Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram
Cast: Naveen Chandra, Rahul Ravindran, Lavanya Tripathi, CVL Narasimha Rao, Mickey, Pragathi, D Murali Krishna and others
Music: Radhan
Cinematographer: G Murali
Editor: G V Chandrasekhar
Story, screenplay, direction: Hanu Raghavapudi
Producers: Korrapati Sai, S S Rajamouli
Release date: 10/08/2012
After the successful ‘Eega’, the duo of Rajamouli and Korrapati Sai has arrived with a small ticket venture and this has a bunch of debutantes showing their mettle. Let us see how good it is.
Story
A quirky love tale, the story is set on the backdrop of the early 90s and in here lives Gautham (Rahul Ravindran) a rich guy who sees Mithuna (Lavanya) for the first time and falls in love with her. However she meets with an accident and is on her death bed. Gautham arranges for all surgeries and she recovers but after she gains consciousness, Mithuna asks about Surya (Naveen). Apparently, both are in love with each other but Mithuna is told Surya is dead. Meanwhile, Gautham expresses his feelings and he manages to take her to Ooty. He does all attempts to show his love to Mithuna who is unable to forget Surya. Finally she realizes Gautham’s love and decides to marry him. But a twist in the tale happens and what follows after is the rest of the story.
Performances
Naveen Chandra fit the role well and he had that rugged yet artistic look. Not much in terms of expressions or body language but his character etching worked out.
Rahul Ravindran had a naughty spark in his eyes but he has copied Siddharth in his dialogue delivery completely. It would have been better if he didn’t scream so many times.
Lavanya Tripathi is the life and soul for this movie. She is very expressive, naturally beautiful and despite Chinmayi’s dubbing she got the right lip sync. She has got very good potential. But how far she will fit into glamour roles will be a question.
CVL Narasimha Rao was perfect to his role. Pragathi’s over emotional act is usual. Micky was moderate but the dubbing for him by Satish Kasetty was nice. D Murali Krishna made his presence felt as Sarma. The others contributed in their own way.
Highlights
- Lavanya’s performance
- Cinematography
- Background score and songs
- Art
Drawbacks
- First half
- Climax
- Screenplay
- Weak entertainment
- No emotional depth
Analysis
Do you know what happens when students of filmmaking are given a task to make a movie in Mani Ratnam's style? It results in a movie like ‘Andala Rakshasi’.
The entire feel of the movie is filled with total Tamil flavor and as it is, this one has taken the crux of the plot from Mani’s masterpiece ‘Mounaraagam’.
The composition of dialogues, the delivery, the lag in dialogue, stretching at few places, all these are trademark Mani Ratnam movies. Of course, this is no way near comparison to the maverick’s movies but just a reference.
Even if heroine screams it looks like she is whispering. And for some reason the hero is found screaming most of the times, not sure why.
There are many blunders throughout the film’s screenplay. From the take off, the film has a very dull and melancholic feel and the first half is very weak.
The interval bang was hair rising and the second half gathers some energy but barring the episodes of Surya's character and the ‘Pelli Choopulu’ scene there is nothing special.
Most importantly, it is the climax twist which has wrenched the thighs (Thodapaasam) big time. This is a subject which could have been dragged into 500 episodes and made into a daily serial. To say on lighter note, a subject that fits for 500 episode span was wasted by this 2 and half hour movie.
Few questions for Hanu Raghavapudi – why was the backdrop of 90s chosen? What is the message being conveyed through climax? What is the reason behind the heroine falling in love with Surya? On the good side, his taking and making is good but these are few fundamental concepts which need to be worked.
Anyways, due to the Rajamouli brand, there will be tremendous openings but we have to see how the audience will receive this one.
Bottomline: Straight Telugu film with Sambar flavor.
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
