Telugu Review: 'Brindavanam' is old wine in a new bottle

Hyderabad: Family entertainer! Aren’t we all familiar with this word? The Telugu film industry has seen plenty of such movies in the past. A family entertainer is supposed to be a film that has something in it for everyone in the family. But then the term ‘family entertainer’ is a misleading word. You delve deeper into the movie and you realise there is not enough of anything for anyone. One family entertainer cannot be any different from another family entertainer since all of them dish out the same elements of action romance, sentiment and comedy. Adding to the never ending list is NTR’s Brindavanam.

Well, the movie is about Krish (NTR) who is the boyfriend of Indu (Samantha). Now Krish is this helpful and friendly guy who helps his friends get married by thrashing all the goons and one who can be trusted to overcome any kind of parental pressure. His girlfriend Indu naturally requests him to help her friend Bhoomi (Kajal) by stopping her marriage to her rogue cousin (Ajay). Krish enters Bhoomi’s family pretending to be her boyfriend with the noble intention of helping her. (Just help, mind you)

Telugu Review: 'Khaleja' fails to pack a punch

Finally, Mahesh Babu is back on the silver screen after a gap of nearly 3 years.Running after the goons and delivering the knock-out blows with his trademark glare, Mahesh Babu teams up with ace director Trivikram Srinivas (who gave him a career defining movie with Athadu in 2005) in Khaleja. The movie however disappoints and falls below the sky high expectations of all his fans who have been eagerly waiting for this movie.

Raju (Mahesh babu) is a taxi driver. Subhashini (Anushka) is the girl who brings him bad luck and causes damages to his car and his body every time he meets her. He lands in Rajasthan to get a part of the insurance amount of a guy who dies falling on his car. He again meets Subhashini (Anushka) in Rajasthan who is escaping from a guy trying to cheat her. A gang of goons try to murder Raju and take Subhashini back, but Raju thwarts their attempt. However Raju who is severely wounded falls unconscious after the fight.

Telugu Review: 'Gaayam-2' lacks the feel of 'Gaayam'

Do you remember the young raw Jagapathi Babu playing the local don in perhaps what has been his best role till date? Does Urmila Mantondar shaking her leg with Uthej in that unforgettable ‘Nizam Pori’ song come to your mind? Can you recall Kota Srinivas Rao delivering a superb performance as ‘Guru Narayana’ with his Telangana dialect and his unique mannerisms? None of the Telugu movie fans can ever forget these scenes from the 1993 Ram Gopal Varma directed flick Gaayam.

This review can perhaps go on dissecting and analyzing the 1993 hit for the sequel Gaayam-2 is heavily based on the first part of the movie. So much so that you even have scenes from that movie being replayed in the sequel and there are many scenes (like the ‘Khandistham’ dialogue by Kota) which are slightly altered. Making sequels for hit movies is not an easy task since the expectations are already high and the sequel is always compared with the first part. The director of Gaayam -2 is so inspired by the original that he has nothing new to offer in his latest flick.

Nothing really special about 'Happy Happy Ga'

Happy Happy Ga is the story about Santosh (Varun Sandesh) who just like any other hero in a Telugu love story, is in search of his true love right from the first frame of the movie.

Santosh runs a company called ‘Cartoons’ that help celebrate special occasions in people’s lives by sending them greetings and gifts on behalf of their friends and relatives. On one such occasion he goes to receive Pooja (Vega) who is on a visit to India on behalf of her uncle and aunt.

'Don Seenu' is a disappointing, routine flick

Seenu (Ravi Teja) is a big fan of Amitabh Bachan and adores his movie Don right from his childhood. He is so inspired by the Don character that he calls himself ‘Don Seenu’ and puts a permanent tattoo of the same on his hand.

When Seenu grows up, he aspires to be the don of the city and so plans to join the group of one of the two local goons Narsing (SriHari) and Machiraju (Sayaji Shinde).

'Maryada Ramanna' emerges a winner

What do you expect when a director like SS Rajamouli who has made powerful movies like Magadheera, Simhadri, Chatrapathi and Vikramarkudu claims to make a totally different film?

What do you expect when the director chooses to make a movie with a comedian instead of his regular action heroes like NTR Junior, Prabhas, or Ravi Teja? What do you expect when in the trailer you see the hero stating he is unlike the earlier protagonists of SS Rajamouli?

'Subhapradam' is out of sync with modern times

When was the last time you saw a Telugu movie where the heroine’s character wears a sari or a half sari almost throughout the movie including in the songs? When was the last time you saw a Telugu movie which was neither a love story nor an action flick? When was the last time you saw a Tollywood hero play a character without flexing his muscles or bashing the goons? Welcome back to the world of K. Vishwanath. Do the scenes from his hit movies like Sagara Sangamam and Sankara Bharanam flash in your minds?

It would have been great if all the aspects mentioned above elevated the story and helped the director in carving a masterpiece. But alas! The final product is a movie that is too lengthy and not in sync with the times of the modern day. The story is also quite weak. In fact there doesn’t appear to be any story till the last 30 minutes by which time the audience is already in a mood to step out of the cinema hall.

'Jhummandi Naadam' doesn't quite reverberate

Balu (Manchu Manoj) is a youngster who aspires to be a great singer. He leaves his village after challenging a rich landlord who insults him and his parents.

Captain Rao (Mohan Babu) who also lives in the same colony hates Balu and believes that he reflects the modern, confused young generation. Captain Rao’s friend’s daughter, Sravya (Taapsi) comes from the U.S. to make a documentary on Telugu culture and stays with him.

'Pappu' is childish and clichéd

Pappu (Krishnudu) is an overweight, unlucky guy who doesn’t get anything right. He considers himself to be smart and intelligent while the rest of his friends and colleagues find him very funny and don’t spare any chance to pull his leg.

Pappu's boss Banerji's daughter, Radha (Deepti) starts working in her dad’s company and Pappu falls in love with her. The story takes a turn or rather begins when Radha is kidnapped and her kidnappers demand a hefty amount from her father.

Vikram is superb in 'Villain'

Dev (Prithviraj) is a police officer who is posted near the Nallamalla forests. He comes there along with his wife Raagini (Aishwarya Rai).

Veera (Vikram) who often takes law into his own hands to protect his people is on the hit list of the police. In order to avenge the death of his sister Vennela (Priyamani) who dies because of the cops, Veera decides to pay back Dev in the same way and kidnaps Raagini.