Movie: Geetanjali
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: M V V Cinema
Cast: Anjali, Srinivas Reddy, Rao Ramesh, Brahmanandam, Harshavardhan Rane, Rajesh, Shankar and Others
Cinematography: Sai Sriram
Music: Praveen Lakkaraju
Editor: Upendra
Written By: Kona Venkat
Director: Raj Kiran
Producers: M V V Satyanarayana
Release date: 9 August, 2014
Anjali gets to play the main protagonist in this horror-comedy presented by Kona Venkat. The success of Prema Katha Chitram has proved that the young audiences enjoy watching films in the horror comedy genre. Geetanjali is an attempt at capturing such market. Let’s see if the director has succeeded or not.
Story:
Like many aspiring film-makers, actors in Krishna Nagar who come to Hyderabad to try their luck in the film industry, Srinivas (Srinivas Reddy) comes to Hyderabad from Vijayawada hoping to become a director. En route, he meets Anjali (Anjali) and by the time they reach Hyderabad, they go their separate ways. Once in Hyderabad, Srinivas rents a flat along with his friend who is a software professional. Incidentally, Anjali drops in every night for coffee as it used to be her friend’s flat and soon Srinivas and Anjali become friends. Meanwhile, strange occurrences take place in the flat and one fine day Srinivas finds out that Anjali has been dead for three months after having committed suicide in the same flat. Well, from here, the actual story unfolds.
Artistes’ Performances:
Anjali gets to play the title role. Though the title makes one feel that it is a heroine-oriented film, she gets to play the normal, girl-next-door kind of role which she manages decently. However, she does not scare you one bit as a ghost.
Srinivas Reddy gets to do a full-length, author-backed role and he does manage it pretty well. He refrains from over-acting thankfully.
Brahmanandam gets to play Saitan Raj. While the name does intrigue you, it is not etched out well and he is totally wasted in a boring role as a psychiatrist. The only bonus for him is the song that comes as the credits roll.
Rao Ramesh also gets to do a full-length negative character, which he carries off with his usual ease.
The friend and Rajesh and Shanker are their usual self and play their parts well.
Technical Excellence:
Let’s begin with cinematography as he has done a good job for a small film. Since it’s a horror comedy, there are no spine-chilling scenes. Though most of the film has been shot in a flat, he does capture the scenes interestingly.
Music is a letdown and one cannot remember even one tune after coming out. The best part is that it has only a couple of songs. Again, since it is not a regular horror film, the background music is rather tame.
The film begins on a promising note, but the director fails to sustain the suspense and once the plot is revealed, the audience loses interest in the climax. Since it has been labeled a horror comedy, the director has tried to focus more on comedy rather than horror. But he could not come up with rib-tickling comedy. In fact, the audience found the horror bit funnier than the so-called comedy scenes.
Highlights:
- Almost all actors perform well
- Some comedy scenes
Drawbacks:
- Brahmanandam Comedy
- Second half
Analysis:
Like mentioned above, the director seems to have been totally inspired by the success of Prema Katha Chitram.
Of course, he tries to touch upon a social message with his horror comedy without sounding too preachy. But his efforts at making a horror comedy do not hit the target audience as the film does not make you laugh throughout.
And there is hardly any horror scene in the entire film. It would have been ideal if the director added some horror scenes just for added effect.
The main problem with the film is that it fails keep one interested once the twist in the tale is revealed. From then on, one only waits for the film to end. Also, another major drawback is the climax which is heavily inspired from Shah Rukh-starrer Om Shanti Om.
For those who expect Prema Katha Chitram style of story-telling, this film might be disappointing.
Barring the performances by lead actors and some comedy scenes, the film has nothing much to draw the audiences. The entire Brahmanandam comedy track could have been chopped off by the editor as it provides no value addition to the film.
Bottomline: Geetanjali neither thrills nor chills.
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
