Tag Archives: Brahmi!

Gabbar Singh (2012)

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Pawan Kalyan fans in Melbourne seem to be the loudest, the most enthusiastic and to prefer shredding rather than recycling their newspapers. The air was full of strips of paper right from the opening moments of Gabbar Singh and the paper storm continued well into the second half. A packed cinema, cheerleaders up the front to lead us in our favourite Pawan Kalyan chants as everyone pushed and shoved their way in and plenty of whistles and cheers meant a great start to another adventure without subtitles.

It’s a novelty to watch a Southern remake of a Hindi film since so often the shoe is on the other foot and after Osthe in Tamil, Gabbar Singh is the Telugu version of Dabangg. The film follows the same basic plot, but many of the other roles have been limited to allow more focus on Pawan Kalyan’s character. It’s his film the whole way through and while he has the charisma and capability to carry it off, the story loses much of its focus by dropping the back stories of Gabbar Singh’s wastrel brother and the conflicts within their family.

We start with young Venkat Ratnam Naidu and his stormy relationship with his adopted father Naidu (Nagineedu) who had married Venkat’s mother Suhasini after she was widowed. Naidu prefers his own son and makes no secret of the fact which gives Venkat a huge chip on his shoulder and a somewhat argumentative personality. Venkat ends up running away from his family, but returns years later as a police officer with the assumed name of his childhood hero, Sholay’s Gabbar Singh. He returns in style, renaming the police station after himself and single-handedly annihilating a gang of bank robbers after chasing after them on horseback so it seems safe to say that he’s not mellowed in the intervening years.

It’s not long before Gabbar Singh clashes heads with local rowdy Sidappa Naidu (Abimanyu Singh) and the feud between the two forms the plot for the rest of the film. In between all the gunfights and general mayhem, Gabbar Singh falls in love with Bhagya Lakshmi (Shruti Hassan) but her role is even more reduced than that of Rajo in Dabangg and Bhagya only appears briefly in a few scenes and a couple of dance numbers. Her friend, ably played by Gayatri, has almost as much screen time and judging by the audience reaction, seems to get the better lines too. Kota Srinivasa Rao pops up as Bhagya’s father but again the role has very little scope and he barely has any input.

Sidappa has political aspirations and Gabbar Singh disrupts his attempts to fund his career through various robberies and corrupt deals. Sidappa’s response is to have his henchmen beat him with clubs which is rather extreme but doesn’t really have too much of an effect on his arch nemesis. Abhimanyu Singh’s Sidappa is a typical Telugu goon and doesn’t have any of the flamboyance or appeal of Sonu Sood’s Chhedi Singh so the villain of the story is rather disappointing. As too is the item song. Although Malaika and the backing dancers did their best, Kevvu Keka just isn’t as catchy as Munni Badnam. I was also very disappointed that Ajay as Gabbar Singh’s brother only made a very brief appearance since he’s one of my favourite actors and I was hoping for more from him.

However the film was made totally worthwhile by a scene where Gabbar Singh forces the usual crowd of rent-a-goons to participate in a session of antakshari. This has to be the funniest piece of cinema I have seen this year and it had the crowd on their feet cheering for more! Generally the dialogue seemed to be of high quality since many of the lines had the audience applauding and both Ali and Brahmi’s comedic roles got plenty of appreciative cheers. Since I didn’t understand the dialogue I focused on the myriad of excellent details instead, such as the gun hood ornaments on Gabbar Singh’s 4WD and the incredibly happy and enthusiastic backing dancers. There is a reason why men in flak jackets are not often seen dancing and it’s a point well illustrated in the first song. Generally though the songs are good and Devi Sri Prasad’s music suits the feel of the film.

There is very little of Chubul Pandey in Pawan Kalyan’s Gabbar Singh. None of the mannerisms are there, although Gabbar Singh has plenty of the same chutzpah. The sunglass tricks are reserved for Brahmi apart from an opening scene where Gabbar Singh tosses his sunnies onto a colleagues face with impressive accuracy.  There are a few moments in one song in Switzerland where the normally smooth and co-ordinated Pawan Kalyan does seem to be channelling Salman Khan’s dance style, but thankfully not for long. I did feel sorry for Shruti Hassan dancing in the snow in sandals though.

