LITTLE HEARTS  

Monday, August 11, 2008


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LAVAKUSHA  


Mythological entry customized for Telugu cinema's megastar NTR has him playing Prince Rama from the Hindu epic "Ramayana." Adding to NTR's cult status as a "living god," this film follows the popular story of Prince Rama's twin sons Luv and Kusa. One of the few Greatest Telugu movie released in 1963 was the fir...st telugu colour movie.
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LANKESHWARUDU  


Lankeshwarudu (Telugu: లంకేశ్వరుడు) is a 1989 Tollywood film starring Chiranjeevi, Radha, Revathi, Kaikala Satyanarayana, Mohan Babu, and Raghuvaran. This film was directed by Dasari Narayana Rao.

[edit] Plot

Siblings Shankar (Chiranjeevi) and Revathi while travelling with their parents on a ship, were hit by a storm and reach an unknown island without their parents but with an orphan. Shankar takesup the responsibility of raising his younger sister and also the orphan. Shankar does everything possible to earn bread and butter for them, and slowly he transforms from a small time thief to a small time gangleader. Once he bashes up Dada's (Kaikala Satyanarayana) men, an impressed Dada offers him to join hands. But Shankar rejects and starts building his own crime empire. He meets Radha at a stage show and radha instantly falls in love with him to sing a couple of quick duets. The orphan becomes a police officer and starts investigating about the crime done by both gangs. Shankar realizes that Revati is in love with the orphan and now that they both knew the truth about him and are ready to leave him. He pleads them explaining why he had to chose this path, but they leave. Frustrated Shankar destroys the rival gang and also sacrifices his everything just for the sake of his sister.
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LAKSHYAM  


Credits
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Jeevi rating: 3/5
Punchline: senti revenge formula
Genre: Family/Action
Banner: Lakshmi Narasimha Productions

Cast: Gopichand, Jagapati Babu, Anushka, Kalyani, Kota, Yashpal Sharma, Asish Vidyardhi, Amit, Raghubabu, Brahmanandam, Venu Madhav, Srinivasa Reddy, Chalapati Rao, Ahuti Prasad, Ravi Babu, Dharmavarapu, Pragati, Vijaya Singh, Surya etc

Camera: Sekhar V Joseph
Dialogues: M Ratnam
Music: Mani Sharma
Art: Chinna
Lyrics: Chandrabose
Editing: Gowtam Raju
Fights: Ram Lakshman & Vijay
Story - screenplay - direction: Srivas
Producer: Nallamalupu Srinivas (Bujji)
Release date: 5 July 2007

Review

Story

lakshyam Bose (Jagapati Babu) is a sincere and powerful cop. Chandu (Gopichand) is his younger brother. Shankar (Yashpal Yadav) is a mastermind criminal who evades cops with his knowledge in law. Bose is after Shankar. And Shankar is forced to eliminate Bose. The rest of the story is all about how Chandu takes revenge on Shankar.

Artists Performance

dubaiseenu Gopichand: Gopichand has shown tremendous variety in his histrionics. He is extremely casual and gave an effortless performance in romantic episodes with Anushka. He is intense in emotional scenes and his performance in the death scene of his brother is exemplary. He mastered the art of making fights believable. His dancing ability improved in this film and there is fluidity in his dance movements.

lakshyamOthers: Jagapati Babu has given a very potential performance as an honest cop and as a family man. His role is not a guest role, but a full length character. Jagapati excels as dynamic cop. Anushka is very good as female lead. She adds color to the film with her looks. Yashpal Sharma is commendable as villain. It is a variety role for budding actor Amit. Raghubabu entertains again as the villain's sidekick. Brahmanandam's separate comedy track is relieving though it is loud. The role given to Asish Vidyardhi is different from the roles played by him in the past. Kalyani is adequate.

Technical Departments:

dubaiseenuStory - screenplay - direction: Story of the film has little resemblance to Hindi flick Ghayal. But the storyline developed for this film has all emotions. The debutant director Srivas handled the film like an experienced director. He handled the first half adequately by blending comedy, romance, action and family drama. But he could not maintain the same grip in second half and the revenge episodes. The screenplay in first half has some amount of freshness. But the director stuck to old formula while narrating the second half. The shot in which Gopichand shoots cop by sitting on Anushka's two wheeler is well conceived.

lakshyamOther departments: Dialogues by M Ratnam are adequate though dialogues written for emotional scenes are way too lengthy. Music scored by Mani Sharma is good, but the placement of songs should have been better. Fights are neat. Cinematography is fine. Editing of the film is smooth. Production values are excellent.

