Tag Archives: Nithya Menen

Son of Satyamurthy

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Son of Satyamurthy

After their previous success with Julayi, Allu Arjun and Trivikram are back together again with Son of Satyamurthy. The film features appearances from Ali, Brahmi and most of the Telugu film industry stalwarts, but despite the plethora of comedy uncles, it strives for a more serious tone and is a more traditional family drama. Bunny puts in a restrained performance compared to his earlier films, and it appears that Trivikram has concentrated on character development rather than glitzy glamour and full-on action of most Telugu cinema. The storyline has plenty of potential and I loved the inclusion of villains who are not wholly evil but have the capacity for reformation, but there are a few misses. The film is undermined by the inclusion of a few unnecessary characters that reduce the overall impact and at times the sheer number of protagonists threatens to drown the main storyline. However the central theme of a young man determined to stick to his father’s principles stands strong and Bunny does a fantastic job in a more serious role than usual.

S/o Satyamurthy

Prakash Raj is Satyamurthy; a rich man who is happy to lend money to all and sundry without judgement or seemingly any expectation of repayment. He has strong principles and his values have been absorbed by his family even if they don’t always agree with his open-handed policies. And perhaps they had a point, since Satyamurthy’s sudden death reveals a large amount of debt. The family lose their affluent lifestyle and downsize their house, possessions and expectations when Satyamurthy’s son, Viraj Anand (Allu Arjun), refuses to default on the loans and insists on doing the right thing – as his father would have wanted.

In an odd addition, Vennela Kishore plays Viraj’s older brother who is incapacitated by his father’s death, but as his character is played mainly for laughs (which are never very funny and don’t add anything to the story), there doesn’t seem to be any real need for his inclusion. Similarly, Ali appears as Parandhamayya, some sort of assistant to Viraj in his new job, who is another character who could have been omitted without losing too much from the story. I rarely find Ali’s brand of comedy funny but here he is less slapstick than usual and generally rather muted, so while I can’t see much point to his character at least he is tolerable and occasionally amusing.

Although businessman Sambasiva Rao (Rajendra Prasad) blackballs Viraj, a friend helps by giving Viraj a job as a wedding event manager. Viraj is dumped by his own fiancée when loss of his fortune makes him less desirable as a husband, and naturally his first event is the marriage of his ex, Pallavi (Adah Sharma). This makes Viraj deal with his loss of wealth and prestige fairly early on in the film and also reinforces the contrast between his own morals and those of Pallavi’s rich but dishonest father (Rao Ramesh). In classic filmi style, Viraj manages to reconcile the various family members and in the course of events falls in love with one of the wedding guests. M.S. Narayana appears in his final film appearance here, and it is bitter-sweet to see him in one of his classic drunken uncle roles, especially when his role fits well into the storyline.

Bunny’s Viraj is a sensible and responsible young man and he does a great job of making his character principled without becoming preachy or overly moralistic. The only misstep is his tendency to invoke stories of Hindu Gods that sounds a little odd coming from someone who hadn’t previously demonstrated any evidence of a virtuous attitude. It would have made more sense to me if he’d quoted his father instead, but perhaps that is due to my lack of Telugu and reliance on the subtitles which may not have been too accurate – going by the atrocious spelling as a general guide to overall quality!

Subbalakshmi, aka Sameera (Samantha) is the wedding guest that Viraj takes a fancy to, and to her credit she immediately realises that Viraj is a keeper. In a move away from standard filmi heroines, Sameera is introduced holding a drink and a cigarette, and for some reason she is also a diabetic, although there didn’t seem to be any particular point to this other than as a brief comedy scene. I generally like Trivikram’s approach to his heroines, but he seems to lose interest once he moves on to the action and sadly Samantha disappears for much of the second half. However she is excellent in her role and has great onscreen chemistry with Arjun.  The couple look good together in the songs too, which pepper the first half and allow Bunny to demonstrate why he truly is the ‘stylish star’. There is some annoying hair discontinuity, but since the worst bouffy hair only appears in the songs it’s actually no bad thing that Bunny’s hair length is shorter for the rest of the film.

Rajendra Prasad and Upendra are the other standout performers and they both help bring the film to life. Much of the comedy is between Rajendra and Bunny, and is much funnier than the specific comedy threads with Brahmi and Ali. The two bounce lines off each other to good effect and are really much better than any of the assorted comedy uncles who fall flat in comparison. Upendra appears as the villain of the piece, and is as vicious and violent as required (per Telugu standard bad guy guidelines) but shows a different side when dealing with his wife and sister. He’s an interesting character and Upendra is excellent in the role, switching from demonic goggle-eyed evil one moment to concerned husband the next, but with so much else going on his role isn’t developed as much as I would like. Sneha is also very good as his sweet and serene wife, but Nithya Menen seems a little wasted in her role as a rival for Viraj’s affections. That’s a shame too as her character starts off well with an interesting plan of attack but it’s lost in the hodge-podge of action and Brahmi comedy that makes up the rest of the film.

There is a lot going on in Son of Satyamurthy and it does evoke films of yesteryear with the convoluted storyline, sheer number of characters and focus on honour, values and moral principles. The songs from Devi Sri Prasad aren’t too memorable, but they are well choreographed and smoothly flow into the storyline. Bunny dances better than ever and also looks amazing with Peter Hein’s fight choreography. Interestingly the fights aren’t as brutal and violent as usual (there is a hose as a weapon for instance), but the wirework and acrobatics are outstanding and very effective. I really enjoyed Son of Satyamurthy and although it would have benefitted from fewer characters and less formulaic comedy it’s an entertaining story with some excellent performances. Well worth seeing on the big screen to really appreciate Bunny’s dancing if you can.

