Category: Movies

More theaters, new strategy

10 Jan
Raju Alluri 0 Comment Entertainment, Movies

There are four big movies lined up for the holiday weekend: Okka Magaadu (11th), Krishna (12th), Pourudu (13th) and Vaana (15th). The distributors of Okka Magaadu found an impressive way to launch their movie in a big way. Instead of using theaters on a weekly basis, they booked theaters on a daily basis. The theaters that release Krishna, Pourudu and Vaana later in the week are rented for 1, 2 and 4 days respectively, making Okka Magaadu the biggest release in the city (50 theaters on day one.)

Vaana Audio Review

09 Jan
Raju Alluri 2 Comments Audio, Entertainment, Movies

Disclaimer: I haven’t listened to the songs of the Kannada original, so I may miss giving the credit where it is actually due.

Lyrics for all songs of this movie are penned by Sirivennela. That sets the right expectations for you and I don’t think you would be disappointed with this album.

  • Akasaganga: This song seems to be theme song of the movie. A first rate song by Karthik. Kanubomma Villetthi Oo Navvu Visiraave, Chilakamma Gontetti Teeyanga Kasiraave. That gives you a glimpse of the poetic nature of the song.
  • Eduta Nilichindi Choodu: Another great song by Karthik. Nijam laanti ee swapnam ela patti aapaali? Kele aithe aa nijam ela thattukovali? Somehow, I get the feel of listening to Aakasame, mouna veenagaa part in Chukkala Pallakilo, the popular Chiranjeevi song in 80s.
  • Dolare: This is a Bhangra style number in the voice of Ranjith. The noisiest number of the album.
  • Ventapaduthundi Choodu: This is a pathos number by Chitra to the tune of the second song of the album. A short one at a length of 72 seconds.
  • Unnatta Lenatta: Ranjith again. His voice is very good here. This song is interlaced with some rap and is a good fast number.
  • Moothi Muduchukunnadi Muvvanti Maina: Mallikharjun at his recent best. Reminds you of SPB’s songs in 60s and 70s. At more than six minutes, this is a very long song and may test your patience. Stays in top three of the album. Uyyalake ulukochchindata odilonchi nuvu digi vellavani, Patteela aduge aligindata chettekkadam maanukunnavani. Another great one from Sirivennela.
  • Akasaganga: Pathos version of earlier song. Another one minute song.
  • Sirimalle Vaana: Surprisingly, this is the only duet of the movie and makes the album a very different one from the current day rest. The tune is taken from the Chalam’s popular song Kurisindi Vaana, Naa Gundelona, Nee Choopule Jalluga. Use of too many instruments impacts shadows the good voices of Ranjith and Chitra. This song could have been better. At least it could have started better (take out the first 16 seconds or better yet, 35 seconds.)

Music by Kamalakar. Overall, this is a very good audio album in recent times.

Krishna Audio Review

09 Jan
Raju Alluri 1 Comment Audio, Entertainment, Movies, Uncategorized

Chakri’s music churned out a good audio album this time for VV Vinayak. Chandrabose penned lyrics.

  • Dil Maange More: This is a good dance number by Kunal Ganjawala and Mahalaxmi. Talks a lot about the hero and his relationship with Bezawada (Vijayawada), which is the backdrop of the film.
  • Tu Mera Jil Jil: The lyrics have lots of Hindi words. This is the best and most hummable number of the album. Udit Narayan and Sadhana Sargam did a very good job. At times though, Sadhana’s voice fails to render some fast words (naa badi nuvve, naa gudi nuvve, naa odi nuvvega) in a native way. Overall, this is the song that lifts the album to class level.
  • Muripinche Maina: The song starts with the tune of Thannana Thannana from Guru, but after a few seconds, the true colors of the song are revealed in the voices of Farid and Kousalya. This fast number would for sure impress youth and mass audience.
  • Taratta Ettukupotha: Kunche Raghu is back! His voice fits very well for Raviteja and I love this singer. You may term this song as the title song. The tune goes through several variations and has potential to exploit the director and hero of the movie during filming of the song.
  • Nee Soku Mada: Music director Chakri himself gave voice to this number. This song is a breed of a classic tune with current day lyrics (?) and some rap. It has all the words one would use in a verbal street side fight, in the disguise of teasing the lead actress. This song may be funny enough in the movie, but may not be the right one to hear repeatedly. Why would I spoil the mood of listening to a classic tune with the out of sync lyrics?
  • Adaragottu: This tune is a typical Tamil vamp song (I think I heard this tune in one of the Tamil music channels while flipping channels.) May work well in B and C grade centers. The voices of Vasu and Sivani gave the results expected for such numbers.

Overall, this album takes the movie audio much farther than VV Vinayak’s previous flick. With the cast led by Ravi Teja, this album matches the expectations of audience. A good album to have in your commercial movie collection.

Movie watching patterns in 2007

01 Jan
Raju Alluri 0 Comment Entertainment, Movies

Here are the top 10 Telugu movies of 2007 by idlebrain.com. When I browsed the list, realized that we watched only 4 of these movies in theaters so far. They are Desamuduru, Lakshyam, Chandamama and Happy Days. We also watched DVD of Dhee (we actually bought 3 DVDs of the movie for our relatives.) Awaiting DVD releases of other movies. Retrospecting 2007, here are our typical movie viewing patterns.

