Ravi Teja as Devarayalu heir

Ravi Teja will be playing an interesting role of a great-great-grandson of Sri KrishnaDevaryalu in his next movie to be directed by Krishna Vamsi. This movie will be an entertainer that also shows a burning issue. Ravi Teja is currently doing Sambho Siva Sambho that is a remake of a Tamil blockbuster. Krishna Vamsi's Mahatma will be releasing on 9 October. This movie will go to floors very soon

Tarun as Chakkanaina Abbai

Chukkalanti Ammayi Chakkanaina Abbai is the title of Tarun's latest movie. Vimala Raman is doing the role of heroine. This movie was extensively shot in Bangkok. The next schedule will start on 14 October and will be shot till the movie is wrapped up. Raju Harwani (Supreme Movies) and Gogineni Srinivasa Rao (Pranav Studios) are jointly producing this movie.

Villagelo Vinayakudu on 5 November

Villagelo Vinayakudu is going to release on 5 November worldwide. Krishnudu who played the title role in last year's Vinayakudu also plays a similar role in this sequel. Saranya Mohan plays female lead. Though it has village backdrop, the taking and concept of the movie is modern and entertaining. Manikanth Kadri composed music is already a chartbuster. Ramana Salva provides cinematography. Sai Kiran Adivi is the director and Mahi is producing this movie.

NTR & Nag not doing Takita Takita

Bharat Thakur (Bhumika Chawla's husband) who is producing a film titled Takita Takita issued a press note today by stating that he is producing this movie with new comers. Actress Anushka is doing a guest role in this movie by appearing in a special role. However, a few rumors erupted recently that NTR and Nagarjuna are going to do cameos. Bharat Thakur trashed them as rumors by clarifying that NTR and Nagarjuna are not doing his film.

Ilayaraja music for Om Shanti

Three Angels Studio that produced critically acclaimed Baanam is coming up with Om Shanti as their second production venture. This film features multiple actors like Navadeep, Nikhil, Kajal Agarwal, Bindu Madhavi and Aditi Sharma. Prakash Dantuluri - a US returned filmmaker is making his debut as director. Ilayaraja is composing music for Om Shanti. Ilayaraja gave many memorable musical hits for Vyjayanthi banner in the past. His last film was RGV-Chiru combination movie that was scrapped later. Vincent is handling cinematography. Producer Seshu Priyanka Chalasani is looking for December release.

Jayeebhava on 23 October

Kalyan Ram Nandamuri's latest movie Jayeebhava is all set to release worldwide on 23 October. Kalyan Ram who delivered quality films like Athanokkade and Hare Ram in the past is also producing Jayeebhava. This love and family action entertainer will feature Hansika Motwani in the female lead. Sourya Ram Nandamuri (son of Kalyan Ram) presents this movie. Music done by SS Thaman was recently released at a function. Naren makes his debut as director with Jayeebhava

Mahesh Babu donates 20 Lakhs to CM Relief Fund

Mahesh Babu too donated Rs 20 Lakhs to help the flood victims. He handed over the check of Rs 20 Lakhs to Chief Minister Rosaiah in favor of CM Relief Fund. He met CM along with his father Krishna. Superstar Krishna and Vijayanirmala too made donations of Rs 5 Lakhs each. Mahesh Babu said he was not in Hyderabad for past few days. “So as soon as I landed here in Hyderabad, I am responding. This is hard time for people of Andhra Pradesh and I want all the Telugus should help the flood victims,” he said.

Krishnam Raju donates 10 Lakhs.
Krishnam Raju donated ten lakhs to Chief Ministe's Relief fund. He came along with his wife and gave cheque to CM. He said it is on behalf os him and Prabhas.

Ravi Teja donates Rs 5 Lakhs
On the other hand, hero Ravi Teja too made a donation of Rs 5 Lakhs to Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

Ganesh - Movie Review

Film: Ganesh
Cast: Ram, Kajal, Brahmanandam, Ashish Vidyardhi, Sudha, Kasi Vishwanath, Poonam Kaur, Rohini Hattangidi and others
Dialogues: Abburi Ravi
Music: Mickey J Meyer
Lyrics: Sirivennela, Ramajogaiah Shastry
Cinematography: Hari Anumolu
Editing: Srikara Prasad
Art: Peketi Ranga
Action: Peter Heins
Produced by: Sravanthi Ravikishore
Story, screenplay and directed by: M Saravanan
Release date: September 24, 2009
CBFC Rating: U/A
What’s it about!

