Archive for August, 2008

Why Two Thumbs Up for Chiranjeevi’s First Public Address?!

August 27, 2008 at 3:08 pm · Filed under World Affairs, movienomics ·Tagged , , , , , , , ,

When I was a little kid, I nagged and dragged my dad to Prashanth theater in Secunderabad only to crib and sulk that we didn’t get tickets because he got us late to the theater. For the rest of the day I sulked and refused to talk to anybody at home. This is for a flop film of a hero who today gathered around 10 lakhs of guys like me to announce that he is entering politics to serve the people. After 30 years of being the MEGA STAR at Tollywood box-office, on 26th August 2008, Chiranjeevi announced his party name, hoisted the party flag, and spelled out what he stands for. Move over the Palm, the V, or the waving hand, and get ready for Chiru’s The Two Thumbs Up! Quite interestingly, the two thumbs up symbol is typically used for indicating a blockbuster film or event and as for the first public meet, Chiru too gets Two Thumbs Up!

You can well imagine the excitement in me—the guy on whose dances, fights, and style I grew up with is contesting for Chief Ministership of the State. I deliberately stayed away from my blog on 26th because I didn’t want to write in a state of high emotion. That evening I spoke to my group of friends—fans, non-fans, and objective folks. The group also ranges from a driver, to a government officer, women who are home makers, to a leading book publisher who also communicated the views of a senior Telugu paper Editor. On 26th evening the verdict ranged from “mind blowing” to “skipped key issues“. The next day, i read all the papers, English and Telugu. The Newspapers’s verdict also was similar, but ranged from ‘mind blowing’ to ‘touched key issues, but did not detail his plan’. While fans are dreaming of Chiru becoming CM, the general public is still curious to see how it all turn out. As on 27th, everybody knows one thing for sure—Chiru will hit the AP Political landscape like a mega-comet and create a Massive dent, but whether he can actually become the CM riding on a Chiru-Wave is still unclear at this point.

The best analogy is that ofa Blockbuster film. Every Blockbuster film opens Big to Blockbuster openings and the talk is almost always mixed. While the critics will point out the finer details and deduct points for a film for slacking out on those finer points, a blockbuster film appeals, at least on the face of it, to the masses [read majority of the moviegoers]. Once a film opens to a mass-frency, trade pundits wait for a couple of weeks or more to see how the movie has spilled over into the general public. Once it has spilled over, and it continues to excite the public, it is declared a Blockbuster Hit with retrospective effect from Day 1. This is exactly what has happened to Chiranjeevi’s first public meet. It has opened Big, with a capital B. Critics have expressed dissatisfaction overthe finer details, but to the fans, and a considerable segment of the general public have their approval to Chiru’s show on the dice. The message is clear—the general public is not grading Chiru on the finer details, at least not right now. So what are they giving him the approval for?

The public is giving their approval for what the organizers wanted to convey to the general pubic, anti-Chiru camps, and all political parties. The point of the public meet was not to present and unveil a full-fledged 5 year Strategic Plan for Andhra Pradesh. In which case, Chiru would list out all the issues, then explain the methodology he used to identify these issues, what plans he proposes to respond to them, and how he will implement and evaluate the work. Perhaps, all those who are disapproving of Chiru’s political debut would have just about been satisfied had he presented these details. But why would Chiru waste such an opportunity in front of a mass of 10 lakhs and present his dissertation on what he plans for AP? That is something reserved for the board room. When you have crowd, you want to excite them and that is exactly what Chiru did. In fact, he mentioned every possible issue under the sun of Andhra Pradesh from nalaxism to SEZ and plight of govt. hospitals to Telangana. The point of the public meet in Tirupathi was to show the nation, in general, and Andhra Pradesh, in particular, that when Chiru makes the call the response has to be seen to believe it. The Chiru camp wanted to show Chiranjeevi admist an ocean of people and that alone was the point of the meeting. And that is how a first meet should be—shock and awe. The easiest way to shock and awe is to show something tangible and real, something incontestable, and that is the mass of crowd that came to attend the first meet. Had the Chiru camp relied on detailing finer details for transforming AP, it would sure have opened up further debate.

