Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo

Posted on November 13, 2016 by Heather Wilson

sahasam-swasaga-sagipo

Gautham Menon’s latest released simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu, but I preferred this version, even though both are identical in terms of story and cast apart from the male lead. Naga Chaitanya is excellent in the lead role in this version, although Simbu is almost as good in the Tamil film, but the story seems to work better with the less physically imposing Chaitanya and the chemistry between him and female lead Manjima Mohan has significantly more sparkage too. Gautham Menon has stuck to his two favourite themes of action and romance but this time with a rather different approach to give a film with two distinct and very different halves. The first half is all about the romance with no indication about what lies ahead except for brief flashes during the opening credits that suggest there may be troubled times at some point, and a message that the film is inspired from a scene in the Godfather – not a film known as a touchy, feely love story! The second half explodes into violence and action just before the interval and the film quickly becomes a thriller with plenty of suspense and good action sequences. Overall the combination works well, although the action part of the film is somewhat let down by unlikely police corruption and a few too many co-incidences. Still, if you can just go with the flow and ignore the implausibility of parts of the plot then Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo is a good entertainer helped along by excellent performances and a better than average soundtrack.

Naga Chaitanya’s character doesn’t get a name until near the end of the film, and since it’s part of the plot I won’t reveal it here but will just refer to him as Chaitanya. At the start of the film we learn that the first love of his life is his Royal Enfield and that he plans to go on a road trip to Kanyakumari and watch the sun rise over the sea. Chaitanya has completed a degree in engineering and an MBA but now has to decide what he wants to do with the rest of his life. Around the same time his sister finishes her degree and starts an internship along with a friend, who also comes to stay with the family. As soon as Chaitanya sees Leela (Manjima Mohan) he falls in love with her, although he plays it cool and doesn’t immediately say anything. Instead he talks to his friends incessantly about Leela, spends more time at home so that he can see her and spends most evenings chatting to her after everyone else has gone to sleep. They develop a friendship and when Chaitanya finally leaves on his road trip Leela asks to come along too. Chaitanya happily drops his friend Mahesh (Sathish Krishnan) in favour of her company and without telling anyone the two set off on Chaitanya’s Royal Enfield for the South.

The romance is handled with a light touch as Chaitanya is determined to be ‘decent’ and Leela initially seems to think of him as just a friend. However, there are significant glances, chance looks and those late night conversations that slowly develop into significant chemistry between the couple when they head off on the road trip. A.R Rahman’s music provides emotional support to the romance and with that, and the wonderfully evocative sunrise it does seem inevitable that love will bloom before the couple return home. Chaitanya has improved significantly since his role in Ye Maaya Chesave and his performance here is excellent as a young man experiencing his first real love of the non-vehicular kind. He appears more mature and this gives him more plausibility when he talks about his feelings during the voiceover sections of the film. The scenes with his friends are also well written and include some comedy that helps keep the first half light. The combination of family life, friends and developing romance ensure Chaitanya is a likeable character with an easy-going personality and generally upbeat approach to life.

Manjima Mohan looks beautiful and does a good job with her character, successfully combining traditional (her father checking out the family before she starts her stay) with modern (her decision to go on a road trip with a guy she hardly knows) to give an overall picture of a confident young woman who has definite plans and the determination to follow through with them. I liked her in Oru Vadakkan Selfie and she is even better here, appearing very natural and coping well with a role that demands a range of emotions as events start to head out of control in the second half. She seems very natural and was just as good in the light romantic scenes as in the heavy emotional drama where she really got to pull out all the stops and give it her all. I loved her ability to still look amazing even with her make-up running down her face and as always I love it when a heroine contributes to her own rescue, even if she couldn’t quite manage it all by herself.

The action and violence of the second half comes as a real shock after the slow-building love story and everyday characterisations of the lead pair. Suddenly Chaitanya has to deal with situations that are far from his previous experience although as he frequently mentions in the voice-overs, he believes he has the confidence and capability to deal with whatever life throws at him. Luckily for both Chaitanya and Leela this does indeed seem to be the case. The action sequences are fast, frequently very violent and generally unexpected. Dan Macarthur’s camera work ensures these scenes seem full of energy and confusion, just as I’d expect in any real life fight. There is a blurriness and disorientation as the action unfolds which is in direct contrast to the periods of calm where events move slowly and there is a chance to breathe. The contrast is brilliantly done and makes the action sequences stand out even more as completely alien to Chaitanya’s experience and expectation.

Unfortunately, all of this technical excellence is let down by the screenplay which starts to become ever more fanciful, particularly with the inclusion of corrupt police officers led by Kamath (Baba Sehgal). The police appear to do whatever they want without any fear of being caught or held to account for their actions despite these occurring in full view of hospital staff, hotel patrons and numerous other witnesses. Baba Sehgal is ridiculously over the top, almost cartoonish in his portrayal, and this badly impacts the rest of the film, even when the story becomes more rational. The climax too is disappointing with the final events appearing rushed and too opportune and neatly packaged to be fully engaging.