A close friend of Ganesh (Ram) gets in a problem - that his father wants him to get married to his niece. As his friend is already in love with another girl and he could not tell this to his father at this juncture, Ganesh comes forward to help him. Ganesh hatches a plan to make his friend’s niece Divya (Kajal) fall in love with him so that his friend would be happily marry his girlfriend. Ganesh takes rent a floor above Divya’s apartment and woes her with his charming ways. She falls in love with him and they soon exchange rings. But one day, Divya comes to know that Ganesh is pretending to be in her love just to help his friend. Heartbroken Divya starts hating Ganesh who tries to convince that he has really fallen in love but in vain. The rest of the film is all about Ganesh making her realize his true love.


Analysis

After stupendous success of Ready and above average Maska, Ram has emerged as hottest hero. With Ready, he won the hearts of youth and kids, and with Maska, he established himself as a mass hero too. Hence, to sustain this image, he has chosen Ganesh, a very simple script narrated by newcomer Saravanan. Ram’s superman histrionics and children playing major role in the narration seems to be an attempt to make Ram dear to kids in Andhra. The film’s first half is good but it misses the track in the second half. Moreover, the run time is too excessive to this kind of simple film. Some comedy here and there, excellent cinematography and first half are its strengths. Rest is pretty ordinary.

Performances

Ram, known for his high energy levels, has played a lover boy role. He has done neat job in that and also tried to win the hearts of kids with his superman antics. He has not indulged in much action scenes (as there are hardly any fights) and dances are also okay. Kajal has looked good in songs and some romantic scenes. Chemistry between the lead stars is fine. Brahmanandam as Yadagiri has tried to provide some entertainment. Poonam Kaur in a special apperance adds glam quotient to the moive. All the kids who acted are cute. Rest of the cast is okay . Ashishi Vidyardhi's role is poorly etched.

On technical front, Hari Anumolu walks away with top honours. His cinematography is top class. Music by Mickey J Meyer is bad. Except the song, written by Sirivennela, none of the songs are humble. The less said about his background score is the better. Although the film is shot mostly at one or two places but the production values of Sravanthi Movies are topnotch. Abburi Ravi impresses with one or two good dialogues.

Bottom-line!

Ganesh is just an okay film. First half has is decent with some good entertainment but second half misses the track. Should have been trimmed to make it tighter in the second half (2.50 hrs runtime). On the whole, it is strictly average fare.

Rating: 3/5

Reviewed by JP

Mahatma - Movie Review

Film: Mahatma
Cast: Srikanth, Bhavana, Jayaprakash Reddy, Uttej, Ram Jagan, Parachuri Venkateshwara Rao, Sekhar, Jyothy, Ahuti Prasad, Brahmanandam and others
Dialogues: Parachuri Brothers
Music: Vijay Anthony
Lyrics: Sirivennala, Suddala Ashok Teja, Lakshmi Bhupal
Cinematography: Sharat
Editing: Shankar Art: Srinivasa Raju
Fights: Vijay
Banner: Golden Lion Films
Produced by: C R Manohar
Story, screenplay and directed by: Krishnavamsi
CBFC Rating: U/A
Release date: October 9, 2009

What’s it about?
Dasu (Srikanth) is a rowdy in a basti in Hyderabad. He makes a living out of ‘settlement of petty issues’. A young lawyer Krishnaveni (Bhavana) gets him bail in a petty case and their acquaintance soon develop into romance after a series of events. On other hand, a politician cum business woman (Jyothy) plans to set up SEZ in that basti that move is protested by dwellers headed by a genuine leader (Sekhar). Meanwhile, a local politician cum rowdy leader Dada (Jayaprakash Reddy) also protests against businesswoman and seeks Rs 200 Crores from if she wants to set up SEZ there. Dasu initially believes Dada as good politician and works for him. When Dada tries to take advantage of Dasu, he realizes his fault and plans to contest against him on a newly floated Mahatma party. How Krishnavani and local theatre artiste bring change in Dasu and make him realize the importance of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology is core point of the movie.

