Tag Archives: Ashish Vidyarthi

Athidhi

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I liked this film the first time I saw it, but rewatching for this review it didn’t make quite the same impact.  However I still enjoyed the Mahesh/Amrita Rao combination and both actors do what they can in what’s essentially an over-blown and excessively dramatic story.  There isn’t too much comedy which makes it a little more appealing, and although it’s fairly dark and quite violent in parts, it’s all much too over the top to take seriously.  There is good chemistry between the lead pair and a suitably maniacal villain who refers to himself in the third person but be prepared for a lot of fake blood (even some that’s CGI), plenty of gunfights and a number of plots points that require major suspension of disbelief.

The film starts with some cute child actors who play the young Mahesh and Amrita.  Chhotu is an orphan who gets the fairly standard ‘Indian filmi orphan abuse’ from all and sundry while still managing to have ideals and a reasonable wardrobe.  One day while selling balloons, he gives one to a young girl leaving school even though she hasn’t got any money but promises to pay him the next day. Later, she gives him an umbrella which makes a big impression since it seems no-one has ever given Chhotu anything before.  After he stops their car and warns the young Amrita’s parents about a wash-out in the road ahead, they decide to take him home and begin to adopt him into their family.

They give the young boy the name Athidhi as he is their ‘guest’, but when the parents are gunned down by a psychotic thief one night, it’s Athidhi who gets the blame for the double murder.  Because of course that makes sense!

Athidhi is sentenced to 13 years in jail, and after his release devotes his time to finding the real killer. He’s also determined to find Amrita and make sure she’s happy but is hampered in both his endeavours by a major lack of information about both the identity of the murderer and the location of Amrita.  On the plus side he does have a picture of the killer since the thief left a wallet containing his photograph behind at the scene of the crime, but there are no other clues.  In between popping in and out of jail for his hooligan-like tendencies, beating up various thugs and trying to track down a killer, Athidhi manages to find time to run a coffee shop near the Red Fort, although he doesn’t seem to actually spend much time there.

Mahesh has a different look here with long floppy hair and seems to be permanently standing in the path of a wind machine dialled up to max.  Unless he’s in the rain that is, which does vastly improve the hair.  The overall effect is to make him even more baby-faced than usual and there are even a few dialogues which make reference to his innocent appearance.  But we know better.

And it doesn’t take long – the first fight scene comes after straight after Athidhi is released from jail again, and has Ganni (Subbaraju) and his gang as the recipients of some fairly typical Mahesh mayhem.  That leads straight into the first song, which seems to have been heavily inspired by Mad Max and features some fight style choreography which didn’t appeal at first but it’s grown on me.

Meanwhile the young Amrita has grown up to be Amrita Rao, studying art at college in Delhi and generally seems fairly content.  She’s polite and well-mannered on the outside, but inside her own mind is much feistier and has moments of fantasy where she imagines herself as a Matrix-style super-woman.  However her inner hero gets her into trouble when she takes on a gang of drug dealers who chase her into the path of an oncoming vehicle.  In the aftermath Athidhi performs some lifesaving mouth to mouth, although not quite in the approved St John’s Ambulance style, and as an afterthought he also beats up the drug dealers.  Amrita is pretty happy about the whole experience despite her near death and stalks Athidhi since after all we know that’s the way to show true love – right?

There’s a long and fairly pointless sequence with the dreadfully styled and characterised Danny Bhai (Ashish Vidyarthi) and eventually Athidhi finds out that Amrita is the girl he knew as a child.  But she’s already left for Hyderabad where she lives with the home minister (Nasser) and his family who are her aunt and uncle.  So the action moves to Hyderabad where Athidhi foils various plots to kill Amrita and her cousin Aishwarya (Baby Anni), including one by Danny Bhai that leads to Athidhi discovering the identity of the man who killed Amrita’s parents.  And as chance would have it, Hyderabad is being terrorised by this same killer, who now goes by the name of Khaizer and is running a child kidnapping ring.  To add more murk to the mix, Special Officer Ajit Shastri (Murli Sharma) has been brought in from Delhi to catch the gang and making sure he doesn’t succeed, Kota Srinivasa Rao does his usual corrupt politician thing.

So, will Amrita discover who Athdhi really is, will Athdhi discover who Khaizer really is, and will somebody finally cut Athidhi’s increasingly bouffy layered hair?!  It takes another couple of hours and quite a few twists and turns until we finally realise that no-one is ever going to successfully wield scissors anywhere near Mahesh. Oh, and there is finally resolution  to the rest of the plot too.

