Sunya -- A Play I watched in Houston

I went to a play during one weekend. It was a play organized by Indian Cultural Association called Sunya. Sunya means zero or nothing in Sanskrit. I have learnt that it was named so following Buddhist philosophy. According to Buddhist philosophy achievement of nothing is the ultimate goal of life. Also may be because Indians are too proud of zero that has been invented by their forefathers. It might have also been to symbolize that what ever we do to protect our motherlands culture is nothing. I am slightly pessimistic here. Optimists version will be nothing can destroy our own culture and tradition. But sooner my impression fallen out to say that some (I just said some, not all) NRIs are doing nothing to protect our tradition. They are becoming Americanised day after day.

The theme of the play was religious unity and the name is “The Final Solution”. It had drama that shows how Hindus and Muslim fight each other and develop grudges on one another. It said that misrepresentation of traditions and misinterpretation of other people was primarily responsible for riots that happen in India. Some political forces (unnamed though) have utilized both religions to their advantage and were successful in increasing the disparity.

Plot revolves around an old woman, her family and of course her dairy. The old women’s reminiscences and her pathos are accounted for in the dairy. The young girl who played the role of the women in post independence era had very good acting skills. I would have fallen in love with her if the play lasted for some more time. Not that she is very beautiful though. It is just the youthfulness, energy and confidence she has that attracted me. My youth may be another reason for the attraction. The real reason is the Indianness which I was longing for in the west. When I said attraction I don’t mean it the same way others say it. It is faintest in nature and so need not be given much attention.

So for God’s sake I will leave her alone and let’s get back to the play. I was not sure if the kids of NRIs think that Hindus and Muslims fight every morning in India. I am sure if one has not been to India he will definitely think Hindus are born to kill Muslims and vice versa. Of course that was a perspective and one off case projected by the playwright. I would be glad if he writes another play to show how secularism works in India.

When India wanted to adopt secularism people thought that it would be like that of France where one cannot display any religious feelings on a public ground. (Excerpt from Amartya Sen’s Argumenattiove Indian) How ever India was a bit liberal in this respect. Display of religion has proved wonderful in the initial years. In the long run politics has become stinking dirt. Politicians started using religions to their advantage. At this moment no one can say exactly what the real riot is and what is faked by politics. A real progressive Indian would want to segregate politics and religion. It might mean banning interference of religious organizations in politics.

It is Kennedy, former President of United States who made stern remarks against interference of Church in political decisions. He who abolished the role of church in political arena made a wise decision. We need similar thing to happen in India as well.

Beautiful drama, elegant acting by cast made it treat to watch. More often than not I was lost in my own train of thought and when the play ended I felt I had made nice utilization of my 15 dollars.

Operation Duryodhana - A Review

The Hindu Newspaper puts it correctly as Operation “Confusion”. I am still confused if the director tried to confuse the audience or he himself was in confused state.

Storyline:

This is the story of a sincere police officer who becomes pain in neck for corrupt politicians. As a result hero’s family gets murdered by the MLA and his group. Hero realizes (thinks rather) that the people are really responsible for this because of their irresponsible behavior. Despite the agony he is going through he wants to teach a lesson to people and becomes MLA for their constituency. It is a surprise that all the villains from his past fail to recognize him and help him in the process. He targets sincere police officers and achieves his target of realization by the police of the problem. All the police force resigns from the jobs and the people face the real problems from gundas. Ultimately he teaches a lesson to people, police and ministers and gets his old post CI of police despite the murders he commits in the process.

Review:

Srikanth did justice to his role. Kalyani has got a small role to play in the movie. If Mumyat Khan is in the movie to show her skin, she did more than that. But the concern she has grown from tolerable state to gross. This is a clear low budget movie so one does not expect an expensive comedian like Brahmadandam but that is definitely not an excuse for absence of comedy. Even the characters were played by new faces, TV artists or low budget actors like Chalapathi Rao. Comedy scene (supposedly) where police inspectors are asked to dance on the road was more obscene than comic.