What Chiru delivered on that stage was actually a blockbuster masala story. The film begins with an ocean of people and their leader. Then, in a flashback, we are shown how this man lived in hardships and grew up in life and how he now lives in the hearts of millions. Next, the man gets a calling that it is time to lead and so here he is. As an aside, does anybody ask at the end of a movie what happens after 10 years?—nope, they all live happily after the show. And this is exactly what Chiru did. Details will come in the sequel.

Which politicians we know today actually outlines their plans and finer details? Oh wait, Jayprakash Narayan of LokSatta Party does. So what? Those who ask what does Chiru stand for are just playing around. In fact, Chiru could not have been more clear and dignified when he said that Chiranjeevi is here to make politics respectable again. Since the early ’80s untill now, so much has changed in our Nation, but the public image of a politician has always been something to spit on. And this is exactly what Chiranjeevi wants to change. By fielding an entirely new Generation X of politicians, Chiru proposes to fight against corruption and effectively and efficiently deliver public goods to the public. It is really as simple as that. Now, the next ridiculous question that anti-Chiru folks ask is—will he do it, and how? That has to be the dumbest question of the century. From America to Andhra Pradesh, all politicians make promises and this applies to all electoral campaigns. But is it logical to disprove Chiru’s first speech because of such a generalized disease that plagues our political systems. What about Barack Obama who is currently, even as this post goes to the press, promising to bring change to none other than the United States of America? He won over Hillary Clinton and is getting support for his campaign only on the basis of the change he is promising. Does anybody know what exactly this change is? and how?—What is important in an electoral campaign is the theme. Chiranjeevi has delivered his theme. Even today, in spite of all the hype about growth, the problems of Andhra Pradesh are basic. Yes, Andhra Pradesh is quite well off, but what we need is to better improve the services. What Chiranjeevi is offering through PrajaRajyam is a better service, and the general tendency of consumers is to go for a new and well packaged service provider.

It is high time skeptics and thinkers move over the NTR-1982 movement because we operate in a completely different world today. I am sure, had NTR been alive he too would have agreed and patted Chiru. Those who indulge in the NTR-Chiru comparison never seem to talk about how many people attended the first function that NTR held in the same temple town 25 years ago. In fact, Chiru himself has ended the comparison by bowing to NTR-the Legend and respected him as a source of inspiration.

Whether we give the Two-Thumbs Up or Down to the Praja Rajyam Party will known only as the days go by. And as for Chiru as a CM, we can only decide if and when he becomes the CM and from then on over the five years. But as of 27th August, 2008, Chiranjeevi conveyed to his rivals as well as supporters that he is a Force, with a captial F, to reckon with and he conveyed it in Mega-style.

So for the first public meeting in Tirupathi, Chiranjeevi gets Mr. Inkenti’s Two Thumbs Up!

Comments (8)

The Javelin Woman— Lets Dedicate All Bollywood Love Songs to Her

August 20, 2008 at 11:13 am · Filed under World Affairs ·Tagged , , ,

Okay, so Megastar Chiranjeevi officially announced that he is entering politics on Sunday 17th. Since then I have been reading papers and watching news to gather my thoughts, but busy work at office kept me away from the blog. Just when I decided to blog on Chiru’s political entry, I was hit by lightening when i saw the homepage of Yahoo! display America’s favorite Olympic participant from Paraguay, the javelin thrower. I decided to put all Chiru thoughts aside and let the blogosphere guys check out this beauty first.

Leryn Franco is her name– a model, 5 feet 8 inches, 26 yrs, 54 kgs…sorry, i don’t know the stats. I felt it important to feature this woman on the blog because on this side of the world we all too pre-occupied with our so-called hot heroines.  It is now time to move over the sickly-Kareena, aging Bips, artificial Nayan, and all other wannabe hot heroines who try so hard putting on various expressions, weird dresses, hair color etc . Leryn Franco defines sensuousness.