Still, despite the issues with the second half, the film is still engaging. There is plenty of suspense and like everyone else in the cinema I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what was going to happen next. In particular, the picturisation of the song Vellipomake is unique and a great way to completely change the direction of the film while the rest of A.R. Rahman’s songs fit well into the screenplay and enhance the romance between the lead couple. Both Naga Chaitanya and Manjima Mohan are excellent, as too is Sathish Krishnan and the various actors who play members of Chaitanya’s family so that even though the story doesn’t always make sense, the actors draw you into their world regardless. Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo has its flaws but there is still much to enjoy despite the dodgy ending. Focus instead on the excellent performances from Naga Chaitanya and Manjima Mohan, enjoy the soundtrack and beautiful scenery, and suspend disbelief enough to appreciate the contrasts and suspense of the second half.

Autonagar Surya

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Heather Wilson

Deva Katta’s Autonagar Surya doesn’t seem to know quite what it wants to be and as a result ends up as a disappointing muddle. There are elements of a message film with the ‘one man against the system’ storyline, but at the same time the film attempts a broader social commentary while following a standard mass entertainer formula – including the obligatory romance and fight scenes. There is little of the subtlety Deva Katta brought to Prasthanam and the additions of Brahmi and Venu Madhav with a woeful comedy track certainly don’t help. After watching the more recent Manam, where Chaitanya displayed improved acting maturity, it’s disappointing to watch his uneven performance here, particularly since the film focuses heavily on his character. In fact the best performances come from the support cast, including Surya’s group of friends and the assorted thugs and villains, but despite their best efforts they’re not enough to make Autonagar Surya more than a one time watch.

The film starts off well enough – if a little on the violent side. After an initial parade and explosion, where Chaitanya’s Surya is blasted into the sky like a cheap rocket, there is a flashback to explain who he is and how he got to be a human firework. The young Surya is orphaned when an obnoxious thug detrains his parents when they try to intervene in a rape. Surya ends up being brought up by his uncle (Sai Kumar) who has little time for the orphan as he thoroughly disapproved of his parent’s marriage, and Surya moves in with the auto mechanic opposite. Cut to a few years later where Surya has grown up to develop an interest in all things mechanical and demonstrates an accompanying bad fashion sense. Although to be fair, so do his friends too. So far so good then, until he gets on the wrong side of the local union boss and ends up in jail for murder.

This turns out to have been a blessing in disguise, since while in jail Surya manages to study for a degree in engineering. On his release, after a seemingly short time (5 years for murder?), he pressures his friends into helping him build a battery powered car. However the union is still in power and worse still, his uncle is now the elected president and still has no time for his nephew (not his niece as suggested by the subtitles!). However Surya has the hope of the downtrodden and a powerful vocabulary on his side. With the help of his friends he decides to tackle the union thugs, but despite all his speechifying and rhetoric he basically employs their dubious tactics of fighting, kidnap and intimidation to achieve his aims.

Sticking to the formula, there is a romance between Surya and his uncle’s daughter Siri (Samantha). Samantha looks beautiful and has a couple of good scenes where she gets to explore her comedic side, but mostly she has frustratingly little to do. The love story is really only an excuse for a couple of forgettable songs with dull choreography and is dealt the death knell by a distinct lack of chemistry between Chaitanya and Samantha. They seem to be more like best mates rather than lovers, and that probably would have made a more believable storyline too.

There are many fight scenes, particularly in the second half, which tend to be on the grisly side with plenty of spouting blood and the odd limb or two flying around. The graphic fights seem to be at odds with Surya’s more intellectual dialogue relating to the human condition and it just doesn’t add up that such a technical and generally rational genius should also be a competent and vicious fighter. Chaitanya also doesn’t quite look the part, as he seems too young, and just not angry enough to be the classic ‘angry young man’ that I think Deva Katta wants to portray. Generally there is an overall lack of passion which makes Surya’s revolutionary speeches and rabble rousing dialogues fall somewhat flat. It’s so frustrating when Naga Chaitanya has demonstrated that he can be much better than this. At least the union thugs all know exactly what they are doing and why, so the various atrocities carried out by the gang fit more easily into the mass formula. Ajay is particularly effective as one of the main villains, and it’s good to see him in a more protracted role. Jayaprakash Reddy is a little too subdued, but is otherwise fine and Madhu impresses as an exceptionally evil mayor.

While the first half shows some interesting potential, the second half drags and shows Surya to be just as vindictive and violent as the thugs he is trying to replace. The good ideas introduced at the beginning seem to be submerged beneath repetitive fights, numerous references to RGV’s Shiva, and oddly placed songs. Maybe I expected too much from Deva Katta after Prasthanam, but Autonagar Surya doesn’t come close to his previous film, despite the good ideas at the start. Overall Autonagar Surya is disappointing on many levels, although does warrant a look for the excellent support cast and some impressive sets.