  • We didn’t go and watch movies of any big star of Telugu industry in theaters.
  • All our Telugu movie viewings are of youth centric and relatively low budget movies.
  • Even in Hindi, we watched movies like Chak De India, Cheeni Kum etc. in theaters. We preferred them when compared to big names like Saawaria, etc. The exception could be Om Shanti Om.
  • Even though I liked the movie, I avoided buying DVD of Chak De India, mainly due to its cost. At 399, it is not worth for a movie that is already watched by the entire family. This movie may end up like Main Hoon Naa, another movie I wanted to buy a DVD but avoided due to its high cost.
  • In Telugu also, I bought DVDs of Okkadunnadu and other movies, because of their reasonable cost. I avoided AMAV and others due to high cost at about Rs 200.
  • Lot of Hindi and Telugu movies are added to my DVD collection, thanks to low prices especially from Moser Baer and T-Series.

In a nutshell, 2007 is a year of reasonable entertainment for us than going with costly and big name movies.

Movie Canceled

29 Dec
Raju Alluri 0 Comment Entertainment, Movies

The planned viewing of Taare Zamin Par is canceled due to closure of the theater this morning. A local politician and MLA expired unexpectedly yesterday and most of the businesses in central Hyderabad observed a closure today. We went all the way to the theater to know that the movie is canceled. BTW, EasyMovies refunded the full amount (including service charges.) I had to collect the money at the internet kiosk I used to book the tickets.

The kids are a little disappointed and we may watch the movie next weekend.

Bad Advertising Practice

28 Dec
Raju Alluri 0 Comment Advertisements, Movies

Yesterday I looked at one of the local wine shops while riding my scooter and surprised to find the shop decorated with a string of pamphlets featuring Telugu movie hero Nagarjuna. A short pause and a closer look later, figured out that the material is based on promos of his latest Telugu movie Don. The movie is sponsored by a soda/water brand, which is incidentally a wine/beer brand too.

Now let us look at the repercussions of such advertising practices. This wine shop is in the midst of a busy street leading to a lot of educational institutions. Needless to say, Nagarjuna is a hero who has popularity and following amongst teenagers to old people alike. Featuring him predominantly on a wine shop for a much hyped movie of recent times, especially during the holiday season, is going to have a considerable impact on teenagers. I am sure the hero has no direct involvement in this (it is usually the producer of the movie who sells the sponsorship rights) and everything here is legally correct, people involved should think about ethical correctness. I am sure the hero has enough influence to ensure that these kind of things don’t happen for his future movies.

BTW, I am not quoting the water/soda/liquor brand here to avoid additional publicity for them.

Weekend Movie Plan

28 Dec
Raju Alluri 0 Comment Misc, Movies

I booked movie tickets to watch Taare Zamin Par with my family on Saturday morning. Sekar’s family is going to join us. Any of the relatives and friends who wants to join us at Sensation theater can do so.

BTW, this is my first experience buying tickets with EasyMovies. I don’t have a member account with them, so booked these tickets through an internet kiosk across the street. Although the service charges account for about 20% of the ticket cost, for certain movies, it is a good service to use.

Om Shanti Om: Hindi Movie

18 Nov
Raju Alluri 2 Comments Entertainment, Movies

We took kids to the Hindi movie Om Shanti Om on Thursday night. Since this was the only movie going opportunity for kids in the next one week, we had to forfeit the option of watching the India Pakistan Cricket match.

Kids enjoyed the movie and immediately switched to that audio album in my car. They got all the noise and glitter they wanted in the songs. So it is not a wasted time after all.

How is the movie? Well, you may come up with two different feelings. Parts of the movie are good and entertaining, but the entire movie, put together, is nothing but a patch work.

The script of the movie borrows its theme from Java’s popular tag line from the past: Write Once, Run Anywhere. The script writers have written the scenes and dialogues once and made them repeat many times throught the film. (That word many often refers to a number much more than two.) To sum up the movie, have a really slow and apparently meaningless series of events in the first half and repeat them through the revamped and reincarnated cast in the second half. But the second half offers more meaning and sense than the first half.

Here are some of the things I liked about the movie:

  • Dum Tara song, which offers nostalgia from films of 70s and 80s.
  • Theme song, which offers a screen full of movie personalities.
  • The filmfare awards spoof, featuring Dhoom 5, Phir Bhi Dil Hai NRI, Main Bhi Hoon Naa and Return of Khiladi.
  • The Murugan episode
  • Interwoven Karz from the past.
  • Credits at the end

Here are the things I didn’t like about the movie

  • The heroine’s role (both in first life and the reincarnation or whatever) is simply confusing, stupid and ill-baked.
  • The costumes from the past are well designed to the theme, but they are too bright to be realistic.
  • Too much back and forth from the past and the present in the second half.

BTW, I like Farah Khan’s efforts in this movie. She just told what she wanted to tell, without worrying much about logic. She tried to maintain the tempo, but fails in most cases in the first half.

Overall, it is a good pass time, but I won’t sit through the entire movie again. I may watch the songs again and again when the DVD is out.