The story does have some good points but each is strung out for so long that the whole film drags.  It could easily have been cut by at least half an hour which would have made it a tighter and more thrilling movie.  The plot twists are good, although derivative, but again take far too long to reveal, and the final climax is marred by some bad CGI effects.  Although there is plenty of action it’s mostly gun fights which are less satisfying to watch.  The fight scenes, while often well-choreographed by Stun Shiva, are interrupted by too much slo-mo which really just reveals that no-one actually ever does hit anyone.  The lighting is really variable as sometimes it was excellent, for example at a number of scenes at the Red Fort, and yet at other times everyone appeared to have lizard skin and jaundice.  I’m sure the effect was meant to be very stylish but instead it just looked like the levels were completely wrong.  Brahmi, Sunil and Venu Madhav appear for some short comedy scenes but otherwise it’s fairly relentless death and destruction.

The music by Mani Sharma is catchy and I really like the soundtrack, but the picturisations don’t work very well and the songs appear oddly inserted into the narrative.  Malaika Arora pops up in a typically sleazy item song and the choreography generally seems under par for a Mahesh film – especially with someone like Amrita Rao who can dance. This song features an even more multilayered than usual Mahesh (plus the hair – which by this stage even features in the choreography), while someone in the costume department obviously had a grudge against Amrita.  It’s a good song though, and I enjoy watching the reactions of people in the background as they stop and stare.

While I think there is more here than just a film for Mahesh fans it’s probably best to watch with the remote to FF past some of the interminably long expositions by the villain. Generally performances are good but the film is let down by the mish-mash of a story and lack of editing.  I still give it 3 stars though, mainly for Mahesh and Amrita and for the bonus presence of both Subbaraju and Ajay  which always boosts any film for me!

Bheema

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Bheema centres on the key players in a gang and their interactions with rivals and police in Chennai. It’s quite a sanitised version of the criminal underworld, and little detail  is revealed about the nature of how these guys make a living. But it has two fantastic actors at the forefront, a delightful bromance, and a focus on characters that makes the who and why of the story more interesting than the what.

Chinna (Prakash Raj) is the local hard man. He started small in a small town and has risen to become one of the biggest crimelords in Chennai. His business dealings are never overtly discussed but he is presented as a ‘good’ gangster. He looks after the defenceless, his guys don’t attack women and children, and he plays by ‘the code’. Prakash Raj is perfectly cast. He makes Chinna likeable, roguish, aggressive and menacing by turns. Chinna is under threat from an old associate (Raghuvaran) and has an uneasy and crumbling detente with the local police. Things are getting tougher, but he is not one to back down. There is a lot more to the character than just being a figurehead, and I liked the glimpses into Chinna’s past, his conversations with old advisors, his wife, even the police, that showed different facets. He thought through the consequences, he reacted emotionally to some situations and I could understand the loyalty Chinna inspired because he seemed real yet powerful. I always enjoy seeing Prakash Raj in a more substantial role, and this is one of my favourites.

Sekar (Vikram) is an enigmatic figure, shadowing Chinna and despatching his enemies before Chinna can. The reason for his obsession eventually emerges via flashback, and it reinforces the notion that justice is not delivered by the law, and what makes a man is the ability to beat the living daylights out of another man. Sekar believes in instant justice, delivered as he sees fit. Even the police in Bheema argue that they can’t operate with the constraints of bureaucracy and low budgets, and have to break the rules to achieve what they see as justice. Sekar is given the name Bheema by the police in recognition of his strength and his role in Chinna’s life.

Sekar’s sole ambition was to one day join Chinna, his role model for strength and justice and a more satisfying father figure than his ineffectual policeman dad. I’ve often wondered why characters stick with their gangleader and don’t just leg it when things get crazy. Writer Sujatha provides a backstory and motivation that gives more to these guys than just being the good baddies. Vikram switches effortlessly from the full throttle action sequences to gazing mistily at Chinna or quarrelling with Shalu, and his physicality suits the invincible Sekar. Vikram’s rapport with Prakash Raj is one of my favourite things about the film and they play off each other very well.

It’s a man’s world, and sometimes in unexpected ways. Vikram steals the focus from the item girl in this song, and Prakash Raj is the one to be almost upskirted.

What sets Bheema apart from other grim gangster fairytales is characters having a life, or at least ideas, outside of the job. Chinna was in love with Padma but they drifted apart. Sekar, ever the loyal lieutenant, reunites them.

