films, Red Giant Movies
Cast: Suriya, Shruti Haasan, Johnny Tri and others
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Cinematographer: Ravi K Chandran
Editing: Antony
Story, screenplay, direction: A R Murugadoss
Producers: Rupesh, Balasubramaniam, Udhayanidhi
Release date: 26/10/2011
The combination of Suriya and director Murugadoss is back and this time they have delved upon a story of the past and the link of science with history. Let us see how good that is.
Story:
In the 16th century, a Pallava king Boddhidharma (Suriya) sets on a journey to China. He is endowed with martial arts, art of healing and also the indomitable control over the five elements.
After reaching China, he heals a village of a sickness and due to the locals belief, he sacrifices his life and is buried there. Cut to the present, there is Aravind (Suriya), a circus artiste who comes across Shuba (Shruti) a genetic research student and falls in love with her. However, Shuba gets friendly with Aravind for a reason. Meanwhile, a Chinese named Dong Lee (Johnny Tri) comes to India and his mission is to kill Shuba.
Who is Aravind? Why Shuba wants to be friendly with him? Why Dong Lee comes to kill Shuba? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performances:Suriya spreads his charm once again and he is all over the film. More than his regular role as Aravind, it was his brief role as Boddhidharma that creates a strong impact.

Shruti Haasan looks naturally beautiful and has a magical glint in her eyes. She has a meaty role and she did justice for that. If she adds few extra pounds she will be very appealing.

Johnny Tri was excellent. His intense eyes and his body language were menacing. Without many dialogues, he conveys the essence of a villain in the right manner.

Dhanya was alright, Guinness Pakru was a little silly, Avinash was apt, Abhinaya was hardly there, Ashwin was alright, Raghavendra came and went. The others didn’t have much to offer.

Highlights:

• Concept of the film
• Suriya’s performance
• Technical and production values
• Climax fight sequence

Drawbacks:

• Slow pace
• Weak romance track
• Dragged sequences
• Lack of intensity and emotional depth
• Music

Analysis: Murugadoss has mixed a bit of factual history to modern science in this. For starters, he must be really appreciated for coming up with a bold theme and making an attempt to show the great history and great men of our nation. However, there is a fine line between picking up a good concept and executing it with the right voltage. If it was not for Suriya’s aura and the strong technical values, the film would have been bland.
This movie appears to be the idea of an A grade director executed by a B-grade director. Generally people expect something more sensible from Murugudoss. But that lacked here.
First half is ok but the second half got derailed. Murugudoss made vain attempt to bring grip in narration due to lack of proper research. Even Operation Red idea became silly. The climax is very long with 40 minutes and that itself shows how bad the screenplay is.
It can be said that there is no directorial brilliance as the plot was predictable and all that is required was to fill the two hours plus duration. There is no doubt that this is a rather unique storyline in the recent times but if only it was trimmed in the right manner and some dose of emotion and dramatic values were added to it, the film would have been a success.
At the box office, the openings will be good but audience is advised to step into the theatres without high expectations. Overall, this would not make any positive impact at box office. .
Bottomline: Beautiful thought, bad execution

Oosaravelli Review

 

 

 

 

As premiers in overseas and first shows in Krishna district have come to an end for ‘oosaravelli,’ everywhere the moments are tensed to know about the first report. Here is the one our sources have collected. 

First half is going to be the big (and only) advantage for ‘oosaravelli.’ With entertainment elements and interval bang quite impressive, audience will get full time pass. Second half is dragged and a big lag made audience bored with no entertainment. Obviously NTR is the strength according to those who watched the flick. 

One simple (and tentative) verdict can be passed. ‘oosaravelli’ is going to be just an average movie better than ‘Shakti’ and less worthier than ‘Brindavanam.’ May be a disappointing judgment but let us wait for few more hours.

