More of it COMING SOON!!!!

Here u can find reviews of latest movies in town. Enjoy!! 

SOUNDARYA

Reviews Coming Soon....

BLOOD DIAMOND

Blood Diamond is a gem in a season with lots of worthy movies.
Set during the late 1990s during the civil war in Sierra Leone, it is equally captivating as an action film and a sociopolitical drama. In the way that it melds those genres and weaves a romance into the mix, it is reminiscent of last year's brilliant The Constant Gardener.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a South African mercenary and diamond smuggler. It is his finest role in an impressive career, better even than his recent excellent turn as a Boston cop in The Departed. It is also the first time the boyish actor has truly seemed like a man on film. His accent is spot-on, and his surly character is more complex than is initially apparent.
A parallel story involves a powerful performance by Djimon Hounsou (In America) as a fisherman who is separated from his family and enslaved by rebel forces terrorizing his village. While forced to work in the diamond mines of Sierra Leone, he comes across a large pink diamond.
Sensing its value, he buries it, risking death if he's discovered. DiCaprio and Hounsou both end up in prison, and DiCaprio overhears someone talking about Hounsou's find. He contacts his buyers, pays Hounsou's bail and persuades the distraught fisherman to accompany him on a journey to reveal where the diamond is hidden.
Hounsou agrees to show DiCaprio where he stashed the diamond in exchange for finding his family.
Along the way the horrors of the chaotic and brutal civil war are revealed. Soldiers recruit children to perform hideously violent acts and drug them to keep them mollified. The film posits the idea that whenever a valuable natural resource has been discovered in an African nation (such as oil, gold, ivory or diamonds) the country itself rarely profits. The standard of living of its citizens is rarely improved. Instead, strife reigns and the spoils go to corrupt, affluent businesspeople in Europe or the USA.
The film also has an American presence in the form of Jennifer Connelly, an idealistic journalist looking to write a story exposing the diamond smuggling industry. She makes a deal with DiCaprio to provide key information and eventually falls for him.
Though the scenes of flying bullets and widespread carnage are shattering (especially at the hands of children), the violence — in the course of a real-life war — is organic and necessary. The varied African landscape is depicted with breathtaking beauty, as directed by Ed Zwick (Glory).
With its expansive scope and epic feel, Blood Diamond is a taut action-adventure saga that is also thought-provoking.

TIMMA

Reviews coming soon... 

PROVOKED

Inspired by the real life traumatic story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia's biography, Circle of Light, Provoked traces the anguish and agony and delivers an act that would leave everyone thinking.

Unable to bear the brutality and recurring rapes by her alcoholic husband Deepak Ahluwalia (Naveen Andrews), the battered Kiranjit (Aishwarya Rai) sets him on fire and ends the saga of her 10-year-long assaulted and abused married life.

Kiranjit is charged with murder awarded life-imprisonment. Yet, the lady feels liberated! Although she gradually learns to accept her life within the jail, her case is taken up by a non-profit group of Asian social workers running under an organisation called Southall Black Sisters. They bring her plight to the attention of the media by organising rallies and gathering public support.

And as luck would have it, Kiranjit's cellmate, Veronica Scott (Miranda Richardson) happens to the sister of Lord Edward Foster (Robbie Coltrane), a respected Queen's Counsel. Lord Foster takes up Kiranjit's cause and the English court in an unprecedented judgement pardons the accused and redefines the word 'Provocation' in the British law forever.

Mundhra's direction is very binding. Neither does he lose track nor does he overload the script with unwanted emotions and drama. The film immediately kick-starts with Kiranjit taking revenge from her husband. The director has also, correctly chosen all his actors.

Aishwarya has done a good job. She has definitely brought forth the trauma and torture borne by the character. And the absence of her overdone make-up and glamorous good-looks has made her look more attractive (!) and fit into the role well.

Although it would be wrong to say that no other actress could have done a better job, the one reason why Aishwarya's presence makes a difference is because the actress is a brand value and a reason for many cinegoers to watch a film.

Naveen Andrews is brilliant. The actor fits so perfectly into his role that you would immediately get the wrong vibes. To put it simply… you'll hate him from the word go!

Nandita Das being Nandita Das has performed well. However, it would be slightly wrong to say that the actress has put in her best. There are times when you feel she has gone overboard with her act.
Miranda Richardson is beautiful in her performance and her appearance. All other actors too have done a good job.

Although Mundhra had the script served on his platter, but turning words into action is no easy business. And that's where Provoked takes the cake. It doesn't have anything for the masala lovers nor for the comic freaks. It's a film of substance. A film based on real life. A film that would move many. A film that would make a difference in many a lives.

PREETHIGAAGI

Coming Soon... 

EKADANTA

This is the real moving cinema – 'Chalana Chitra'. The film inside the bus in a gripping and cautious style is narrated by famous Marathi and Hindi actor cum writer Sachin in his debut Kannada direction. He has picked his own novel 'Chala Na Gade'. Besides the hilarious presentation of the film Sachin has shown the right attitude. He knows the pulse of the audience, he has picked the right artists and made 'Ekadantha' that is a very good family entertainer.

Like the omnipresent lord Ganesha comedy subject is also similar. The people come to theatre to forget their worries and get entertainment. This is exactly what happens when you get into watch 'Ekadantha'. This is a wholesome entertainer packed with good comedy, sentiment, songs, performances and photography.

Vakky (Ramesh Aravind) and Bhakthi (Prema) are middle class married couple. Vakky is a painter and Bhakthi is employed as telephone operator. Bhakthi wants a child but Vakky is not interested because since six years of his marriage he wants to first settle down. He is not able to meet the additional expenses with new addition in the family. This is the typical middle class style! The aunt of Bhakthi reminds that the religious vow of the family has not been fulfilled and that is the reason for lack of progress in life for her. Vakky's father had forgotten to bring his son nude and offer prayer after the birth. Now this has to be done for fruitful life says the aunt. So what Bhakthi should do? She has to convince her husband Vakky for nude worship to Lord Ganesha at Ganapathipura. This is impossible says Vakky. The continuous quarrel with his wife Bhakthi makes Vakky to think on an alternative. He stitches a plot that says the naked idol of Vakky taken around the temple premises would solve the pending vow.

Accordingly Vakky's(vakratunda's) idol is prepared and it is brought in the bus from Mysore to Ganapathipura very secretly. The passengers traveling in this bus are of different nature and their belief is that the prayer offered to Ganapathipura Ganesha would solve all their problems. The conductor of this bus is Vijay ( Dr.Vishnuvardhana) and the driver is Mallayya (Ramesh Bhat). Each one in the bus Vakky and Bhakthi are traveling have a different story. Managing varied thoughts and styles of commuters is hectic for Vijay while it is piquant situation for Vakky as his idol is below the last seat of the same bus. It is a prestige question for him. In the middle of journey one more passenger adds to this bus and at this time we get to hear Diamond Danny with Rs.80 crores worth of diamond is traveling in this bus. As the bus reaches Ganapathipura it is tension ridden time. Diamond Danny hides the diamond in the idol brought by Vakky and Bhakthi. At Ganapathipura Vakky runs away with the idol. He is followed by goons to get hold of the diamonds. What happens later, how Vakky offers the nude worship what he gets in return at the end is interesting part.

In this film all the artistes have given good performance. For Dr.Vishnuvardhana it is a cake walk. He is the conductor in the film. This is different kind of role for him. Ramesh and Prema make the perfect couple. Dayanand, Monica, Ramesh Bhat, Kaminidharan, Mandya Ramesh, Umasri, Gurukiran have given very good support.

Gurukiran has given three pleasant tunes. Hogona Hogona…, title song and Bandal Badayi Madheva…, are worth hearing. The item song could have been avoided and a song on Karnataka to match the 50 years of Karnataka would have been the right approach. The emotional scene at the dancer's place could have been placed in a different style.

The cinematography in this kind of film is a challenge. Placing the camera inside the moving bus and making it more pleasant to eyes is very well handled by PKH Das.

This is a film worth watching. Don't miss. This is a laughter challenge too among the artistes. 

PARODI

Superstar Upendra coming back after a series of debacles in the last years fails to impress once again in this hotchpotch remake film. Drawing inspiration to a maximum extent from 'Kranthiveer' (of Nana Patekar) the film 'Parodi' is disgusting with nothing new in it. What for a creative thinker actor and director Upendra accepted this project? What is the new thing he found in this? Is it just to increase his bank balance? GOK – God Only Knows. A senior director Om Saiprakash with nearly 80 plus films to his credit has not used the minimum common sense.

Vijay (Upendra) is the wayward in the childhood (but why does he becomes like that-director gives no answer). He bunks the classes, plays cards collecting friends. This is shocking to his mother and grandfather who have great hopes on him. The grandfather knowing the true colors of Vijay, dies of heart attack while his mother kicks him out of the house giving a label of 'Parodi'. Vijay runs away from his village to become a street smart. He is recognized by a money lender who uses him for his whims and fancies. Vijay has his own ideologies. He does not like those who say it is not possible. Vijay is a source of energy for the people in his colony. In comes the problem from heavy weights in the society to the colony where Vijay is living. The Hindu and Muslim community disturbance created by miscreants reaches the peak. Parodi takes law in to his hands at this stage and kills the judge, police officer and two politicians in the day light. The revolutionary thinking in Vijay finally lands him into trouble. He is sentenced to gallows. Just before Vijay is hanged he is saved as documents provided by journalist support Vijay. Vijay has killed the crooked ones is proved.