Prakash Raj does some delightfully girly fidgeting and stammering, and can’t hide either his happiness or trepidation at marrying his old flame.

Padma (Lakshmi Gopalaswamy) is gorgeous and her scenes with Chinna have a warmth and maturity that suits the slightly older lovebirds. They talk about the risks of her being part of his life, and she is firm in her assertion that she has no illusions. I found the dialogue rather flowery but the emotions came through and they seemed to have a deep mutual affection. He talks to Padma about Sekar, since Sekar is like family and Padma is in charge of the household. She and Chinna make fun of Sekar when they find out he is turning into a gooey romantic wittering about flowers, and their playful banter is another glimpse into the relationship.

Sekar loses his focus on being a thug when he starts to think of love and  Shalini (Trisha). He knows that his priorities have shifted and he can’t rely on himself to be as focussed, fearless and impulsive as he once was.  Chinna lets Sekar go, in a scene more like a breakup than an exit interview.

Unfortunately, Shalini (Trisha) is stupid and irritating for almost all her time in the story. I’m not sure why Indian film heroines characterise innocence by appearing to be dim-witted but Shalu is dumb as a box of rocks and about as interesting. Sekar falls through the roof into her courtyard one night, landing on her. Because of this, she decides he is the one, manufacturing reasons to be near him and imagining they share likes and dislikes based on absolutely no evidence. I did find her stalking Sekar mildly amusing just because it is a bit of turning the tables, but that was all I could see in her favour until quite late in the piece.

Once Sekar succumbs, Vikram and Trisha generate some chemistry and that made their relationship seem vaguely plausible. I liked that they had playful but still intimate scenes together as things developed, and it helped make up for the brain-dead start.

Chinna is a surprisingly sentimental old school don and sometimes that works against him, as he plays by rules others are starting to disregard. Sekar idolises Chinna and can’t abandon his old boss but feels compelled to take Shalini away. Once the other players sense weakness in Chinna, they start closing in. How will it all work out?

There are indicators. Shafi is in the support cast in Chinna’s gang. And Shafi does tend to play characters that bite the hand that feeds them. Also, I have developed a theory. In the imaginary Tamil Film Writing School in my mind, the compulsory class on ‘Ways to End a Film – Traditional (aka Everyone Dies (Rape Optional)’ is well attended. The final elective class ‘Ways to End a Film – Creative Writing (aka ‘No Rape, No Murder – stop being so lazy and think of something else’) falls the day after the big end of year dinner and people are either too hungover or they’ve already got enough credits to graduate, so most students don’t go. Thus there is generally one ending for a Tamil film, regardless.

I quite like the songs by Harris Jayaraj, but the picturisations of the romantic duets seem to exist mostly as a safe channel for the wardrobe department to vent their creativity.

The support cast includes so many reliable character players but the focus isn’t on them and I barely paid any heed to Ashish Vidyarthi, Tanikella Bharani, Shafi, or Raghuvaran among others. Chinna and Sekar dominate the story and Prakash Raj and Vikram likewise dominate the performances.

Linguswamy has directed an action packed film that doesn’t feel hurried or slapdash, and it is very satisfying to a point. The ending was a disappointment and yet almost exactly what I expected. The action scenes are typically excellent as is standard for this genre. There were some nice little extras – when Sekar belted a group of guys with a metal pipe, they chimed like bells as they dropped. The editing is good and the quick cuts and occasional use of effects enhance the sense of urgency or disorientation. It’s a very competent film and a pleasure to watch.

If you’re lukewarm on the South Indian gangster genre, this could be well worth a look. It has better than usual characterisations, some excellent performances and good production values. And one of the best filmi bromances. 3 ½ stars!

Heather says: I’m a fan of Tamil gangster films and usually enjoy anything by N. Linguswamy, but Bheema was rather disappointing all round. Instead of the usual well-developed storyline and strong characterisation I expect from such an accomplished director, Bheema staggers from fight scene to overdone fight scene without any real justification for the characters acting in the way they do. Rahguvaran is ineffectual as the ‘evil’ don Periyavar and his feud with ‘gangster with a concious’ Chinna seems clichéd and unimaginative. The second part of the film which concentrates on the new Police Commissioner and his vendetta against the gangs is more convincing but still seems formulaic and just not that interesting. The relationship between Chinna’s new lieutenant Sekar and the rest of the gang could have been made into something more exciting but instead it’s thrown in towards the end to try and spice up the climax. Something which only works to a limited extent. However, it’s good to see that Shafi continues his quest to always play the smarmy, self-satisfied sycophant and he does his usual thing here as one of Chinna’s men to good effect.