A director should have a point to say. But Posani Krishna Murali has got too many points to say. He stuffed all right from Telangana, Communal violence, ragging, problems in police, public, people all in one movie. One gets a feeling that he is not sure if he will get another movie to tackle them so he stuffed in this. Result is not good. He confused himself as well as audience. Also the justification he gives in the end is not catchy. He tried to justify everything so that no section of the audience will fell bad at what is projected in movie but he is a failure here. The Chief Minister looked like a buffoon in the movie with no role real role.

Well coming to the title, I was not able to relate why it was called “Duryodhana”. Duryodhana was depicted a bad creature in MahaBharat and his only bad trait being jealousy for Pandavas. In this movie I could not understand who Duryodhana is.

This movie is adjudged “A” – Adult. It is because of the intense violence, gross skinny songs. But in my view this is not even suitable for respectable adults. There should be a category called G (Gross) or V (violence) to suit these sort of movies.

Epilogue:
It is an assumption that these sort message oriented films influence people. But in my brief discussion with Javvaji during dinner we concluded that bad influences faster than good. So most people forget all the message but remember all the criminal aspects. This is a quick thought we had. Comments are welcome.

RajuBhai - A Review

“My mother said to me, "If you become a soldier, you'll be a general; if you become a monk, you'll end up as the Pope." Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. "

-- Pablo Picasso

“If you are a music director’s son you will become music director; if you are an actor’s son you will be made an actor”

Rajubhai the movie features atleast two people who inherited the berth from their father. It is not uncommon in India that son inherits father’s wealth. The two sons referred to here are Yuvan Shankar Raja, the son of famous ilayaraja and Manoj, the son of a confused legend/celebrity Mohan Babu. One was terrible in the movie with his action where as the other terrific with his music.

Review:
I am not talking about the story here as there is nothing special in it. The narration was not good either. This is yet another good man story who will kill any one for money, who can utter all bad words to a lady he encounters on road, who fights with someone every time, drinks and smokes as he wishes and has friends who do even terrible things that are shame to mention here. And yet as you may perceive he is good at heart. No matter how many people he kills, he is good at heart and steals the heart of Heroin with his character. Love story proceeds with same historically proven cinematic love scenes. He leaves his bad deeds for love and resumes once he loses love. After some twists and turns in the story both hero and heroin agree that they are best fit for each other leaving audience in peace.

A misunderstanding of above narration can let you think that it is a worth a watch movie. But it isn’t.

Negatives:
Manoj is a negative. He may be a bit better than his brother but still he is not good for the acting job. If he is not Mohan babu’s son you would not get to see him on any screen. Sheela, the heroin is a negative. A heroin must either be pretty or must know some acting. (A third type being give a skin show becoming a norm now-a-days and there are a vast majority of cinegoers who go watch heroin) She is neither pretty nor knows how to act. Actor choice is not correct. Rajeev Kanakala, only worthy actor I see there on screen, was underutilized. Director has neither narration skill nor the creativity to show novelty on a subject.

Positives:
Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music is good. Despite limited role Sunil performed well with in his limits. Songs are not picturised properly. “Kora Meenu Sora chapala Kalyanam” looked like a highlight song. I liked the titles and title music.

Munna - A Review

From the story perspective it can be called a good movie. From narration perspective director did not do that bad. Star cast amazing and performances are decent. But still it marks as first flop/average movie for ‘Dil’ Raju one of the successful producers in recent times. When we look at what went wrong, it is the stardom it has tried to focus on rather than sticking to the script that messed up things for him.