dubaiseenuAnalysis: First half is entertaining with perfect blend of entertainment and emotion. The tempo goes down a bit in second half because of formulaic narration and predictability in the story. First half is entertaining and second half is heavy with action drama. Debutant director Srivas is competent and handled the film like a veteran. The positive points of the film are terrific performances of Gopichand & Jagapati Babu and the commercial elements. On the flipside, the climax should have been more intense and the runtime should have been more compact. For the commercial point of view, the film is decent. We have to wait and see if Lakshyam hits the target or not.
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LAKSHMI NARASIMHA  


Credits

Jeevi rating: 3.5/5
Punchline: Rebel cop story
Genre: Action
Can kids watch this film? YES (no Vulgarity & no violence)
Banner: Sai Ganesh Productions
Cast: Yuvaratna Balakrishna, Asin, Rakshita (SA), Prakash Raj, K. Viswanath, Murali Mohan, Ahuthi Prasad, Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao, Sudha, Suneel, M.S Narayana, LB sriram , Krishna Bhagavan and Devi Charan
Story : Hari
Dialogues : Paruchri Brothers
Music : Manisharma
Photography : Steadycam Prasad & VSR Swamy
Choreography : Rajasekhar, Brinda, Ashok Raj, Dinesh
Songs : Veturi, Bhuvana Chandra, Chandrabose
Art : K . Raju
Editing : Marthand K Venkatesh
Fights : Super Subbarayan
Makeup Chief : Vasu
Costumee Chief : Satyanarayana
Production Manager : K. V . prasad
Co - Directors : Hari Prasad, PR Koppini
Associate Directors : Suresh, Surya, Kiran, Sathish
Asst Director : Venu
Executive Producer : P Lakshmipathi Raju
Producer : Bellamkonda Suresh
Director : Jayant Paranji
Release date: 14th January 2004
Review

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Story

Lakshmi Narasimha (Bala Krishna) is a strict police officer who does not mind making his own rules to bring justice to the public. Once he was indirectly affected by the goon Dharma Bhiksham (Prakash Raj) which costs him his sister and lots of properties of his native village. But Dharma Bhiksham does not know that it was Lakshmi Narasimha who got affected by him.

After a few months, Lakshmi Narasimha is transferred to Vijayawada. Dharma Bhiksham rules the mafia world from Vijayawada. Though, a strict police officer - he compromises with Dharma Bhiksham and takes bribes to the tune of one and half crores. He takes the bribes and then invests all the money into rehabilitating his natvie village affected by Dharma Bhiksham. Dharma Bhiksham comes to know about it and rebels against Lakshmi Narasimha. The rest of the story is all about how Lakshmi Narasimha puts an end to the life of Dharma Bhiksham using illegal methods.

Artists Performance

Bala Krishna: Bala Krishna is looking extremely handsome in the police attire. He is pretty romantic in teasing scenes with Asin. He is excellent in emotional scenes, especially in the one where he utters ferocious dialogues with Ahuti Prasad before climax to an exhilarating effect. He did well in the 'Jadakotti' and 'Neetoti Naaku panundi' dance numbers. Balayya did well in fights department as well.

Asin: Asin is tender in this film. She has more footage in the 1st half due to the love episode. She also exposed her cleavage in a couple of romantic scenes compared to her earlier films. Sunitha dubbed her voice.

Others: Prakash Raj is OK as Dharmabhiksham. Krishna Bhagavan provided some entertainment through one-liners. Sunil had a separate comedy track. Rakshita is negligible in the first song of the film. Viswanath acted as father of Bala Krishna. Ahuti Prasad got a decent role as commissioner. MS Narayana is wasted. Duvvasi Mohan is fair. Devi Charan's character went unnoticed.

Technical Departments:

Story: Story of the film is a personal revenge theme with social message in it. We have seen several cop stories hitting marquee last year like Seetayya, Inspector and Shivamani. And this film is definitely better than the other films

Screenplay - direction: Screenplay of the film is OK. The direction of the film has mass orientation with a tinge of stylishness. Director Jayant handled quite a few scenes well, especially the ones where Bala Krishna follows abnormal ways to get his work done. However, he should have got the emotions right during the flashback episode of the film, which paved the way for the entire story to happen. The mass and action episodes are excessively stuffed in second half. Jayant should have taken care of the editing of the film. The total film's duration is 3 hours and 10 minutes.

Dialogues: Dialogues by Paruchuri brothers are good. There are pretty good punch dialogues for Bala Krishna as the story approaches climax. There is one dialogue in this film ""Kumara Swamy, Venkata Swamy, Narayana Swamy, Kanaka Swamy, Amara Swamy ani maa amma puttina biddalaku peru pedithe .. andaru puritilone chani payoaaru. Naa koduku champe vaadu kaavali kaani … chache vaadu kaakudadu ani naaku Lakshmi narsimha swamy ani pettindi'. This dialogue is uttered 3 times in film. It had a little effect when done during the start of film. It was repeated 2nd time before interval and it had good effect. During the climax of the film, the same dialogue got terrific applause.