Another  review From London

Cast: Jr NTR, Tamannaah, Shaam, Payal Ghosh, Rahman, Ashish Vidhyarthi, Ali, Venu Madhav, MS Narayana, Raghu Babu, Murli Sharma, Jaya Prakash Reddy etc Cinematography: Rasool Ellore Editing: Goutham Raju Music: Devi Sri Prasad Producer: BVSN Prasad Director: Surender Reddy Release date: October 6, 2011 Oosaravelli Premier show just started 19:30 at Harrow, London. First Half: * NTR's introduction scene with punch dialogues. * First song "Bathakali" is good. This song has some good Graphics. * NTR dances are limited in this song. * Comedy track between Raghu Babu and NTR. * NTR showing his heroism. * Good comedy between NTR and Co, extraordinary response from audience. * Tamanna's introduction scene is good * NTR trying to impress Tamanna * Second song “Nenante Naaku ” started. This song is too good. * This song is well picturised. NTR concentrated more on expressions than steps, the same with Tamanna. * Till now movie has no major twists. But good laughs. * NTR started showing his Oosaravelli behaviour. * Tamanna impressed with NTR, but a twist here. * Main story started. Twists Twists.... *  Jayaprakash Reddy entrance as JP(Abbreviation of JP is funny, its good to here it on screen). * Third song started. "Love ante caring".. * Nice steps from NTR. Song is ok. Tamanna is looking good in this song. * Fight comes here.. First half ends with some powerful dialogues by NTR. * First half is done. Till now movie is very good with decent comedy and few interesting twists. Second half * Fourth Song "Niharika". Dance is limited, but well pictured. * Tamanna is looking good in the song(Hot). * Flashback starts. * Kick Shyam entered * Prakash Raj gang attacks kick Shyam family * Shyam is Tamanna brother * Shyam undercover cop * Flashback ends. * Little bit slow when compared to first half. * Sri Anjaneyam song started. * Few twists are revealed, director giving surprises to audience. * But, full twists are not yet known. * Sixth song started "Yelango Yelango". * Another twist. Suspense revealed(Need to see only in theaters) * Climax fight starts. * Happy ending. Highlights: * NTR's energy in the movie is smashing * Few dialogues delivered by NTR. Its sure his fans chant them in real life * Tamanna's glamour and performance * Surender Reddy's stylish direction & taking * Action Sequences * Comedy track in first half * High Technical Values * Picturisation of Songs * Twists in the movie Summary: Oosaravelli has something for everyone - Good Comedy, Good action, Good sentiment, Good Songs. First half is good and second half is average with sentiment . Movie has enough twists which creates suspense among audience. NTR is stylish and excelled in acting. Tamanna looked hot and performed well. Cinematography is top notch. As per the talk of preview show , the movie will be an above average to hit fare with rating scores 3 to 3.25 out of 5. Now its all depends on families and how they receive this film. Lets wait until few hours  for the final talk of the movie and for exclusive CineGossips.com review.

'Dookudu' Review: 'Drama'tic Magic

Film: Dookudu
Rating: 3.25/5Banner: 14 Reels Entertainment
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Samantha, Prakash Raj, Sonu Sood, M S Narayana, Brahmanandam
Music: S S Thaman
Dialogues: Kona Venkat
Cinematographer: K V Guhan
Editing: M R Varma
Story, screenplay, direction: Srinu Vaitla
Producers: Anil Sunkara, Achanta Ram, Achanta Gopichand
Release date: 23/09/2011

The much delayed and most awaited movie has finally arrived. It has brought Mahesh Babu along with Samantha under the direction of Srinu Vaitla. Let us take a plunge into the details.
Story: Shankar Narayana (Prakash Raj) an honest man with ideals who does a lot for the poor. His good deeds find enemies (Kota, Supreeth, Sayaji). Shankar’s son Ajay (Mahesh Babu) grows up to be an honest and tough cop.
While the whole world thinks Shankar Narayana is dead, he is actually recovering in a hospital. Meanwhile, unaware of all this flashback Ajay sets on a mission to hunt Nayak (Sonu Sood), a dreaded mafia don. In this process, he comes across Prashanti (Samantha) and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Shankar Narayana recovers but he is not supposed to go through any sort of stress.
For this, Ajay starts doing all sorts of things to keep him happy. The story takes a turn when Ajay discovers about the attack on his father and decides to take revenge. How does he do that? Whether he is successful or not forms the rest of the story.

