Author Archives: cinemachaat

Brindaavanam

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We can now confidently state that at least in Melbourne fans of one star do not seem to watch the films of another star.  As we picked up our tickets for this week’s adventure without subtitles, we encountered more questions about whether we were in the right cinema, and concern that we were about to see a film that we wouldn’t understand.  This is despite being at the same cinema at the same time every time there is a new release. We did advise everyone that we knew there were no subtitles and that it was in Telugu.  They did seem reasssured when we were able to name the stars in Brindaavanam. So we were given our tickets and took our place in the theatre.

The film opens with a typical hero entrance by Tarak and an awesome fight scene which included some nifty bike moves.  Tarak, as Krish, is the son of a wealthy industrialist and lives a privileged life lacking for nothing.  He also has a girlfriend who is allegedly studying engineering but looks more like a fashion model in the form of Indu, played by Samantha.  For some reason she asks Krish to help her college friend Bhumi fend off an unwelcome suitor by pretending to be Bhumi’s boyfriend.  Now everyone knows this is a really bad idea, but perhaps she thought that her friend was too traditional to appeal to the sophisticated Krish.  It did seem strange that the two were friends, since they appeared quite different in their clothes and attitude, but perhaps this was explained in the dialogue. Or not.

Off our hero goes, leaving behind his fancy cars and superbikes to take a bus into the countryside. There was an opportunity for another fight scene using the bus as a weapon, which was great fun, and there were machetes galore to our amusement.

When they finally reach their destination, Brindaavanam, we find out that it is a beautiful house sumptuously decorated and furnished, but home to an unhappy family, divided and feuding with itself.  Krish resembles Krishna – flirting with the girls, alternately charming and infuriating the family members, pulling practical jokes, fighting, dancing and generally stirring up mischief while also righting wrongs.

Prakash Raj with the ‘Amrish Puri Eyeballs of Hate’ (TM PPCC) plays the head of one branch of the family, while Srihari heads up the other side.  Their father is the only one who can talk to both sides of the family as everyone else communicates by machete and there are many convoys of black jeeps travelling over the bridge between the two houses.

The wardrobe department excelled once again. There are two brothers who have an amazing array of psychedelic shiny shirts, possibly the left overs from Solomon in MAGADHEERA, worn in combination with clashing lunghis.  Venu Madhav plays another member of the family with the same bad taste in outer wear, while Krish has an impressive selection of T-shirts and stripey jumpers.

The set design is just stunning, especially the interiors. There is also a veritable Noah’s ark of animals featured including chickens, geese, cows, goats, a turtle and even rabbits!  We did have to pity the poor animal wrangler who obviously had instructions along the lines of – just get the goats to run through here in a diagonal line between the dancers.

The dancing is excellent, although there was a little too much of skanky skin show in the first number. The visual effects and editing in the song picturisations were impressive and really suited the music.  We liked the songs before seeing the film, and they improved on screen with the expected excellent choreography and brilliant dancing by Tarak.  We did particularly like the bouncing men in their over large straw hats in the Eyi Raja song, and the colourful Vachadura. The traditional appearance of NTR via special effects was used very well and provided a fun conclusion to the film.

The dialogue was obviously very amusing as the audience was laughing throughout the speeches, and we suspect that there were a lot of older filmi dialogues included.  The second half did drag a little as the story was reiterated a few times as the various characters found out about Krish’s charade, but there was some excellent emoting from Srihari and Prakash Raj to make up for this.  In fact, Prakash Raj got to balance his Eyeballs of Hate with his excellent Googly Eyes of Love. Ajay was in great fighting form as the crazy suitor, but once again was destined not to get Kajal as his bride.  Tarak gives a high energy performance, with his usual excellence in dancing and physical scenes.  Both female leads fit their characters well despite those characters lacking any depth. Prakash Raj and Srihari make the most of their roles as feuding brothers.  The action sequences, by Peter Hein with a special fight choreographer also credited, were awesome, with plenty of bodies exploding from the inevitable jeep convoys, and machetes in practically every scene.

This was a good all round entertainer of a film.  We enjoyed it, and the audience’s reaction to the appearance of Brahmi’s bald spot!  We give this film 4 stars!

Khaaleja

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Friday night and time for another expedition to India Talkies for the latest Telugu release.  Mahesh time!  Even though we’ve only been watching Telugu movies for 8 months, we were caught up in the excitement around his long-awaited return to the big screen .  We had with us a true Mahesh fan – someone who had been there for him right from the start – and despite her concern over the lack of subtitles, came along with us for our first look at Mahesh on the cinema screen.  So how did it go?

Although the plot was surprisingly easy to follow for the most, we won’t get too detailed or reveal too many spoilers in this review. We thought this appeared to be two separate films in one.  It starts out with a very funny story about Raju, a taxi driver who is jinxed by the stunningly beautiful and walking disaster Subbhasini, played by Anushka.   It detours into buddy film territory as Raju meets up with a documentary director, played by the very funny Sunil. And then becomes a story about corruption and environmental politics all tied together by Mahesh as the saviour of a village in Rajasthan. And we should probably mention that Raju somehow becomes identified as an incarnation of Shiva. Our friend the Mahesh fan spotted his godliness as soon as she saw his snake wrangling skills. It was very exciting!