All the scenes and plots we see in this film are very old. 'Kranthiveer' in Hindi was released a decade ago. The rehashing of the subject and inclusion of latest information has not struck the mind of the director.

Upendra has to rethink on selection of his roles. He looks good, dances well and action scenes are mind blowing. Neha is not impressive. Rangayana Raghu renders good support as stingy money lender. Umasri is too much dramatic in her short role.

Cinematography by Ramesh Babu is OK but not the music. Rajesh Ramanath picks the popular tunes and adjusted it with new lyrics.

This is disappointing even for Upendra fans.

DUNIYA

It's a welcome trend that new Kannada filmmakers are taking the industry to new heights and direction. Films like Mungaru Male and Jothe Jotheyalli are examples of the new turn of events. Remakes are failing at the box office while original films are making waves.

Duniya directed by Soori is one film that will make every Kannadiga proud. Soori and Mungaru Male director Yogaraj Bhat form the new breed of directors who believe in originality. Soori was the scriptwriter of Bhat's earlier films like Mani and   Ranga SSLC.

The success of Duniya is mainly due to its presentation. Of course, we cannot forget the fantastic work done by the technical department and memorable and honest portrayal by its actors. Its story is authentic, narration and dialogues real, emotions genuine, and there are no gimmicks in acting or presentation.

Duniya is the story of the oppressed and the suppressed section of society who have been denied access to quality life, education and decent living space. Shivalingu, the protagonist of Duniya is one such person in Bangalore and his only ambition is to build a tomb for his dead mother.

Shivalingu comes to the city from his village after burying his dead mother. He saves Poornima, a poor girl studying in college from a group of rapists. When the girl is driven out of the place where she has been staying, it becomes inevitable for both Shivalingu and Poornima to stay together. Help comes from a drunkard who has connections with the underworld. And thus starts Shivalingu's difficult journey in such an environment. Hounded by both the police and the underworld, he becomes a victim of deceit. The film ends when Shivalingu and Poornima end their lives unable to bear the hurdles in front of them.

Soori has used all the commercial elements to make the film appealing to all the sections of the audience. Besides the stark reality in presentation, it is his writing talent that wins the battle for Duniya.

He has received tremendous assistance from cinematographer Sathya Hegde. Manohar's musical score is also another highlight of the film. The songs Kariya I love you, Nodayya Kwate Lingave
 and the title song are well shot and well composed. 

This is Vijay's first film as the hero but he has certainly proved that he has oodles of talent.  His performance is one of the best seen in recent times. Rashmi is the real find of this film.

Duniya is a must see.

SAJINI

There was a lot of hype around Sajini and that was mainly because A R Rahman had composed the music of the film. And it was for the first time that he was doing it for a Kannada film. Unfortunately none of the tunes are original; he had composed them first for the Tamil film Jodi a film that had Prashanth and Simran in the lead roles. Fortunately, all the songs are well choreographed and well shot.  

Though Sajini has all the ingredients of a good family entertainer, it doesn't rise above mediocrity.

Sajini may not be a scene by scene remake of the Tamil film Jodi, but its story line and script is heavily inspired by it and also the recently released Telugu hit Bommarillu.

The main weak point of Sajini is its script. It is quite evident that first time director Murugesh has not done his homework well. The lesson: you cannot make a hit film by just by borrowing from two hit films!

The first half is weak while the second has too many songs. Finally, it gathers pace only to convey a strong message, which is the importance of taking elders into confidence while choosing your life partner that may appeal to the conservative family audience!

The love relationship of Sajini and Vikram start while they study in London. But they marry only after they get approval from their parents!

There are two cinematographers in the film; one who shot the parts in London and the other in Bangalore and indoors. The London parts are visually brilliant and of high quality, though the same cannot be said of the  Bangalore shots. The difference in quality strikes you.

Newcomer Sharmila rocks and has a bright future ahead for her. Dhyan who had shown his mettle earlier is wooden faced in emotional sequences. But it is Anant Nag, Avinash, Chitra Shenoy and Shivaram who elevate the film through their brilliant performances.

Sajini is a feel good film with rich production values. But you will forget it the moment you come out of the theatre.

BLACK FRIDAY

Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Black Friday’ is a hard-hitting movie that revisits the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai in which more than 300 people died and many were injured. Audaciously and uncompromisingly, director goes deeply into the terror attacks and probes its reasons and aftermath.

The movie, based on journalist S. Hussain Zaidi’s book, is not a documentary. But it compellingly documents the build-up to the blast and the ensuing investigation by the police. It goes into the lives of key players like Tiger Memon (played by Pawan Malhotra), his henchman Badshah Khan (Aditya Srivastava) and ACP Rakesh Maria (Kay Kay Menon), who investigated the case.

In the opening reels itself, movie comes to the point. A blast on Dalal Street rocks the bustling Bombay Stock Exchange. And within hours, a series of blasts occur at various sites in Mumbai. Dead bodies, amputated limbs, blood smattered debris, shell-shocked survivors – the movie shows it all with unapologetic boldness.

The narrative of ‘Black Friday’ is multi-layered. Alongside the bomb blasts, the film also documents the journey of an angry, revenge seeking Muslim youth, Badshah Khan, from Delhi to Rajasthan and still further. Anurag pays a lot of attention to this character as it signifies the angst among Muslim youths.

Then there is also Tiger Memon, the main accused, who spells out the reasons for the attacks at the film’s fag end.

On the other hand, the movie also focuses on Additional Commissioner of Police, Rakesh Maria, who interrogates and cross-examines a number of suspects behind the blasts. Here, too, Anurag audaciously shows the methods and tortures used by the cops to get to the heart of the case.

Taking least possible cinematic liberty and retaining objectivity throughout the film, Anurag Kashyap tells a compelling and disturbing story in ‘Black Friday’. He also imbues the movie with different colour tones, makes some visuals grainy for the required effect and uses the background music (and even silences) to recreate the horror of the terror attacks that scarred many lives.

Besides Kashyap’s superb direction, ‘Black Friday’ rests on strong performances by almost every single actor in it. Pawan Malhotra, as the intense and revengeful Tiger Memon, is brilliant. Kay Kay Menon, as ACP Maria, is outstanding. Aditya Shrivastava enacts his part of angry youth with conviction.

Actor Vijay Maurya plays a small but effective role as the underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Other actors like Arbaaz Ali and Zakir Hussain are competent.

In a nutshell, ‘Black Friday’ is a disturbing movie that may reopen some old wounds. But it is worth one’s while to re-examine the ‘truth’ behind the heinous attacks.

Strongly Recommended.

POLICE STORY 2

DIRECTOR Thriller Manju and Saikumar have teamed up for a sequel of Police Story that was released 10 years ago.

Police Story has everything that made the original a sort of trend-setter —Saikumar’s hamming, over-the-top dialogues, foul language, lots of killings and of course Thriller’s stunts.

The film starts off where the first one ended. Agni (Saikumar) is still overkilling bad guys who dare take on ‘Karnataka Police.’ He is still mouthing lengthy dialogues and shouting every line. This time around Agni has to take on Thimakka who wants to take revenge because our cop has killed her son. All evil cronies efforts to eliminate Agni fail. So, it is time for the original villain Black Tiger (Shobraj) ‘hanged till death’ in the first episode to make a surprise comeback.

When a rowdy-sheeter becomes the chief minister, Agni’s problems brimmeth over. Have no doubts that Agni will succeed against all odds.

The film is a time-pass affair. It may not pull the family crowd but Thriller Manju has never confessed to trying to do that. If you know how to whistle and have enjoyed doing that in Saikumar’s movies, then this is the film for you. You are guaranteed to come out with his dialogs at the tip of your toungue.

ARRASU

This is another telltale film on love, friendship, class distinctions and worldly realities. Although neatly made, it falters at various levels and struggles to push through its point of view. Despite a promising start, it ends up as another dull narrative.

Director Mahesh Babu's inability to perceive the theme betrays the producer's claim that the late thespian Dr.Rajkumar and his younger brother the late Varadappa were all appreciation for the script. The very title of the film "Arasu" is interesting.

But the director Mahesh Babu fails to get to the depth of the title and limits himself to superficial things. The term "Arasu" in Kannada has many contextual connotations. Its general meaning would be king, and search. In the context, the title is applicable to the name and status of the hero and his search for the boundaries of human bondage.

Rich and careless young man Shivraj Urs (Puneet Rajkumar) falls in love with his employee's daughter Shrithi (Ramya). But Shrithi challenges the hero to prove his worth by earning money on his own. In the course of proving his mettle, the hero comes across Aishwarya (Meera Jasmine) and realises the boundaries of love and friendship. Puneet's acting and stylish appearance and histrionics of Ramya and Meera Jasmine give an edge to the otherwise stale theme.

The climax looks like as if it would impress the 'class' audience, but it actually does not as the justification that the director provides for the climax is just not sufficient. The guest appearances of Darshan and Aditya looks waste.

Songs of this movie are just good to listen. Puneeth steals the show in action. Meera Jasmine steals the show in acting. Ramya steals it in glamour. Finally, its left to the audience to make it win or lose! 

