Baava
'BAAVA BAAVA PANNNEERU, BAAVANU PATTUKU TANNERU' the teaser song of decades goneby, is reminiscent of the typical relationship of the cousins deemed as eligible to marry in the southern part of our country. Many a movie were made in the past, continue to be made and more would certainly be made exploiting this typical relationship. 'BAAVA' of the present day is another attempt made in vain to encash, basing on the flavour of this relationship, once more.
As one would anticipate, if one attempts to, the story revolves around the hero Siddharth, who is 'the yet-to-be-identified baava' trying to impress the 'yet-to-be-identified maradalu' i.e. heroine pranitha of the neighboring village. The unimpressed heroine suddenly becomes impressed with the hero, by recognizing the hero as her childhood friend [Malupu (Turning point) no.1]. Hundreds of movies taught the viewers in the past, that the heroine's father would not budge that easily. Family Vengeance, wrong identification, unmatched social status, village rivalry, politics, power game, caste, creed and a whole range of reasons have been in store for storywriters to choose from. This time the unmatched social status comes in the way of the heroine's father. To add fuel to the fire (under the viewer's seats?) as a malupu no.2, the hero who captures heroine's heart by revealing their childhood relationship in step 1, seals his place in the minds of viewers because he is identified as the baava, an eligible life partner to the heroine. Here comes the popularly unpopular ingredient of the recipe- 'the vengeance' burning in the heroine's father over the years, unable to forget the damage caused to their image by the hero's father. The Heroine's father has all the reason to ward off the marriage and the lovers have even stronger reasons to get married. How come all the stories favour the hero, heroine? Is that why they are heroes and heroines?
The actor's inherent talents cannot be underestimated having seen them in earlier movies, pranitha has done well while siddharth's talent seems to have gone underutilized. Some may not like to recommend watching the movie at one's cost. But who can stop those who would like to spend their time watching a movie?
Rakhta Charitra
Ram Gopal Verma specializes in turning a particular intense issue or a character by zooming on its nuances and makes the characters come alive. However, "Rakta Charitra" lives up to its name a little too readily, as it spills blood onto the screen effortlessly and in humongous quantities.
This time RGV, the director who seems to have a deep liking for subjects on gangsters, crime and the underworld, choses to pick up the warlord Paritala Ravi from Andhra Pradesh. It is definitely shocking that such a violent and gruesome history existed in Anantapur which fueled Paritala Ravi's rise as a powerful figure.
The movie starts off by showing Pratap (Vivek Oberoi) who is a character based on Paritala Ravi, is an ambitious guy living in the city who gets to know that his father was brutally killed in a dark political plot. His blood-thristy revenge intensifies when his brother gets mercilessly killed in the gang wars that result as an aftermath of Pratap's dad.
Next the movie introduces Bokka Reddy, played by Abhimanyu Singh, who is terror exemplified and crazily evil, and would get down to the lowest means to terrify the target individual. While Pratap is busy yelling and tearing his head apart in condemnation of Bokka Reddy's inhumane, ruthless activities.
This is the cue for entry of Khamosh-King Shatrughan Sinha, as Sivaji Rao, who realizes prataap's potential power and launches his own political party. The drama factor falls short in the flick, as it is replaced by heavy-duty violence and gory stuff.
One gets to see a teeny weeny bit of Surya's action as he comes towards the end and the second part will reveal the other side of the story...
So, wait and watch RGV fans... Till then watch this movie for RGV's intense characters and picturisation.
Brindaavanam
No matter, how much he tries he cannot let go of the fact that he is NTR's grandson. His movies are not complete without at least one glimpse of his grandfather.
Coming down to the story, it is very much the regular fare without any novelty or a fascinating twist in the story. Krish's (Jr. NTR) girlfriend Indu (Samantha) asks him to pose as her good friend Bhoomi's (Kajal Aggarwal) boyfriend, in front of the latter's family. This act of goodwill lands up Jr. NTR into Rayalseema, which is the cue for a shower of excessively bloody fights, unnecessary violence and Jr. NTR to remove his college-stud boy avatar.
Here, they realize that Bhoomi's family is completely spineless and powerless man in front of her father (Prakash Raj) and its now upto our young hero Jr. NTR to ease the situation. Adding to this, is another sidetrack where Krish must also entangle the messed up relations between Prakash Raj and his long-ago estranged brother (Srihari).
What follows next is lots of emotional, choked speeches about the happiness and meaning in letting go of enmity. There is not much romance or lovey-dovey scenes in the film as it is al about Jr. NTR stepping in to make peace and being the Saviour of everyone's lives.
Overall, the movie could have cut down on the amount of bloodshed and violence which they chose to show in alarmingly large amounts. On the whole, its an one time watch and a typical Jr. NTR entertainer!
Mahesh Khaleja
Trivikram's movie Mahesh Khaleja goes into too much detailing and tried hard to impress the viewer, which is exactly the same reason that it loses its steam. Moreover, this movie has been released around the same time as Robot, which is a technical, visual delight along with being a paisa vasool entertainer. But it is also unfair to compare both the movies, considering the stature of the hero, budget and effort involved in these are completely different.
Mahesh Babu plays the role of a witty taxi-driver Raju who gets involved in a murder case of two people. To recover the cost and collect his compensation for the battered, smashed taxi in the accident, he goes to Rajasthan where the victim's family lives. Half of the movie is filled with adventure chronicles of Raju, a TV reporter (played by Sunil) and a spoilt, bratty heroine Subhashini (Anushka).
Second half of the movie actually kickstarts the story with too many things going on in which Raju suddenly becomes the saviour of a whole village. The villain (Prakash Raj) has an unconvincing role and ridiculous plots of achieving what he wants, that dissatisfies the viewer. As long as the movie focuses on Raju, his wit and the story works around him, its is enjoyable and fun.
Anushka does not have much of a role in the film except to be the glam doll and does not have much scope to perform. The Saviour of the film is its brilliant comedy provided generously by Bramhanandam, Dharmavarapu, Sunil and Ali.
Overall, Mahesh Khaleja fails to click with viewers owning to its whole weight resting on Mahesh Babu's shoulders alone and very less support from the other key characters.