Film: ‘Shopping Mall’
Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: SK Pictures
Cast: Mahesh, Anjali, A Venkatesh, Pandi, Sneha (spl appearance)
Dialogues: Shashank Vennelakanti
Music: G V Prakash
Cinematography: Richard Nathan
Editing: Sreekar Prasad
Story, screenplay, direction: Vasanth Balan
Producer: Suresh Kondeti
Released On: 6th Nov 2010
The hit Tamil movie ‘Angadi Theru’ has come up as ‘Shopping Mall’ in Telugu today. Let us see the ins and outs in the movie.
Story
Set on the backdrop of a shopping mall Senthil Murugan, the story is about Siva (Mahesh) who hails from a small village and despite scoring 96% in tenth, he is forced to take up a job as a salesman. He is accompanied by his friend (Pandi) and they go through the hardships of the job. In the same mall works Rani (Anjali) who has her share of problems. Fate brings Siva and Rani together but then the tyranny of the management and the lewd and cruel behavior of the supervisor (Venkatesh) poses problems. They fall in love but fate has something else in store for them. What is that stroke of destiny and whether they emerge successful in their love or not forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Mahesh looks natural and though it is his debut performance, he has shown confidence and ease. He has fitted very well into the character.
Anjali looks naturally beautiful and she has shown her glamorous side in a song. While she has the ability to perform and shoulder challenging roles, she has also got that domestic sex appeal which can take her places in the future.
A Venkatesh came up with a riveting performance. His expressions and his body language make you hate him to the core. The background dubbing of Raghu Babu was perfect for him.
Pandi was hilarious, he has provided the much needed relief and humor in the otherwise serious film. Sneha looks gorgeous as usual and she gave some visual relief. The others did their bit as required and contributed in an effective manner.
Bullet Points:
- Seems to be inspired from Slumdog Millionaire
- Shopping mall employees living place recalls Hitler’s Concentration Camp which is height of ‘paityam’.
- Revolt is not shown from employees despite gruesome tyranny. The fear of losing job and not finding something similar in a place like Chennai is not that convincing.
- Hero is well educated than his colleagues. Instead of using his brain to live a better life and teach lesson to Shopping Mall owner in Chennai he ends up selling socks as a vendor at last!!
- Pessimism overrides the subject
- Only line in the film is to show the power of true love that never considers physical disabilities in partner (depicted well with lead characters as well as dwarf and prostitute couple)
Analysis
It is always nice to come up with natural and realistic films and the Kollywood circuit is known for that. But the flip side is that they tend to add the ‘Paithyam’ to it and make it look extreme.
While the subject chosen and backdrop of the story is different and unconventional, the director has shown few crucial points in a rather blunt manner which hits the audience on the face and finds it hard to acceptable.
The technical values were ok as the dubbing worked well, the background score was nice, two songs were neat, the cinematography and lighting effects gave a realistic feel, the costumes were apt and the art department was alive and convincing.
Editing and pace was also consistent and there was not much of an idle moment except during the second half. Though some of the emotions worked well, it is the overdoing of few things which has taken away the natural effect.
Cinema is a medium of entertainment which affects the society to a large extent so the makers must realize that making a film that shows despair and depression despite being fair in all means then the very purpose of the film is not served. At the box office, this might connect to the front benchers to an extent and as the budget is very minimal, things may fall on right side eventually.
Bottomline: An overdose of eccentricity
(SiraSri can be reached at [email protected])