GURU

Meet India's most powerful man,........
"If you don't dream you will be stuck to your village all your life."
"There is a saying in our village - if people say bad things about you, you must be doing something good."
"I don't want to walk.... I want to run." [Turkey 1951]
"If a law can be made in a day, it can be changed in a day."
"I only know one thing..... there is only one person like me here... only one Guru."
"I don't fear the public. I am the public"
These are the words of Gurukant Desai(Abhishek Bachchan) in various stages of his life. Guru, a simple guy from Idhar village in Gujarat always dreams big things in life. His father(Rajendra Gupta) doesnt agree with him saying that dreams never come true. But as Guru grows up even his dreams also grow big. And he sets off to Turkey to earn money. There with his friend (Manoj Joshi) he distributes petrol cans to earn his livelihood. There too his dreams cant hold him back and he returns back to India after rejecting an offer to work for a rich man saying that he wants to be rich and not work for someone. Back home, he gets married to a village girl Sujata(Aishwarya Rai) after he gets to know from her brother, Jignesh(Arya Babbar) that her father(Sachin Khedekar) has saved lots of money for her dowry. Guru plans to use this money for starting a business of his own at Bombay.

So in pursuit of making in big in business he comes to Bombay with Sujata and Jignesh. In Mumbai, truth dawns upon Guru that the business world is a closed community ruled by a handful of rich and influential people who don't believe in giving opportunities to new players. Despite barriers, he starts a company called Shakti Trading and climbs the ladder of success at a furious pace.

Manik Dasgupta aka Nanaji [Mithun Chakraborty], who publishes a newspaper Swatantra,THE INDEPENDENT, treats Guru as his son. But when he learns that Guru's means to make it big are not right, he along with the Editor of his newspaper, Shyam [Madhavan], decide to expose Guru's unjust ways. The rest is the story where Nanaji and Guru confront over ideals and ethics and it culminates with the very catchy reposition of Guru before an enquiry commission set up to probe into irregularities in Guru's business and his growth as the biggest businessman in India.

Touted as a bio-pic based on Reliance's Dheerubhai Ambani's life, the movie is very grasping and has been handled very well by the master of story telling - Mani Ratnam. Irrespective of how his films are received by the paying public, no one can deny the fact that a Mani Ratnam film is special! Special in many ways!!!! This time Mani, the supremely talented storyteller narrates the story of a man who rises from nothing and becomes the premier industrialist of the country through sheer hard work, determination, passion and grit. GURU is tremendously inspiring and makes anyone feel all the more confident to encounter challenges and hurdles that may crop up in a journey called life. This movie will add to his credentials as a superb film maker who has given us the great visual delights like Roja, Bombay, Dil Se..., Yuva, Alaipayuthey, Kannattil Muthamittal, Geetanjali ! Every sequence in GURU bears the stamp of a genius and the outcome is tremendous!!!

Coming to performances, its truly Abhishek's movie and he would surely win all the awards this time for his tremendous performance as the main protogonist! He makes us laugh, he makes us cry and we relieve all the emotions that he experiences. The role demands him to portray a guy in his teenage to his old age and Abhishek does it too much to perfection. The makeup and body language to suit various stages in his life are the main highlights. This movie truly would be a giant leap for this talented actor.
Aishwarya too gives a superb performance and impresses everyone with her acting. The chemistry between Abhishek and Aishwarya is too good to watch! We feel very much for her when she takes up the role of her husband's voice when he is half-paralyzed and cannot speak.
The other performance which draws our attention is by our own Mithun-da who delivers a natural performance all through. This just reminded me of the real Mithun after a long time since Agneepath and Prem Pratigyaa which were his best serious performances till date.Madhavan is just there but is as charming and refreshing when he confronts Guru. Vidya Balan as Nanaji's disabled daughter and later Madhavan's wife is just there doing nothing much. Arya Babbar is wasted in a bit role. Mallika Sherawat just dances to the tunes of "Maiyya Maiyya" when Guru is in Turkey. The other commendable performances are by Manoj Joshi, Roshan Seth (as chief of investgating commission) and Sachin Khedekar.

Music has always been a intimate part of Maniratnam's movies and as usual A R Rahman holds the show here. " Maiyya Maiyya" and "Barso re Barso" are too good to hear and watch. "Tere Bina" is a duet which is very melodious. "Ek Lo Ek Muft" is a funny song sung by Bappi Lahiri which Guru sings celbrating the birth of his twin daughters. The background score by Rahman is topnotch.

Rajiv Menon's cinematography is truly of international quality where he captures everything from the 1950s look till present day. The scenic beauty of Hampi and Badami are a treat to watch on the big screen. The last five minutes of the movie where Menon uses different camera speeds to give a superb effect to the scene where Guru gives his statment in front of the enquiry commission. Vijay Krishna Acharya's dialogues are too good. The writing in the last twenty minutes of the movie is fantastic.

There are a few loose ends in the movie though as in Guru's confrontation with Jignesh is not very well explained and also the romance between Madhavan and Vidya is somewhat out of track. (their smooch is very aesthetically filmed ...:) )

On the whole, GURU is one of the finest films to come out of the Hindi film industry. Three Cheers to Mani for giving us such a movie. It has already got good opening everywhere and the recent Abhi-Aish engagement will surely add to its success.

JUGAARI CROSS @ rangashankara

ee RAJEEV... gandhi alla?...

Seeing the promos I was very excited about watching an out and out action movie in Kannada and that too with police touch. The promos are good no doubt. The action and a superb performance as the action hero by Vijay Raghavendra should only attract the mass as there is no perfect story.. It just looks like a commercial documentary to convey a very good message in a harsh way. 

The movie has good stars two good stars Vijay Raghavendra and Rakshita. The movie seems to bank only on the action oriented performance of Vijay who carries on the job well. The movie tells the story of bravery of 5 police officers of crime branch of Bangalore city and also about their crusade against rowdies, underworld, press and politicians.

The movie starts off well with good narration about the five police officers Rajeev Rai(Vijay Raghavendra), Shravya (Rakshita), Vivek, Musa and Bhiku who are working in Crime Branch Bangalore and their only motto is to free Bangalore from crime and their methods are very very bloody.  Their main motto is pumping bullets into body of underworld people and rowdies. In the due course they confront with Dubai based underworld leader names Samson(Shobharaj) and his brother Bachchan. With their act, they become heroes in people's view but they face the ire of the lady Human Rights Commissioner. Their only support is their senior officer who would be shielding them. But once they come in the view of Human Rights Commissioner, he is forced to transfer them to normal police jobs. Here also they perform their duties with full sincerity and try to highlight the problems faced by Police Officers and Constables during their course of duty and bring these to the notice of their seniors. While they are busy with their normal police duties, the underworld activities of extortion etc., increase in Bangalore with Bachchan coming to Bangalore and creating terror. Even the Human Rights Commissioner's child is kidnapped for ransom and is killed and that's when she realizes their necessity in Crime Branch and they get back the job which they are good at! They continue their job of hunting down the underworld people and end up killing Bachchan after he kills Musa. That's when Samson is enraged and comes to Bangalore vowing to kill all of them. He hatches a plan to replace their supporter-the commissioner with his man. Also he plans to break their friendship and damage their career. Will he succeed in his intentions and how does Rajeev and his friends face this? Will they succumb to his plots or fight back is the main story.

With this there are sentimental moments wherein the relationship of Rajeev and his sister (Pavitra Lokesh) is brought about very well. Also, the love between Shravya and Rajeev is given some highlight. But what catches in the movie are its hard hitting dialogues which target towards the Press, Politicians and the Public. Two scenes are very catchy. One wherein the five officers confront the police saying they are doing wrong in accepting bribe quoting their low salary as reason and second is one wherein they confront their new commissioner calls their deceased friend is a mess and they should clean up the mess. Also finally there is a message by Ravi Belegere who puts question to the public about their role in making this society a better place to live by supporting the police by treating them as humans.

Speaking about the technicalities of the movie, the screenplay has a very fast pace which takes a beat with the two unnecessary songs. But I do agree that the songs are required to give a relief to the people from the blood bath all through the movie. One song is an item number which was quite unnecessary. The other one is a duet which I felt was quite out of frame. The music and background score by Sadhu Kokila are just ok and at times too loud to suit the action. Good camerawork to suit the action sequences is mindblowing. But I wonder if it was really required to use so much green filters while filming. The dialogues by Rajashekar and Ramesh are very hard hitting and sometimes very vulgar to invite lots and lots of beeps all through the movie. The dialogues where they speak about the status and real lives of police inspectors and constables, confrontantion with politicians explaining situation of police and their confrontation with their new commissioner after their friend's death are really good.

The direction by Ravi Srivatsa is good and he handles the narration very well. But finally what I wonder about is his intention behind the movie - whether to glorify police or to give a message that nothing can change here in this society and also that honesty in a policeman is bound to ruin him. Finally I came out of the theatre with a question myself that what the director was trying to prove.

Coming to performances, its clearly Vijay Raghavendra who steals the show with his action. He emotes well in his scenes with Rakshita and his sister. Rakshita does a good job as a police officer. Good to see her in such a serious role. But one thing which I noticed was she just disappears in action sequences while the other four are bashing the goons. Quite natural!!! J Shobharaj as Samson is always on phone in the movie fails to impress as the villain. Other three officers ? Vijay, Nagashekhar and Hareesh Rai are just there doing their part. Pavitra Lokesh surprises with her act as Rajeev's sister. She proves that she is talented and needs better roles.

Talking about box office, I personally feel this might not get the family audience which is very much required because of this bloody action and (at-times) vulgar dialogues. Also it might take a back seat because of the other releases Shivrajkumar ? Rakshita's "Thayiya Madilu" which is a family tear jerker and also Abhishek-Aishwarya starrer "Guru" which has got a good opening.

