Film: Eega
Rating: 3.5/5
Banner: Varahi Creations
Cast: Nani, Sudeep, Samantha, Hamsa Nandini
Music: Keeravani
Cinematographer: K K Senthil Kumar
Editor: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Story, Screenplay, Direction: S S Rajamouli
Producer: Sai Korrapati
Release date: 06/07/2012
Rajamouli is back and this time he has come with an ambitious venture that would be redefining the standards of Telugu cinema. Whether he was upto the mark or not, let us analyze
Story:
Sudeep (Sudeep) is a high profile industrialist who gets whatever he wants and he has a special eye for beautiful women. To get them, he will not hesitate to do anything. That desire gets triggered when Sudeep sees Bindu (Samantha), a miniature artist who runs a non-profit organization.
However, Bindu is loved with Nani (Nani) who keeps following her everywhere. Though Bindu loves him, she doesn’t express it to him and enjoys the attention. The story takes a turn when Sudeep discovers the feelings of Bindu for Nani and is unable to digest his defeat. He kills Nani. But Nani is born again as ‘Eega’ and he wants to take vengeance on Sudeep.
How does he do that? Is he successful? All this forms the rest of the story.
Performances:
Nani came up with a brief but effective role. His energy levels and his cheerful expressions brings some light moments to the film. He made a good contribution.
Samantha was sweet looking and though she didn’t have to indulge in any glamour show, her simple appearance and performance wherever required did the job.
Sudeep was outstanding. He is the perfect replacement for Raghuvaran and can portray a variety of negative emotions very convincingly. His baritone voice and onscreen intensity are riveting.
Devadarshini was decent, Aditya Menon was apt, Srinivasa Reddy was not used to his potential, Tagubothu Ramesh brought smiles.
Highlights
- CG work
- Cinematography
- Background score
- Sudeep
- Screenplay
- Narration
Drawbacks
- No suspense in story as it’s revealed prior
Analysis:
The famous dialogue from the film ‘Businessman’ – ‘Surya Bhai is not a name…it’s a brand’ has a real life example. That is Rajamouli.
At a time when industry folks are working on formula entertainers with a sole focus on generating box office collections, Rajamouli chose to come up with a subject that will take one line to finish on paper and will sound the most bizarre in concept. A housefly’s revenge…how convincing is that? But you have to change your judgment when dealing with Rajamouli’s belief.
And that is bound to happen when you see ‘Eega’. Though he took his time to come out with this movie, he has shown that a lot has gone behind the creation of the creature. This is the first time that Telugu cinema has seen a movie with high quality graphics.
Usually, CG is considered to give effects and impact on the background but in this, it is the CG which is the hero. Secondly, when a creature is the protagonist, it is obvious that there are no dialogues but the major life to the film was given by the exceptional background score of Keeravani. The emotions of Eega he conveyed with his instruments were mesmerizing. Without doubt, Keeravani is still the best in the business. The other department which requires maximum applause is cinematography.
Senthil’s camera angles and the grading he used for different scenes is exceptional.
While the technical standards of the film are par excellence and have redefined the Tollywood parameters, due credit goes to Rajamouli. He is a good storyteller and whatever scene he composes, there is conviction in it.
Without diverting anywhere, he goes about with the plot from start to finish and if there are any loose ends, they get connected before the film ends. As always, he knows how to bring the peaks and keep the momentum on.
As such, there is not much to criticize barring few dragged moments in couple of scenes but it will be interesting to see how the masses will receive this in B, C centers. Those who are tech-savvy will be impressed but to those who seek entertainment and action, this could be a little edgy.
At the box office, the film has success written over it thanks to the hype and Rajamouli brand value. To say the least, he has proved that he doesn’t require star power to click at the collection centers.
Bottomline: Simple subject, superb execution, worth watching!!
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
