The ART OF COPYING BY TRIVIKRAM SRINIVAS

Chiru's Graceful Steps of the Millenium

అప్పట్లో ఒకడుండేవాడు---You are a prisoner of circumstances

Circumstances are the real game changers. We behave according to the set conditions by the prevailing time and circumstances. Those circumstances make you a villain or a hero. You never have a chance when a certainty commands you to follow the line. Then you do what the existing circumstances dictate. You turn a deaf ear to your heart as well as mind. The chaos in which you operate will not even let you pause for a while. After the ruckus when you look back, you are left with nothing but pain to carry over.

This is the essence of the entire emotional drama of Appatlo Okadundevaadu that unfolds over two hours on the screen 

The last twenty minutes of Appatlo Okadunde vaadu is the best I have seen in a Telugu movie after a long long time. The penultimate scenes absorb you into the proceedings in such a way that you don't want the movie to end. The busy lives that we are made of comes to halt in these minutes and for a while we join the drama that unfolds slowly yet sweetly on the silver screen. The power of cinema is on full throttle during these minutes. The director creates such a world without any special effects that you want such sweetness around you. When was the last time you wanted the movie to go on ....that  too a Telugu movie? 

Sagar.K.Chandra's directorial venture ayyare showed a lot of promise but the director was not seen anywhere. After three years he comes up with a movie that has a premise, conflict and purpose. After a long time Telugu movie comes up with a story. The greatness of the movie lies in the script  in which where the hero ages up and this is where the director moved away from the commercial formula.

THE MOVIE

A journalist comes to Hyderabad in search of a cricketer. She contacts his acquaintances who reveal the tragic story of the cricketer.  The aspiring cricketer turns into a ruthless criminal when a police officer makes his life hell suspecting his links with Maoists. The nineties Hyderabad is created with great detailing. The director takes his time to establish the characters and slowly brings the conflict between the leads in a astounding way. As the knots slowly are untied we head towards a heart touching finale. 

      

This movies moves on the power of dialogues and acting potential. The dialogues are first rate. Both Nara Rohith and Vishnu come with laudable performances. Brahmaji steals the show.  All other departments have done their part. Special credit should go to the art team and photography team for the authenticity they have shown in creating the nineties.

EPILOGUE

Few months back I dearly  wanted to write about Jyo Achyutananda. If not for a busy schedule this blog may have published a review on the sweetest movie of the year. The tragedy lies in the fact that the movie never got the appreciation it truly deserves. The new gen fails to understand the sensitivity of  relations and movies that come with such story lines take severe blunt at the ticket window. Even this film fails to attract the new gen. 

Few directors are trying to reinvent Telugu cinema on par with their Tamil and Malayalam contemporaries. We talk great about Premam in malayalam and Kakaa  muttai  in Tamil. How come we fail to recognise the immense potential of directors like Avasarla Srinivas, Ravi Babu and Sagar K Chandra,.etc.,.  The main reason may be our serious slavery to the star. And a kind of obsession to a certain genres. 

At one point the protagonist is helpless with everything happening  without his liking. He pours his heart out to his friend and then proceeds with his work. You identify with him instantly.And such moments are many in the movie with the finale standing out on its own. The movie is not without flaws. But they can be easily ignored in the genuine emotion the director carves out.

Watch this to appreciate an able directors effort. 

Brahmotsavam-----A wonderful Idea lost to extravagant stardom

The story of  Brahmotsavam is very simple. If executed properly, it would have occupied cult status like Dil Chahtaa hai. However, the platform is so populated that the main idea has become infinitesimal. Mahesh Babu who is the only star hero in the present Telugu industry, who can take a risk of doing films which have an out of the box story. Some of the risks falter commercially yet the film garners good appreciation. This particular venture fails on every ground. Sadly  the film becomes a laughing stock because of its dumb execution.

The movie crew, particularly, the director seems to have  believed by showing celebrations in a family on various occasions, he can pull rabbits out of the hat. On the contrary, the entire exercise(s) are that stale that you yawn , play games on mobile or wait to get out of the theatre. There are many relatives that you will fear the word relatives. And generosity takes a new meaning in this movie. Anyone can walk into the home of the protagonist, take a  bath, have some breakfast  and then resume their works outside.  Pray for such homes in every city. 

Now don't get interested in the story of the movie for as i earlier said its lost somewhere in the studio. What the film offer is aesthetic celebrations. The protagonist and his father seem to have one stop solution for every problem---do some celebrations and the problem disappears. The romance in the film is perhaps the most confused line I have ever seen. I failed to understand both the tracks of romance. What they wanted to convey through their complicated conversations between the hero and his lady love(s) { both in the first half as well as second half} is a riddle that will serve intellectuals for centuries. 