I finally feel that Ravi Srivatsa should have taken steps towards making it more watchable with the family. Actually I found exactly two ladies in balcony in the theatre where I watched the movie. That's what might affect its box-office performance very much.

SIXER

Reviews Coming Soon...

NEELAKANTA

Reviews Coming Soon... 

MUNGAARU MALE

At the end of the year, we have a great film which will can bring a charm to the industry in the new year.

Mungaaru Male is a film nearer to reality packed with real life emotions, comedy and seriousness. Coming to the plot, Preetham (Ganesh) is the lead character of the film. He is a flamboyant boy. He instantly falls in love (as well as manhole!) with Nandini (Sanjana Gandhi) amidst the rain. When it rains, it makes way for sprouting of seeds. Similarly, love sprouts in the heart of Preetham in between the rain and grows in the house of Nandini situated in Madikeri. Preetham comes to know that Nandini is the daughter of his mother’s friend later. Preetham comes to know that Nandini is already engaged to a Doctor who saved her father’s life.

The film moves smoothly through first half with good comedy mixed with the story. As the film heads towards the climax, it takes the form of seriousness. The scene where the mother of Nandini thinks that Preetham is joking, while Preetham says the truth is very nice. The helplessness of Preetham touches our heart. Subsequent scene where Preetham sleeps on his mother’s feet is a very emotional one. The film ends with a unexpected climax. The death of the Rabbit, which would be there with him all through out his love episode, symbolizes the death of his love. The director gives a message that “love is pleasant... But sacrifice is eternal'.
 
The film attracts the audience very closely to it. The story is of a kind which may happen in anyone’s life. The director has showcased Coorg culture in a beautiful way. The edge of the Jog falls shown from high angle shot and bird’s eye shot makes for the most memorable scene of the film. It sends chills down the spines! The Jog Falls have been shown in a way never shown before.
 
Thanks to Krishna’s breathtaking camera work, every scene looks marvelous. The locales of Madikeri and Sakaleshapura have been caught very well. Director Yogaraj Bhat succeeds in telling a love story in a easy going way. The screenplay is tight. The way the story unfolds by way of mild comedy is good. Narration is fresh. The dialogues have a punching power in some situations.

Music by Mano Murthy is mellifluous. Specially the songs “kunidu kunidu bare”, “onde ondu saari”, “anisutide yaako indu.” The song “kunidu kunidu bare” reminds us of another song “hariva nadiyu neenu” composed by same Mano Murthy for an album. Jayanth Kaykini has provided poetic lyrics. Kaviraj has given good lyrics for one song. Yogaraj Bhat has penned the title song which goes deep into the things related with rain and its similarity to love. "bhuvi kenne tumba mugilu surida muttina gurutu, nanna edeya tumba avalu banda hejje gurutu" -- Lines like this are found in all the songs.

For Ganesh, this film is a turning point. From comedy to seriousness. He has performed beyond expectations (expressions, dance). Sanjana Gandhi is equally good as a silent, sensitive girl. Ananth Nag, Padmaja Rao and Sudha Belawadi become the pillars for the film. The director has to be commended for taking a risk by casting newcomers, risky climax. Seems like the director has done lot of planning for everything which is missing in many directors. A telugu film had rain in its background, but there was no link to it with the story so much. But here, the director shows intimate relation of the rain to most of the aspects of the film. The director has utilised the eternal nature in many ways. The usage of Rabbit (Devdas) for communication is quite interesting.

This film happens to be the last film released in this year. This year experienced some worst films and controversies. Watching this film will make us forget all the bitter experiences of the whole year. 

BY Gandhadagudi Govu !

BHAGAM BHAG

Reviews Coming Soon... 

KALLARALI HOOVAAGI

TENALI RAMA

Tenali Rama is an out and out comedy movie. Hatrick director, Nagendra Magadi has come up with an other comedy movie after "Olu Saar Olu" and "Honeymoon Express". Ramesh and Jaggesh combine for the firstes time together imn a movie. Jaggesh has performed very well in this movie.
The plot goaes this way... Tenali(Ramesh) and Rama(Jaggesh) are friends who live together. Tenali is a B.Com 1st class graduate and Rama will be a SSLC graduate. They both will be working as peons in the same office. They both start liking one girl and they compete against each other to get her. They will lose their jobs also while trying to do such things. They try to get loan to buy a cow to do milk business. But they get fooled and end up buying a bullock. Later the girl also marries somebody else taking help from Tenali Rama itself. Fed up of all this, they both decide to go to Dubai. They board a ship, whose owner promises them that they would be shipped to Dubai without the need of a passport/visa. Again the duo get fooled and they land up in Goa. The confusions start here and finally they end up in catching a few underworld dons unknowingly.
The presentation of the movie looks perfect. The comedy in the movie looks flowing continiously. Its just the right kannada movie that any person can enjoy. Ramesh looks smarter in this movie. Jaggesh and his mannerisms looks justified and funny! Komal Kumar has done justice to the comedy role that has been offered to him though it doesnt have much connection with the main stream story. Ranghaayana Raghu has again done an amazing job in this movie. Mukyamantri Chandru, Srinath, Dharma have also done well.
Music by R P Patnaik is average but melodious. S V Babu looks like he is again a winner. 

DHOOM 2

 Reviews Coming Soon...

C/O FOOTPATH

C/O Footpath is the movie which can make not only Karnataka proud, but even has made the whole of India proud. Master Kishan creates a history by becoming the world's youngest movie director. He has also succeeded in his efforts of directing and acting. This way, C/O Footpath becomes a masterpiece for Kannada film industry. Great artists of India like Jackie Shroff, Saurabh Shukla, Tara, Sudeep, Rebel Star Ambarish, Ravi Belagere, Mimicry Dayanand, B.Jayashree etc have been a part of this movie along with Master Kishan himself.

The story is all about the success story of a small rag picker whose address is supposed to be "C/O Footpath". The rag picker, who has no parents will be living in a slum and his name would also be 'slum'(Master Kishan) :D. B.Jayashree has managed the role of the guardian of 'slum'. 'Slum' develops interest in studies and starts learning with the help of children who go to school everyday by completing his rag picking work everyday early morning. He struggles hard and completes all the lessons up to 5th Std at his small age of 8 years without any proper teacher, time and books. Later he wins the heart of certain people, teachers and manages to get admission to the school for 3rd standard. But he rejects that because he would be sure that he has completed all lessons up to 5th standard. This delays 'Slum's admission to school and he continues reading lessons and comes up to 7th standard lessons. Later his guardian ( whom he calls mother) dies. Will Slum get admission for the right class(standard)? Will he get to write the examination? How does he succeed in life later? Kishan gives a reply in an amazing way in this movie.

Saurabh Shukla of Bollywood has acted as MLA's sisya and gives the right expressions. Rebel Star Ambarish wishes Kishan, all the best, in the first scene. Kiccha Sudeep makes a guest appearance by taking the role of filling enthusiasm in to 'Slum'. Jackie Shroff  as the Chief minister looks uncomfortable with doing lip movements to adjust to kannada dialogues. Ravi Belagere gives his 'Crime story' voice in the beginning of the movie. Music looks fairly cool and suits the sequences in which they are put in.

Master Kishan has not failed one bit in  directing this master piece. Hats off  his confidence, courage and of course his talent! This movie has already won 2  state awards. Master Kishan has already also entered Guinness Book of World Records for being the youngest director in the world which had a European's name all this time in that place.

Overall, its the best movie possible to see for children who go to school. Its the one movie that any Kannadiga should watch also. :-)

I wish Kishan all the best  in his future endeavors.

TANANAM TANANAM

Tananam Tananam, is the first movie in which the 2 (R)s of Sandalwood have acted together. Yes, Rakshita and Ramya have done a great job by accepting to act in this movie together. Ramya looks cute as usual and Rakshita has not disappointed her fans. Kavitha Lankesh, whose movies have never failed to impress the class audience has given a mega treat for kannadigas this way!

The main heroine of this movie can be told as Ramya as the story revolves only around this girl even though Rakshita's role is the most important role for the story.

Sham, a young, talented, smart guy who comes to the village to learn violin from his uncle(Girish Karnad), whose daughter is Ramya.  Bharathi plays the role of mother of Ramya. Looking at the talent, nature, potential of Sham, Ramya's parents decide to arrange for Ramya's marriage with Sham. Ramya also starts liking Sham. At the same time, a stage drama team arrives in to the village for daily shows. Rakshita would be the main heroine of the whole drama team because of her beauty and talent. Rakshita will also be the main reason for the survival of her team. As many of the men in that village, even Sham gets attracted towards Rakshita and blindly falls in deep love with her. He loses interest in his music practice and other activities and falls behind Rakshita. Later Rakshita tries to explain her weaknesses and her helplessness which is making her not to accept Sham's proposal and leaves the city along with her team. Sham in an accident loses his eyesight and later becomes very depressed about Rakshita even though Ramya cares for him a lot at home. Whom will Sham marry? How will Ramya try to make blind Sham happy? These questions are well answered by kavitha lankesh in the movie.

The movie would have been made much better. The lack of good editing can be clearly seen during start of song sequences and other main scenes. Comedy scenes have been inserted forcefully with hardly any comedy! The stage play sequences of Rakshita slows down the tempo of the story.