Performances:Mahesh Babu gives a powerhouse performance. His versatility in acting and emoting of various expressions is impressive. As usual, he rocks with his style and handsome looks. 
Samantha looks sweet. She manages to do justice in songs and the light romance track. However, she must reduce her dose of makeup and start focusing on adding few extra pounds, that will make her double sexy.
Prakash Raj was matured as usual. Though he doesn’t have intense scenes in it, he maintains a contained act and does his bit as required.
Sonu Sood looks stylish as a villain but his characterization is not that powerful. This time, he was not able to create the required impact. 
Nasser was natural, Brahmanandam was hilarious, M S Narayana was fantastic, Vennela Kishore brought few extra smiles and made his presence felt, Sonia was alright, Subbaraju made his presence felt, Kota was effective, Sayaji Shinde was standard, Aditya Menon was apt, Tanikella Bharani was elegant, Supreeth was okay. Special mention must be made of Parvathi Melton. Her item song and her oozing sex appeal is a visual delight. The others did their bit as required and added value.

Highlights:

• Mahesh Babu’s performance
• Brahmi, M S Narayana comedy
• Second half
• Parvathi Melton’s item song

Drawbacks:

• First half
• Length
• Routine Vaitla formula
• Weak romance track
• MLA get up Mahesh Babu got wasted

Analysis:The two names, Mahesh Babu and Srinu Vaitla, are enough to set high expectations for the film. But the best way to enjoy this film is to go with an open mind. As such, this is a typical Srinu Vaitla film and his formula and pattern is the same from start to finish.
Subba Raju’s character resembles Jaya Prakash Reddy in ‘Dhee’. Brahmanandam’s character resembles what he portrayed in ‘Ready’.
Only difference is, the commercial elements are high and for a change he has shown villains as villains and not converted them to good beings.
As usual, Vaitla relied on his strengths ie comedy and dialogues. During the first half, things are quite erratic and it is hard to connect. Many were looking at their watches for the interval bang. During the interval many gave thumbs down reactions and somewhat negative vibes.
The much hyped Mahesh Babu’s MLA get up is wasted in the film. The purpose of raising curtain for a reality show by Mahesh Babu is not at all convincing but boring. Taking the bigger risk of reality show to keep father happy is like a cock and bull story. The entertainment graph falls down suddenly due to that. Audience gets disconnected to the film at that moment for about 20 minutes. Although the purpose of that reality show is not convincing, the pattern in which it goes with other artistes brought the humor.
But second half covered up the entire thing and no one looks at the watch anymore. There are few points which are worth mentioning here:

• When Dharmavarapu faxes a celebrity photo to the villains. All are shocked. You must watch the film to enjoy that.
• The scene between Sonu Sood and Prakash Raj. It is a straight lift from ‘Sarkar’ scene between Amitabh Bachchan and Zakir Hussain, but a weak imitation.
• Last twenty minutes comedy and the dialogues of Brahmi and M S Narayana

Overall, the film has the right ingredients to appeal the family audience and though most of it is expected, it is the pace and ability with which the audience is engaged and the entertainment value they get.

At the box office, with no other film in sight and the hype created, the film will be invincible.
Bottom-line: Routine Vaitla's flick

'Daggaraga Dooranga' Review: Near To Flop, Far From Hit

 

Rating: 2/5
Banner: Sudha Cinema
Cast: Sumanth, Vedhika, Brahmanandam, Sindhu Tolani, Raghu Babu and others
Music: Raghu Kunche
Cinematographer: Surendar Reddy
Editor: Nandamuri Hari
Story, screenplay, Direction: Ravi Chavali
Producer: J Sambasiva Rao
Release date: 26/08/2011
Slated to be a variety thriller, the film brings about the trio of an unsuccessful hero, heroine and director. Let us see if this one brings them some relief.

Story
Gautam (Sumanth) is an ad film director and for one of his projects, he doesn’t get the right face. So, he uses the photoshop technology and comes up with an imaginative face and names it as Kamakshi. However, there is a girl called Meenakshi (Vedhika) who looks exactly like the created Kamakshi and her engagement gets cancelled due to the morphed model. To settle a score, Meenakshi takes the help of her journalist friend Zarina (Sindhu) who is investigating on a terrorist group. Zarina gathers evidence and gives it to Meenakshi but gets killed. A sequence of events leads the police to believe Gautam and Meenakshi are also terrorists. What happens from there forms the rest of the story.

