Hero’s bid to gain new image fails

Raja, who gave hits like ‘Anand’ and ‘Vennela’, fell flat in recent times, with successive flops like ‘Mr Medhavi, Mayabazar, Nee Sukhame Ne Korutunna and Andamaina Abaddham’. At the same time, the heroine Sanjana who made her debut with ‘Bujjigadu’ could not taste any success so far. Both are desperately looking for a success. Believing that a change in image might bring a success, for the first time, Raja chose a subject with action in its backdrop and strongly depended on a senior artiste like Rebel Star Krishnamraju. However, all his dreams shattered as his latest film ‘Samardhudu’ too could not draw crowds due to the poor movement of the film by debutant director Arjun.

Remake of a great film at poor standard

Remaking of a film in some other languages will always draw comparisons and ‘Eenadu’ is not an exception to it. It is well aware that this Kamal Hassan-Venkatesh starrer is the remake of a successful Bollywood film ‘A Wednesday’. Chakri Tholeti, who had directed the film, copied the film bit by bit. In order to prove that he made certain changes in the script, he had introduced Government Chief Secretary character. But for Venkatesh’s performance, the film failed to please the Telugu audiences. The film had no mass elements that could pull the crowds to the theatres, while the class audiences, most of whom already watched the Hindi original, will naturally draw comparisons and understand that Kamal was wasted in the character and he is in no way proved a good replacement for Naseeruddin Shah.

The arrow that lacks the sharpness

The Telugu film industry has the tradition of introducing the sons and daughters of stars into the films. It also has another tradition of many film artistes turning into politicians and many of them held various positions as MLAs, MPs, ministers and also the chief minister. As the time pass by, the trend reversed and the politicians started turning artistes now and then. Going a step ahead, former chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s brother Ramamurthy Naidu introduced his son Nara Rohit as hero. Though not acting is in his blood, Rohit stood to the expectations and has a handsome figure unlike many other heroes who do not have minimum qualifications to be a hero.

Poor comedy track spoiled the tempo

Stories with faction backdrop is not new to the Telugu audiences. Like the cowboy films, these faction-related subjects though narrated with different heroes, they always appear to be very similar and the audiences would always try to equate them with other films. In case of Gopichand’s latest film ‘Sankham’ too, which has faction in its backdrop, failed to offer anything new and it appeared like an old wine in new bottle. The movement of the story too had no twists. The good performance by the hero and the glamour of the heroine too failed to save the film from earning a just below average to average talk on the release day.

Right platform for Chaitu

Dil Raju is known as the Golden Hand in the Tollywood as he is the most successful producer in recent times. Almost all his films are hits with a few films which crossed the range of above average movies. He introduced several directors and other technicians to the Telugu film industry and he got an opportunity to introduce Naga Chaitanya, son of Nagarjuna and grandson of Akkineni Nageswara Rao, who is also the nephew of Venkatesh and grandson of Dr D Ramanaidu. With lots of family attachment to the film industry, Naga Chaitanya made his debut through ‘Josh’ with lots of expectations. The film also had a debutant director Vasu Varma and a new heroine Karthika, who is the daughter of Radha, heroine of yesteryears.

Shriya’s sizzling dances is only saving grace

Films with economic offences in the backdrop have already come on the silver screen. The latest one on this theme is ‘Sivaji’ with Rajanikanth as hero which was a blockbuster. Again Susi Ganeshan penned another story on those lines, of course, this time with a little change that the hero himself works in the CBI in economic offences wing and robs the Peter to pay Paul. Vikram played the lead role and he sported different get-ups in the film and he donned all the characters with equal ease. Shreya with her slim attire is the only asset and saving grace for the film is the dances by her.

Of college days and commitment of youth

Director Muppalaneni Siva, who gave big hits like Raja, Sandade Sandadi, Sankranti, which had family subjects in the backdrop, this time chose a youthful love story with college in its backdrop. Moreover, he chose new faces for his film this time. But with several films to his credit as a director, he managed to deal with the artistes easily and was able to extract the acting talents in each of them. The film appears to have been inspired by the recent hit film ‘Happy Days’ till the interval bang. But takes a twist and turns into a different way.

One more entertainer from Raviteja

Raviteja started his career as a small artiste and played hero’s buddy roles in the beginning. He had no godfathers in the industry and rose to the level of hero with ‘Samudram’ directed by Krishnavamsi. Later, he got a break and emerged a minimum guarantee heroes and gave several hits like Khadgam, Idiot, Amma Nanna Tamil Ammayi, Venky, Vikramarkudu and so on. His recent release ‘Kick’ was a runaway hit. Even as he was enjoying the success of ‘Kick’, he played hero in ‘Anjaneyulu’ produced by comedian Ganesh, directed by Parasuram of ‘Yuvata’-fame. It is no surprise that this film was also a hit as the movie had Raviteja-mark comedy and the story is totally tailor-made for Raviteja.

RGV sprinkles cold water on Nithin’s hopes

Ram Gopal Varma had brought several hit films in Bollywood including Rangeela, Satya and Sarkar. However, he had a curious instinct to frighten the audiences with his films. In order to satiate his desire, he brought up several films with horror and thrill in the backdrop, but could not succeed in any of his attempts. In fact, for his recent release ‘Phoonk’ he announced Rs 5 lakh reward to those who watch the film alone without any fear. But finally, it proved to be a big dud. Without giving up his attempts, he brought out another film again with horror backdrop called ‘Agyaat’ whose Telugu version is ‘Adavi’ was produced by Nattikumar on the banner of Visakha Talkies. The entire film was shot in a forest, somewhere in Sri Lanka.

Repeat audiences are sure for this celluloid wonder

Any artiste needs a platform to show his talent. He cannot depend on the name and fame of their parents for long as he should prove himself. He just cannot carry on with the image of their elders. Ramcharan got a chance to make his presence in films and his debut film ‘Chiruta’ is just an okay film. However, Mega fans made the film a big success out of love and affection of his father Chiranjeevi. Not just relying on the fans any more, Ramcharan decided to prove himself that he is an excellent artiste. Rajamouli gave him the opportunity to prove his strength as an artiste and the subject also perfectly suited the body language of Ramcharan.