Music has come out well with all songs melodious. Girish Karnad gives his majestic usual performance. Ramya has acted the climax in style. Sham needs to improve a lot in acting even though he appears good in some scenes. Looks like its a fairly good movie for the family. Lets see!...

http://www.chitraloka.com/hubli/00002/00002.swf

'Hubballi' is supposed to be the biggest venture of 2006 in Kannada Cinema. Om Prakash Rao, after the success of 'A K 47', 'Huccha','Mandya' has come back for sudeep with an other typical "mass"movie. Sudeep, in his last movie tasted failure("tirupathi"). This film just looks like tirupathi-part 2 with some suspense.
The story line (plot) looks good even though its a remake of an English movie "Bourne Identity". The story also looks convincing. Screenplay has been made very loose, as if audience only like Action and suspense and they wont find out mistakes in link-less scenes!
The first half looks like a suspense thriller... but it wont last long. The much awaited suspense opens up just before the interval. After that, the guess work works!
The story starts with a unidentified person found near a railway track who would be severly beaten all over and head smashed. The traces of poison also in his body makes case confusing as whether it was a murder attempt or suicide attempt. Between this, this person (sudeep) loses his memory. Rakshita, a mod girl gives him blood in the hospital. Sudeep after getting discharged from the hospital, tries to find out something about himself. He tries to use the credit card which would be found in his pocket while found. But as even that would be smashed, not much can be done with that card. Sudeep also also kills and hurts a few people who come to stop him as they doubt he is abnormal. This makes sudeep a wanted guy for the police. He hides in a house with the help of the girl who gave him blood at the hospital and later continues to find out about his identity.
Will he be able to find out his identity? What made him go in to this state? Will he remember his past? All these questions are answered satisfactorily in the movie.
The main highlight is the action in the movie. Its exciting to see Tata sumos, Santro Cars, Jeeps, Bikes jump over lorrys and all that in a chase sequence.
Tennis Krishna does some comedy. Songs are not so melodious. Sudeep does 200% good acting. He looks amazing in the movie. Rakshita has done her job satisfactorily.
Will have to wait and watch to see whether people can make this a real mass film!

PAANDAVARU

"Pandavaru" is a well packaged film with some commercial elements which appeal to baser instincts. It is like a made to order entertainer made with a big star cast, five of them heroes at one time or the other.

Ambareesh who has now been in news for getting the post of Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting makes his return in the role of an elder brother patriarch in the film and gets full marks for it.

Even the other heroes have delivered perfect performance in this louder, cruder film which does not rise above the level of being a very ordinary film. The film which is a remake of "Hulchal" however has some interesting moments in the second half and comedy elements in the first half. "Hulchal'' was itself a remake of a Malayalam Hit "God Father" which had also tasted big success.

"Pandavaru" is set in a rural and feudal background deals with a united family of five brothers and their hatred against another feudal family dating back to two decades.

There is lot of blood shed, revengeful dialogues, fights all packed with a little bit of love element between the youngest brother of one family and a young girl in another family. The story is not new as Kannada audiences have seen such films many a times earlier. It is the old wine in an old bottle, as the film is filled with some rude dialogues, crude comedy and loud sentimental sequences. But still it can be likeable to the mass audience who may like such elements. And the combination of actors adds a special appeal to the film.

K.V.Raju has also worked for filling the film with the elements made to entertain the audience and has used the talents of his artists to full advantage. That is essentially what makes "Pandavaru" enjoyable despite its ordinary script and age old narration. K.V.Raju has also been able to get the best from his cinematographer and editor for making the film slick and fast paced.

"Pandavaru" might have chosen an old narrative technique, but yet it will look convincing and entertaining.

The strength of "Pandavaru" comes in the second half, when Actor Jaggesh takes over the film. He is really the best of the lot with his comedy timing. The first half of the film belongs to Ram Kumar and Nagashekhar who plays his crony and the love angle between Ram Kumar and Gurlin Chopra. Some of the sequences in this portion are listless, though some interest is added whenever the revenge element crops in. It is the antics of Jaggesh and Tara who plays the role of his wife which is really enjoyable.

The choice of artists is the best thing that has happened for the film and Raja has been able to get the best out of all the leading artists. Rebel Star Ambareesh as the elder brother patriarch, Devaraj and Abhijith have come out with some good performances, though it is Jaggesh and Nagashekhar who plays the role of crony of the youngest brother Ram Kumar who steal the show.

Ram Kumar looks good in song and fight sequences, though he has very less opportunity in terms of emotional sequences. Multilingual actress Aishwarya is commendable in her role of a revenge thirsty woman. Her mother Lakshmi had played the role in the original Malayalam film and had won the laurels. Aishwarya is equally good in the same role. Tara comes out best in her comic cameo. Gurlin Chopra who had already worked in two Kannada films and had done very little to justify her inclusion has come out better in this film. Avinash and Sathyajith are wasted.

"Pandavaru" is an enjoyable film, but the fact that it is a remake with less of sensitivity and more of crudity may be a negative factor. Actor Ram Kumar who has proved his mettle as a producer is certain to win this battle as a producer.

DON

DON, the multi-starrer, most expected movie has been released as promised before, on Diwali-Eid. A remake of Amitabh Bacchan starrer 'DON', now made by Farhan Akhtar is a actually a remix of original 'DON' to suit the present generation. The movie features how 'DON' keeps escaping all attempts to catch him and his team by the police and opposite gangs. The movie doesnt show any scene to explain the kind of bussiness('deal') being done by DON and his team except for the discussion about DON that goes on amongst the police. The twists in the movie makes the audience sit on the edge of the seats. The intermission twist and climax twists are the most amazing twists of the movie!
All songs are impressive for the fact that they are remix versions of the original ones. The title song has been given a new color, retaining the original base tune by Shankar Ehsaan loy. Much of the scenes that happen in the underworld has been shot with a green tinge. Action scenes has not exceeded reality and hence looks a bit natural. 

Sharukh Khan, even though doesn't reach Amitabh's class acting, manages the main role well in most of the scenes.Priyanka Chopra shines again in this movie which has made her increase her 'pay per movie' considerably. Kareena and Isha appear 'now and then' in the movie and have done justice to their roles. Arjun Rampal has done his role with style.
For guys out there who have watched the original DON and remember the stroy well, the new 'DON' is still a good movie.
For others, I say it would be wonderful experience to watch the movie.

Some famous dialogues:
-"DON ko pakadna sirf muskil hi nahin, naamumkin hain"
-"DON ka dushman ka sabse bada galathi yeh hain ki woh DON ka dushman hain"

SHRADHAA @ 'rangashankara'

This play by the new troupe "Panchamukhi Natara Samuha" (staged at rangashankara on 17th October) deals with the feelings of devotion of four children who realize their father's love towards them late in life. 
This tells the story of a family where the father is initially described as a strict person who doesnt care much about showing love to his children. The children describe his various characters in their own way satirically. Towards the middle of the story, the children and the father start realizing their real feelings of affection and care
towards each other, but they dont express the same to each other. When the time comes for the children to leave for a far off town to earn a livelihood, they realize the real value of their father and his care towards them. On the other side, their father too is grieved by the fact that his children will be away from him and forces him to 
see them off at the railway station. Thats when his real emotions for his children are poured out in public. He embraces them filled with tears. The children while on the train feel sorry for their thoughts that their father is uncaring towards them after seeing his eyes filled with tears. All these they remember years later when they gather together for their father's 'Shraadhha'(the Hindu ritual of treating people to feasts in the name of the deceased). The play ends on a note that the real "Shraadhha" is performed when the beloved people remember the deceased with "Shraddha"(Faith) and not just by performing the rituals.

The one hour play directed by Vinayak Joshi was a nice one to watch with some hilarious moments in the first half and some touching moments in the second. In the first half the four children express their anguish about their father being too uncaring and strict with lots of instances to prove that. These acts were brought out very nicely by the troupe with lots of anecdotes and comparisons with real-life situations. When the audience is still reeling under the light moments, the actual story wherein the real concern and care of their father towards them is brought in front of them in a unique way musically. Espicially in the last act where the setting is in a railway station where the father comes to see off his children, Vinayak Joshi featured well in emoting as the father. 
The music by Praveen was a splendid experience to listen! Hats off to him! 
Coming to the dialect used in the play, they have tried to put in North Karnataka dialect but at times they seem to forget this fact and talk in normal dialect, can talk about this as inconsistency which the troupe should concentrate upon. Thats the only negative thing I found in the play.

The play was executed technically well with the basic Set Design, good Sound Design and very good Lighting Design. I felt the lights spoke for themselves with the actor's mood.
Keep up the good work "Panchamukhi Natara Samuha". My best wishes with you!!!

Rangashankara was the best place to watch the play. One of the speciality is that they dont have a microphone or a speaker to enhance the voice. Dialogues and music reach your ears as it is which gives u a very pleasant experience. The seating arrangement is also very good and at the same time comfortable for typical one hour play. The discipline that is followed inside the theatre is wonderful. Overall, it was a different experience!
-Chetan B S , abhishek s n

WOH LAMHE...

Coming Soon....

SNAKES ON A PLANE

Coming Soon... 

JEEVANA CHAITRA(Re-Released)

Coming Soon..... 

