Donga (1985)

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It’s 1985, one of the better hairstyle eras for Chiranjeevi, and director A Kodandarami Reddy is at the wheel with Chakravarthy’s funky soundtrack blaring. Donga is energetic, pure mass, and spits on the grave of anyone who ever said “less is more”.

Phani (Chiranjeevi) is a Robin Hood kind of thief who steals from the rich and pays off the debts of the poor. Phani’s father Chandrasekhar died of a filmi heart attack as a result of Kodandaramayya’s (Rao Gopal Rao) chicanery. Kodandaramayya is still going strong with his thieving and extortion schemes and has a slimy sidekick in Anjaneyulu (Gollapudi Maruthi Rao) and a toadying servant Rama Subbaiah (Allu Ramalingaiah) plus a resident goon. As a good Telugu film hero, Phani is intent on avenging his family and getting his sister married well. He has a somewhat useful friend or sidekick in Ranga (Nutan Prasad) too. Phani falls for Kodandaramayya’s daughter Manjulatha (Radha) so you know the path to his revenge will be full of complications and spontaneous dance breaks. And that’s without the competition for apparently the only eligible man in town, Anjanayeulu’s son Rajesh (Raja).

Donga is full of action packed set pieces as Phani tricks and thieves his way across town. The fights are full of “Karate”, back flips, slo mo leaping, spin kicks and you name it. One of the things I love most about Chiru is that he just goes for it. It might be ridiculous, the outfits might be insane, but he does his best to stick that landing every time. Phani uses brains as well as brawn, phoning in a tip about undeclared cash to get an office raided by the tax department, and generally being smarter than the bad guys. I found this next bit a little confusing with no subtitles but I think Tax officer R Viswanath (Sridhar) wants to get his sister married well and needs money for her dowry. In the tangled finances in this small filmi world he ends up being cheated by Kodandaramayya who is robbed by Phani, compounding the problem of paying the debt. R Viswanath is found dead and once Phani realises what had happened with the money, that just adds to his drive for revenge.

Phani is of course irresistible to women. I don’t know anyone else who could rock the knitted singlet like he does, so he must have that je ne sais quoi. He steals Manjulatha’s little red car and then sets up a meeting to hand it back. For reasons that are not entirely clear but yet seem to make sense to Phani, he pranks her with this Thriller-iffic dance. Pump the volume up, warm up to avoid injury, move the furniture back a bit further than you think you need to (those lunge slides need some room) and have a go at this!

From the perspective of anywhere but 1985 Telugu film that is so bad it’s awesome. What were they thinking? “We’ve done a lot of Jackie Chan stuff so let’s mix it up a bit…Bond? No, done that to death. Death…Death. I know!” But it worked, she succumbed despite her father’s disapproval.

Radha and Chiru both look like they’re having fun with the daggy choreography. And Radha gets to do more than just sit and look pretty. The costume department really don’t do her many favours but she must have had a very high synthetic fabric tolerance. Manjulatha is often more articulate and decisive than I expected. She is harassed by a creep at the cinema so she belts him and tells him off. It was satisfying although clearly a punchline for a “women are bitches” joke. Despite the occasional toddler tantrum, she seems to make a lot of her own decisions and doesn’t seem to be a bad person despite her wealth and privilege.

Her dad spots her frolicking with Phani and maybe it is the enthusiastic prancing or that she starts wearing sarees, but he senses trouble and warns her off the mystery man. After the usual misunderstanding, tearful argument, unfortunate slapping incident, and some quality time with Phani’s mother, the deal is pretty well sealed. And Phani missed no opportunity to torment Kodandaramayya by showing off his relationship.

Phani goes to see Anajaneyulu but he has no luck in getting Viswanath’s debt reduced, so he says he will pay it all back himself. And goes to work in a quarry, maybe just because Chiru always wanted to try using a kanga. I would have thought stealing the money would be more practical given his skillset but whatever. Kodandaramayya sets up a cross country motorcycle race with significant prize money – and a great opportunity for his goons to erase Phani who is resplendent in canary yellow. Phani takes the dangerous job of laying explosives but the goon I call Coconut Machete tries to sabotage him. Somehow in all the biffo Phani realises that Kodandaramayya may have had more to do with Viswanath’s death than suspected. And in flashback Coconut Machete reveals it was not a suicide. BASTARDS! So of course Phani enters a dance competition and competes against Silk Smitha.

Look at him go! I love these bedazzled wrist guards and gaiters.

Phani is framed for murdering Silk, which is ridiculous. He’d already killed her on the dance floor. He goes on the run and it is on for young and old. I loved the car stunts and the fights, but right at the end the horse stunts, as usual, made me feel sick. What happens in the end? Does Phani triumph? You know the what, but the how is what matters!

Peak Chiru. Quality Radha.  Total mass. 4 stars!