Analysis

This is Srikanth’s 100thmovie. Naturally, he wanted it to be memorable and handed over the project to the director Krishnavamsi who gave him new lease of life with Khadgam. Like Khadgam , Mahatma deals with social issue - the importance of Mahatma ideologies in current politics. Although the theme and intention is noble, the execution is not that absorbing. With a promising start, the film moves into different routes and falters in the end. Scenes prior to interval, and some portions of the second half are interesting and show touch of Krishnavamsi but on the whole the film is pretty ordinary. In fact, second half, especially, the climax sequences are predictable. Sirivennela’s meaningful lyrics in the title song ( Kontamandi Inti peru Kadura Gandhi), Jayaprakash Reddy’s performance and pre-interval sequences stand out in the movie.
Performances

Srikanth does his best in the role of a rowdy turned noble person. His honest attempt is visible. As an actor, he can be proud of this film. Of all the cast, it is villain Jayaprakash Reddy who steals the show. It is his career best performance. He looks wily and good-natured - like a true politician. Bhavana as young lawyer is a role similar to many of Krishnavamsi’s heroines. Sowmya has given her voice. She neither looks glamorous nor does she have anything there to prove her mettle as actor. Sekhar is good. Ram Jagan’s role is used perfectly to the narration of the movie and he does justice to various getups he portrayed. Uttej, Parachuri Venkateshwara Rao, Jyothy and others are okay. Brahamandam’s comedy looks so silly. Charmee appears in an item song.

As writer and director Krishnavamsi has delivered socially relevant movies with good presentation in the past, but this time he completely misses the point in narrating engrossingly. His so-called satires on cinema heroes, and other parties and politicians are nothing startling. Sirivennela’s lyrics in the title song are the best. The song will be remembered for a long time than the movie.

Cinematography by Sharat is pretty ordinary. Of five songs composted by Tamil music director Vijay Anthony two are taken from his other Tamil films ( Dilemmo. Dilemmo song and Jajjanaka Jajjanaka song) and another one is Telangana folk song.

Bottom-line

Mahatma’s theme is good and but narration is pretty ordinary. Krishnavamsi seems to have completely lost his 'touch'. Performances of Srikanth, Jayaprakash Reddy and Sirivennela’s title song stand out.

Similarities: EVV directed Rajashekar and Raasi starrer Neti Gandhi has similarities with this film’s plotline. Not entirely but has some resemblance .

Rating: 3/5

Reviewed by: JP

Bendu Apaprao – Movie Review

Film: Bendu Apparao
Cast: Allari Naresh, Kamna Jethmalini, Meghana (new actress), L B Sriram, Ahuti Prasad, Raghu Babu, Telangana Shakuntala, Uttej, Srinivas Reddy, Ali, Dharmvarapu and others
Story: P V Giri
Dialogues: Veligonda Srinvias
Music: Koti
Cinematography: V Jayaram
Editing: Gowtham Raju
Produced by: D Ramanaidu
Screenplay and directed by: EVV Satyanarayana
Release Date: October 16, 2009
What’s it about!
Bendu Apparao (Naresh) is local RMP doctor in a village. He is gullible but his intentions are noble. As his sister is being harassed by his brother-in-law for dowry, he tries to make fastbacks. With his attitude, he wins the hearts of the village and steals the heart of Padma (Kamna), daughter of village landlord (Ahuthi Prasad). One day when he is returning from movie, he sees a guy struggling for last breath and Apparao tries to help him but he dies before taking oath from him that Apparao should meet his parents and hand over the money that he carries now. Rest of the drama is all about how Apparao meets them and what happens to that money.

Analysis

EVV Satyanarayana, who delivered some of the memorable comedies in the past, has been going through rough patch. With Bendu Apparao, he manages to deliver a nice entertainer despite some loopholes. The film offers plenty of laughs and hilarious moments. It may not be perfect comedy film but nevertheless it entertains you with some really witty dialogues. First half of the film is really nice. Post interval it gets into sentiment mould. On the whole the film is neat comedy to watch for once.

Performances

Allari Naresh cakewalks into his character. He also looks handsome than his past few films. He is the strength of the film. Kamna has not much role but looks glamorous. Second female lead Meghana (Kannada actress) as teacher is okay. Among the whole bunch of comedy actors, Raghu Babu (fantastic), Suman Shetty (Superb), and Ahuti Prasad (good) make an impression.

Like in all EVV’s films, dialogues are witty. Some one-liners and parody dialogues (by Veligonda Srinivas) make you laugh out loud. Cinematography by veteran cameraman J ayaram is neat. Production values by Ramanaidu are pretty good. Koti’s music is apt for the theme of the movie.

After a long time, EVV Satyanarana comes up with a better film than his recent flicks. It has trademark dialogues and funny scenes.

Bottom-line

Bendu Apparao is a good laugh. No double meaning dialogues. Neat comedy. Can be watched for once for its hilarious moments.

Rating: 3/5

Reviewed by: JP