The reason that Dabangg was such a hit was that it was a Southern style film incorporating plenty of the masala elements which have sadly been missing in Bollywood for some time with a hero who suited the part. Once that novelty element is removed and the film changed to a Southern locale and hero, the story is similar to most other Telugu films. The impact is further lessened by the South’s familiarity with the use of machetes, 4WD’s that roam in packs and acrobatic fight scenes and so Gabbar Singh doesn’t stand out in the same way as Dabangg, although it is more successful than Osthe. Harish Shankar has changed the screenplay to make the film suit his leading man and Pawan Kalyan is excellent as the unorthodox police officer in a rather more orthodox story. Gabbar Singh is still well worth a watch for his performance and I’ll definitely be looking out for the DVD to finally understand the dialogues and for that brilliant antakshari scene!

Mozhi

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Mozhi starts with some beautifully animated music unfolding across the screen and it’s an excellent lead in to a romantic comedy that never hits a flat note. With a cast featuring Prithviraj, Jyothika, Prakash Raj and Brahmi along with very competent support actors it’s an absolute treat to watch and the story, although simple, provides plenty of scope for their combined talents.  There are plenty of genuinely funny moments along with a few tear-jerkers, but it’s the characters and in particular the bromance between Prakash Raj and Prithviraj that really stands out and makes this film something special. The two have great chemistry here and whether they’re at work together or out celebrating, their relationship feels warm and genuine, and this sincerity underlies the entire movie.

The film tells the story of the romance between Karthik (Prithviraj) and Archana (Jyothika) but woven through is the relationship between Karthik and his best friend Viji (Prakash Raj) as well as glimpses into the lives of other people in their apartment block. Karthik and Viji work in the film industry under Vidyasagar; also the name of the real-life music director and composer for the film. I love that Tamil cinema uses the film industry as part of the background setting without making it glamorous or over dramatic, but instead portrays the work as just another job – albeit rather a well-paid one. Karthik and Viji are seen adding music to a film clip and director Radha Mohan uses this opening scene to beautifully illustrate the difference when a silent scene is set to music. This becomes significant later on as the story develops and it’s a technique throughout the film to add more depth and layers to the characters.

Karthik and Viji move into an apartment together in a block of flats managed by V. Ananthakrishnan (Brahmi), and almost straight away they are at odds with the flat manager as he informs them that bachelors are strictly not welcome. This sets up some of the comedy in the film but for a change Brahmi’s role is fairly substantial and he’s not the main focus of the humour. Instead Prakash Raj and Prithviraj handle most of the comedy between them, and they do an excellent job. One of my favourite scenes is where they both repeatedly crack-up in a lift after visiting Brahmi in hospital, but there are so many funny scenes with the two together and they both seem to be having a great time. This is such a good song with both of them dancing and again, they seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Another bonus comedy moment is watching Prakash Raj wearing only a towel dancing in gay abandon to the strains of Hava Nagila,the consequence of which also gave me a new Indian idiom to add to my vocabulary! Apologies for the poor quality of the screen caps, but the film quality isn’t great and Prakash Raj just doesn’t stop!

Dismayed at the prospect of losing their flat which they have very snazzily decorated with some fantastic sculptures, the two conspire to get round Ananthakrishnan. The obvious answer is for one of the two to get married, but Karthik is a romantic and believes that he will see lights and hear bells when he finds his true love. While Viji is more sceptical he’s not in any rush to get married either so the two try various strategies to ingratiate themselves with the landlord.  Along the way they meet some of the other characters in the building and with each vignette more of their personalities are revealed. It makes for an air of realism in the film as the various other inhabitants go about their usual daily routines. The security guard (Balaji), Ananthakrishnan’s level-headed wife Janu (Sriranjani) and his gluttonous son add some more comedy along with Preethi (Neelima Rani) who has eyes only for Karthik. M.S. Bhaskar plays the role of a professor whose mind has been stuck in the eighties since experiencing a personal tragedy and his sad story is used to reveal more of Karthik’s own generous nature.  Everyone’s little idiosyncrasies are all used to good effect and each character has something to add to the story.