Vishwaroopam II

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Vishwaroopam 2 poster

Kamal Haasan’s sequel fills in much of the backstory from Vishwaroopam and there are flashbacks a plenty as RAW Agent Wisam (Kamal Haasan) faces off again against terrorist Omar (Rahul Bose) and his dirty bomb threats. Despite all the explanation, it’s best to have seen the first film to understand the sequel, although the few brief glimpses of key scenes – the warehouse fight, Vis in full dance-instructor mode, are enough to jog the memory so a re-watch prior is not necessary. Fleshing out the background does help put everything into perspective but sadly VII has nowhere near as much finesse and style as the first film. Along with jolting between the past and present, the sequel plot doesn’t get anything like the same attention to detail and the ‘bomb’ situation in VII is over almost before it begins. However, the flash-back sequences are good, Kamal Haasan is still impressive in the action sequences and Rahul Bose is fabulous as Omar suffering the effects of radiation poisoning.

The film starts just after the end of Part 1, with Wisam (aka Vis) taking the body of Dr Dawkins back to the UK, accompanied by his wife Nirupama (Pooja Kumar), fellow agent Ashmita (Andrea Jeremiah) and his handler Colonel Jagannath (Shekhar Kapur). Once on English soil Wisam butts heads with Eshwar Iyer (Ananth Mahadevan), in charge of Indian special operations in the UK in a side plot that is never fully developed. It feels as if there are a number of scenes missing and Eshwar is another character who is gone before he’s made any impact. Of greater urgency is the terrorist’s plot to blow up the shipwrecked SS Richard Montgomery near Sheerness, which leads to a couple of well-choreographed action sequences including one underwater. Full marks for incorporating a real historical incident (the ship sank in 1944 carrying a full load of explosives and has never been fully salvaged due to the risks involved in recovery) but marks off for the lack of suspense since the mission to retrieve the terrorists’ explosive device fails to deliver any tension, despite Nirupama having to dive through the ship’s unexploded ordinance.

And that’s the problem with much of the action this time around. The hunt for Omar and Salim is side-lined for needless scenes including several suggesting some kind of jealousy between Ashmita and Nirupama. These really didn’t work at all and I can’t decide if that was due to the bad dialogue or just the body language from the two actors which suggested that they were both uncomfortable with this angle as well. The romance between Wisam and his wife also occupies far too much screen time for an action flick, especially when it’s at the expense of developing the villains of the piece, who only appear briefly towards the end. In addition, most of the scenes set in the present day appear as set pieces – short bursts of action or dialogue which don’t relate well to each other or to the flash-back sequences. On the whole the flash-backs actually work better, perhaps because they are shedding light on characters motivations and revealing what happened to key players but also because there is more energy in these scenes.

One thread that does work well in the present day is the introduction of Waheeda Rehman as Wisam’s mother. On the wall are pictures of a young Kamal Haasan and youthful Waheeda while the beautiful song Naanagiya Nadhimoolamae plays over her reminisces of her son’s dancing skills. This scene is made all the more poignant by the fact that she has Alzheimer’s disease and doesn’t recognise Wisam as her son. Waheeda Rehman is excellent and still so incredibly elegant, and it makes perfect sense that she should have taught her son all he knows about dance.

The action moves from the UK to Delhi, where finally Omar and Salim (Jaideep Ahlawat) get time onscreen, but it’s too little too late. The film suffers from not having a clear track featuring the villain in the present day, especially when Omar has already had so much presence in the flashbacks. Instead we get various, almost faceless terrorists who are dispatched quickly without too much fanfare. While there is plenty of blood and gore, most of this seems coldly clinical although there is one nicely executed sequence where a splatter of blood turns into a map. Omar’s artificial eye gets another work-out and Rahul Bose’s harsh rasp is chillingly effective, as is the make-up departments dedication to creating slowly dissolving flesh caused by radiation sickness. However, the final showdown seems almost cartoonish in its delivery and execution, especially given that it all happens so very quickly and comes to a sudden conclusion.

After the brilliance of the first film and all the hype (and long wait) for the second it was perhaps inevitable that Vishwaroopam II would fail to fully deliver. Vishwaroopam was a sophisticated spy drama with excellent special effects and clever dialogue that broke away from the more typical masala action film, while VII seems to slip back into more standard fare. While VII does retain some of the original ideas, the dialogue seems more laboured, while the central plot is buried behind the many flashbacks and explanation scenes. Although the actors all reprise their roles well, there seems to be less energy this time round and despite their greater time onscreen, the characters of Ashmita and Nirupama aren’t as well utilised in the plot. Although VII isn’t terrible the screenplay is haphazard with the plot more of an afterthought to flesh out those extra scenes that didn’t fit into the first film – and therein lies the problem. VII isn’t a film that stands up by itself and although it works as a sequel, it really needed to be more than just that.

Katheyondu Shuruvagide

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Katheyondu Shuruvagide PosterSenna Hegde’s Katheyondu Shuruvagagide is a leisurely stroll through three different love stories that run alongside the tale of one man’s struggle to keep his hotel business going. It’s ‘slice-of-life’ storytelling that works thanks to the rich dialogue, detailed characterisations and excellent performances from the entire cast. However, it’s also reminiscent of European movies that take a slow approach to story development, so this is one more for those who prefer emotions and character-driven drama over fast action.

