"Shadow" Film Review (Telugu)

"Shadow" is one of the most-publicised films of Victory Venkatesh. The publicity was imperative because in an era of fast-changing tastes of the audience, Venkatesh has fallen way behind both in terms of recent content and record. His films were becoming monotonous and shallow - the same family drama, trump-like character played by Venky, out to sacrifice his lover at the altar of marriage with another, and then the banal ending sometimes happy and sometimes sad - he even slashed his tongue in a film. No wonder, for the last year's Sankranti, his "Bodyguard" became a washout and couldn't stand the onslaught of "Businessman". Earlier in 2013, he co-starred with Mahesh Babu in "SVSC" which became a classic hit re-starting the trend in multistarrers. But his market-cap was clearly on the wane, he got paid a mere Rs.3 crores for the blockbuster while his co-star walked away with Rs.8.5 crs. (which was more than the satellite rights earned for the entire film Rs.7 crs. won by Gemini TV). Venky and Nagarjuna, who entered Tollywood a good decade or so after Megastar Chiranjeevi never could reach the dizzy heights of either Chiranjeevi or afterwards the range of box-office collections achieved by the likes of Mahesh Babu, Prabhas, Ramcharan and Allu Arjun. Venky and Nag might have touched a bare Rs.30 crs. if you count all the multiplex price collections and openings overseas. 

Why am I plodding on such long preface in a film review of "Shadow"? Thats because, given such a background, Venkatesh tries to don a different role in every sense. It has a negative shade but is positively highlighted in a manner that fits his body language and persona. "Shadow" directed by Meher Ramesh ("Billa" fame) shows Venky in a dashing new Avatar that could be lapped up by his thick-like audiences. It shows him as a multi-masked hero who  comes in different getups to finish off each villain responsible for the killing of his father Nagababu. Each time, he uses a different manner of slaying the villains from Shinde to Aditya Pancholi. How does he do it? By tail-gating Srikanth, a cop who almost nabs the villain only to pip him at the post.  Quite a fast-paced narration and gripping story with a few pointless excursions into comedy that sucks and a passable light-hearted love track with Tapsi. On the whole, what sustains the film is a commanding narrative with an occasional comedy by MS Narayana to give relief. Venkatesh, contrary to what the press and twitterati lambast, is quite good in the many costumes and hairdos. He remains the same rugged, tough-looking Venky of the earlier years, even if age catches up with him. A dignified swagger, controlled heroism, and stunning stunts make Venky a treat to watch. The composer of the season, SS Thaman scores peppy and trendy music including a haunting BGM  that uplifts the film and moves the narration. Picturisation of the songs and choreography by Raju Sundaram is quite a treat to watch. Srikanth and Tapsi hold their own in a film which tries to show Venky in his full-blooded range in all frames. Aditya Pancholi is an impactful villain whose dubbing lets his screen presence down. MS Narayana gets a few laughs with Krishna Bhagwan though he gets repetitive later. His jibes at casteism by commentating on a character called KammaReddy KapuRaju is hilarious.  Meher Ramesh's strengths are in slick direction, moving narrative and good editing (unlike in "Shakti"). He seems at home in shooting sequences in Malaysia, maybe he bootstraps the film's budget with grants from Malaysian Government to promote tourism. What bores the film is the insincere characterisation of Venky as "Chanti" before interval. 

Every actor goes through a hump in a career that gets truncated by invasions from nextgen of actors. Venkatesh, who has had an amazing run of box-office successes has given some of the most-watched Telly films in Tollywood with a selection of themes that appeals to family audiences and loyal audiences. There have been worse films in the past but "Shadow" is definitely worth a watch as I found it slick, riveting and different from the last five films done by Venky. It is not as bad as many reviewers have rubbished it to be. I am a fan of Tollywood, not a fan of Venkatesh and feel that everybody deserves a second-chance  and change of image - whether it is Balayya, Chiranjeevi, Mahesh, NTR Jr. or Prabhas or Nagarjuna. An actor like Venkatesh  deserves better reviews for "Shadow". It was a paisa vasool for all of us who watched the film. 3.25/5 it deserves.