Karthik first sees Archana in the street beating up a vegetable seller for abusing his wife. It’s an unusual introduction and as well as being the only fight in the whole movie, it’s a pleasant change for the hero to admire the heroine’s dishooming capabilities. Karthik gets his lights and bells and immediately falls in love with Archana which is one of the few totally filmi moments.

After the delight of finding that Archana lives in his block of flats, Karthik discovers that she is a deaf-mute who has a major chip on her shoulder after her parents’ marriage fell apart. In an effort to learn more, Karthik meets Archana’s friend Sheela and learns sign language to be able to communicate. However the path of true love doesn’t run smoothly and Karthik is left teary and broken-hearted as Archana firmly refuses to entertain the thought of marriage.

This was Jyothik’s last role before she retired from acting and it really seems such a loss when she brings such a rich characterisation to her role as here. Jyothika uses her incredibly expressive eyes and various facial expressions to convey her feelings and nicely avoids the temptation to overdramatise to get her message across clearly. It’s impressive to watch Archana’s character develop as she doesn’t have any dialogue in the film and everything is communicated by expressions and gestures. And yet it’s clear to see Archana slowly evolves from a very angry and bitter young woman into someone who learns to see past her own insecurities. Karthik tries to understand her world and help her understand his, but since he goes about this by having Viji stuff his ears full of cotton wool it’s perhaps not surprising that he ends up totally misunderstanding her.

Apart from her ever present anger and commitment issues, Archana is portrayed as a very normal young woman with a steady job who just happens to be deaf and dumb. It’s a different take on disability and Archana’s perception that she is just a person who ‘speaks’ silence rather than a language of words is interesting.  Karthik’s acceptance of Archana with all her flaws and prickly nature is a measure of his maturity and common sense and if his enthusiasm leads him to make mistakes in their relationship, he is able to rethink and change his approach. All of which makes them seem like any typical young couple which makes it easy to understand and connect with their feelings. While Prakash Raj is excellent as Karthik’s friend, Swarnamalya is perfect as Sheela. Her character’s practicality and common sense serve as a contrast to Archana’s more emotional responses but she is still very sweet and looks beautiful as the romance between her and Viji develops.

There is so much I love about this film. The characters are wonderful and there are so many well-written scenes with clever and snappy dialogue. The songs are beautiful and this is probably my favourite melody while the picturisation neatly sums up the relationship bewteen Archana and Karthik.

Despite only recently having acquired the DVD with subtitles (and a very big thank-you to Temple and Suja for the recommendation), Mozhi has quickly become one of my favourite films and I’ve watched it numerous times already. It’s very funny and it makes me laugh time after time, but there are plenty of poignant moments too which keep the film very balanced. Excellent performances from all involved and an interesting storyline make this a very watchable film that I highly recommend. 5 stars!

Temple says:

There are many things I really like about Mozhi, and one is the very appropriate theme of language and communication. Jyothika in particular is wonderful at conveying so much by expression and sign, showing that language isn’t just about words.  So there are lots of really nice moments of communication and understanding or misunderstanding.

Prakash Raj is a delight, and I always like to see him do a bit more than his usual Prakash Dad or Prakash Bad roles. But this is Jyothika’s film in my opinion. She owns every moment she is on screen, and Archana is such a vivid character as result of her seemingly effortless performance. I was almost annoyed when Archana started to ‘speak’ via voiceover when Karthik found he understood her as she was so good at communicating without words. I’m not convinced by Prithviraj – I find he ranges from bland to adequate, and he only seemed to shift gears in a couple of scenes in this film.  Some of my reservations are down to the writing as everything is a bit too neat and too easy for Karthik. He adapts to people’s quirks and differences with barely a pause for breath, everyone instantly believes him and helps him with Archana, he learns sign language very quickly and with few errors, and almost turns into Mother Teresa. Archana’s personality was so complex and real that Karthik was flimsy in comparison, and he didn’t show much depth until quite late in the film.  Archana’s friend and colleague, Sheela (Swarnamalya) was a much more interesting character. Archana and Sheela were both bright capable women, and were a good balance for each other. The bromance between Viji and Karthik was a bit hit and miss due to me not finding Karthik particularly believable but has its moments. I was much happier when Viji found someone else to love (even if her wedding outfit was completely hideous)!