Leryn Franco caught the attention of the American masses when NBC focussed their cameras on her as she was walking along with the Paraguayan delegation. Since then she has become a favorite among the Olympics bloggers. Unfortunately, she failed to qualify for the javelin finals and has been eliminated from the Games. I know, had I been given a say…she would have won the gold without any contest. Anyways, she has an assured future…maybe Hollywood…or even Tollywood [i am sure if some Telugu film producer saw her, she would be roped in as heroine....language no problem. she can always act by just saying one, two, three, four...and savita reddy or someone will dub for her]

At this point, I would like to dedicate all bollywood love songs to Leryn Franco….the Games will miss her. Already, buzz is that there is an increased search for the map of Paraguay and Javelin throwing…

Leave a Comment

Bachna ae Haseeno Review— Bachna ae Audience!

August 18, 2008 at 11:24 am · Filed under movienomics ·Tagged , ,

While at my dentist’s clinic recently, I was browsing through STARDUST when I read an interesting article about Yash Raj Films. Apparently, daddy Chopra has taken over the affairs at Yash Raj sending a clear signal to beta Chopra that something somewhere went wrong and he is here to fix it. At the speed of a movie, Yash Raj has lost its clout in the industry; obviously, Aditya Chopra is not reading the scripts before approval. After Tashan, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, it is now Bachna ae Haseeno (BaH)  that gets added to the list of avoidable films made by Yash Raj.

BaH begins in 1996 (what is with the dumb reference to PV Narasimha Rao and the availability of Pepsi?) and goes on till the present showing us the story of Raj Sharma (Ranbir Kapoor) and his three female interests over time–first it is Mahi (Minissha Lamba)  in 1996, next it is Radhika (Bipasha Basu), and then Gayatri (Deepika Padukone). Mahi is a mighty fan of DDLJ and is dreaming to meet her ‘Raj’ in Switzerland and finds that ‘Raj’ in  Raj Sharma; only to know that she was being played with. Next, in 2002, Raj Sharma is working for Microsoft and moves into an apartment next to a wannabe actress-model from Ranchi–Radhika. Slowly, the hot Radhika and Raj move in to the same apartment for a live-in relationship. Raj has to move to Australia and unable to get rid of Radhika who wants marriage he simply takes off in the flight on the day of their wedding leaving Radhika in her wedding attire weeping in the rain. Next, in Australia, Raj Sharma is using up a condom-a-day and sleeping with every possible Australian girl he can find. During this time, he meets Gayatri who works as a cab driver by night, B-school in the day, and also finds the time to work at a super market. Gayatri is all about no-marriage types, but as the story would have it Raj Sharma falls in love with her and proposes marriage only to be rejected. At this point, he realizes his mistakes and how much he has hurt Mahi and Radhika and decides to go back, trace them, and seek forgiveness.

No, the movie is not over…this is just the intermission. The entire second half is about how he goes and seeks their forgiveness and finally gets Gayatri. By the time he goes to Mahi, he finds that she is mother of two kids, but has not even been romantic with the husband for the last 12 years because she has lost hope and faith in romance! So Raj Sharma tells her that her husband is her true ‘Raj’ and she begins to dance with him and it ends well. Next, Radhika has become Shreya Rathore–an international pop diva who is ruthless with her employees and fires them on the fly. She is unwilling to forgive Raj so easily so she decrees him to become her butler/servant/PA/waiter etc. But Raj goes through all that and eventually Shreya’s cruel heart melts and forgives him. By the time Raj comes back to Australia he finds that Gayatri has been writing letters and sliding them under his door for the last 6 months and is madly in love with him. So he gets her at the end.

The entire film is a big drag with interesting sitcom type funny scenes here and there. The first episode with Mahi has a major DDLJ hangover with only DDLJ background. The reason to do this is clear—at this point, audience have such a negative image of Yash Raj and it was perhaps important to make teh audience realize that such a beautiful film like DDLJ was also from Yash Raj. Minissha Lamba looks like an old lady–nothing glam about her. Bipasha Basu’s freshness is over…she too looks grown-up with too much oil on her body to highlight her landscape. The only thing interesting is her cleavage show. Deepika is just a guest appearance and does an average job—she was only good because of the  OSO magic. Ranbir Kapoor is a completely waste actor and a totally useless hero. The only reason he is there is because of his family and the audience have to suffer him till he becomes a good actor/hero or may be the suffering will be never ending (like Abhishek Bachchan). He just cannot carry or elevate any scene be it comedy, romance, or emotion. When he is trying to act like ‘Raj’ you literally feel like puking. The only scene that got the audience, and me, up at Ramakrishna Gliterrati is the one where Bipasha is in a complete backless gown and asks Ranbir to come and tie it.

