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.

MIRCHI....TOO HOT TO SWALLOW

A state of comatose has taken over this blog for a certain period of time. In this brief period movie that can be defined as neo noir stepped into telugu world (Ko ante koti) movie with satire on social issues (matru bijlee ka mandola, krishnam vande jagdgurum) movie recalling a heist of 1987(special 26) movie that sent chills with a eatery(pizza) movie that was unnecessarily a centre of controversy(viswarupam) demanded a review from this blog but time definitely provided little room to execute a thought provoking review.Occupied with my work and problems I chose only particular movies which quenched my thirst and relaxed me at the required time. In this way I am completely away from a lot of Telugu movies and definitely missed our flavour.

My good gods seem to have a taken a pity on me  and yesterday i  got an opportunity to watch Mirchi which is already a block buster. As the movie progressed I saw the protagonist transforming from a lover boy preaching the message of love- to a reformer who reforms bad guys -to a family man who understands a mother's agony-to a sword wielding angry young man and then came the interval. In the second half a flashback reveals transformation of the protagonist from a software engineer to blood thirsty  factionist to a son who abides by his father's words. As the flash back ends the protagonist asks the antagonist to stop blood shed by killing him. The goons and their leader thrash the protagonist black and blue and he slips on to the ground unconscious. On a simple provocation our hero raises up from the ground and in a whisker of a second  grounds all the goons and lays the sword on the neck of their leader and then preaches him the virtues of non violence and love. 

There is a common feature in all the movie i watched this year. The protagonist is one among us. He fears like us. He behaves like us. In special 26 Akshay kumar and his team fear after every robbery.In Ko ante Koti Sharwanand  loses the game to Sri hari. In matru Bijilee ka mandola Imran loses his battle to rain. In pizza the hero ends up in the house where his fears can become true. In Viswarupa a helpless Kamalhasan watches in guilt a hanging for which he is the cause.Even a dynamic cop like Bajpai  in Special 26 behaves like us. There was a huge consistency in the characters in these movies.   

 It pains us to see our protagonist like us. Hence we need an impossible hero. We need one who can preach and kill, one who can love and hate, one who can remember and forget, one who can earn and donate, one who can dance to an item song despite heart wrenching tragedy in his life, one who can be smooth and hard  one whom we can never see in our entire life. We are habituated to see our hero in this mould. 

The actress in special 26 carry a sense of dignity. The heroine fears about her future and finally does whatever she wants. The heroine is viswarupam is an nuclear oncologist and considering a divorce from the hero. The heroine in matru bijilee ka mandola  is conscious of the society she lives in. The heroine in pizza is an author whose line of interest is horror fiction.The heroine in Ko ante koti is a social activist. The heroine in Krishnam vande jagadgurum is a social conscious TV reporter .( both these films were huge flops).   In English Vinglish Sridevi reminds us the pain of an neglected house wife in a very defined manner. Even in a regressive film like Dabaang Sonakshi Sinha as well as Dimple Kapadia come up with better characterizations and personality

The actress in Mirchi (save the protagonist's mother who seemed a marriage event host) cannot speak against their male partners. One heroine has done MS in ..... but still in a state of confusion over her life. Another one a village belly was head over heels over the looks of the protagonist. They have no other work than romantic escapades. Other women represent a medieval culture.

These days we see a lot of awakening among the women in India. Voices are tough and lot of anger is vented out against injustice meted out to them. I don't know what happens to these voices when such degrading portrayal of women takes place in our  movies. 

Another funny aspect i observed in our faction movies was the antagonist and his family despite belonging to the same class of the protagonist  are dark skinned and very unclean. On the contrary the family members of the protagonist are fair and very neat. All the members of family were dressed in the traditional attire where as our heroine dons all the collection of Manish Malhotra and Ritu Beri. .

We have abundant treasure of literature. Ranging from Nanniah to yandamuri we have been bestowed with as lot of fiction which can offer any film maker a food for thought. Telugu poetry prose and drama are no less to any reputed master piece. Our history presents us with facts which are very stranger than fiction . We are a part of a legacy of thousand of heroic tales. When other states are busy filming  classics based on their history and literature we still lie in the blankets of a monotonous imaginary faction tales. When the protagonist s of other states are very near to real life and inspiring stuff our hero still wilds sword and romances in the break. 

There's no wrong in action movies. In fact i am  a die hard fan of Die Hard movie series. . John Mcclane needed a film time to conquer the antagonist. He was tired. He was injured. And as the film nears end he was completely down and we want him to get up and bash the goons.  Yet he takes time, searches for a weapon  and ends the movie in style and make you believe everything is real.   

But our faction hero's  are great than John Mcclane. In fact they will definitely laugh over the travails of John Mcclane Had it been them they should have utilized the time to romance, dance, fashion lessons and what not. John Mcclane has only one agenda. Our agenda is multipurpose. And Violence in die hard movies will be at shame watching our faction movies. And it pains me here to compare my favourite Die hard movies with our stale action capers. I am just making my point. Action movie doesn't mean  rotten dish served in a neat plate.

Our hero's never die hard. They make us die  hard in the theatre . 

cameraman ganga to rambabu.......A POSITIVE THOUGHT LINE

Tell me one movie in recent past where you witnessed a powerful climax without a drop of blood. YES WITHOUT A DROP OF BLOOD. The Pawan-Puri combo delivers a power packed climax that shakes you and wakes you up. The last 25 min of the movie involves you into the film in such a way that you forget all the trauma of the rest of the movie. Never ever a films climax touched the hearts of millions in this way. The films ultimate strength lies in those moments where the protagonist makes you realize how silly the system we are living in functions. 