Shakuntala Devi R.I.P

One of the many, many books written by the legendary Shakuntala Devi. I have a good collection of her books - including those gifted by my dad as part of my growing up years. We were made to attend one of her public programs of Memory Unlimited and numbers to the right of "Pi". For us and those in the 80s, Shakuntala Devi was a brainiac phenomenon that deserved to be widely feted in modern times. She was the original App in Mathematics before the world knew how Apps worked. I hope her legacy lives on and every child in India imbibes her fondness for Mathematics. I hope we make a film based on her life almost like that on Srinivas Ramanujam. According to Mint Columnist Dilip D'Souza, Shakuntala Devi's personal life was also interesting - she had a homosexual husband, her marriage ended in 1979 and she wrote a book on that too: "The World of Homosexuals". Her last book which is pictured here is : "In the wonderland of numbers". R.I.P.

"Badshah" film review (Telugu)

Badshah" heralds the second big season of Tollywood with a swooshing sound of big-scale entertainment in the school of direction of Sreenu Vaitla and his style of family values - atleast four villains and seven side-kicks, a bigger family of character actors, a hero who is never bigamous, a heroine who falls for the hero easily only to be beguiled, an epic, almost explosive spraying of comedy scenes usually inter-linked with the story by the one and only Brahmanandam. This pattern of film-making has been remarkably patented by Sreenu Vaitla especially from the film "Ready" till "Dookudu". Each time, the under-currents were the same only the backdrop changed.  

In "Badshah", he tries to salvage NTR Jr.'s chequered career so far to give him a new cut-out which may go down well with his fans. He lets him keep the reel name his grandfather gave him - N.T.Rama Rao and weaves plenty of screenplay twists to make a career-high for him although it appears tedious at times. 

160 minutes should be an editor's delight but hardly a viewer's delight. Since the editors must have gone napping and Sreenu Vaitla makes films in the conventional three-act format, he cannot get to the main point without moving linearly from the previous watermarks in the frames he releases for us to make a sense of all the drama and melodrama. He needs something different everytime to make audiences drool over his largely endearing universal brand of entertainment, so this time he gives NTR switch into two variations: One, as a police officer who infiltrates a mafia from Italy to Macau and later, as a wedding planner in India who spoils the party for his lover about to marry someone else. Lot of characters get thrown in to pad up the whole storyline till the end - collapsing all the elements and the emotional highs and lows Sreenu Vaitla wants us to experience including some meaningless and boring stunts - the worst in NTR's films. 

Is the film watchable? For a large part yes and thats because of the devastating comedy scenes between MS Narayana and NTR and Kajol in the first half and later, between Brahmanandam and Nazar and MS Narayana in the second half. If you thought "Dookudu" was the ultimate in Brahmanandam comedy, seriously, watch "Badshah". Brahmanandam steals the thunder yet again in one of his most boisterous performances till date. MS Narayana, Vennela Kishore and Nazar too add to the outstanding comedy track in the film which are the sole highlight of the film. Kajol Agarwal is fading out fast and probably getting burnt out with her ho-hum expressions. NTR Jr. gets his best shot at dialogue delivery in just one or two scenes and excels in dance sequences. His Telangana accent is better than the slick expressions as a Mafia Don. Like many heroes hungry for box-office success in the past, NTR Jr. pulls out all the stops to make himself count amongst the contenders for the top slot. He ropes in the best comedy duo Brahmi and MSN to sizzle with their rapturous chemistry, a vintage medley of old NTR clubsongs (, and some splendid locations to give audience the variety even though the story itself is not that novel and an in-form SS Thaman to score trendy music (though forgettable). He even ropes in two stars and a superstar to bring him  luck - Actors Siddharth and Navdeep in brief roles and Mahesh Babu to give the commentary. Sreenu Vaitla does a clean job in his KV Reddy style of film-making  - a rollercoaster ride of emotions but lags at a lot of places. Writers Gopi Mohan and Kona Venkat give some memorable lines. Sreenu Vaitla should know that every director who relies on excessive screenplay and comedy without variety hits a glass ceiling one day. It happened with great directors of comedy genre like Jandhyala, EVV, Krishna Reddy, Siva Nageshwar Rao and Mouli. "Badshah" may be a paisa vasool film for now but if Sreenu Vaitla doesn't re-invent himself, he is a few films away from becoming ad nauseum. NTR Jr. should relax if this film becomes a hit for all the sweat equity - it is not his sweat but so what it nudges him to better days still. I rate it 3.5 on 5 for the hilarity of Brahmanandam.