It is high time Yash Raj got its act together. Good films are not made by signing up models and star kids with high production values and exotic locales. The sentiments and values are contrived—what is this drama about women wearing shorts, living-in, but still wanting marriage and talking about sacrifice and compromise? (radhika’s episode) and what  is with  the drama about women wanting to be on their own and not wanting to marry because it will obstruct their individuality? (gayatri’s episode)  It looks like such sentiments and thoughts have put there only because they fit well with most of the NRIs or yuppy multiplex crowd of cities—both being the only source of revenue for Yash Raj films these days.

The story, execution, narration are all below par. To top it off…Ranbir Kapoor’s incompetent acting and handling further derail the film. Jeevi of idlebrain.com, a prominent reviewer for a leading Telugu film wesbite  wrote that the film  could rather have been  named  Maaf karna ae Haseeno! Surprisingly, the hindi film websites have given rather favorable, if not glowing, reviews for this film, but the public is bound to trash this one as they already have. Please don’t waste your hard earned money on such faltu films; just wait for it to come on the TV.

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Thumbs Down!

ps–As an aside, there is a foreigner in this film  who is the same guy in Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic—the guy to whose house Saif and family go to play golf. Cummon Yash Raj…can’t you get new side artists?

Comments (3)

Jalsa time for Pawan Kalyan— Gets His Divorce from Nandini!

August 13, 2008 at 8:57 am · Filed under movienomics ·Tagged , ,

You can be sure that Pawan Kalyan….even as post goes to press…must be singing…galli lo telinatunde…gunde pelinatunde….nandini tho divorce pondaka hai ga unde…! yes, it is jalsa time for Power Star Pawan Kalyan who finally got the divorce from his first wife Nandini. Now, he can proclaim his married life and give his name to his son. Officially, we hear that Pawan Kalyan has paid 5 crores in cheque to Nandini for a final settlement.  Perhaps, some extra money too must have also exchanged hands behind the curtain.

Pawan Kalyan is looking deadly with that army cut and thick mustache…the look he will sporty for his powerful role in Pulli (expected to release in December 2008). This is really a great year for Pawan Kalyan—this Jalsa is the biggest box office grosser of 2008 and not only that it officially ended Pawan Kalyan’s drought for a super-hit, he got the much needed verdict in his legal struggle, his brother will most likely float the political party, and his second film in a year will release!…his fans must sure be exited.

anyways, enjoy Pawan Kalyan and we are looking forward for Pulli!

Comments (1)

Singh is Kinng Review— Dissapointing Story of a Kinng!

August 8, 2008 at 11:12 am · Filed under movienomics ·Tagged , , , , , ,

For all the hype and media frenzy that Singh is Kinng (SiK)has generated since its announcement, the makers of the film need to give due credit to [no, not to Akshay Kumar's new found star status] the lorry driver who came up with this brilliant title “Singh is King”. Of course, lets give credit to Akshay Kumar for spotting it and understanding its potential. Just like how Lallu said on National Television on the Vote of Confidence Day, about everybody wanting to be Prime Minister of India; everybody in Bollywood too wants to be King. Yes, the expectations, hype, and curiosity is sky high for SiK, and even I managed to sneak out of office and catch the first day first show at Ramakrishna 70mm, Abids, Hyderabad, whose entrance was even decorated with flowers, and Akshay’s first shot (there could have been a better build-up to the entrance) was greeted with confetti, only to see one of the saddest, weakest, and disappointing stories of 2008 so far.

