Tag Archives: Kota Srinivasa Rao

Shock

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Ravi Teja has a dedicated fan following and I’ve read good things about his films so I decided it was about time I watched one of his movies. I bought this film on my last trip to Chennai on the recommendation of a friend, and since the blurb on the DVD suggested it would be more of a thriller than the typical mass masala fare it sounded more to my taste than some of the comedic roles he has played. And I did enjoy it, well mostly, at least up until the last 30 minutes anyway.

Ravi Teja plays an advertising agent Sekhar, although a look at his pitch for Rupa underwear suggests that perhaps it’s not his true calling.

He’s happily married to another advertising agent in his office, Madhurima (Jyothika). She has to take a back seat to her more ebullient husband who is clearly the office favourite. Brahmi makes a brief and understated appearance as Sekhar’s boss but for a change there isn’t much comedy in his role. There is some humour in these scenes but it mainly arises from situations with Sekhar and his wife and generally is well placed and actually quite funny.

The relationship between Sekhar and Madhurima is convincingly portrayed and they seem to have a strong and loving partnership. I could do with less of Ravi Teja’s back hair on view to demonstrate this, but other than that I think writer/director Harish Shankar is accurate in his portrayal of a working couple.They live in a block of flats where the lift never functions and there are constant disruptions from the neighbours and their children. When Madhurima becomes pregnant, they decide to relocate and quickly find a recently vacated house. However just as they move in, two men burst through the door and shoot Sekhar. He wakes up handcuffed to the bed in hospital and is immediately interrogated about his terrorist connections. He learns he has been mistaken for a Maoist by two encounter specialist police officers, Nagesh and Divaker. Although the pair realise their mistake almost immediately, they decide not to take responsibility for what has happened and instead salt Sekhar’s house with evidence to make sure that their error is not discovered.

In the meantime Madhurima protests Sekhar’s arrest and manages to hire a lawyer. By the time of the trial however, the lawyer has been paid off by the two cops and has convinced Sekhar to plead guilty, telling him he will get a short sentence and that will be the end of it. Of course this is not the case and Sekhar is sentenced to 8 years in jail. Madhurima immediately vows to get him released and is aided by Geeta, a journalist interested in the case.

There are various moments of drama in the prison: Sekhar is fortuitously sharing a cell with an inmate Tilak who has certain rights and privileges with the guards but he is also menaced by the self styled boss of the jail, Syed. This is all conveyed without recourse to cliché, or over the top drama and serves to give an idea of Sekhar’s true character as well as set up subsequent events in the jail. Madhu’s struggles are also convincingly portrayed. Geeta doesn’t take over the defence or engage in unrealistic methods to help Madhurima find justice, but instead advises her of which organisations to contact. This is all very plausible and fills out the background of the story well.

But just when you think this is going to be a battle played out in the courts and among informers in the back streets, there is more drama as Madhurima is threatened and Sekhar escapes from jail. Up until this point the film is very good; a slightly different story, well paced and told with good performances from the cast. But from here the film starts to rely on violence and bloodshed and the storyline becomes more predictable and clichéd as Sekhar plans his revenge. There are some unpleasant torture scenes and the realism that was built up so very well in the first half of the film is lost as Sekhar suddenly becomes able to fight his way out of any situation. However there is still a very ‘Hollywood’ feel to the action, and the slickness of the production carries through right to the rather unsatisfactory end. There seems to be an obsession in the Telugu film industry with making sure there is a happy ending (of sorts at any rate), and in this case I would have preferred to see something more in the way of consequences for everyone’s actions.

Despite the collapse of the plot in the second half, the film sets up the basic story well and the leads are all excellent in their roles. Sekhar’s confusion and distress at the situation he finds himself in is well portrayed by Ravi Teja. I was very impressed by the vulnerability he was able to convey as the injured and baffled victim in hospital and then as the somewhat shell-shocked and stunned prisoner in jail. He was even reasonably convincing in the action roles up until he had to take on a number of much more muscled and bigger extras. I know he is the hero but there is a limit to what I can believe!