What's the use of having top notch technicians when you are not able to have a firm control over your script? This director's earlier films failed on that simple count. However in earlier movies some scenes and music have pulled up the miracle. This time, he completely lost the game. The loss is such humongous that the  film turned into a celebration and travel documentary.   

Now you ask me what's that wonderful idea

Here it is. I don't know what the director told Mahesh babu but seeing the movie i concluded this may be the film's line that got lost.

THE PLOT

A family of father, mother,four brothers and a step sister. Enter a man from far north in search of some job. Settles in that place. The father marries off his stepdaughter to that man and gives him 400 rupees as dowry or whatsoever. The stepmother is guilty of having married her stepdaughter to an unknown man. Time slowly moves.

Father dies.  The man from north establishes a dye plant with that four hundred and involves his brother in laws in that business. The elder brother in law stands by him in tough periods and together they work hard. As years pass the enterprise turns into a big company. The man shifts his base to the city. The brother in laws to shift. The Mother stays back in the village and ridden with more guilt as the man whom she mistrusted now taking care of everything. 

Now in the present 

All the brother in laws wedded and having their own families. The man from north becomes the father of protagonist. The elder brother in law has a daughter.  All meet and rejoice regularly. Their company is one of the leading company in the country. The mother regularly advises sons to be loyal to their sister's husband. 

The elder brother in law who stood by his sister husband in thick and thin now cannot stand the words of his relatives that they are what they are because of their  Bavagaru. He repeatedly shows his emotions which are well understood by both the protagonist and his father. Whenever such conflict rises the sisters husband manages it with good humour and family celebrations. The elder brother in laws wife convinces him by marrying their daughter to protagonist he can satisfy his ego. But the protagonist has different ideas. 

At the same time, the sister's husband lives with an insecurity of losing people around him. This fear is  deep as he doesn't know whereabouts of his family. This fear constantly keeps him craving for his brother in laws. To overcome this fear he keeps on fixing occasions for celebrations and keeps all the brother in laws around him. This creates deep inferiority in the elder brother law as he is humiliated by the relatives who come to such occasions by chiding him to be dependent on his sister's family.

The protagonist knows the emotional conflict between his father and his uncle. He tries to keep the emotions in control by being very charming and loyal to every relative. He understands his father's misery of having no relative of his own except three photos. He tries to keep his elder uncle cool but he loses his heart to a girl causing grief to him. 

This sensitive conflict between the three ....Sister's husband , elder brother in law and protagonist is the main theme of Brahmotsavam. It's up to the protagonist to bring peace to both his father and his uncle. How he doest that by keeping the entire family united is the  main course of Brahmotsavam. 

INTO TO THIS SCRIPT CELEBRATIONS INVADED IN SUCH A WAY THE DIRECTOR FORGOT THERE IS AN ISSUE CALLED CONFLICT AND HE BECAME A PART OF EVERY CELEBRATION IN THE MOVIE AND THE 

MOVIE ENDED.

Baahubali: A Marketing Masterpiece

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new

                                                                                        .....Anton Ego from the movie Ratatouille 

So the big question is shall I defend the most discussed movie of our times because it is touted to be the new dimension in Telugu movie. It is now a big sin to say something against Baahubali. It is considered as a monumental phenomenon in Telugu cinema. Some say it's an answer to Hollywood. The director is getting wider applause for "making a movie of such kind". We are there by fortunate to be in the times of S S Rajamouli.

I am taking a risk today and I am not here to defend because there is nothing new.

Why should I call this risk ? This is a blog is read by a very few enthusiasts or friends of mine and no way this write up influences any segment. However this movie has a set of opinions which in a way contradict with one another. Many of my students, friends and close acquaintances felt Baahubali as a huge step forward for our Indian cinema. Some of them felt this as a great milestone which will never be overtaken by any other cinema. Some felt its not that great as it was predicted to be. So by negating their opinion I am sure to get more brickbats than bouquets. 

Don't bring the percentages into this, don't be a pro. The minute you do that you kill what's good about this, you kill the sport".--- Driver Hunt in The Movie RUSH

This reviewer opines the same. For the sake of great openings-- for the sake of thumping returns-- and for the sake of ego don't kill cinema. A 250 crore budgeted movie isn't what that raises the bar of any Indian movie. Its finally the content that makes the movie universally acceptable. Sets-- Visual effects --and other graphics shine in the glory of a great story. They fail (even if they are brilliant) when story and screenplay takes a backseat. So when you sell your movie as a movie of the era and your selling techniques if are on par with lessons taught at IIM, then the movie will surely get tremendous openings and returns. All that matters is who is savouring the dish after all the hype and hoopla. 