JOTHE JOTHEYALI

 Jothe Jotheyali is a movie which is actually different from other films because, the story is a very common story! The simplicity of the story makes the audience easily guess what is gonna happen next.
Prem does a very good job in some of the scenes. Ramya looks, as usual pretty, beautiful etc etc,.. but this time a bit fat too!
The movie has the shades of the bollywood movies, "Saathiya", "Chalte Chalte" etc. The first half has the pre-marriage story of lovers. The second half has the post marriage story. The screenplay of the movie is somewhat similar to "Saathiya", that the flashback scenes doesnt come continiously. Flashback scenes stops, and resumes from that point regularly in the movie. In that sense, Jothe Jotheyali is a movie with a very good screenplay. The director makes no mistakes in getting it on the screen.
The climax scene could have been brought out more effectively. The heroine will not understand the hero even after people tell her the truth and reason behind the misunderstandings during the climax. But she suddenly gets back to him when some accident happens. Before the audience can think of what make her got back to him, the movie ends. Anyway, the movie ends as expected only.
Music is the major '+' point of this movie. HariKrishna, the music director has made every song melodious and impressive. Photography is also fairly good.
Darshan's guest appearance in a good role, makes the people whistle.
Thugudeepa productions, in their first venture has given a good movie, good music and a good director to the kannada film industry.

AISHWARYA 

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Aishwarya was the most awaited movie ever since Indrajit Lankesh(Director) announced about it and made news by giving new look to super star, real star Upendra.

'Aishwarya', even though termed as originally inspired by the director Indrajit, has its core script borrowed from the movie MANMATHUDU(telugu), and some comedy flashback sequences from the movie GAJINI(tamil). But he had combined both of them intelligently and has shown it on the screen very nicely. 

Aishwarya is a movie with a very simple story, but presented in a very stylish and entertaining way. Indrajit Lankesh again shows richness, style and freshness, as he has done in his all other movies. Upendra bears a new look in this movie,-> full short hair cut with some part of it coloured in the latest fashion style. Deepika Padukone is one more star attraction for this movie. She really looks hot and beautiful on the screen. The acting part is also not bad from her!. Even though Daisy Bopanna's role is actually copied from the tamil super-hit GHAJINI, it doesnt irritate the audience, but it instead creates interest and fun among them. Daisy looks gorgeous as ever. Uppi's style of living in the movie and his dialogue delivery impresses his fans(and also me).

The story is about "Abhishek Hegde" (uppi) who hates women and their company big time. He is the Manager for a prestigious AD agency belonging to his Uncle. His feelings about women worsens after "Aishwarya"(Deepika PAdukone) joins his own company. He tries to win over her in every situation. He starts hurting and blaming her for no mistakes, so that she leaves the jobs and runs away. Deepika also decides to quit the job and submits resignation to her M.D. M.D consoles her and the discloses the reason in an interesting flashback as to why Uppi behaves that way with women. Why did Uppi start behaving that way with women? Who is Daisy Bopanna..? What is her Role? How does Aishwarya(Deepika) blossom love and respect for women in Uppi? Will they marry finally? These questions are answered in a fantastic way by the director in the movie.

Comedy is the most basic part of this movie. Every scence is actually filled with comedy. There are many comedy roles in the movie. First of all, all shades of Uppi are given a comedy touch. Kokila Sadhu does his normal comedy. "Paapu Pandu" has also acted well in some comedy scenes. The best comedian who steals the show is Komal kumar again(Jaggesh's brother). Even though he comes only in 2-3 scenes in this movie, his comedy timing is amazing.
Songs are the next plus point of this movie. Rajesh Ramnath has scored superb music. The audio has become super hit already.
Deepika padukone has the potential to make news in Bollywood. All the best Deepika.

One of the main negative is again the voice dubbing part of it in the first half of ther movie. Lip movements and dialogues have not been edited and re-recorded properly in some scenes in first half. Even though, this irritates the audience, it wont remain in 'his' memory for long time because of the entertainment that the movie provides.
Real treat for Real Star Uppi fans.

(4 star rating in Times of India) 

More photos here http://www.chitraloka.com/aishwarya/gallery.html 

LAGE RAHO MUNNABHAI

Lage Raho Munnabhai, is a movie has light hearted comedy with prominance shown to Gandhiji's values (termed as 'Gandhigiri' in this movie!). Its a movie from which a person can get inspired to speak truth and have such values, principles in life for betterment of himself.

This movie is not an exact sequel to "Munnabhai MBBS". But the character of Munnabhai has been used to present again a good story with comedy. Arshad warsi has timed his comedy very well in the second half of the movie. Abhishek Bhachan's guest appearnce impresses the audience. Diya Mirza provides justice to her role. Vidya Balan features as a heroine in this movie and has proved herself.

To be continued!.. :-)

GANDA-HENDATHI and a Boyfriend

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Review Coming Soon... 

APPU (Re-Released) 

Review Coming Soon... 

ODAHUTTIDAVALU 

 Odahuttidavalu is a movie with 3 'R's....  Ravichandran, Rakshitha, Radhika as the stars. But the story only revlolves around the first 'R', crazy star Ravichandran...

 In one sentence it can be called as a "Typical Sai prakash  movie". Lots of scope for brother-sister sentiments as the movie title itself conveys. All roles other than Ravichandran's role (brother) and the sister's role, are just to highlight more about that brother- sister relationship and they have nothing important to do as in other traditional movie heroine roles.

The movie story has a great message embedded  in it!  The director makes the successfull supporting actor 'Komal Kumar' to deliver that message in the movie very intelligently. It makes the audience think more about it. The scene where in Ravichandran denies to marry his lover, rakshitha in the climax but instead marries a physically handicapped person is very impressive. This scene proves the hero's dedicated love for his sister. The scenes are beautifully sequenced to maintain the pace of the story.

The story revolves around a simple ordinary man who wants his ugly and dumb sister to be married to a very good and wealthy person beacause of his love towards her. He is ready to sacrifice his wealth, life and everything else for her. He forgets that his main intention is to keep his siter happy between this. But he later finds out that his approach of searching bridegrooms is not correct. By that time, it would be too late and he loses his sister in a very interesting twist. He also denies to marry the girl who loves him, for the girl whom he loves amidst all these. But in the climax, he denies to marry her too and marries a physically handicapped girl to show his dedicated love towards his sister. Why exactly does he do it? This is the theme of the story which has been brought out very sensitively and beautifully.

R.P.Patnaik's  music is pretty soothing. "Kumbara Kumbara" song in the movie has great lyrics. Radhika and Rakshitha shine in glamour and their 'sacrificing scenes'. Ravichandran does his usual acting in this movie too. Komal kumar has an important role in the climax. Sadhu kokila (as 'jogi' :-) ) and Rangayana Raghu have done justice to the light comedy scenes in the movie.

Overall, its a sentimental movie with a great message in it, is what I would say!

NANNA KANASINA HOOVE

    'Nanna kanasina hoove' is a simple and straight forward story which has a message "Believe in Dreams". Its not any usual College love story. Its not an usual story with violence and other stuff.  The story really shines in the movie. The story revolves around a fat, simple boy deepu(joshi) who wants to express his love to a girl who is the boy's mistress and this boy is her servant in her house! Vinayak Joshi really suits for the role. He looks cute and has done good acting in his first movie as a hero though there are areas for him where he can improve a lot in his movies to come. I wish him all the best for this. Generally in most of the movie reviews, I keep pointing out the mistakes in the screenplay and direction. But this movie screenplay  does not have much of mistakes or confusiion. The screenplay is rather very intelligently and logically designed to suit the actual reality. 2 songs are really impressive which includes even the title track. I would say that the theme and concept of the story has come out very well. The team's attempt to get a neat and clear movie out,  should be really congratulated. The  screenplay has utilised the personality of Vinayak joshi(Fat personality) very well to create logical build-ups to the story. For eg, there is a dialogue where in people see vinayak's dance and they say that, "There is nothing special when an ordinary guy dances. But its a news when a fat guy like him dances well !". This is ofcourse true and has been very intelligently introduced to give reasons as to why vinayak joshi's dance is liked by people in the movie.

Positives:

• Very good story
• Good screenplay
• Interval sequence has been planned very well in the screenplay which is a kind of short shock break! :-). The story takes a deep twist here.
  
• Good casting for roles
• Hero's dance is a positive entertainment 
• Very limited fighting(no viloence)
  
• Impressive songs
• A Meaningful Message
• Simplicity.. No heroism.. No villianism
• Neat family movie
• Good acting by Vinayak Joshi in his Debut movie as hero.
  

Negatives:

• No star cast!
• Released in very less theatres(only 2 in bangalore)
• Limited comedy in the movie

I personally feel that these negatives should not matter at all for a viewer! When you come out of a theatre, you would be really feeling good about the story. I really wish a very good luck to joshi for his debut movie and also for his future attempts.

By Abhishek S N

MOHINI

Rajendra Singh Babu is one of the few directors in Kannada who tried his hand in almost all genres of cinema and has been successful. Now, for the first time, he ventured into a horror thriller 'Mohini' and it's very disappointing to see Babu as a loser.

Unlike formula movies, mysterious and horror flicks always hold an attraction for the audience. But to scare the living daylights out of the viewer, it ought to be nested with blood curdling and spine chilling stories. That's the key shortcoming of Mohini. Another major drawback is the poor utilization of sound effects and graphics though the suspense part keeps you on your toes.

Let's get it straight. Varsha (Sada), a journalist, is on lookout for a breakthrough in massage parlors sex racket while her boyfriend Varun (Aditya), a COD officer is in search of a missing girl called Mohini. Both Varsha and Varun strongly believe that both the cases are interconnected. Later it is revealed that Mohini is indeed dead and she as a ghost is trying to kill everybody who made her life miserable. She enters the body of a kid who happens to be Varun's niece and starts pestering his sister and brother-in-law. Varun slowly gets to the bottom of the whole issue. But how?