Jyothika has a much more developed role than is usual for the heroine in Telugu films and I really thought she was excellent as Madhurima. Her relationship with her husband is very realistically drawn and the romance is sweet without being cloying. Her distress at her husband’s situation is perfectly depicted as is the change in her character as she first breaks down and then becomes a driven and determined woman out to get justice for her husband. The only scenes which didn’t fit were when the story of the couple’s initial meeting was shown as a flashback scene later in the film. This felt misplaced and disrupted the story just when it really needed to be tighter. Although it does mean we get another good song from Ajay-Atul. Although this is out of place in the film it is nicely pictured – I cannot explain the gloves in the opening shots though!

Apart from the two main leads there are a number of the usual suspects in the film who all play their roles with their usual competence. Kota Srinivasa Rao is a perfect fit as the corrupt lawyer and both Subbaraju and Ravi Kale were fine as the deceitful cops. Raghu Babu shows up in a familiar role as a nasty warden in the jail along with Raja Ravindra as the useful Tilak. It’s a little surprising that the small role of Geeta is played by Tabu and it does seem a waste to have such a good actress only on screen for a few short scenes. But it’s always a pleasure to watch her even if it is only in a few scenes. There is some attempt at comedy in the second half with the CBI officer Surendra Kumar (Nagendra Babu) and his incompetent assistant Bapanna (Ram Jagan) but this falls very flat and thankfully the Harish Shankar seems to have realised it wasn’t appropriate fairly quickly.


I would have found it this a much more interesting and appealing story if the film had dealt more with Madhurima’s fight for justice and Sekhar’s struggles in jail rather than going for the straight hero driven revenge drama. But then again that probably wouldn’t have been as popular at the box office. As it is, the second half of the film is a disappointment after the excellent build-up in the first half, and the attempt at a happy ending particularly jarring. I am favourably impressed with Ravi Teja though and Jyothika was fantastic. For those two excellent performances, and a good first half, this film gets 3 stars.

Rowdy Alludu

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There are few things we like more than a Chiru movie, unless of course it’s a double role Chiru movie! Rowdy Alludu features Chiranjeevi taking on two classic characters; the smooth and suave businessman Kalyan and the strong, streetwise auto driver Johnny.  Add to this a dash of romance, intrigue, dastardly deeds and plenty of action and you have the perfect masala mix.

The movie starts with the above statement (which we took as A Sign) and there are a number of sections where there seem to be missing scenes as the action appears to skip. We really hope that there is someone in Hyderabad collecting and restoring, or at least preserving, all of these older films as quite a few we have watched recently have a similar problem.

Kalyan arrives back from the USA to take over the family hotel business from his ailing father and naive brother-in-law. With the help of his father’s trusted employee Mr Madhavayya (Raogopalrao) he discovers irregularities in the accounts and it’s not long before he has a few suspects in mind.

However, before he can investigate further, the whole family heads off to Ooty for a holiday. This seems to be an excuse for the wardrobe department to go mad buying a natty selection of sweaters for Chiru. Meanwhile, the fraudsters make efforts to cover their tracks and enlist the help of their partner in crime, the cat owning axe-murderer and construction contractor, Ranjit Kumar.

On a trip to Bombay, Venkat Raidu (Kota Srinivasa Rao) and Papi Kundalu (Allu Ramalingaiah) find Johnny, an auto driver who is the exact duplicate of Kalyan. They hatch a plot to get rid of their boss, put Johnny in his place and then take over the company.

Never one to resist a beautiful woman, Johnny dances up a storm to a bonus Bappi Lahiri song with the amazing Disco Shanti. Despite the fact that this was a film released in 1991, Disco Shanti’s outfit looks to have been stolen from Sam Fox circa the mid eighties. Luckily they are in fine form, and more than ready to take on the dubious choreography and make it their own. This may be the song that taught young Charan how to handle a fire hose.