The most interesting bits of story in SiK, has already been shown in the trailers; beyond that there is no story, no plots/sub-plots, and nothing interesting happening. The film opens in Australia with an adventure episode of Lucky Singh (played by Sonu Sood) who is referred to as Kinng. According to the director, the Kinng is bigger than Bhai and Don (okay, thanks for the info). Then we are introduced to Happy Singh (Akshay Kumar) who is the village bumpkin and goof-ball who is genuinely helpful, kind hearted, but wrecks collateral damage whenever he is trying to help. We are shown Happy Singh chasing a hen and jumping over poles, crashing into houses, breaking TV sets. The village is obviously sick of Happy Singh even though he is the jaan of the village. One fine day, news appears on the front page of their local paper about the assassination attempt of Lucky Singh in Australia. Seeing this, Lucky’s parents are heart-broken and some of the village folk want to use this opportunity and Happy Singh’s sentimental-fool character to send him to Australia to get back Lucky Singh. Rangeela (Om Puri), who hatches the plan, is asked to accompany Happy who has never stepped out of his village till now. Due to a trip-over and mix-up of tickets they go to Egypt where Happy meets, greets, falls in love, and sings a song with Katrina Kaif. Next, Happy and Rangeela go to Australia, enquire with the police who personally take them to the Kinng. Obviously, the Kinng kicks him out of the house when Happy tries to preach to him the meaning of being Sikh etc.

Happy then meets Kiron Kher, a riches to rags flower shop owner, who feeds him and in whom he sees the mother he never had. In the meantime, Happy saves, rather damages, Lucky’s health when there is another assassination attempt on him. So while Lucky is in the hospital with a disease where he can see, hear, but cannot talk and is actually angry with Happy, his followers think he wants Happy to be made Kinng. Since the time Happy becomes Kinng, he begins to distribute the money to the poor [there is a really laughable poverty message scene with Africans, which makes you think you are seeing a UNDP message], among other good charitable acts that this otherwise crooks do. When Kiron Kher tells Happy that her daughter is coming with her lover and she thinks they are still rich, Happy quickly brings her home, transforms her and makes her the owner of the entire establishment. Her daughter is none other than Katrina whose lover is Ranvir Shorey (first rate acting). Rest of the film is all in the house, a little triangular love story, some khurbani, etc. Yes, it ends with Happy marrying Katrina and Lucky coming back to his senses and realizing without wasting any more time that Happy is the true Kinng for he has transformed and changed all of us. Thus, the true king is someone who can bring about such changes and work for others well being before their own. Thanks for the message.

This is one of the weakest stories for such a powerful and heavy title. There is no villian, and the only powerful character of Lucky Singh (Soonu Sood is great in the turban, even better than Akshay) is made a vegatable. Most of the film is like a TV seriel that takes place in one house with some jealousy, love elements, silliest comedy here and there, MTV-style video-songs, etc. There is absolutely no direction for the film. And what is even more surprising is that there no action scenes!—the best one is done by Sonu Sood at the begining and Akshay does one in the second half. In both cases, we have to give credit to the dupe stunt master. From the beginning, we are shown Javeed Jaffery very conspicuously as thought it will turn out to be a cracker of a twist—it does develop, but it is such a waste and absolutely useless. There is nothing called leave-your-brains-behind or not-for-intellectuals type films. These are silly statements being branded by leading media partners that get the web promotion contract from production houses. What matters is–does it have a good story that can be remembered? and does it entertain? Thats it. For SiK everything is just plain bad–the story, screenplay, characterizations, narration. Looks like the makers only focussed on making MTV style videos and make good posters with Akshay showing his fist and proclaiming he is kinng.

Akshay Kumar gives a spirited performance, and is capable of delivering much more if he was given a solid script. Katrina is her usual self in the foreign accent. Neha Dupia needs to visit the dentist real soon; she is just plain and nothing glamorous about her. Om Puri is wasted. Sonu Sood looks grand, but is soon made a vegetable. Anees Bazmee does not get the masala formula right this time. No Entry was coped from a Tamil/Telugu film and Welcome worked because of the multi-star cast and great characterizations of Anil Kapoor (Majnu Bhai), Nana Patekar (Uday Bhai), and mass-masala elements including a super song titled Kiya re kiya. The masala elements are missing in SiK.