Our hero starts off as the taxi driver who has a disaster every time he meets up with Subbhasini.  There are many excellent and very funny scenes set around the numerous ways in which it is possible to destroy a taxi. These are nicely illustrated by Mahesh in later discussions with his boss by the use of model cars – a technique which really should be used by all insurance agencies. The romance is played well by both leads. They are worlds apart, don’t speak the same language (he is pure street, she is more the college girl) and of course, she seems to be an omen of doom for Raju. Their meetings are usually capped off with Raju’s taxi being totalled so it was always going to be a rocky relationship.

Anushka plays the daughter of a wealthy businessman who has some very undesirable associates, and an eye for marrying her off to his own advantage. She is smart, well off, a really bad driver but seems to be a decent human being. She does have terrible taste in get well gifts though (and Mahesh would seem to agree with us).  Her father is involved in some dealings with GK – the evil Prakash Raj. We were perturbed by the wardrobe chosen for the multi-billionaire GK as some of his suits looked to have been designed for a schoolboy not a magnate.

Through a series of typically filmi coincidences, arguments and relationships (no really you don’t need subtitles to work this bit out), our hero and heroine find themselves in Rajasthan and on the run. Raju is delivering or demanding an insurance payment relating to a deceased friend or colleague or the guy who died and landed on the cab  (we don’t know and it didn’t matter so much why he went). Subbhasini is running from her intended fiancee who turned up for a romantic dinner in the desert and in a fine public health announcement, dropped a packet of condoms. So she ran to her almost certain death rather than deal with an over eager boyfriend who planned to practice safe sex. Hmmmm.

Once Raju and Subbhu are together in the desert, the plot takes a turn.  Siddha (played by Shafi) has been searching for the saviour of his village, a man he will recognise by certain signs. Guess who? Yes. Raju was indeed the man. Anushka was then sidelined for the remainder of the film as it became the more familiar Mahesh style of action adventure.

The ending was both predictable and exciting in it’s epic scale and the grandeur of Trivikram’s vision. Mahesh fans will be delighted to see their hero in full flight, and dominating the action.  Prakash Raj was in total villain mode, and made the most of every second of his gore-splattered finale.

The songs were well filmed and the choreography suited the performers. They were also well placed in the story so actually helped enhance our understanding of the plot and the developing relationships. And the songs gave the costume designers the chance to see how many layers of clothes they could make Mahesh wear and still allow him to dance.  We did enjoy the occasional daring flash of an elbow or even a collarbone whenever the three shirts and a scarf permitted. The modesty singlet made several appearances too. Mahesh keeps himself well under wraps. It just adds to the allure according to our resident Mahesh fan.

None of us expected Mahesh Babu to have the comic flair and style to carry this off. We know the dialogues must have been hysterical as we could hear the crowd laughing and the boys sniggering like naughty kids at some of the colourful language. But to perform this role , and still keep us fully engaged, laughing and cheering along really takes something special  from an actor. Mahesh delivered that. In fact we found him funnier than comedy stalwarts Ali and Brahmi and he certainly kept up with Sunil who is one of our favourites. Khaaleja really is hilarious! We were never bored, it seemed to make sense despite our lack of language, and the time just flew by. We would have to give this 5 stars!

Sawan Bhadon

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From the kaleidoscope opening credits to the beehive hairstyles and groovy costumes, Sawan Bhadon has a very sixties vibe.  It is usually described as Rekha’s  debut Hindi film and was a box office hit for her. We originally watched this on the strength of the description on the DVD cover which read “This is a fun Bollywood flick full of beehive hairdos, lots of mascara, and some great dance numbers! The music is tops too!”

Let’s get the plot out of the way now. Spoilers galore to follow!

The film opens with prodigal son and all round wet blanket Vikram (Navin Nischol) returning from five years abroad. He immediately sets about telling his stepmother and sister how to dress, accessorise and generally live their lives, demanding his inheritance and insisting on some social justice in the village. Before Vikram turned up stepmother Sulochana (the shamelessly over the top Shyama) was busily squandering the family fortune on booze and wigs.  They host extravagant entertainments, and despite their reluctance to welcome Vikram home, it provides an excellent excuse for another party, fab new outfits, hairdos and a great dance number.

So Sulochana has him killed (the old time bomb in the car trick). You can imagine her surprise when he returns from the dead to once again claim his inheritance and thwart Shyama’s goal of owning more wigs than Dolly Parton and and Rajnikanth combined.

Naturally, she has him killed (the old thermos full of poisoned milk trick).

But does he die? By this time it is no surprise at all to find out Vikram is alive and well (unlike his stepmother!). So that’s it really. All’s well that ends well. The fun, as usual, is in how we get to the clifftop denouement and what people wore along the way.