Unfortunately most of the comedy is dire. I found myself speculating, quite against my will, as to what Brahmi could have seen when Prakash Raj’s towel dropped that would have him almost hospitalised with conniptions. There are fat jokes, Prithviraj hamming it up in a wheelchair and other really dumb schoolboy stuff that was tedious and unnecessary.

See it for an interesting story idea, Jyothika in brilliant form, and Prakash Raj kicking his heels up in a fun role. 3 1/2 stars.

Hanuman Junction

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I’m not usually a fan of slapstick comedy in any language, but despite the entire complement of comedy uncles and plenty of farce, I really enjoyed Hanuman Junction. The story is nothing new but it’s entertaining and well told, with some good performances from the main cast. Although not all the comedy works, there is enough that does to make this a funny film and there is plenty of drama and the usual fisticuffs to add in to the mix. It’s actually a remake of the Malayalam film Thenkasipattanam which may be partly why it’s one of the better comedies I’ve seen.

The story follows two young orphans Krishna and Dasu who, along with Dasu’s little sister Devi, enterprisingly set up a business together in Hanuman Junction. However the seeds of a life long feud are sown when their fledgling shop is destroyed on the orders of local boss Devudayya (Jaya Prakash Reddy). On the advice of their mentor, the two decide to fight back and over the next 15 years graduate as fully qualified thugs themselves. By means of their fists and general belligerence they manage to depose Devudayya and rule over Hanuman Junction while running a successful carrier business – JD and Company.

For Krishna (Arjun Sarja) and Dasu (Jagapathi Babu) nothing matters more than the other’s happiness and the two have a fine bromance together which rather disturbingly involves wearing matching outfits a lot of the time. Krishna is the more likeable brother and Arjun has plenty of charm as seen before in Sri Anjaneyam. Jagapathi Babu is fine as Dasu but seems a little more stilted in comparison. His character is also darker than Krishna’s and without that lighter mood he often appears to be little more than a plain thug. They both resort to fighting to resolve every little issue, often appearing to go out looking for confrontations. However the two work together well and show that it’s necessary to keep your buddy with you at all times when fighting – even if you have to get your friend out of a hospital bed and carry him on your back to the fight!

Enter Sathru (Venu Thottempudi), a new manager for KD and Company who has designs on Devi (Vijayalakshmi) and a novel approach to winning her hand. After stalking Devi through her years at college (which we know is a sure sign of true love), Sathru has a plan to civilise the two brothers in the hope that this will impress Devi enough to marry him. Devi seems to have been worn down by Sathru’s perseverance or perhaps it’s just that she hopes his plan to calm her brothers down will actually work since she’s not impressed at all by their rowdy ways. Sathru’s idea involves getting the two brothers married as he thinks that a wife and children will act as soothing influences, or at least not give them any time to go out fighting which is probably more likely. I liked Venu in Gopi Gopika Godavri but his character is a bit more hit and miss here. Sathru is played strictly for laughs and the comedy relies very heavily on him getting slapped around by everyone. From time to time this is mildly amusing but his hapless scheming is much funnier and works better, especially later in the film.

Sathru doesn’t have to work very hard to find a candidate for Krishna’s wife. Meenakshi (Sneha) is Devudayya’s adopted daughter and she has had an understanding with Krishna since they were kids. But while Krishna is happy to let their relationship evolve slowly, not wanting to let her relationship to Devudayya upset Dasu, Meenakshi is keen to get her man and is not averse to taking matters into her own hands. I’m not very sure what a good day of butterfly romancing is, but Meenakshi is determined to have one.

Luckily for Sathru’s plans, the two brothers’ inept handling of a festival results in singer Sangeetha (Laya) being thrown out of her uncle’s house. As Devi decrees that Sangeetha can stay with her until she decides what she wants to do next that gives Dasu a potential bride and Sathru plots to get the two together. But nothing goes to plan as Sangeetha declares her love for Krishna and Dasu mistakenly thinks that Meenakshi has been selected as a suitable wife for him. More great lyrics in this song!

In the middle of all this farce, Davudayya is trying to win back control of Hanuman Junction and destroy the two brothers once and for all.  There are more fight scenes, plenty of melodrama and the comedy of errors becomes more and more convoluted with the only sure thing being that Krishna and Dasu are more devoted to each other than to any of their prospective brides.