Its pawan kalyans movie.The protagonist underplays his role to perfection. His intensity when he utters his powerful dialogues and his silence in the other moments establishes  a rare uniqueness. This uniqueness brings out the so called power and charm for which pawan kalyan has been famous. Right throughout the movie he remains with a common expression. He displays a unique seriousness and emotions when in conversation with the antagonist. And the way he addresses the state in the finality is simple yet very powerful. Puri displays how simple can be effective and powerful. And for the climax rush to the theatre to feel the power of the star who with his simple eye movement mesmerizes the  public.  Its a honour to be a contemporary of a star with some social sense. 

Making a mockery of news and politics the director comes out with winning moments in the 130 min long movie. Puri jagannath should be commended for taking a direct dig at Raj Thackeray and his politics of division. The way he asks " is telugu talli displaying the same animosity towards tamil talli" is commendable. The entire episode of "telugu talli" "tamil talli" "marati talli" is really thought provoking. The way he makes us realize the way news is fabricated is commendable.

Prakash raj delivers another commendable performance. Particularly the way he whips the emotions by evoking the telugu sentiment and the scene that follows are one of the best scenes in the movie. The way he displays the evil sense with eyes is awesome.

The regular fan elements are there. Two heroines make the things run. The ordinary-extraordinary     comparison is hilarious and intelligent insertion. Regular comedy line, regular fights and regulars are throughout out the movie. The music is a feast for fans. The last song seems to be a tribute to "nenu saitam" and well picturised. 

AND DEAR PURI -PAWAN , 

In a madness to appease fans you lost the deal. Such a story -such dialogues-such satire should have been a masterpiece if not you have lost to mad comedy, mad love scenes and  mass appeals. Everything seemed to perfect in this story. But imperfections that are inserted to make fans happy resulted in the dilution of the perfection. If your objective is to wake youth from deep slumber, do it sincerely. Dialogues don't make a movie. A social conscious star like pawan alone cannot sustain the credibility. A movie shines when every one in the movie has a role that elevates the theme, not the star. As i said it is the moment s that elevated the movie. Dear puri, how many days you will depend on moments? Yet again a movie last to star power.

For most of the time the protagonist(pawan) remains silent in the movie. Its during his powerful dialogues and   dynamic movements the movie comes to life. During the last twenty five min  the protagonist uses silence and dialogues that rattle the audience and pull them into the movement he heads. You will feel difficult to leave the proceedings. 

SADLY THE DIRECTOR SEEMED TO BE IN TOUCH WITH HIS CRAFT DURING THE LAST TWENTY FIVE MIN.

RELIGION: IT MAKES YOU HELPLESS OR IT MAKES YOU A TERRORIST

MY SIMPLE VERDICT: WATCH OH MY GOD FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. GO FOR IT NOW 

Few cinema's dare to make a point straight to the heart. Oh my god is a rare movie that comes out with a message that requires guts. On behalf of my blog i congratulate and appreciate this director for his effort. I dont want to analyze or write any comments on this movie. 

Cinema with RK salutes this director for making a point that can change the very foundations of a god fearing society. You may ask me who cares? I simply conclude: why should i bother?

The director made his point. Its crystal clear. For this he has not resorted himself to cheap gimmicks or tricks. He has not made mockery of religion or he has not made him a victim of graphics and technology. His lead actor comes out with an awesome portrayal. 

What amazed me is the directors God. Simple and friendly. He seldom performs miracles except in the penultimate scenes.He calls his devotee his friend. He declares he is nature himself. 

In one of the scenes god declares 

"i always give you means; its up to you to use them for good or bad"

well said director. thumbs up

films you should not miss

One of my students recently visited my house when i am away. Knowing my absence he asked my wife: " ye cinemaki vellaru( which movie he is watching today). My wife felt very sad and she even imagined that entire circle of mine is imagining me as a cinema maniac or i am suffering from a habituation of cinema. As such she expressed her concern to me in a very serious tone the same night. 

This definitely influenced me and i thought there's no point in writing reviews and opinions that finally make you look like a person suffering from obsession towards cinema. At a point it appeared to me my inclination towards cinema made people make fun of me behind me. for a while I DISTANCED MYSELF FROM WRITING OPINIONS AND REVIEWS. The objective behind my writing is to keep a record of good movies. 

For me is cinema is a passion. It's a great pleasure to watch characters move before you with different motivations and intentions. Its an enthralling experience to watch some one do the impossible. Its awesome experience to see the protagonist perform uphill tasks with ease. 

For me cinema is a tool that can have a telling impact on society. I can cite hundreds of examples that changed the world for ever. For example nuvve kavali changed the very premise of relations between girls and boys in Andhra Pradesh. I saw a lot of parents introspecting themselves after bommarillu.  My mother says Sankarbharanm re infused life of classical music in Andhra pradesh.

No. cinema will never change a society.  Yet it can influence culture. It can bring rapid changes in the attitude as well as personality in a youngster. Most of the freedom movements across the  world used art to spread the fervour. 

What ever I just want to keep a record of the good movies i watched in recent times.

A) The gangs of Wasseypur( I and II): In simple words if this is our official entry to oscar we will definitely win it.

B) Barfi: sweet and a ver postive movie. What if certain scenes are plagiarized  its a treat to watch. Ranbir kapoors performance is awesome.

C) Avunu: A very good thriller and the way ravi babu used  automated lights to scare is remarkable.