Music: Music by Mani Sharma is of typical Bala Krishna's style. These songs are impressive when you watch along with the visuals than when you listen to audio. The 2nd song (Andamlo Andhra Kosta - a melody shot in NZ) is cool. The 3rd song (Jadakotti) steals the show. Last song 'Neetoti Naaku panundi' is racy. Background score is good. The first song intriduces hero in a charming style.

Other departments: Cinematography by Steadycam Prasad and VSR Swamy is good. Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh should have been crisp.

Analysis: First half of the film is entertaining. Second half is OK. The interval bang is smooth. The flashback episode should have had more punch. The second half is heavily loaded with mass elements. The duration of film should be trimmed by a good 30 minutes to make the film more crisp. Bala Krishna's terrific performance is going to be the biggest strength of the film. And it would entertain the masses very well.

Trade Talk: The film opened with hit talk everywhere. This film is expected to be a good hit film after 3 years (Narasimha Naidu) for Bala Krishna. The range of film would be depend on how relatively other Sankranthi films fare!CLICK HERE

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LAKSHMI KALYANAM  


Credits
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Jeevi rating: 3/5
Punchline: village love story
Genre: Family Drama/Love
Banner: Geeta Arts Pictures

Cast: Kalyan Ram, Kaajal, Ajay, Suhasini, Sayaji Shinde, Avinash, Raghubabu, Telangana Sakuntala, Harsha, Duvvasi Mohan, Tulasi, Prabha, Lakshmipati etc

Crew:
Music: RP Patnaik
Lyrics: Rama Jogayya Sastri & Chinni Charan
Dialogues: Paruchuri Brothers
Cinematography: AR Krishna
Art: Vivek
Editing: Shankar
Choreography: Shankar
Fights: Horseman Babu
Story - screenplay - direction: Teja
Presents: K Mahendra
Producer: K Chandra Sekhar (Jeethu)
Release Date: 15 February 2007
Review

Story

Lakshmi KalyanamRamu (Kalyan Ram) is very fond of his maradalu Lakshmi (Kaajal). Ramu is an uneducated guy who works in farms. Lakshmi's father is a wealthy guy and is the president of the village. Their village has feuds with a neighboring village. Giri (Ajay) is from the other village and he wants to marry Lakshmi. But Lakshmi and Ramu are in love. Ramu has to win a race over Giri to marry Lakshmi. The rest of the story is all about the hurdles Ramu faces in order to wed Lakshmi.

Artists Performance

Lakshmi Kalyanam Kalyan Ram : Kalyan Ram succeeded in giving fabulous performance as principled lover whose love for Lakshmi is limitless. There is natural flow in his dialogue delivery, which is new compared to his earlier films. He could tell mass dialogues in an appealing way in this film. It is always important for any actor to believe in the character and behave like that wholeheartedly. For the first time I am seeing such kind of intensity in Kalyan Ram's action in Lakshmi Kalyanam film.

Lakshmi KalyanamAjay: When we have absolutely no Telugu guy playing the role of villain in Telugu films, we should appreciate Teja for making Ajay a fitting reply to all those non-Telugu speaking villains who are thronging Telugu film industry. He is extremely good with intense dialogue delivery and great performance. The way he delivered 'vachama' series of dialogues is pretty impressive. He is the next Gopichand of Telugu cinema. And I sincerely hope that he wont fall into the lure of hero roles and wish that he continues as villain material. He has great body, cool diction and right expressions. He could be the right Telugu speaking villain we all have been expecting on Telugu screen for a long time.

Lakshmi KalyanamOthers: Kaajal is good. And she wore half sarees most of the time. Actress Raasi dubbed her role and she is just ok. Upcoming actress Suhasini did a small role. Srinivasa Reddy got a meaty role. Sayaji Shinde did the role of heroine father. He is good though sounds bit overboard while doing dialogue delivery at times with the same kind of pitch. Raghubabu excelled as the sidekick of Sayaji Shinde who keeps on digging at his boss. Telangana Sakuntala and Prabha are adequate. Harsha Vardhan did a comedy role as the NRI guy who loves heroine.

Technical Departments:

Lakshmi KalyanamStory - screenplay - direction: Story of the film is old-fashioned and formula ridden. The stories of two villages being faction ridden is old fashioned. Screenplay in the first half is good. Direction of Teja is neat (if you ignore second half). Teja has the unique style of extracting great performances from his actors. It is a renown fact that actors who gave genuine performances under his direction (Uday Kiran & Nitin) could not repeat the same kind of intensity in other films. It speaks volumes about Teja's ability to bring conviction into the actors when they work for him. His characterizations are unique with a bit of eccentricity thrown into the characters of hero (Kalyan Ram) and villain (Ajay).