Kalyan is in love with Madhavayya’s daughter Sita (Shobana) who has the good sense to be a lawyer. This comes in very handy later on when the hapless Kalyan is accused of murder and thrown into jail. Rekha (Divya Bharti), the daughter of Venkat Raidu, hatches a scheme to marry Kalyan. Rekha does genuinely seem to love Kalyan but her father just sees the marriage as a way to control his nephew and the company. Naturally when she throws herself at Johnny thinking he is Kalyan, Johnny is delighted while Venkat Raidu desperately tries to separate the two.

Shobana doesn’t get much screen time at all, although she does make a lovely pairing with Chiru. Most of the romance is provided by the interactions of Johnny and Rekha, relying heavily on comedy, mistaken identity and innuendo. Divya Bharti throws herself at Chiru with wild enthusiasm  and really, who can blame her.

The success of the film rests on the portrayal of the two characters by Chiru. He exudes class and style as Kalyan and is also convincingly vulnerable when his family is attacked.  Johnny is as rough and tough as they come and Chiru makes him a different character in every respect. Kalyan has a blow-waved mullet and neatly pressed trousers, Johnny has a more exuberant moustache and prefers the timeless plaid and denim combo. Johnny’s attempts to impersonate Kalyan are laughable, but since he is supposed to convince everyone that Kalyan has become crazy that works perfectly. A very youthful and bald-spot free Brahmi makes an appearance as the psychiatrist enlisted to pronounce Kalyan insane, but most of the comedy falls to Chiru as Johnny and he does an excellent job.  The two fraudulent employees also ham it up with their inept schemes and it’s left to Ranjit Kumar and his henchman to provide the real menace.

The songs are mainly featured on Chiru and Divya Bharti and are upbeat as expected from Bappi Lahiri, with some interesting choreography by Prabhu Deva among others. There is one romantic song with Shobana in Switzerland which is quite subdued choreographically, but still contains potentially scarring images of mouth to mouth grape transfer technique. Chiru and Divya have an interesting encounter with some rather obvious symbolism of melting candles, dripping wax and a lot more besides. And we would love to know what the meaning was behind poor Divya getting hit in the face with suspended fruit.  More fruit! There was a theme here, but we just don’t know why. The costume designers also seem to have gone crazy in the local DIY store for some of the outfits and must be applauded for their belief that almost anything can be used as a headdress.

We enjoyed the scene in the hospital when Kalyan’s father’s heart beats in Morse code. There doesn’t appear to be any reason for this but is one really needed? Did it say anything significant? Are there any Telugu Morse Code experts out there? Johnny is obviously a man of steel as he is able to emerge from a coma and go straight into a major fight without so much as needing a bandage change.

We know that the story doesn’t have to make sense, but the police do seem to be particularly inept On learning that Kalyan has been arrested and  subsequently escaped, Johnny promptly flies back to Hyderabad. Surely the police would have been deployed at the airport looking for the escaped felon Kalyan? And since Kalyan and Johnny were identical it seems likely that the police might just have spotted Johnny returning to the city of his crimes. Perhaps they were looking for someone escaping from Hyderabad rather than entering the city so he was able to sneak in while their backs were turned.  Or are we over-thinking this?

Chiranjeevi is in his element and much of the film’s appeal lies with him, but his co-stars all turn in excellent performances to make this very entertaining. There is so much packed into this film with plenty of twists, plots and counter plots making it chock-full of masala goodness.

Temple says: This is not my favourite Chiru film, but it is very entertaining. All the requisite elements are there – fighting, flirting, bad denim, a sobbing mother, songs and multiple double-crosses. The comedy track is well integrated into the main story, and both Allu Ramalingaiah and Kota Srinivasa Rao make the most of their characters. Brahmi’s appearance is forgettable as he really doesn’t do much apart from fulfill what seems to be a law that he must appear. Divya Bharti plays an airhead and manages to be likeable enough but between her squeals and the wardrobe excesses, I was a bit over her character in a very short time. Shobana has less screen time but makes a stronger impression for me, as she down played a lot of her scenes and gave Sita a bit of presence. She might not have gotten a big dance number, but seeing what the costume team did to Divya, that may not be something she regrets. Chiru manages the characterisations of Johnny and Kalyan very well, and aside from obvious styling changes, his facial expressions and enunciation help keep the two roles quite distinct. It’s a fun film, if not a great one, and the songs are certainly memorable! I give this 3 and 1/2 stars.