Storyline:
Kaka (Prkash Raj) is a gangster and usual bad guy with a good wife, daughter and a arrogant bad son. He kills everyone who comes his way and his pharma co. Srinivasa Rao (Kota) a respected politician keeps fighting Kaka in an attempt to close his Pharma company as it is causing environmental pollution. Aatma, rival gangster, also claims to fight kaka though no evidences of the same are shown. Munna becomes a hero overnight after his clash with Kaka/’s Son. His boldness in facing kaka fetches his affection of people and Srinivasa Rao. Heroin’s love is a bonus here. It is when every one discovers that Munna is the son of kaka whom he disowns in an attempt to cleanup his past. Afetr murder of Srinivasa Rao, Munna becomes sole threat of Kaka. Story proceeds showing domination of Munna over kaka using his brains and muscles, where ever applicable. Munna soon discovers that it is kaka’s plan to place his rival gangsters in order to keep check on people. Everyone gets killed in the end by Munna.

Review:
Comedy is not bad. Storyline even though not very much novel, the narration makes it a bit novel. Individual performances are meeting the expectations. Songs are not that good but they are not bad I must say. Only thing that went wrong is the editing of the movie. It really irritates audience if the background score dominates dialogues. Every scene looks as if it is introduction scene of the hero. Score has been over used for all key players. Iliyana as usual looks gross in some of the songs. On the whole it is a formula based movie aimed at becoming a blockbuster. How ever it just fell short of it.

AMAV -- A Review

Honestly not many are intelligent enough to understand why the movie is named as Aaduvari Matalaku Ardhale Verule. Definitely I am not so intelligent but I made my own guesses. One guess being Song is one of best songs of NTR whom Venkatesh etc., admire. Other is Pawan Kalyan, a close buddy of Venkatesh, has the parody of the song in his last hit movie. (Kushi) Only thing many people are not very clear is how does it relate to characters in the movie.

Storyline:
Looking at the preview many of us mistook the movie to be software love story that we encounter every day in office. (Silly jokes, uncertain emotions, canteen comedy, falling for each other etc., is what I had in mind when I went to the movie.) Selection of best actors for the roles could not make up for the lousy story and narration. Ganesh (Hero), a jobless man, gets reprimanded by all including his father for his repeated attempts to get a job with out a success. Director made a futile to show that father and son share deep bond in their hearts and messed it up with shabby dialogues. Ganesh after securing a job falls in love with Keerthi (Heroin) and follows a sequence of attempts to impress her. Heroin rejects him and says that she is getting married in a month’s time. I strongly believe many of us (me included) would have heard such a thing from a girl at least once. But hero behaves in a way we never behaved and narration is completely in hero’s perspective making heroin look like a villain. Hero loses his father as a result of his affair. Ganesh gets depressed after his father’s demise.

Hero’s generous best friend held his helping hand to Ganesh and offers him stay in his house till his marriage. It is not a coincidence that Keerthi is the bride/sister-in-law. As usual Ganesh impresses everyone in the family of Keerthi. Story ends with a sentiment scene followed by a comedy climax.

Review:
What a magnificent waste!! He failed miserably in narration. Depiction of father son relation is one thing. Also he under utilized comedians like Sunil but Venky made up for it in the Nuvvu Naku Nachav Style. The editing was not good. This is one of the movie’s you feel bored right through the beginning.

Positives
Colors Swathi is the biggest plus. (I always hated her for the imminent disgust I have for girls who speak like kids for show off but this time around I loved her) She played same role as Mandira in DDLJ but she added lot of humor. If not for her I would have walked out during second half. SreeRam(Roja pulu) did well. He lost some weight and became a bit fair and has good boy look. I can’t imagine why heroin would fall in love with old venky when she has already been engaged to young and handsome SriRam.

Negatives
If you need some one old with authority and morals get Viswanath has been thumb rule in recent cinema. But here Viswanath’s stand was inconsistent. He was projected as similar role as in santhosam movie but sans rationale. His expression towards end of movie was unclear. Sunil was underutilized. Large family with so many members added confusion rather than clarity to the plot. Songs (barring one) are not that great.
I never thought an item song is necessary in a movie like AMAV. Also director wanted to cash in money by using aggressive sentiment where he failed miserably.