All said and done there were few brilliant scenes in the movie. In a very brilliant sequence where the protagonist during the free fall shoots an arrow with a self made rope towards the tree on the edge of cliff from where the waterfall is originating speaks volumes about the craft of the director.. The opening scene of hand carrying baby in the river in dark was also a good one. Ramya krishna and satyaraj save the film with good screen presence. The protagonist trying to scale the cliffs and the waterfalls were the scenes that stood in my memory after i came out of theatre. I felt these scenes should have been given more time. The director hurried to see to that the hero reaches the top of unconquered mountain in no time. Once the hero reaches the top of the cliff the film starts to falter. 

We were introduced to a rebellion group trying to rescue a queen from a reputed kingdom. We were introduced to various characters of the movie in a tasteless fashion. The kingdom which was the centerpiece of the entire story was never presented in that emotional way. Except for the great sets we never see any thing happening racy in the movie. The entire war sequence even though greatly presented is purposeless(pardon me if it has a purpose in second part). Entire second half the movie moves within the four walls of the set to the war ground. The antagonist has nothing to do but put a fiery face throughout. The chained queen waiting for her son picks up pieces of wood( perhaps flew from the nearby places) everyday to fill up a huge tank to annihilate the antagonist. The son moves in --rescues mother---and digs his past. And then the movie suddenly ends with you being invited for the second part in 2016. 

The director showed flashes of brilliance in few areas of the movie. There is nothing much in the movie as far as the story is concerned. It's celebration of visual effects, sets and characters.Yes it's all about characters in the movie but nothing. Most of the times I felt a vacuum in the movie. Perhaps it lacked the most important thing, Emotion.  The emotional space is seriously lacking in the movie. There's nothing much to feel about the rivalry between the two leads . And the love track between the lead pair is almost forced . The leading lady runs into series of contradictions which were hilarious and ridiculous. As I already said the protagonist and the antagonist has nothing much to do. Even their skill presentation is not that entertaining. The battle scene is wonderful but the purpose of such a long war seems the biggest loophole of the movie. If the purpose is to elevate the protagonist as king then it is a terrible idea to do so. The language developed for the tribe was in one way entertaining because you laugh as you don't understand. How they miss to put up subtitles is really amusing? 

A special mention about the back ground music. It's poor.  For a movie of such GIGANTIC EPIC 

PROPORTIONS the bgm should be of high standards. The bgm never elevates movie and strangely at times it pushes the movie into a slow motion. And the entire opening sequences with a great bgm would have elevated the movie to another level. The bgm surely killed the spectacle. It's like playing flute when you are playing guitar. 

Yes .it's a big hit. And every big hit need not be a great movie. And the critics rated it high. Good. But the same critics have written off some great movies.. So what ever the public opinion this author feels this movie was a great marketing lesson. Every move was so tactfully made to create a opinion of viewing a grand spectacle on the silver screen. The public expectations were whip lashed to that extent everyone made it in the wish list to watch the spectacle. From the release of poster to trailer it's a marketing spectacle. There are serious lessons to be learnt from the team.

 

In the movie sivudu(prabhaas) enters maahismati palace to rescue the queen. He runs through the corridors The antagonist and sivudu come face to face in a tense chase. And I missed that emotional quotient that should have been there. The scene turned out to be that ordinary that no one in the audience cared that much. The much awaited moment lapses into that vacuum created by the director in search of a master piece. Throughout the movie we wait for these two  to come to face to face and expect a high voltage scenario. Such minute things are ignored in the awe of making a masterpiece. Instead of creating an emotional space the director created a void and many a things were lost in it. Hope he finds his space exactly in his part 2. He need not worry about the economics as it already created a huge profit margin for it.

Except for the top notch photography, art work, visual effects and flashes of brilliance by the the director BAAHUBALI has nothing new to offer. Greatness bestowed upon us is not a virtue. It is flattery in disguise. Greatness arrives unknowingly and stays there even if we cease to exist.On a given day i prefer mayabazaar to baahubali(any time).

 So hope SS Rajamouli returns to what he is good at.....Craft , execution and emotional connect.

Sorry state of Affairs

Few days back I watched Lucia -a Kannada movie and I was awestruck  by the way the movie unfolded. When I watched Jigarthanda -a Tamil movie, I wondered how a director can pull up such a wonderful idea from very ordinary worlds. Haider by Vishal Bhardwaj offered a stunning portrayal of hidden persona of a human soul. Heard a lot about Bangalore days-a Malayalam movie. Interstellar by Nolan asked us questions and search for answers is on. I watched many a movies in English, Tamil, Kannada, Brazil, Spanish, Italian and a lot more languages. I am not here to say that  all movies of these regions are excellent. How ever certain films enhance the pride of the area they come from. 