Heather says: Perhaps it was the return to Telugu Masala after a month of watching only Tamil movies, or maybe just because it’s twice as much Chiru, but I really enjoyed this film. The songs were particularly entertaining although I’m not sure if I can say that’s because of the dancing or just due to the unbridled enthusiasm of the wardrobe department! This was one of the films that made Divya Bharti a star in the south but I found her a little too loud and over-excitable. I thought Shobana’s performance was superior and it’s a shame she didn’t have more screen time. The film however belongs to Chiru and he separated his two characters very well, with differences in speech, posture and attitude clearly defining Kalyan and Johnny. I did appreciate the tasteful sweater collection used by Kalyan compared to the more garish choices often seen in Hindi films of the same period. The bumbling conspirators Venkat Raidu and Papi Kundalu are inept and amusing, while their partner in crime Ranjit Kumar seems to be an amalgamation of a number of classic James Bond baddies. Overall the story works well and the various twists and turns are satisfactorily dealt with to make this a fun watch. 4 stars from me!

HELP!

Our good friend Memsaab is trying to identify a particular function room and hotel swimming pool that feature in a lot of Hindi films. So imagine my delight when I saw The Pool in this film!

But I still have no idea which hotel it was at. Do you? Surely that distinctive wall decoration (on the right of the picture) has to ring a bell with someone. Please let us know! Temple

Yamudiki Mogudu

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Yamudiki Mogudu was made in 1988 which may explain some of the costume choices or, then again, maybe not! Whatever the reason the wardrobe guys seem to have had the time of their lives and the costumes used in the songs here are fabulous. Our DVD came with a breezy alert stating  “Regret Poor Quality”. It turns out that was not useful life advice or a comment on the film, but a warning that the picture quality was a bit dodgy so we regret the poor screencaps.

But what about the movie … Well this is another Chiru film which manages to fit in plenty of action, drama, fight scenes, obligatory machetes, preposterous moustaches and hairstyles, romances with two heroines, a double role of sorts and plenty of singing and dancing.  And at 147 minutes  the pace is cracking, with never a dull moment.

We meet Chiru first as Kali, a thief with a heart of gold who robs, steals and works as a mercenary in order to help fund his brothers education, support his family and generally look after the inhabitantsof the slum area where he lives.  On one occasion he is called to the mansion of Kailasham, to be punished for daring to steal from the magnate, when his daughter looks out of a window and spies Kali fighting off her father’s goons in true hero style. Of course, like us, Radha falls instantly in love with the dashing Kali and grabs her video camera to rush down and immortalise the action.

Her love is reciprocated and Radha’s  father is appalled when he sees photographs of the two of them together.  These photographs are from a dream sequence song so we’re not quite sure about the science that made this possible.

Kailasham conspires with his onetime enemy Kota Kondappa (Kota Srinivasa Rao with a flamboyant moustache), and his repulsive son Chantibabu  to destroy Kali. This will allow Chantibabu to marry Radha and put a stop to the depredations Kali is making into the business of the two conspirators.  They have been the ones employing him to steal, but logic doesn’t play a big role here.  They assassinate Kali on his wedding day, at which point Kali is taken to hell.  Kali argues with Lord Yama (Satyanarayana) about his early demise, and gains the assistance of Vichitra Gupta (Velu) who points out the rather serious error made by Chitra Gupta (Allu Ramalingaiah). Lord Yama does some quick thinking to get rid of this loud and irritating human who has dared to tap dance, rock and roll and even disco (yes, really)  in a range of amazing costumes with the heavenly apsara played by Ambika.