Evadite Naakenti - A review

Hero Evadite Nakenti
I wanted to watch this movie
Heroin Evarite Nakenti
I wanted to watch this movie
Direction Elavunte Nakenti
I wanted to watch this movie
Songs Elavunte Nakenti
I wanted to watch this movie…

Review:
Most of us understand Einstein’s science as “Everything is relative”. So I should say this movie is relatively better. But relative to what is the next question. Relative to the previous movies of Rajasekhar released last couple of years. In one sense it can be proclaimed relative to existing movies at theatres.

Inspired by the success of the underdog movie ‘Samanyudu’, this movie comes in the same flavor ie., cleansing the politics of India. Hero is an army major who comes back on holiday to home. It is just a coincidence that all the problems in Indian politics are sleeping in his adjacent rooms. His moral less minister father, corrupt IPS and IAS brothers-in-law and his greedy sisters are the main villains in the story. He protests them and finally realizes all the system is corrupted. He contests against his father as independent and wins MLA seat as independent. This independent with only one seat is made Home minister of the state. (All politicians are shown as comedians who have got no other option but to make him HM) After an hour of heroisms he kills the killer who kills his father. I did not wait till the end as I assumed that climax would be “everyone lived happily ever after”.

If you are not an ardent admirer of logic you will appreciate the plot. Any thing that defies reason can be done in movies.

Performances:
Rajasekhar is as usual portrayed as angry young(?) man. He has done story, screenplay and dialogues for this film. I can’t imagine how one who cannot speak proper telugu sentence write a story with dialogues. Screenplay must have been done by him as it is clearly seen.

Who says heroin should be pretty. One need not be pretty to become heroin.

No comments about direction and screenplay; the less we talk, the better.

Bottomline:
If you don’t have anything to do, go for this. If you don’t look for reason in anything, this is the movie for you

Special रेविएव Director Teja

It is not unusual to write reviews of a movie and it is not unusual to write review of an accomplished director. Here I am writing a review of a director who did not have many things to boast about. I am taking a terrible risk in writing off a director in this fashion. But I sincerely feel that it is worth it and also because I am thoroughly convinced that he would not do any better.

Director Teja:

Movies to his credit: Chitram, NuvvuNenu, JayamMovies to his debit: Family Circus, Jai, Nijam, Dhiryam, Avunanna Kadanna and Lakshmi Kalyanam.

Common things you find in his movie:
1) Love that spans from beginning of the movie to the end. ‘Anta Rama Mayam’ is an old saying and Teja redefined it saying that ‘Anta Prema Mayam’. A rich girl and a poor boy or vice versa is the lead character in film. They fall in love and face numerous problems and finally their love succeeds. You can’t find any thing better than this in his films. He is so obsessed.
2) A trick which he thinks he has used with proper reason. He tries to justify it in the later part of the movie. Be it showing that ‘Hero is a collector of honey because of which he barges into house of heroin and elopes with her’ or anything else. Most often than not I felt he is trying to be rational in a part of his irrational movie.
3) He pictures pain the lead characters undertake to such an extent that arouses emotion in audience. He is successful in his earlier movies but they are received with bad taste in his later ones. It is preposterous to see that director did not realize that this sort of psychological gamble wont work every time.
4) A beautiful looking girl as a heroin. A section of audience definitely falls for this but true connoisseurs look more at the acting than appearance.
5) A climax where hero hits everyone. He turns himself into larger than life hero. People who have fallen for the trick in point 3 get psychologically satiated to see this happen.

The above patterns are common to all his movies. I hardly believe that this man can be called a good director. He may be a self proclaimed great director and says that director is the real ‘hero’. I am tempted to add that director is the real ‘villain’ in case of movies of the class mentioned above. People are not expecting another LVPrasad, KVReddy, BN Reddy, Aadurti Subbarao, Viswanath or Bapu, They just are hoping for decent men who know what good direction is.

Just three hits and people start feeling as if one is Adoor GopalaKrishnan.