Manam (2014)

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Heather Wilson

Manam is a beautiful film and a breath of fresh air in an industry usually dominated by beat-‘em-up heroes and the same old innuendo masquerading as comedy. Featuring three generations of the Akkineni family and Nageswara Rao’s final screen appearance, it could very easily have tipped into trite sentimentality, but Vikram Kumar’s screenplay keeps the film on track with an novel storyline, sweet romances and genuinely funny comedy. I have to admit that I almost didn’t buy a ticket when I read that Manam was being advertised as a comedy, since without subtitles most of the humour tends to pass me by (even with subtitles in some cases!) but Manam would have been a watchable and entertaining film even without subs. As it was, being able to understand the jokes and laugh at the same time as the rest of the audience was excellent. Long may this trend for subtitled Telugu films continue in Melbourne!

The film starts in the 1980’s with the unhappy marriage of Radha (Naga Chaitanya) and Krishna (Samantha) who bicker and fight even on the occasion of their son’s sixth birthday. The very next day they are both killed in a car accident, leaving the young Bittu an orphan and his wish to see them happy together unfulfilled. This doesn’t seem to have held Bittu back however, as the film moves to the present day, and the now grownup Nageshwar Rao (Nagarjuna) is in Mumbai to receive the Businessman of the Year award. However, on the flight back to Hyderabad, Nageshwar is seated beside a young man who is the image of his late father, and this begins his crusade to bring his ‘parents’ back together again. Nagarjuna is absolutely perfect here and his child-like wonder at discovering ‘his father’ is brilliantly portrayed. The scene is well written too, with the just the right amount of comedy to keep it from cloying sentimentality and Vikram Kumar even manages to make the suggestion of such an occurrence seem perfectly plausible.

Nageshwar reasons that if his father has been reborn, then his mother must be around somewhere too, and to this end he scours the streets of Hyderabad until he tracks down Priya (Samantha) who is the image of his mother and, luckily for Nageshwar and his plans, she immediately feels a connection. Again Nagarjuna’s determined search is neatly summarised in just a few shots and the obvious unlikely coincidences feel much less contrived than expected. It help that both Nageshwar and Priya are very likeable characters and Nagarjuna and Samantha ensure their interactions are full of genuine warmth and respect.

Having found his re-incarnated father and mother, Nageshwar has to find a way to re-ignite their romance. In the midst of his attempts to bring about true love, Nageshwar finds love himself when Anjali (Shriya) commandeers his car to carry a sick man to hospital. As it turns out, the older man is Chaitanya (Akkineni Nageswara Rao) who has seen his parents Seetharamudu and Ramalakshmi reborn as Nageshwar and Anjali. It’s then his turn to explain the past and try to reunite the lost lovers.

ANR is the absolute star of the show, and seems to take great delight in playing the octogenarian matchmaker. He is mesmerising every time he appears, and his facial expressions and reactions to every other character are superb. For his part, Nagarjuna is quietly competent as Nageshwar Rao with a subtle but effective performance, and his romance with Ramalakshmi in the second half is an absolute delight to watch. There seems to be something in Temple’s theory that Shriya Saran’s irritation factor is related to the length of her hair, as here she has long hair and is actually pretty good. Shriya looks beautiful and displays an engaging personality as a 1920’s traditional villager, and she is just as stunning as the cool and efficient Dr Anjali. I vote Shriya always has long hair in her movies!

Nagarjuna and Shriya also share good chemistry together, which is sadly conspicuously absent in the romance between Samantha and Chaitanya, although to be fair the script really doesn’t ever let them develop much sparkage except in the way of confrontation. Despite the lack of passion with Chaitanya, Samantha shines as Priya / Krishna. She sparkles in her songs, and is full of bubbly enthusiasm as she meets Nageshwara, but her pain at her perceived husband’s betrayal is obvious as is her contempt of Chaitanya’s Nagarjuna. Chaitanya is also better than usual, although that may be because his role mainly requires him to play a drunk and obnoxious college student which he seems to fit well. The usual suspects pop up as various mothers, fathers, cousins etc, but do watch out for the brief cameo appearance of Amitabh Bachchan which garnered plenty of cheers from the audience.

It’s not all perfect though – the inclusion of Ali as a dance teacher is unnecessary and M.S. Narayana’s role is too obvious and crude to fit with the rest of the characterisation. However Brahmi is good as Nagashwara’s assistant and without any misogynistic humour, he manages a restrained performance that proves he can act perfectly well when required.

Manam benefits from a sweet and simple telling of a relatively convoluted story. There are no exciting car chases, no big fight scenes and no cliff-hangers (even though the last few minutes attempt to raise the dramatic tension), but overall it’s an entertaining and watchable film. All praise must go to Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Nagarjuna for their exemplary performances, but the younger generation hold their own, with even Chaitanya showing that he learnt something from the rest of his family while on set. Definitely recommended viewing and a last performance to savour from one of the legends of Telugu cinema.