Performances
Sumanth’s character has no scope for performance or show heroism. He is just part of all the other characters. However, he managed not to have any minuses from his end.

Vedhika pushed her act in a so-so manner. Though she looks pretty in few scenes, there is nothing significant about her performance.

Brahmanandam brings some time pass with his comedy and performance during the second half. Of course, this is nothing different from the several roles he did before.

The cheap comedy between Rajesh and Raghu Babu might appeal to the masses. Krishna Bhagawan’s satires didn’t work that much. Sindhu Tolani was okay while Pragathi did her usual overaction. The actor who did the role of Umar did a decent job. No point in discussing about others.

Highlights

• Songs and background score
• Cinematography

Drawbacks

• Poor production values
• Not enough depth to justify thriller genre
• The thought of creating an imaginary heroine is silly
• Concept of terrorism was amateur

Analysis
The first thirty minutes of the film is spent in silly scenes and the audience doesn’t get a doubt that this will shape up as a thriller. The mass comedy between Rajesh and Raghu Babu worked as tonic for masses. Once the subject of terrorism enters, the screenplay should have picked up but that didn’t happen. From there, the director didn’t add comedy or enough thrill elements making it a boring subject.
He annoys with a screenplay that lacks grip. If it was not for Brahmanandam’s comedy that came to the rescue, the film would have failed further. However, even his contribution was not complete.
The abrupt climax is another setback. Overall, this is a film which fails to appeal any genre of audience as its genre is confusing.

Bottomline: Stay far from the film!!

'Not A Love Story' Review: Beware! It Haunts You haunt

Film: Not A Love Story
Rating: 3.25/5
Banner: Bohra International Productions
Cast: Mahie Gill, Deepak Dobriyal, Ajay Gehi
Music: Sandeep Chowta
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Producers: Sunil Bohra, Shailesh R Singh
Release Date: August 19, 2011

Ram Gopal Varma who is currently in Mumbai has churned out another flick which grabbed enough headlines before release.

Story
Anusha (Mahie) is an aspiring actress and she comes to Mumbai in search of film offers. She has an obsessive boyfriend Robin (Deepak Dobriyal) in her hometown. After the initial struggle, she manages to get a break with the help of Ashish Bhatnagar (Ajay Gehi).
Soon, Anusha and Ashish become friends. One evening, after a party both return and a sequence of events leads Ashish to stay at Anusha’s place. In this process, both get intimate. The next morning Robin lands at the door to give a surprise but sees the situation at Anusha’s flat. In a fit of rage, he kills Robin.
Now, both Anusha and Robin decide to cover up the murder. Meanwhile, the police intervene and comes inspector Pande (Zakir Hussain). Whether the lovers are successful in covering their act or not forms the rest of the story.

Performances
Deepak Dobriyal is the apt choice for portraying the role of an obsessed lover. Though there are those occasional eye poppings from him, he comes up with an intense performance.

Mahie Gill was fabulous. She was sexy, she was beautiful, she was emotional and she was expressive in agony. Part of the credit goes to the director for extracting the best out of her.

Zakir Hussain was excellent, his cold stares and mean expressions make him fit the bill of the cop in the right way. He deserves more opportunities and challenging roles.

Ajay Gehi was upto the mark. Neil Bhoopalam was there to fill the screen. Darshan Jariwala was decent. Ganesh Yadav was neat. The others did their bit as required and added value.