Rekha looks so young and almost unrecognisable in this film. She is Chanda, who enters the film rescuing Vikram from local thugs, a gang including her brother played by a subdued Ranjeet. Chanda is essentially a good girl who knows what society expects of her and her class, but she is no pushover. She is feisty, opinionated and brash. And of course she falls for Vikram, the wealthy landlord. Their romance is sweet, clandestine, a bit silly and never sleazy. Her mother supports Chanda in refusing a proposal from seedy drunk Dabarilal (Vikram’s uncle) and Chanda knows she will not be sold to the highest bidder. Unlike so many of her later roles, Rekha is very much the good bad girl. She has an outrageous beehive and emphatic eyeliner, but her colourful saris remain firmly in place.

Jayshree plays Dolly – the bad bad girl. Or is she? She is young, beautiful, wealthy and indulged and pretty much does as her mother wants her to do. Just as Chanda is feisty yet essentially conventional, Dolly is glitzy and cheap yet still a little girl at heart. She is being romanced by creepy Madan, who claims to have a cultural dance centre and sponsors touring dance groups. This is all a front of course for his plan to corrupt and ruin as many young ladies as he can, and Dolly’s mother seems perfectly happy with her prospective son-in-law. Their affair is seedy, dishonest and potentially destructive for Dolly as she evades his attempts at seduction.

Sulochana approves of the lounge lizard Madan and his flashy lifestyle and doesn’t see the sleaze under the surface. Vikram can’t see anything good in the spoiled little sister he has neglected for years and just wants her to be a biddable child. She is surrounded by people who don’t really value her, and seems to be attracted to anyone who compliments her. Dolly is selfish but not as malicious as her mother and uncle, and seems to have a revelation towards the end of the film when she wears a much more conservative sari and matching good girl hairdo.

The girls provide much of the interest and colour in the film, and their performances are so enjoyable. Their roles remain opposites until the very end of the film. At one stage Rekha and her mum move into the ancestral home and Dolly and her mum are treated like unwanted guests. Their stories seem to be parallel versions of the same girl meets boy tale, and as one character ascends her counterpart faces adversity.

Navin Nischol looks like he modelled for Thunderbirds. He essentially has to play the straight man to all the mad masala spiced characters around him, and he does an adequate job.

He is not a flashy dancer, a dashing heart-throb, or a convincing fighter. But he is game for a drag number, and for that we give him massive cheers!

Iftekhar is wasted in the support cast. He has nothing to do other than look like a crook, but he does that very well. All the support cast are fine for what little they have to do in this romping murder mystery musical romance.

This is a film celebrating sixties fashion, make-up and hairstyles.  Dolly and her mother look amazing in their selection of groovy salwars, saris and frocks.  The village girls are pure filmi delights with their immaculate grooming and stylish makeup. The party scenes give a chance for the wardrobe team to go all out on the bling, and makeup obviously had a field day with the actresses. Its fun looking at this film after seeing Endhiran as it really makes Rajni’s wig collection look very restrained indeed. For an excellent review and a wonderful gallery of screencaps, check out Memsaab’s post.

The plot is very silly but it did hold our interest mostly due to the likeable cast. The final fight scene just went on and on and on and on….and then it went on again. It was a bit too much to have Vikram pop out of a coffin shaped box and start chasing the bad guys, especially when wearing a powder blue polyester suit. There is only so much disbelief we can suspend. The songs are fun and the overall visual design is great.

Heather says: Having bought this film solely because of the description on the back of the DVD, I was delighted to find out it was such a fun movie to watch.  The fashions and hairstyles are fab and make the film a real visual treat.  It certainly lived up to the promise on the cover! Dolly’s antics are hilarious and Vikram seems to be as unstoppable as Cher.  The plot makes no sense whatsoever, and yet it’s somehow enthralling – if only to see just how many attempts on his life Vikram can survive.  Madan is quite determined in his dedication to Dolly, or rather to her supposed fortune and provides a nice air of sleaze.  The film really does belong to the girls though – all play very strong characters which is a lovely change from the more usual hero-centric films of the time.  Shyama is fantastic as the women who will let nothing stop her in her quest to own more artificial hair than anyone else.  Rekha shines as the village girl, and proves right from the beginning of her career that she sure can act.  I love the soundtrack by Sonik Omi and the whole sixties vibe to the film.  Such a fun movie – I give this 4 stars.

Temple says: I also bought this DVD purely on the strength of the cover and the blurb. It’s so nice to find truth in advertising! Its a very stylish effort, and always a pleasure to watch. The performances are mostly fun, although Navin Nischol will never be the hero of my dreams. Wooden is a kind description. Rekha was lovely and charming in this sympathetic role. I really enjoyed seeing her in such a girly avatar for a change. Shyama was impressively insane in her role and really made an impression. I do like an evil stepmother on film and she was one of the best! This is the film that taught me the very useful phrase “Yeh Vikram nahin hai!” so it will always be special to me! It’s fun, but ultimately not a stellar example. I give it 3 stars.