Tarun (Diganth Manchale) runs a small hotel somewhere on the coast of Karnataka near an absolutely stunning beach. Despite the gorgeous setting and well-appointed rooms, the hotel is struggling and at the beginning of the film Tarun is seen heading to the airport to pick up his only guests for the week – a married couple from the north of India. The opening scenes also establish Tarun’s bachelor status in his ultra-cool pad with a totally awesome wall light, and introduce his relationship with his Uncle Shankar (Babu Hirannaiah) and Aunt Radha (Aruna Balaraj). The other characters in the hotel make a brief appearance here too – chef Kutty (Prakash K. Thuminadu), driver and general dogsbody Pedro (Ashwin Rao Pallakki) and hotel receptionist Swarna (Shreya Anchan).

When Tarun arrives at the airport he finds only Tanya (Pooja Devariya) who explains that she has been recently widowed but asks Tarun to keep her status secret from the other hotel staff. This is in an attempt to prevent sympathy which she feels unable to handle. And indeed she is visibly upset and struggling to cope. At various times Tanya breaks down in tears and on the first occasion Tarun responds by chivalrously handing her a box of tissues from the car. However, as the week goes on he becomes more and more intrigued by Tanya and eventually offers her a shoulder to cry on.

While Tarun takes Tanya out sight-seeing and provides her with a ready ear for her problems, Pedro is desperate to let Swarna know that he is in love with her. Swarna on the other hand is getting ready to go to Dubai where her NRI fiancé is located. The two spend time chatting online while Pedro plots how to best persuade Swarna to stay in India with him instead. He’s aided by Kutty who bases his suggestions on talk-back radio, ensuring plenty of gentle comedy as the rather naïve Pedro tries to win over the much more sophisticated Swarna.

The third romance is the long-standing relationship between Shankar and Radha, and the interactions between the two suggests a love marriage that has only deepened over the years. However, Radha reveals a rather different story when chatting to Tanya, providing good contrast to the other threads and showing a different side to love. Their story is beautifully developed and both Babu Hirannaiah and Aruna Balaraj suit their roles perfectly. Their scenes are the typical day-to-day reality of an older couple and yet still allow their characters plenty of scope to flourish. The only odd note is Shankar’s advice for Tarun to find a partner to help solve his monetary woes, I’m not sure if this was supposed to be a reference to dowry or just to have support through his troubles, but either way this seemed to come out of nowhere.

All the characters are excellent and the slow development suits the realistic nature of the story. Tarun’s back-story of living in the US before returning to Karnataka to realise his dream seems plausible and his attempts to rescue the business rather than sell out to a developer also ring true. Diganth does a good job in the role and has good chemistry with his co-star, Pooja. Pooja is fantastic and manages to make Tanya a totally relatable character despite initially declaring that she has decided to come on her honeymoon even after being widowed. It’s that  ‘already booked and I needed to get away’ rationale that has worked for movies like Queen but it’s Pooja’s attitude that really makes this so believable. She varies between genuine grief and attempts to be distracted by the scenery which comes across as totally understandable given her circumstances. Even the final scenes which reveal all is not quite as it seems are entirely plausible while writer Abhijit Mahesh’s dialogues are the icing on the cake that makes Tanya’s character really come alive. Although Pedro and Swarna’s story is mainly lighter and used as comedy, the dialogue here too is excellent and hits plenty of truths along the way.

The events of the film take place over a week, but rather than focusing on the romance between Tarun and Tanya the story follows the characters through their normal day-to-day lives – for example, conversations between Pedro and Radha as she readies the hotel room for Tanya, or between Pedro and Kutty as they prepare breakfast. Nothing happens quickly and the focus on the minutiae of each day adds authenticity to the story. Added reality comes with discussions about reviews on traveller websites and the problems Tarun has had as a result of posted complaints about the food.

The scenery is well shot to showcase just how beautiful the Indian coastline can be. The waters look pristine and the beaches sparsely populated, which made me wonder if this is the reality, and if so why I wasn’t already booking a trip! There are a few odd shots taken at approximately knee level which didn’t quite work as they pushed me out of the fly on the wall approach and made me lose contact with the characters. However there aren’t very many of these and the rest of Sreeraj Raveendran’s cinematography is stunning.

Sachin Warrier’s songs are good and well pictured with an appropriate mix of sad and happy tunes and a great party song too. Thankfully these were all subtitled which is always a plus, and the rest of the film had great subtitles too. Unfortunately though I missed the name of the subtitler.

Katheyondu Shuruvagide is a sweet film that doesn’t try to be anything other than a snapshot of life for a group of people in a small seaside resort. Senna Hegde has the mix of characters exactly right and the few others who appear briefly, such as Raghu Ramanakoppa as a coconut seller are smoothly integrated into the routine established by the main leads. It’s good to see such a character driven film with great attention to detail and well written dialogue. Slow-paced, yes, but definitely one to savour.