'Horror' is not an apt word for Mohini. The film doesn't even succeed in sending a slight shiver down your spine. Furthermore, it's a mishmash of other thrillers like '100 days', 'Raaz', 'Exorcist', 'Missed Call' etc. Many sequences in Mohini remind you of those films.

However, Babu has taken the best technical support from his crewmembers, particularly cameraman Giri who excels throughout the film. Hamsalekha gives couple of peppy numbers though he once again demonstrates his love for 'English' lyrics! Editing and sound effects are certainly falling short. Auditya has improved a lot while Sada looks good. Rest of the supporting cast like Suhasini, Anu Prabhakar, Rajesh, Nazzar, Adi Lokesh have done their bit with ease. Komal Kumar and Bullet Prakash's comic sequences certainly makes you laugh.

On the whole, Mohini miserably lacks the power to scare, terrify and lapidify. In fact, it's as ineffectual as the director's recent movies, which bombed in the box office.

GANDUGALI KUMARARAMA

 -Which was the last seen historical movie? Ashoka? Mangal Pandey? Taj Mahal?
      -Which was the last seen Kannada historical movie? Mayura? Huli Haalina Mevu?

Here comes the brand new historical movie by Bhargava- Gandugali Kumararama, starring Shivarajkumar in the lead.

Warning: Do not expect any great screen stuff like those by Rajkumar or NTR or Shivaji movies.

Before discussing about the movie, let’s talk about its release. There is a huge controversy over releasing a movie in Majestic. Makers of Mohini had a fight with Santhosh theatre for its release. For, there were no theatres available for any new release. But Gandugali … did not have any problem with Kapali theatre. Kapali was screening Sudeep’s Thirupati which was on its way to 50 days. This movie was removed without any controversy.

When I heard about the movie ‘Gandugali …’ that Shivarajkumar is playing the lead role, I was shocked because a character like Gandugali requires an actor like Rajkumar. There was no big hype in the movie release nor there were big promotional campaign. I saw a song of the movie just two days before the movie release. (Watched the movie at PVR last Sunday.)

The movie starts with an excellent title card etched on a stone with Kuvempu’s ‘Yelladaru Iru, Yentaadaru Iru’ song sung by Rajkumar. However, the excitement immediately dies as Shivarajkumar is introduced in a very dull manner. In his ambitiously launched 50th movie, Bhargava seems to have made a mistake in selecting the cast in particular aspects though the main artistes excelled in their roles. While Shivarajkumar walks away with all the honours for his extraordinary performance as Kumararama, others like Srinivas Murthy, Ramesh Bhatt, CR Simha and Ashok look outstanding with their costumes adding to their historical face appeal. Anitha, Laya, Seetha, and Sumithra also appear in the good clause. Other characters do not seem to have been given a scope for performance.

Visual effects also look good, with double role of Shivarajkumar shown very well- you can see lots of frames with both coming together and you wouldn’t find a single goof-up in mixing. But technically, I found this big-budget movie lacking in the image quality as the whole movie looks distorted with lots of dots and noise- might be due the camera or film processing quality they used.
This is always there in Kannada movie industry- they never concentrate on quality of the film processing.

Gurukiran’s scores are melodious- he has also sung a song ‘Ginirama’ with a different tone which tastes like listening to old Gantasala song! Sundarnath Suvarna had cinematographed Hampi well. PR Sounderraj’s editing work looks too crowded and bad. Marvelous stunts by Ram Shetty with real horse power. Bhargava has well managed the screenplay.

Make-up plays the important role in any historical movie, Shivarajkumar’s moustache is clearly visible and also one can make out his wig. I am really worried our Kannada heroes are not at all show the dedication that the stars of yesteryear used to show towards the roles they play. Being a prestigious, and a high-budget historical movie, Shivarajkumar should have ideally grown a real big moustache and huge hair before the shooting of this movie. Our heroes will always be doing lots of movies/roles parallelly. Those days we had heroes like Vishnuvardan who had shaved his head for ‘Mutina Hara,’ and you can also see Aamir Khan in Mangal Pandey and our Vijay Raghavendra in ‘Shree.’ They all had put in some good homework being getting into the roles. In Gandugali’s case, Avinash does a role of a Muslim with his moustache (all other Muslim brethren in the movie show beard and shaved moustache in truly characteristic style), which is very unconventional.

Ramba comes in, in only a small role with different hair styles and colours, we can easily make out these hair styles and colouring as made in modern beauty saloons- it doesn’t match any historical role. Bhargava didn’t seam to waste Ramba who had come all the way from Chennai, so with her small role he gave her a bonus song ‘Sarasake Baaro.’ Ramba, and her character is useless, and a misfit for the story. She appears with a group of people before interval and suddenly appears as a new character after interval with a song too. Nobody can imagine where from the song came.

Art direction, which is the main stay for any historical movie making, is a clear lacking with Gandugali. For a movie of 800 year-old-story, the art direction team needed to work hard to recreate the old time-setting in terms of locations. The movie is shot in Hampi- and one can make out the old Virupaksha temple without clear painting and broken stones: just the ‘Halu Hampi’ (Destroyed Hampi). They could have made a good set of the temple or shown any other new temple.
Anybody, who is familiar with Bharathan’s Vaishali and Girish Karnad’s Utsav would know what an art direction for a period movie is all about.

Nevertheless, we welcome this kind of historical movie in future too, and we are very grateful to the producer Anita Pattabhiram for trying to retell a story that happened in 13th century. And its a wonderful effort by Bhargava.

Plus points: Making historical movie these days, Shivarajkumar’s challenging acting, Music, Cinematography, Action, etc.

Minus points: Make-up, Film processing, Re-recording, Editing, Art-direction, etc.

THE STORYLINE( reader's requests) : Kumararama is the third son of Kampila, king of Kammata Durga. He is righteous with wonderful thoughts and always safe guarding his kingdom. He can take up any challenge. Destiny puts him to test when the tribal girl Rathna with whom he is in love with, is married by his father, and the former becomes his step mother. He is
asked by his mother to marry the minister’s daughter Ramale and he obeys. Upset with the development, in a pretext of penance of 48 days, Ratna keeps herself away from the king.

The aging Kampila asks Kumararama to take the mantle of the crown. However, before this could happen, much to his astonishment, Kumararama finds a look-alike of him, and he knows from his mother that both are brothers.

When the threat of invasion from Tuglak increases Kumararama gives a fitting reply. Around this time, the tribal lady forces Kumararama to accept her. He obviously disagrees. Out of vengeance, the tribal lady enacts a drama that Kumararama molested her. Enraged with this matter, Kampila orders for his son’s head. Ironically, Kumararam’s look-alike brother Rama sacrifies his life for his virtuous brother and the latter’s head is taken to the king.

When Kamplia’s enemies launch a war against him, he realizes the importance of his son. Then the hiding Kumararama fights against them, and wins the war gaining the sobriquet ‘Gandugali.’ Then, his father realizes that Kumararama dint misbehave with his tribal wife who commits suicide due to her realization of guilt. Subsequently, Gandugali also dies in an ensuing war.

KRRISH

 A sequel to Koi Mil Gaya movie. Lowest standard story for the present trend. The script of the movie is a combination of all of the very common sequences in other traditional hindi movies. But the picturization, the way of portraying characters is very good. People planning to watch this movie should not search for a good story in this. The story is just meant to show Hrithik in action. Hrithik does justice to his role as Krishna, Krrish and Rohit. The concept of 'future dectecting computer' doesnt have a base. Only chidren can beleive in this story(probably not even them!). The best part of the story can be seen when Naseeruddin Shah tries to build a future detecting computer 'again' which was previously built and now destroyed(bcoz Rohit gets to know shah is the villian!)  by genius Rohit(Hrithik)(but he would not have destroyed the research papers related to it). Shah keeps Rohit survived only for one reason! He comes to know that the the password for the machine was Rohit's retina and heartbeat scans! Funniest part is here.. when he is trying to build the machine from scratch again(as it was destroyed), what is necessity to retain the password as Rohit's retina and heartbeat scan only :P ??. Even if they are so dumb, how can they make the machine learn about such a  password when developing the machine again without Rohit?? There are many such great holes in the story. The script seems to be very easily written as it seems to be borrowed from the movies such as minority report, paycheck, and not to miss - typical old  hindi movie sequences :).

But as far as the special effects are concerned, they have come out really well. Second half gives some sort of pleasure to the audience! Hrithik in action is a treat to watch. One song is very melodious. Must watch for Hrithink fans ofcourse!

THE OMEN

 Although tagged with the term  "horror movie", u dont get horrified anywhere! (I agree it would be a horror for the characters in it,  if they would have faced such situations. But the main theme of horror movies is to induce horror among the audience right? Omen fails to do it effectively). I would say, the rework of the concept  of anti-christ was good. The way in which people get to know that the child must be an anti-christ is also applaudable. 

Personal feeling is that the ending was not satisfactory and I was not getting horrifed as much as I expected..(Its anyway subjective to people..right :)) )

CHELLATA

Superb hilarious comedy. Director makes no mistake in projecting what is planned.  Although 'Comedy Time' Ganesh features as the hero first time in a kannada movie, he doesnt have much to do with the comedy scenes. Rangayana raghu's ring episode, Madhumaga episode, Engagement episode, Dharmendra episode etc make the audience die out of laughter.  A Must watch for a comedy & time pass lover! Hot Rekha comes back with a hit again. Gurukiran has given good music asusual.