  

Some time back people have declared Loukyam a Telugu movie a super hit. I watched it after listening to so many viewpoints and what a shame of a movie it was. In a particular scene the hero asks his father to accept a lady (who is wife of another actor in the movie) as his wife for a while to fool the villains. The father starts stalking the lady, the goons stalk the lady and the real husband pleads every one to leave his wife and all this is presented in a cheap way. 

After that I watched Govindudu Andarivadele. It was declared as  an family drama with great human values. After ten minutes I left the hall. I still dont understand how a director like Krihnavamsi comes up with such a stale script.

People called Run Raja Run a prodigal directors miracle. I watched it. Its ok. Not a wonder. After a point the director loses grip on the script. The protagonist suddenly becomes dynamic and the transition was never connected. 

Then came Karthikeya. Except for a gripping flashback and a few episodes even it is a disappointment. The climax was very much hurried after a good first half. 

But you should know that both run raja run and karthikeya which are better never earned a lot. 

Lot of movies released in telugu but not a single movie captured the viewer as the movies i mentioned in the first paragraph. Its such a tragedy to see people clamoured for  cheap movies in lines and clapped for them. There may be some comic capers(ala ela), some feel good movies with old themes(rave lakshmi maa inti daaka) but they all failed to register like loukyam and co. 

The recent Gopala Gopala was praised for so many things. But let me assure you its never near to the original Oh my god. The court scenes in the movie were pale and lacking the intensity of the original. The much praised flute rendition was lifted directly from the original. 

This pains me. When i watch a good movie in other language i really worry about our own. Why are we not able to bring out a good movie to cherish for a long time? Is this the same film industry that made shankara baranam? Siva? Prasthanam? Gamyam? Ankusam? Pratighatana? ............It really pains me to a great extent. I dont have words to explain this crisis.

Who is at fault? 

KAI PO CHE: REFRESHING AND RESPONSIBLE SAGA OF YOUNGSTERS

Circumstances play a major role in shaping any one's life.  The parables about construction of life based on values and attitude is always a paradox. Your life is never in your hands. Your destiny is not in your hands. Your entire life is a result  of numerous happenings in and around you. The way you react to a certain event that happens without your intervention decides the next phase of your life. These are the very simple rules of life. Fortunate are those who construct their lives in the very way they wanted it to be. The rest navigate according to the poetry of the nature, prose of the technology and drama of other fellow beings.

Kai Po Che tries to drive this point home  through a saga of friendship of three different youngsters.   And it succeeds in its attempt. The plot is taken from India's most popular author's book. And the author himself acknowledged that the film is far better than his book. And therefore full credit to the director Abishek Kapur whose no nonsense approach elevated the film and made it one of the best films of 2013.

The film takes a plunge into the lives of three friends and their approach towards life in midst of nature's anger and human narrow minded outrage. Refreshingly the film tries to portray the struggle of the youngsters to settle in life and sustain their friendship amidst their personal  emotions and prejudice. The film's strength lies in the way it put forth sensitive issues without highlighting them. You are made to watch one friends agony over his personal loss during a communal riot and another friends concern for his fellow beings and at the same time we have another who wants to save both despite his own fears for his life. Such mutual concerns tell you the impact of a communal riot that still looms large over the entire country.

There are umpteen number of reviews specifying the merits of  story and other departments. In fact this is no way a story. Its a study of relationship and that too a very simple relationship of three friends. A relation ship that survives and succumbs to simple twists life brings in suddenly. The protagonists make an attempt to gain control over situations and makes us travel with them in their pursuits.  And It takes a sudden stop at a juncture where we and them have to depart with hope and pain

Cricket,Religion and Nature's anger are blended on a canvas called Gujarat in a very effective manner and the characters use this wide canvas to bring out wide range of emotions in a believing manner. The love story of one friend and its impact on the friendship, the cricket obsession of one friend and its impact on friend ship and the opportunistic relation between one friend and his uncle and its impact on friendship the central points of this movie. In between  all this we see an array of different characters who influence these friends at different points.

In the movie one of the friend loves the sister of another friend. Their intimacy thickens and the girl fears of a pregnancy. They rush for a medical test. The girl gets back to home. All of a sudden the riots broke up. Both the friends end up in a tight situation. The brother hands over the phone to his student and takes his friends phone. And in this chaos the sister sends up an sms that everything is fine. Reading this Sms the brother looks up at his friend in a state of shock and the other slips into shades of guilt and that expression defines this movie's motive.

Every one played their role with perfection. The dialogues are well written. The photography topnotch. The music is pleasing to ears.

Go for Kai po che. It makes you remember how you dreamt of a life with your friends before you chose yours.