It’s all wonderfully silly and there are some genuinely funny moments and good one-liners. Every single possible Telugu comedian seems to have been roped in, but their roles are kept to a minimum which keeps their antics under control. Brahmi is in good form as Sangeetha’s uncle and Kovai Sarala goes totally over the top as her disapproving aunt. Ali, LB Sriram and MS Narayana do their usual thing but in a more restrained manner which makes them reasonably amusing and I didn’t find it necessary to use the FF button at all.  There is one protracted skit involving a comedy cow which overstays its welcome, but otherwise I found most of the confusion between the prospective couples quite funny. The comedy works for me as the underlying story itself is amusing and the slapstick and comedy uncles are just window dressing rather than the main event.

While Arjun and Jagapati Babu have reasonably well-developed roles, the women overall are given much less to do. Meenakshi is the best of the female roles and Sneha makes the most of her irrepressible and mischievous character. Sadly even her role is reduced in the second half of the film but her interactions with Dasu are among the funnier moments. Laya is very restricted in a role that doesn’t require her to do anything other than generally mope around while Devi appears on-screen even less.

The songs don’t stand out in any way, but I do like the choreography and the picturisation which seems to suit the village style of the film. the choreography is credited to Lawrence and Dinesh which perhaps explains the exuberant quality of some of the steps. Suresh Peters apparently reprised the music from his Malayalam soundtrack and apart from some rather odd lyrics the songs fit well into the main narrative. I love the way this song seems to have been filmed with a group of locals who just happened to be standing around with nothing better to do one day so were rounded up for this clip. Plus there is some excellent uncle dancing from Arjun and Jagapathi Babu.

As I‘ve written before, comedy is the hardest genre to understand in a foreign language and I’m sure that I missed a lot of the references here even without the added issue of dodgy  subtitles. But Hanuman Junction is still a funny film and so far tops my list of good Telugu comedies – not that it’s a very long list! I think it’s worth a watch for Arjun and Sneha and for an updated version of the Sholay-style friendship between Krishna and Dasu. You can always FF past all the really stupid slapstick. 3½ stars.

Temple says:

I loathed almost every second of this excruciatingly unfunny and stupid film. I’ve been on quite strong painkillers for a week and I watched this for a second time in the hopes that it would improve under the influence, but no.

The director seems to think that if someone falling over and landing with their head in a bucket once is genius, how hilarious will it be if they do it over and over? And then applies that logic to EVERYTHING. Slapstick can be really funny, and so can running gags, but this film is so heavy handed and witless I just groaned. Normally I’m all for two men in a cow suit, but even that was belaboured and went on and on and on. There was too much repetition and overuse of standard jokes, pratfalls and sight gags, so even the mildly amusing stuff lost its appeal very quickly.

None of the actors impressed me, and I was disappointed to see Jagapathi Babu and Arjun wasted in such unlikeable roles. Krishna and Dasu’s relationship was straight out of the tin labelled ‘generic brand filmi bromances’, and I found it very unengaging.  Arjun as Krishna has almost no personality until very close to the end of the road, and by then I was over it. Jagapathi Babu’s Dasu is an aggressive alcoholic bully with few saving graces, and yet is supposed to be a sympathetic character. His ‘romantic’ dilemmas were not well developed  (‘Oh you love my brother,  so then I pick HER’ is about the sum of his emotional journey), and his reactions seem all out of proportion. The romances are not well developed and none of them convinced me in the slightest that it was genuine attachment and not a sense of entitlement or something,  so I couldn’t care less about the outcome. Although I was pleased to see Sneha in actual clothes (not skanky item apparel) and looking quite pretty for a change. There was little effort placed into writing the story or making any of the characters more than caricatures, so the actors were at a disadvantage from the get go. It’s just a mish mash of brawls and bad jokes, with a big bucket of sentiment thrown in for the climax.

Watch the songs for a bit of colour and movement and avoid the rest. Luckily? the film is on youtube with subs so I didn’t have to buy another DVD that ends up as a drinks coaster or bird scarer. I’d still like those hours of my life back though. I suppose I have to give a rating … 1/2 a star – just for the song picturisations which are mildly diverting.