Despite the issues I have with the story, Bheema is saved to some extent by the excellent performances from Prakash Raj and Vikram who both breathe life into the film. I agree with Temple that their camaraderie feels very genuine and the interactions between the two do much to make up for the dreariness of the plot. Vikram’s character is very much the strong silent type and he does a good job with the rather dour Sekar, but Prakash Raj steals the show as the gangster with a heart. His romance is perfectly played and he brings out a human side to Chinna making him much more than just another world-weary gangster. Despite his good performance, Vikram looks rather over muscled here and I confess that I prefer him in more character driven roles such as in Pithamagan and Kasi where he has more range to work with. The one-man indestructible army of Sekar was just a little bit too much to take, especially with the distracting musical sound effects and overly loud soundtrack during the fight scenes.   The implausible relationship between Shalini and Sekar was another disappointment and the two never felt comfortable together –  odd, considering the considerable chemistry the two actors shared in Saamy. In fact there is much more sparkle between Chinna and Sekar!

Bheema does have a good soundtrack and there are moments where the film starts to grab your attention, but sadly they’re just not sustained. Worth watching once for Vikram and Prakash Raj but that’s all. 2 ½ stars.

Ala Modalaindi

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Ala Modalaindi is a romantic comedy, full of improbable happenings and twists. There are songs, misunderstandings, mistaken identities, fights, significant jewellery and even a dog who helps change the course of the story. But there are also characters I like and can relate to with a view of relationships that seems fairly healthy and positive. I particularly enjoy the way director/writer Nandini Reddy plays with filmi conventions and delves into the bag of tricks to give a simple story some zing.

So. A young man meets a young lady at a wedding where their exes are marrying each other, and they get drunk and messy.

I really love that the next day they could talk to each other, be embarrassed, laugh it off and that was it. No judgements were made relating to alcohol or failed affairs. Gautham and Nithya cross paths again, and a warm friendship develops. His feelings deepen but he is reticent; struggling to know when to speak out and not sure what he really wants to tell her. She has her own complications that emerge over time. It is obvious that they make a good couple, but will they ever get it together? Guess away, dear reader.

Gautham is a director on a news program. He has family, good friends, failed romances and a flair for the dramatic. The story is mostly told from his perspective, so I felt that I got to know him better, and I appreciated Nithya through his eyes as he came to understand her more. Nani is an appealing guy next door kind of hero. I think it’s his dimples. Plus he seems to have a sense of the ridiculous that was very endearing in this role. But Nani doesn’t play Gautham as all happy and smiling.

I found his portrayal of Gautham’s grief really moving. I could relate to the things that triggered his tears, and sadness permeated his body language at times. When he realises what he wants to do about his feelings, he does it. His journey takes some crazy detours, but that was part of the fun, not a silly distraction. I also like Gautham’s developing self awareness through the story. He really does change in some significant ways, and learns to recognise and deal with the parts of his own nature that he doesn’t like.

Gautham’s mother Revathi (Rohini) is my new favourite filmi ma. It is so nice to see good parenting in a close mother-son relationship (maybe I’ve been watching too much 70s Nirupa Roy). Some of my affection for Gautham stems from seeing him with his mum. He has context, a background that had helped make him the guy he is. She is an intelligent, positive woman who had been widowed when her kids were in their early teens. She advises Gautham that you can either dwell on the past and be sad about your loss, or remember all the good things and take that happiness into your future. It was a clever scene as it was not just about her own past, but advice for her boy on how to move on.

Nithya is a good example of how to make a character happy and bubbly but not a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Like Gautham, Nithya has a family, friends, work and ideas about more than love and romance. She is smart and emotional, opinionated but not rude. There are issues in her life that bring some more complexity to a fundamentally sunny nature. When Nithya realises she has made a mistake, she takes the decision and deals with the consequences. She is no passive wallflower waiting for the hero. Her qualities are sometimes shown in small almost insignificant moments, sometimes in big filmi set pieces. Nithya Menon is a perfect fit for the likeable role, using her expressive face and vocal modulation to great effect. And how good is it to see someone who isn’t the stereotypical leggy model with a maximum range of two expressions? Nithya is a pocket Venus with oodles of talent, also dubbing for herself and singing on a couple of tracks.