The audience were in full-josh untill jee-karda song and after that were pretty dull. There was no hungama for the Singh is Kinng title track because by that time it is clear that there is no fizz. The film has taken a grant start at the box-office and with all the hype will collect Big in the first week and then will be honored as a hit. It may be so, but for Akshay Kumar—someone who has worked hard and made it to get this craze–this is not the kind of film he needs if he aspires to be King. It is important to remember that whether it is Big B, SRK, Rajni, or Chiru…they are King only if the story is King. Singh is Kinng could have been a powerful masala film with action, gangster plots etc and connect Akshay’s star-craze with his wild and raw khiladi days. After a series of good hits and multi-starrers, this is Akshay’s first full-length solo-hero film and it is his chance to show how his power on screen. Alas, it does not happen. The film will open big, but is sure to fizzle out in later weeks.

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Thumbs Down!

PS: As an aside—dialogue about SRK in Singh is Kinng: With Akshay being pitted against SRK, there might be curiosity if there is any dialogue about SRK. and yes, there is. When Lucky Singh is admitted to the hospital, one of his gang members says, in some context about bimari that “shahrukh ko tho har film main bimari hoti hain”.

PS: As an aside: Ramakrishna theaters, the 70mm and 35mm Gliterrati, are best known for their sale of black-tickets. Bulk seats are blocked and sold in black outside. But for Singh is Kinng, the row in front of me in the balcony went empty even though the HOUSE-FULL board was there. 30 mins into the show, it filled up, but some seats were left. I was actually surprised that there weren’t any takers on the first day first show!

Comments (10)

SRK-Akki Direct-Clash Averted for Diwali 2008

August 7, 2008 at 10:58 am · Filed under movienomics ·Tagged , , , ,

What could have been more exciting than the 1000 walas, SRK’s Billo Barber (BB) and Akki’s Chandni Chowk to China (CC2C) releasing on the same day, is now missing for Diwali 2008 on October 24th. Looks like 2008 is the clash of the Khan vs Kumar. With Singh is Kinng Akshay Kumar puts his bid to grab the throne of King Khan, who reigns as King for over a decade now. To make the Stars-War even more exciting, October 24th, would see the release of BB and CC2C. While BB is a slow-paced, sentiment-emotion film about friendship between a film superstar and a barber, the other is a action-comedy that goes goes across the Great Wall of China.

The makers of CC2C have announced that it will not release on Oct. 24th, but will make it around November/December. The reasons given are technical issues, special effects. Earlier there was news that Warner Bros., the producers, were asking 20 crores for the Mumbai territory and no buyer was interested. I am not sure if that has been resolved or not, but if it has not been then Warner Bros. will have to go it alone. The movie industry runs on sentiment, more than anything else. After having screened the high-action promo along with the worldwide mega-super-duper blockbuster The Dark Knight, the makers have now postponed the film. This is bad news for the film. Its quite possible that, the makers are re-shooting some parts which might have turned out to be a damp squib. Typically, such delays most often translate to bad signs for the film’s fate at the box office.

On the other hand, BB is on schedule for Diwali 2008, which has always been SRK’s holiday at the Box office. SRK averted a disaster by requesting Rajnikanth to postpone the Hindi version of Kuselan, which the mighty Rajni has done. Later, of course, Priyadarshan, the director of BB, spoke up saying that the contract does not allow any Hindi dubbed version. However, what is not good news for SRK is that Kuselan in Tamil and it’s dubbed version in Telugu Kathanayakudu, have not been received well and are on track to become flops in the coming days and weeks. True, the original film in Malayalam is a classic and a gem, but it just didn’t click in Tamil and Telugu. It really depends on Priyadarshan’s handling and how he shapes up the film.

Lets see how these two films, both of which are great in concept, shape up on the silver screen.

ps–the first look of CC2C has been released and is quite interesting, where as BB has not yet.

Comments (8)

Singh is Kinng Review— Express Review of a Pre-Release Review

August 7, 2008 at 8:12 am · Filed under movienomics ·Tagged , , , ,

Updated on 8-8-08: First Day First Show Movie Review of Singh is Kinng.