FINAL DESTINATION - 3

I would call FD-3 as an underdog when compared to FD-1 and FD-2. FD-1 created waves bcoz of the concept and stunning scenes it had. FD-2 made waves as it was an intelligent sequel to FD-1 with more of stunning scenes. But FD-3 fails to continue the trend! No doubt, it has some funky scenes.. but it fails to reach the suspense. The pattern has become very common now after FD-1 and FD-2 although the concept remains interesting(finding out the pattern of death and cheating death!)

CYANIDE 

1)Wonderful movie! 

2)All real, no reel

3)Very serious movie

4)No masala added to make the movie run!

5)No songs, fight, bomb blast,  dance sequences

6)3-4 comedy dialogues which is also absolutely real. No intentional comedy introduced anywhere

7)Objective of the movie seems to be very clear to the director.

8)No heroism and villainish hypes created. No attempts in the movie to show(or hype) the power of any character. All the characters considered as normal people with their own priciples of life.

Coming to the story, its a real story which expalins the 20 day trauma faced by Shivarasan, Shubha and fellow militants who were responsible for Rajiv Gandhi's murder when they were at bangalore before they died in the konanakunte house in bangalore. It shows how they shifted places inside bagalore and finally came to konanakunte house to die!

Its not a movie  for which a lot of efforts seem to have been put in terms of finance. Its just the exact replica of what happened from Aug 1st 1991 to Aug 20th 1991 in Bangalore. There is no imagination involved here. But the screenplay has come out wonderfully to make the audience sit on the edge of their seats until the end even though whole country knows the climax! The fact that all theatres in bangalore are running housefull shows proves the fact!

Shivarasan (with one eye  :-) ) has acted wonderfully. Tara deserves an award for acting exactly as Mrudula. Rangayana Raghu as ranganath seems to be really serious in acting! Malavika as subha has been capable of showing expressions to show that what she has done is right from her perspective and  even demands sympathy successfully! Sandeep Chowta's background score helps to make the audience feel the trauma themselves!

Technically speaking, all is fine except for the dubbing in few scenes of actors Nazeer, Suresh Hubliekar and reffering the victim who was killed in the bomb blast as 'VIP'(as though u dont want disclose the name directly expecting censor problems) sometimes and as 'Rajiv Gandhi' in some scenes. But this  doesnt seem to be reflecting on the audience very much. One thing which was the best, was the camera-work and lighting!

According to me, it was a cake-walk for the police actually to find out the hiding place of the militants. No heroism was involved there! It was all due to the foolish clues left out by people who helped the militants to hide.

To find out the real trauma faced by Shivarasan, Subha and fellow militants and innocent people involved in it, watch Cyanide!

FANAA

-First half looks really as a big reel to me! Story starts from the second half. When you analyse the story you can feel that the second half is the main story and to create those situations, the first half has been exploited, resulting in mixing unbeleivable things. The theme of the story looks like a very old known theme. But it has been told in a different way, especially the second half. Shayaris form the basic entertainment during the first half! Story seems to be dragging during second half but actually its not!!! Overall, a good movie infact when compared to present standards!

MI-3

-Good combination of Action and sentiments. It seems to me that they have purposely introduced the sentiments part for the story which is unusual for a MI movie. The action scenes looks really dangerous. Sentiments form the story. Action scenes form the movie!

TIRUPATHI

-As usual nice acting by sudeep. First half seems to be a bit boring. It only has gimmicks to show who is the hero and how strong is the villan. Second half seems interesting and full of action. But the last 10 mins would be very much predictable. The way he kills people(enemies)  in the second half cannot be justified!!!

GOOD LUCK

-  Hero and villan are not projected traditionally as in other movies. Interesting characters makes the movie interesting. Radhika does usual acting with same exposure level. Damini provides justice to her role even though unnecessary exposure is highlighted.!

HONEYMOON EXPRESS

- Clean comedy... Interesting first half. But a dragging second half....

  But full of comedy sequences... Nothing new in fact!
 

DATTA 

--Nice Timepass movie... Nothing great.. Even then interesting! Keeps u entertained completely! Darshan rocks in comedy! Ramya looks cutest here! 

TAVARINA SIRI

--Probably a Kasthuri nivasa/Bangarada manushya by Shivanna. Daisy has done her role well.  Shivanna needs to improve still.

JULIE

-Doesnt suit the current generation at all. People watched it only for ramya. 

SEVANTHI SEVANTHI

-Nice story... Seems like u dont want to get out of the theatre even after the movie ends. Nice idea to feature folk songs in a nice tune for this movie. Super hit! Ramya again looks superb in it.! Vijay Raghavendra has sung a song for the first time.  He has acted as usually superb.. He is anyway a national award winner!!

MY AUTOGRAPH

- Still going  great after 130 days!!!!  No comments... Congrats to Sudeep!

AMBI

-Nothing new... Bad acting by hero.  

AJAY

-Superb action!!!! Action == Ajay! Puneeth Rajkumar has proved himself again. Sure to run for 200 days is what i say!

Songs are melodious too!

AMRITHADHAARE

- Need not comment on Nagathihalli's work. Ramya looks really gorgeous. Touches the heart finally! 

DA VINCI CODE!

- Not Bad.. But not so good.... Can only provide life to our imagination about the story in the novel. Not a complete movie. Should see after reading the novel. But after you read the novel, the climax would be very obvious for you, which would not make you sit in the edge of the seat. 

AKASH

  "Akash" is the new production from Kannada Movie icon Dr. Raj Kumar's production company, better known for its neat family entertainers. The films produced by Ms. Parvathamma Raj Kumar, wife of Dr. Raj Kumar have some brand value in the Kannada film industry, as the films will not have even a tinge of sex, violence and double meaning dialogues.

"Akash" confirms to all these standards, and presents the hero of the film in a totally different manner. He is an optimist; straightforward chatter box that can keep others in good humor. His intention is to keep every one happy, even at the cost of some discomfort to himself. He takes all the incidents in his own life as it comes and then reacts to such situations in his own way. According to him life is one thing, which teaches us to take positively. But he has such a great love towards his sister that any person will be at the grave risk of being attacked vigorously if any one plays with her. The high point of this film is the characterization of the hero, which comes off very well in the film.

Kannada film industry's young super star Puneet Raj Kumar, third son of Dr. Raj Kumar has played the role of Akash in this film. The movie revolves around his character and it is to the credit of this young actor that he takes the big responsibility on his shoulders and delivers the goods. Puneet shows that he can be casual, and yet deliver his lines, which can penetrative deep into the audience.

Another high point of this film is the performance of Ramya, the heroine of the film. This is the second film in which Puneet Raj Kumar and Ramya have been paired together. Ramya not only looks glamorous in the film, but has also proved that she can take up some challenging characters also.

"Akash" also introduces a young director Mahesh Babu to the Kannada film industry who focuses more on presenting his film with as much reality as possible. Yes, it is a commercial film, but the characters are very much identifiable. Director Mahesh has also been able to get good performances from all the lead artists in the film. He has obtained good technical support from Cameraman Prasad Babu and Editor Manohar who have tried to present the film well.

Another highlight of the film is the dialogues written by M.S.Ramesh. But the same cannot be said about the work of R.P.Patnayak who has not matched the expectations of fans. Except for one song "Neene Neene', the quality of other songs can not be described as top class,

"Akash" does not boast of a great story, but what makes it attractive to the audience is the way the film has been narrated. The audience will feel the difference within ten minutes of its viewing. Though Puneet has a great charismatic appeal and enjoys a great level of popularity, he is presented as the boy next-door character.

There is also a strong message in the film for the youngsters that they should rather have confidence on their own ability than to look for some government jobs. "Akash" comes as a fresh flavor film. It has some lively performances from artists, good work by technicians and will not bore you for even a second. You can watch it and enjoy.
 

• List of Kannada Movies released in the year2005 are :

(Nava) Bharathi

 Aadi 

Abhinandane 

Aham Premasmi 

Akash 

Amruthadhare 

Anna Thangi 

Auto Shankar 

Ayya 

Beru 

Boyfriend 

Chanchale

Deadly Soma 

Dr Ambedkar 

Encounter Dayanayak 

Gadipaar 

Giri

Good Bad Ugly 

Gowramma 

Greensignal 

Gunna 

Hai Chinnu 

Haseena 

Hendatiyobbalu Maneyolagiddare 

Hudgeeru Saar Hudgeeru 

Inspector Jhansi 

Jogi 

Jootata 

Kaashi from Village 

Karnana Sampattu 

Lati Charge 

Live Band 

Love Story 

Maharaja 

Mahasadwi 

Mallamma 

Majic Ajji 

Masalaa 

Mental Manja 

Mitaye Mane 

Moorkha (3kha) 

Mr Bakra 

Namma Basava 

Nammanna 

Nan Love Madteeya 

Nenapirali 

News 

O Gulabhiye 

Olave 

Padri 

Pandu Ranga Vittala 

Preethisu 

Rakshasa 

Rama Shama Bhama 

Ranachandi 

Rishi 

Sye 

Sakha Sakhi 

Samarasimha Nayaka 

Shadyantra 

Shambu 

Shanthi 

Shastri 

Siddu 

Sirichandana 

Surya The Great 

Swamy 

Tunta 

Udees 

Ugranarasimha 

Valmiki 

Varsha 

Vishnu Sena 

Yaake ? 

Yauvana 

Yeshwanth

Zabardust