Bangalore Days

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Bangalore Days

Bangalore Days is a gem of a film, written and directed by Anjali Menon, who was also responsible for the excellent Ustad Hotel. The film follows the lives of three cousins after they each move to Bangalore for different reasons and despite the almost three hour run time, it’s a completely absorbing watch. The young actors are the highlight, but the plot for each is perfectly developed and fits neatly into the overall story, so that there is a ‘fly on the wall’ feeling of watching real lives unfold. Even the slightly clichéd drama that forms the final climax is compelling, although the ending is never really in any doubt. Beautifully developed characterisations, a clever storyline and gorgeous cinematography all add up to make Bangalore Days a must watch film.

The three cousins, Krishnan PP aka Kuttan (Nivin Pauly), Divya (Nazriya Nazim and Arjun (Dulquer Salmaan) have been friends since they were children when they spent their summers together in the family’s ancestral home. Divya is a good student who has dreams of completing an MBA while Kuttan achieves his desire of escaping rural Kerala when he lands a job as a software engineer in Bangalore. Meanwhile Arjun seems content to drift, working at night as a graffiti artist and using his mechanical skills to work on motorbikes. As the film unfolds, more of Arjun’s past comes to light, including his unhappy childhood following his parents’ divorce. All of this has made him something of a rebel and disinclined to settle in any one spot or profession.

Kuttan
Arjun
Arjun
Das

Divya’s parents decide to get her married quickly to counteract an inauspicious horoscope, firmly ending her dreams of study although the prospect of moving to Bangalore after the marriage is an enticing incentive. But things don’t appear too favourable when the prospective groom Das (Farhadh Faasil), reveals he was in a previous serious relationship and isn’t sure if he is over it. Divya’s main reason for going ahead seems to be the family dog’s acceptance of Das, and to be fair, I can completely understand her reasoning. Surely anyone who is a dog-lover cannot be a bad person? Throughout the film Anjali Menon small touches like this to successfully develop the characters and illustrate small traits that become important later. It’s simply done, but very effective and adds to the realistic feel of the characters.

Kuttan, Divya and Arjun
Das and Divya

The songs by Gopi Sundar are another highlight and this one sums up the different personalities and the relationship between the cousins perfectly.

Needless to say when Divya moves to Bangalore  with her new husband the situation does not improve and it’s not long before she is bored and resentful. Luckily Arjun has also moved to Bangalore to complete the confluence of cousins and is working for a Motocross bike team. With her husband’s indifference as motivation, Divya spends her days and nights out with Arjun and Kuttan, further increasing the distance between her and Das.

At the same time Kuttan has found what may be the love of his life in the form of air hostess Meenakshi (Isha Talwar). Although it’s completely baffling as to why she would be interested in the conservative Kuttan, she quickly takes him in hand, giving him a total make-over in the process. As to be expected, it doesn’t end well, but there is some lovely comedy and genuine warmth in the relationship which allows Kuttan to explore his less conservative side. Arjun is also in love, first of all with the voice of RJ Sarah (Paravathy Menon) and her positivity, but this quickly develops further once he sees her in person. There is a lovely moment where, after Sarah accuses Arjun of following her, which to be accurate is exactly what he has been doing, he eventually responds that rather than following, he would like to walk with her. It’s very sweet and the relationship between Arjun and Sarah develops into a full scale romance with plenty of sparkage between the characters.

Contact Lenses!
Sarah and Arjun
The remaking of Kuttan

What makes the film work so well is the excellent casting and the outstanding performances from all the actors. Nazriya Nazim is perfect in her role and even more impressive here than she was in Raja Rani. Her reactions and emotions are perfectly nuanced and her easy camaraderie with her cousins is well portrayed. Farhadh Faasil is also excellent as her distant husband with an unresolved past and his emotional delivery as his character gradually thaws is superb. Perhaps because the two actors are partners in real life, the depiction of their marriage is also very well done and the relationship is completely believable throughout.

Even better though is Dulquer Salmaan who gets his portrayal of a rather bitter but still compassionate man spot on. His relationship with his cousins is perfectly casual with plenty of chemistry that really makes them seem like a family. His expressions and body language speak more than the dialogue when he is with Sarah and he makes Arjun a more sympathetic character than I expected given his opening montage.  Dulquer’s character is well written but his performance takes it to the next level and I think this is the best I have seen him so far. Nivin Pauly has a more difficult job since Kuttan is self-restrained, almost staid and nowhere near as exciting as Arjun. However he still does a fantastic job with the character, particularly in the interactions with his father (Vijayaraghavan) and mother (Kalpana), both of whom are also excellent and perfectly cast. There are many levels to his character and to his relationship with both his cousins and the rest of his family that I don’t think I fully appreciated on my first watch, but become more apparent on repeated viewing. Kuttan’s character provides most of the comedy, but his serious nature is a perfect foil to the more impulsive Divya and rebelliousness of Arjun.

Although the film focuses on relationships, family, community and the three love stories, there is plenty more happening in the background. The film interposes the traditional values of rural India with the reality of modern city life, starting with the idea that community is lost in the city. However the complexities of this idea are further developed as Divya makes her own community wherever she goes, while Das carries his loneliness around with him as a shield. All the characters are looking for their own form of escape, some more literally than others, and all have personal challenges to overcome before reaching their goal. Anjali Menon develops the narrative through the different personalities and their attitudes, allowing the characters themselves to become the story and relegating the action to second place for much of the film.  It works beautifully well and it’s refreshing to have a film about marriage and relationships that is ultimately so optimistic and hopeful. Bangalore Days is an easy film to enjoy and I thoroughly recommend it as a modern tale of relationships. 4 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.