Pre-Release Buzz

Finally, the day has come. Well, one more day to go for 8-8-08. In addition to a host of personal and global events on this day, Akshay Kumar’s mega film, Singh is Kinng (SiK) releases to much fanfare and hungama. For the last few days, Akshay has been busy promoting the film in Canada (because of the really large Punjabi population’s presence). SiK also pits Akshay Kumar directly against Shahrukh Khan who is King at mastering the box-office success mantra. The Akshay-SRK battle reached it’s peak, when just the other day Akshay declared in a SiK Press Meet that the one and only king of Bollywood is Amitabh Bachchan. After four good-hits last year, two of which were multi-starrers and in two of which he appears just before the interval, and an utter flop this year, Akshay Kumar’s Singh is Kinng is expected to bestow upon him the title ‘King of Box-Office’ (hmm…does one really become King after one year’s good run at the BO?). I have said it earlier too, SiK is this years OSO in terms of hype and scale and the curiosity factor is high. The songs, though stated to be popular, are too wanna-be-western. The promos indicated another typically keep-your-brains-behind type Annees Bazmee entertainment ala Welcome.

I was expecting a Taran Adarsh Review of SiK well in advance, at least 3 to 4 days, which means that the film is a sure-shot super-hit, if not a blockbuster. For Main Hoon Na the review appeared a week before the release and for Om Shanthi Om it was 3 days before. And now for Singh is Kinng just one day before. The story is the same as i have written in an earlier post and my guess is that this is the story of the first half. Obviously, Taran Adarsh has to cater to his key stakeholders so even what could have been scathing review is written with a postive spin. Following points are notable:

1. from what i read, it looks like the second half is not up to the mark. Taran writes “There’s a twist in the tale at the intermission point and the second hour, therefore, shifts gears — it changes from kabhi funny, kabhi drama to a prem kahani.” He also mentions that towards the end, there is another twist/track, which well could have been avoided and the story later gets back to track “thankfully” [read else the movie would have bombed]—bottom line: story/script is not strong.

2. Akshay Kumar seems to have delivered yet again the same old performance of a comic-goof-ball. Rather than writing that Akshay Kumar offers nothing new even this time around in a film that has been hyped to crown him King he writes that he carries off the same type of roles well again and that there is not “saturation” for him!

My quick Analysis: the film is will most probably be a hit, will be hyped by media to be a super-hit, will collect Big during the opening weekend, but will not be a film worthy to make Akshay a King in the making. The comedy looks just like another Welcome. No credit for No Entry as it was taken from a Tamil/Telugu film.

From the looks of it, it looks like another typical brainless comedy set on a larger canvas. We will have to see if it breaks OSO records. The film is opening in around 22 theaters in Hyderabad. I will be seeing it on 8-8-08, first day first show so check out my blog for the review.

Comments (1)

Kuselan/Kathanayakudu Movie Review— Only Nayakudu No Katha

August 2, 2008 at 7:10 am · Filed under movienomics ·Tagged , , , , , ,

At some point in the film, Ashok Kumar, the Super Star (Rajnikanth), meditates on who really a Super Star is—is it the individual or the individuals who write the script and the characters. Super Star (SS) Ashok Kumar gives the credit to all his writers who worked with him and hails them as the real Super Stars. This concept is not novel as even in A Film By Aravind, the same thought is debated by the two guys, one is a director and the other a big star. In another instance, Ashok Kumar also says that if the story is not good, then even the SS cannot save it. In the case of Kathanayakudu, unfortunately, the Super Stars and the Super Star, both do not succeed in striking a chord.

Balakrishna (Jagapati Babu) who goes by Ballu the Barber in the village is a poor man with a family of three ends and struggling to make ends meet. An (overly) honest and upright man, he is willing to go to sleep without eating a morsel, but will never stoop to adopting any business strategy whatsoever. He has no money to provide his family with food and school fees too. In fact, Ballu is shown as a complete vegetable of the village. He doesn’t even have the money to buy every barber’s dream–the revolving chair. Meanwhile, his former assistant, who can’t even shave off the foam from the surface of a balloon, uses all the crooked means to get business. One fine day, the catering contractor arrives in a Benz to give money to the local business for the supply of provisions for 40 days.