Highlights

• Cinematography and the camera angles
• Second half
• Mahie Gill’s sex appeal and performance
• Narrative

Drawbacks

• Cult storyline, not suitable for all audiences
• Abrupt Ending

Analysis
Ram Gopal Varma is a man of unique ideals. True to his philosophy, though he titles the film as Not A Love Story, the very essence of the plot runs on the emotion of love though the act is gruesome. It is a pure Lust Story!
This film can be made in two different ways. Either in view point of Anusha or in view point of Robin. He has chosen the former way showing women in right light and men in dark light here. The actual truth is still skeptical.
While that is the content aspect, Ramu scores most of his marks as a technician and story teller. He didn’t venture into anything special and stuck to straight screenplay which is quite unusual. Though this is not a film of his standards, the brilliance of Ramu is seen in the taking and making. The film will have a greater impact if it is watched without any preconceived notions or the influence of hype.
However, given the genre of the film, this is something for select audience and hardcore RGV fans. At the box office, the film will surely gain profits due to its cost of making but acceptance from all forms of audience is ruled out.  Many may quip saying that it's a higher version of a Crime Watch TV program!!

Bottomline: It arrests you and haunts with wild dreams- BEWARE!!

'Dhada' Review: Spineless And Spiceless

 

Rating: 1.75/5Banner: Sri Kamakshi Enterprises
Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Kajal Agarwal, Sri Ram, Sameeksha, Rahul Dev, Kelly, Brahmanandam, Mukesh Rishi, Ali, Venu Madhav and others
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematographer: Gnana Sekhar
Editor: Dharmendra Kakarala
Story, screenplay, direction: Ajay Bhuyan
Producer: D Sivaprasad Reddy
Release date: 11/08/2011
Having scored two back to back hits, Naga Chaitanya is aiming for a hat trick and this time he has paired up with Kajal Agarwal in the lead. Let us see how good the film is
Story
Set on the backdrop of US, Vishwas (Naga Chaitanya) is a fearless guy who just passes out of college. He has an elder brother Rajeev (Sri Ram) and sister-in-law Preethi (Sameeksha).
Vishwas’s life takes a turn when he chances upon Priya (Kajal) and it is love at first sight for him. Meanwhile, two dons (Rahul Dev, Kelly Dorjee) run international prostitution rings and keep selling girls. A chance incident gets Vishwas to tangle with the bad guys.
From then on, they are out to kill him. On the other hand, Priya’s marriage gets settled with another person. How does Vishwas handle both the problems? Is he successful? What has Rajeev got to do with the incidents? All this forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Naga Chaitanya looked classy in few scenes. But then, he should have thought twice before choosing a storyline like this. The roughness required for this role is not emerged from him. He might have got training for modulation.
Kajal Agarwal was not upto the mark. Basically, it was her styling, look and the weak etching of her character which makes her look very stale. Though she did try to infuse life into the character, it was useless.
Sriram is a talented performer. He is handsome, looks elegant and is expressive with his emotions in right proportions. But his character is confusing. His chemistry with Sameeksha is nice and both look good onscreen.
Rahul Dev was regular. Though his histrionics were not extreme, he makes his presence felt.
Kelly Dorjee had the routine- one helicopter scene, one killing, one fight. He did his bit mechanically.
Brahmanandam’s comedy was dumb. Ali was not required. Sameeksha still has that seductive appeal, she can get more opportunities. Mukesh Rishi was not at all used properly. Satya Krishna was standard. Tanikella was brief. Venu Madhav, M S Narayana, Uttej came and went.
Highlights

• Two songs
• Cinematography
• Production and technical values

Disappointments

• Botched up screenplay
• Empty storyline
• Zero emotional quotient
• Spineless dialogues
• Director’s inability to use Kajal’s glamour

Analysis
Rahul Dev keeps saying in the film ‘Neekoka Kadha Cheptaanu..’. That way, he comes up with 3-4 aimless stories. That’s exactly the feeling one gets while watching the film as well.
Director Ajay should realize that style alone doesn’t work, it should have substance to give the real result at the box office. He must also work on doing some study while creating characters.
Sending a big don’s own brother into the streets to search for someone is silly. International girls racket runs in highly organized structures. If Ajay is looking for a Hollywood feel then he should give depth for characterization as well.
In this film, the whole villain thing looks hollow in the film. There is no conviction in any of the scenes and it looks like a torn jeans trouser with dozens of patches in it. If it was not for the presentation, the film would have been intolerable to watch.
At the box office, the film will have decent openings due to the pre-release publicity, star-power and songs but chances of success are remote.
Bottomline: Poor execution