Kali’s body has been cremated meaning he cannot simply return to his old life. Lord Yama  shows Kali three other men who look identical to him, and who are each about to die. Kali can choose to inhabit one of their bodies once they are dead, and in this way return to Earth.

Since he has no other options he takes on the body and thus the life of Balu, a rather pitiful man who has been beaten down into the life of a servant by his free-loading uncle.

Although Kali isn’t supposed to remember his former life, he does know that he is no servant and proceeds to turn his new family upside down. Balu assumes control of the family fortune, frees his mother from kitchen drudgery and spends time with his girlfriend Gauri (Vijayasanthi).  His uncle really should have known as soon as that steely eyed stare fell on him that his easy living days were well and truly over!

Of course we know this can’t last, and events conspire so that Kali does regain memory of his former life.

We finally get to a resolution where the bad guys lose, the good guys win and Kali/Balu has to somehow reconcile his relationships with both women.  Kali appeals to Lord Yama to help sort out his marital problem.  Surely he should have realised that Lord Yama was perhaps a bit unreliable in his decision making?

Chiru is his usual wonderfully athletic and energetic self as Kali and the songs were obviously choreographed to show off his dancing style.  While the inspiration for the costumes is anyone’s guess, the backdrop in the many songs is equally bizarre and colourful and we love it!  Radha initially plays it straight as the spoilt and indulged daughter, but once she falls in love she is vivacious and energised and does a really good job of keeping up with Chiru in their songs together.  She even manages to look comfortable in all the ruches and ruffles of her costumes.  Vijayasanthi is beautiful as the feisty Gauri and we thought she had made it through the costume department almost unscathed until she emerged, draped in pearls, from a clam shell. Then we saw Chiru had also been clam shelled. The design department on this film really made it their own!

The film was written by Satyanand and directed by Ravi Raja Pinisetty. The fight scenes are well choreographed and flow nicely with the action sequences.  The best comedy is in the scenes with Chiru, Lord Yama,Chitragupta and Vichitragupta.  The character of Chantibabu initially is fairly repulsive as he tries to rape Radha to ensure that she will have no choice other than to marry him, but he very quickly becomes a figure of ridicule.  Most of the remaining comedy subplot revolves around the relationship between Kota and Kailasham and is not particularly funny, although Kota’s untameable hair is.  The real reason to watch it is Chiranjeevi, of course, and the fabulous song picturisations based on the compositions by Raj-Koti and lyricist Veturi.

Heather says: This is one of my favourite Chiru films and I think one of his best performances. The fight scenes are well choreographed, and the dancing is superb, when you can take your eye off the costumes that it! Any film that includes Lord Yama will appeal to me, as I like the opportunity it gives to make the impossible happen, and it usually means plenty of mayhem. I also like the bumbling conspirators and their vacillating between being enemies and friends. Both Radha and Vijayasanthi are lovely in this and do well to hold their own against Chiru in his energetic performance. Its such a shame the set and costume designers don’t get credited as their work in this film is truly outstanding. I did also like the glowing skull eyes in hell and horns on the demons that were very floppy when they danced! But of course Chiru is the reason to watch this film, and the Megastar really delivers. 4 1/2 stars from me.

Temple says: This is so very entertaining, and if you haven’t seen a Chiranjeevi film before I think this is a great place to start. The songs and costumes are brilliant and completely over the top, while still being linked in to the story. I liked that there was some sort of discussion about the whole taking over someone else’s body idea. Kali not only had his self-preservation instinct but felt protective towards the displaced soul and wanted to somehow repair things for Balu. All the performances are good, with Vijayasanthi and Radha being both decorative and memorable. But it really is Chiru’s film, and the film succeeds in keeping my attention through all the plot permutations because he gives it his all. He is fun as Kali and quite pathetic as Balu, and gets to show some dramatic range even while pummelling the bad guys. Like Heather, I always enjoy an appearance by Yama in a film as it usually means lots of sparkly gold and a dance number. My expectations were met, and then some! I’m an unashamed Chiru fan, and I really loved this film. 4 and 1/2 stars from me.