Nithya has a close relationship with her easy-going dad (Uppalapati Narayana Rao). Her mum (Pragathi) is worried about getting Nithya married and what must people think. On the surface it seems like a difficult marriage but Nandini Reddy shows that this couple aren’t at war, they just irritate each other a bit. Nithya asks her dad if he ever considered divorce and they chat about commitment. Her mum joins them and whinges about her dramatic family, but then they all start smiling and their pleasure in being together is evident. People have to work at getting along sometimes.

It’s not that the plot is unpredictable, but the way things happen is delightfully offbeat. In one of the obligatory fight scenes, Nithya takes on the loafers and belts the bejesus out of them as Gautham watches on. Gautham and his family are movie fans and use filmi terms in conversation. Nithya makes fun of Gautham’s job, doing dramatic voiceovers of everyday events. It’s a playful style.

The film is cohesive, and is well balanced between character and incident driven scenes. The dialogue is peppered with pop references, but it doesn’t seem too try-hard. People generally look and sound the way I would expect them to. It put me in mind of Basu Chatterjee’s romantic comedies a little, just the flavour of the dialogue and the middle class settings. I have some minor issues. There is a gay joke that made me sigh just a little at Nani wearing pink and mincing about to Kajra Re.  And there were some dubious medical shenanigans, only one of which was purely for humour.

The music (by Kalyani Malik) is average, but the song picturisations are where low production values seem most evident. I just can’t help thinking that two backing dancers is less than optimum, even if they do ninja up for the occasion. The choreography is very achievable for those inclined to have a dance-along at home.

There were a few less familiar faces in the support cast. Gautham’s friends are fun and not the usual anonymous followers. They all had jobs and commitments and their own points of view. Their conversations provide most of the humour and there is no separate comedy track as everything eventually ties back into the main plot. Villainous stalwart Ashish Vidyarthi has a pivotal yet stupid role as the shady John Abraham (mercifully wearing a lot more than his namesake). I don’t for the life of me understand why Sneha Ullal still has a film career.

Her ‘sexy’ face looks more like she has acute gastric pain and she is not that good an item girl. But, leaving aside the why, even her character Kavya becomes more sympathetic as the film unfolds.

I do not subscribe to the belief that an upbeat ending is intrinsically less worthy or realistic than a tragic ending, and this is a film that provides a near perfect balance of substance and entertainment. Ala Modalaindi is a pleasant and engaging romantic comedy, with a great cast making the most of strong writing and character development. 4 stars!

Heather Says: Ala Modalaindi starts with a version of Que Sera Sera over the opening credits and since it’s one of my favourite songs from my childhood, I was smiling even before the action got underway. And my smile just got bigger and bigger. The introduction of a kidnapping right at the beginning was a novel way to start proceedings and it proved to be an excellent start to a rather different take on the romantic comedy genre.  But where the film really won me over was in its likeable main characters and a storyline that was plausible, funny and entertaining.

Nani is hapless enough to be funny as the jilted boyfriend at his ex-girlfriends wedding and he just gets better as the film unfolds. His delivery in the comedy scenes is excellent and he is just as good in the more emotional scenes. I like the way that he uses his posture and facial expressions to get the most out of his scenes and doesn’t rely solely on the dialogue. He’s believable as Gautham and he does make a very sympathetic hero, even if he’s not the one who gets involved in the fight scenes!  I knew I had seen Nithya Menen somewhere before, but it took a little time before I realised she appeared in Aidondla Aidu and that she even sang one of my favourite songs in that film. She’s even more impressive here and does a very good job with her portrayal of the feisty Nithya.

It’s rare to see a good Telugu movie where not only the heroine, but most of the female characters have very strong roles which are just as important to the storyline as that of the male hero. Nathya’s behaviour is very natural and while her character is out-spoken and vivacious she never becomes annoying. Director Nandini Reddy develops all her characters with attention to what would be likely ways for them to react and each character has a valid reason for their inclusion into the story. No superfluous comedy uncles lurking in the background for instance, which is yet another reason to like the film! I loved Rohini in particular as Gautham’s mother and wished she had a little more time on-screen. In fact the entire supporting cast were just as good as the main leads and even if Sneha Ullal was a little more glamorous than my local vet, I think she made a reasonable attempt to be more than just a pretty face.  I didn’t like her character and the item song left me cold but there were some moments where she did make me laugh. I do like Ashish Vidyarthi though and the way his character became embroiled in the final scenes made his presence in the film totally worthwhile for me, despite sometrepidationabout his character early on. It was good to see him in something a little different from his more usual bad guy persona too.

Ala Modalaindi is an intelligent and funny film, and although not all of the twists and turns work it’s generally an enjoyable watch.  4 stars from me.