Balakrishna has tried to come out of his routine formula (faction movies) and wanted to try something new and different with this movie. Yuvaratna's Fans and others have been waiting for a hit from Balayya for a long time. And as the expectations are very high it is hard for a director or a producer to come up with such kind of movie. It looks like even this movie could not bring Balakrishna out of that bad phase. Lets see how the story and the movie came up at the end.

Outdated movement of film caused boredom

Though the director had rich experience in directing the movies and he himself produced a film earlier, Samudra failed to reach the expectations of the audiences. Despite the fact that his combination with the hero had a big hit like ‘Sivaramaraju’, the haphazard screenplay and outdated movement of the story caused boredom to the audiences in total. At a time, when the audiences are looking for something novel on the screen, a story which had already watched on the Telugu screen with films like ‘Oke Okkadu’ (of Allu Arjun), wherein a common man turns a Chief Minister, sans a gripping screenplay and outdated narration by the director made the audiences sit for almost two and a half hours a little uncomfortably.

Foreign bridegrooms are no better

In the backdrop of recent killing of young brides from India in foreign countries for more dowry and the rampant harassment by the husbands and in-laws demanding more dowry leading to the suicides young girls, Sujata penned a novel in Tamil called ‘Pirivom Sandippom) to give a message to the youth and their parents. Popular movie maker and star producer Aascar Ravichandran, impressed with the story, decided to give it a celluloid shape with AR Radhakrishna wielding the megaphone. With the success of ‘Happy Days’, Tamanna became popular in Telugu and hence the producer chose to release the film simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu languages. However, the protégé of Sankar, who had directed the movie failed to deliver the message in a correct manner.

One more disaster from a senior director

Director Kodandarami Reddy gave several hits and blockbusters with several artistes including Chiranjeevi. Especially, ‘Khaidi’ directed by him gave a big break to the Mega Star. He is not only excellent in directing action films, he also gave good comedy flicks like ‘Ramarajyamlo Bheemraraju’ with Super Star Krishna. Many of his films ran for 100 days. Of late, his sharpness faded away and he has no notable hits to his credit. His latest film ‘Godava’ with his son as hero too failed to make a mark. To regain his past glory, this director tried a film with sizzling actress Mumait Khan, an item girl, as heroine, with a hit title ‘Punnami Nagu’. However, the poor storyline, old-fashioned narration and improper screenplay made the film a disaster.

Poor narration, mediocre direction (Rating: 2.75/5)

Meher Ramesh, the protégé of Puri Jagannath, turned a director with ‘Kantri’ featuring NTR as hero. The film was a moderate hit. After ‘Kantri’ Meher Ramesh could not get any opportunity again. With Krishnamraju deciding to revive his Gopikrishna Movies banner, Meher Ramesh was roped in as director for the film and in a bid to grab a hit in the second innings, the presenter and director chose a proven subject like ‘Don’ for remake. Moreover, Prabhas who was in depression with no notable hits to his credit, was chosen as hero. However, Meher Ramesh’s poor narration and abrupt cuts in the subject made the film a mediocre, despite the successful track record of the subject in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.

An perfect portrayal of parental love (Rating: 3.25 / 5)

Dil Raju, who was once a film distributor, turned a producer and brought several films on the banner of Sri Venkateswara Creations. All the films that came on the banner were hits and he did not face a flop till date. All his films were straight movies and he did not go for dubbing till date. However, to promote his close friend and artiste Prakash Raj, who had produced a film ‘Abhiyum, Naanum’ in Tamil, he took the Telugu remake rights. Unfortunately, the film proved an average movie there and the success is doubtful in Telugu. To avoid the flop talk for the film and to drive the film on a hit path, Dil Raju chose to make certain changes and reshot certain scenes. This had benefited a lot and the film ‘Akasamanta’ turned out a big success in Telugu now.

Story with gripping screenplay sans comedy (Rating: 2.5 / 5)

Eswar Reddy became famous after ‘Mee Sreyobhilashi’. In fact, he proved himself one step ahead in penning gripping screenplay with his debut film itself. Zee Motion Pictures, which had decided to venture into Telugu films chose him by noticing his talent. He penned a story which had different elements like terrorism, love, sentiment, concern, friendship and what not. More than the story, the movement of the film is different from routine. Despite interesting narration, the director ignored the basic element that was needed for a Telugu film, comedy. The common man who goes to a theatre for entertainment would miss the same and can’t understand the movie unless he watches it with complete attention.

A satire on SEZs

Some time ago, there used to be art films, apart from commercial movies. They were classified as art films as they do not have any commercial values and were intended to explain a social stigma or to highlight a problem faced by the society. After a long gap, one such film came up on Telugu screen. LB Sriram, who was popular as artiste these days, was once a good writer. After a long gap, he penned a story called ‘Sonta Vooru’ based on a recent problem faced by various villages called ‘Special Economic Zones’ under whose guise, the government acquired fertile lands and converted them into factories and mines to help MNCs. As a result, the farmers were forced to search for an alternative profession and are turning labourers and rickshaw-pullers. Those who are fond of their motherland and come here to have a peaceful death were forced to go to some other place as villages started disappearing.

Poor narration killed the message

Cinema is a powerful medium and any message that was given through a film would straight go into the minds of the audiences. This is a common remark on the films. However, it is not known how many artistes and technicians are preaching what they told on the screen in their real life is not known. Once again it was proved, that Raj Aditya is one among those who did not practice what he preached on the screen. In his latest film, ‘Mallee Mallee’ he gave a message that committing suicide is a cowardice act and one had to fight with the problems and emerge himself a winner. But, he ended his life in a hotel room even before the message reaches the audiences through his film.

Sarcastic remarks on election eve (Rating: 3 / 5)

Dasari Narayana Rao is known for his boldness and he brought many super hit films. Moreover, he had to his credit many films which will have sarcastic remarks on several contemporary issues. In fact it was Dasari who had exhorted the need for ‘social justice’ through his film ‘Manushulu Marali’ long ago. His films like ‘Bobbili Puli, Osay Ramulamma, MLA Yedukondalu, Police Yenkatasami and the like’ were nothing but satires on contemporary issues. However, he was off the film industry after his joining the Congress and becoming a Union minister. With the end of the present government’s term, Dasari got an opportunity to revert to his parent film industry and he chose to appear before the camera with a nice subject. He had taken a political satire as the plot and mixed it with some action scenes for commercial values.