The entire village is ecstatic with the news that Ashok Kumar, the Super Star, is coming to town for shooting along with glam-babe Nayanathara (plays herself). All villagerss leave their work and begin to camp outside the guest house and shooting locations just to get a glimpse of the SS. Slowly, word spreads around that Ballu and Ashok Kumar are childhood friends. Everybody now begins to woo Ballu to get them to meet the SS. Neighbors offer mutton biryani, the village wealthy man offers to revamp his decaying barber shop and so on. However, Ballu, the vegetable that he is, is too insecure and wonders if he will bethrown out by the black cat security guards if Ashok Kumar does not recognize him. Ballu even nears the point of emotional breakdown when his kids too show disrespect towards him. Then Ballu begins trying, but in vain.

This is pretty much how the movie progresses until the last ten minutes. Of course, sprinkled and sometimes painfully injected in between the narration throughout the film are re-enactments from Rajni’s best box-office blockbusters like Narsimha, Chandramukhi, and so on. Apparently, these scenes are for their sequels, which makes one wonder how many movies are the shooting for or is it a film titled Best-of-Rajni? After the shooting schedule is done, Ashok Kumar is invited to the local school as a chief guest for the school’s 25 Years Celebrations. In this speech (for the first time in the film, out of the blue) Ashok Kumar reveals that he is the Super Star in people’s eyes today because of his childhood friend Ballu. We are told that it was Ballu who saw the actor, the star, the style in him, fed him, and encouraged him to move to Madras and try for films. Hearing this, everybody in the village who ridiculed Ballu and even called him a liar have to hang their heads in shame. The film ends with Ashok Kumar making a surprise visit to Ballu, hugging him, chiding him for not keeping in touch, and even says that from now on he will have to stay with him.

If P.Vasu, the director, was in full-form with Chandramukhi, this time around he is completely out of form. Obviously moved by the original, he quickly ropes in Rajni and shoots a hotch-potch that doesn’t even fit with the theme and concept of the film. Yes, there will be tears at the end, but that is only because Rajni sheds tears in a well done emotional scene. The friendship connection and depth is missing even as P. Vasu is totally out of ideas as to how to show Rajni in a new and elevating manner—zorro, 007, pharoh,…cummon now. Why the irrelevant solo-song in the rain with Nayan in a skimpy two piece?—doesn’t P. Vasu have the confidence in his script and even the Super Star Rajni that he felt he needed a wet and gyrating Nayan to pull in the crowds?! The only person who would have enjoyed this song would be the cameraman who was all over Nayan’s body. Both, the first and second half are a drag with nothing interesting other than the village buffoons trying to get a glimpse of the SS. Ballu’s ultra weak characterization is a major draw back.

Nayan is the same; the same i-really-wanna-be-a-bad-girl expressions, but who in the audience is looking at her face? Mamta Mohandas clearly is in the pits of her career to have accepted such a bekar role for a couple of minutes. Prabhu is painfully obese. In fact, our Union Minister for Health A Ramdoss can use Prabhu for a National Public Health Campaign to show how one will eventually look like with a junkie-sedentary lifestyle. Prabhu basically plays Rajni’s security head for a few minutes [read watchman]. The rest of the comedy gang is routine. Rajnikanth is his usual self. Poor chap, what could he do having being caught with his own philosphy?—with no story, even the superstar can do nothing. The biggest drawback for the film is SP Balasubramanium’s dubbing for Rajni. Honestly, it was terrible. Through out the film, I felt like I was hearing Kamal Hasan speaking through Rajni!…freaky stuff! Rajni does answer some questions for us, but you don’t have to watch the film for this. He basically says that he goes to Himalayas for peace of mind, which is a constant compared to happiness, which is fickle. He only talks about political entry for movie-box-office punch, how can someone take it seriously? and he does have a positive word for Kamal Hasaan where he says that Kamal is a hardworking actor and deserves his fame.

A couple of songs are good. Cinema Cinema, which is a tribute to all the technicians and behind-the-scenes guys, is badly done. Alas, the makers did not put in enough enthusiasm into making the song as the singer has into singing it. Meena is fine, but with all that smooth make-up she doesn’t look as poor as the director would want us to believe. It is Jagapati Babu as Ballu, who really lives it up in spite of a weak characterization and out-of-focus story.

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Thumbs Down!

Comments (6)