Lakshmi KalyanamOther departments: The songs scored by RP Patnaik falls short of what you expect from the combination of Teja - RP Patnaik. But background music is nice. Dialogues by Paruchuri brothers are good. They penned right dialogues for this film. They did not stay away from writing dialogues that refers to father and grandfather of the hero, at the same time made sure that they gave a counter dialogue like 'enthakalam chettu peru cheppukuntav. Nuvvem sadhinchav'. The punch dialogue of 'Watch Podhi' (I am sure that Teja penned this dialogue) is good. Cinematography by AR Krishna is compelling. First song of the film is pretty good. The graphics work in 3rd song (last song of 1st half) should have been better. The satire song of Harsha doing his own death bed should have been handled better. Production values of the film are good.

Lakshmi KalyanamAnalysis: Kalyan Ram and Ajay are revelations in this film. The movie starts with a black and white session telling the flashback of hero and heroine in the childhood. This flashback establishes that hero should make sure that heroine should never cry in her life. The first half is handled well with good heroism. The episode that leads to interval is handled very well. But the same cannot be told about the second half. The tempo in the movie starts falling down from the moment the friend betrays hero. Because of the promise made by hero in the interval episode, he becomes passive which reduced heroism in the second half. On a whole, Lakshmi Kalyanam makes an average flick that has orientation towards B and C centers.CLICK HERE

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LAKSHMI  


Credits

Jeevi rating: 3/5
Punchline: Lakshmi - a reasonable man
Genre: Action/Family
Type: Straight
Banner: Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Productions
Cast: Venkatesh, Charmme, Nayana Tara, Sunil, Sayaji Shinde, Pradeep Rawat, Rajiv Kanakala, Sarvanand, Sameer, Sanjay, Baljeet, Sudha, Venu Madhav, Telangana Sakuntala, Revathy, LB Sriram, Master Teja
Music: Ramana Gogula
Background Music: Mani Sharma
Story - Dialogues: Akula Siva
Cinematography: Chota K Naidu
Editing: Gowtam Raju
Lyrics: Chandrabose, Kulasekhar & Vishwa
Fx supervision: RaNa daggubati
Screenplay - direction: VV Vinayak
Producer: Nallamalupu Bujji
Release date: 14th January 2006
Review

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Story

Lakshmi Narayana (Venkatesh) is an elder son in a family with 3 brothers and 2 sisters. Lakshmi owns a factory that is worth 100’s of crores. Janardhan (Sayaji Shinde) - an former employee of Lakshmi Industries - plans to take revenge on Lakshmi by creating difference in his family and succeeds in it. The rest of the story is all about how Lakshmi unites his family members and wins back his lady love Nandini (Nayana Tara).

Artists Performance

Venkatesh: Venkatesh has donned a role with two shades. The first one as too-good-to-believe and self-sacrificing brother and the second one as an angry young man. He did very well. He excelled a lot in the sentimental scenes. He is good as the lover in the flashback episode too. Venkatesh danced with gay abandon in Lakshmi Bava song.

Others: Nayana Tara did the role of main heroine. She got an ample footage in the flashback episode and she did well. Charmme is limited to 3 duets and does not have any importance in the storyline in this film. Sayaji Shinde is good as the main villain. Pradeep Rawat is adequate as Calcutta don. Sunil’s comedy is OK. The comedy thread of Venu Madhav and Telangana Sakuntala is partly good. Rajiv Kanakala, Sharvanand, Satya Prakash and Revathi are adequate.

Technical Departments:

Screenplay - direction: Screenplay by VV Vinayak is OK. He has his unique way of elevating heroism of the hero through the dialogues of other characters. There are fights in the beginning, climax and flashback episodes of the film. But what raises the heroism are the dialogues uttered by various characters (sisters, mother and Sunil) in critical scenes of the film. However, Vinayak should have taken care of second half well where the tempo seem to have gone down.

Other Departments: Story of the film is routine and has resemblance to various old Telugu films with brother-sentiment. Dialogues are average. Songs by Ramana Gogula are very good when you listen to them on the stereo. ‘Lakshmi Bava’ song is a highlight in the film in terms of picturization and placement. Mani Sharma provided background music. RaNa Daggubati supervised the fx in this film. The cartoon version of Venu Madhav - Sakuntala fight and car-robo animation in Andhra Mirchi song are good. Production values are neat.

Analysis: First half of the film is OK and the scenes before interval are good. The second half divulges into a entirely different flashback episode. There are certain good moments in the film and has got orientation towards masses and family crowds. However, the VV Vinayak could not blend in Venkatesh’s family image and Vinayak’s mass taking in a smooth way. The biggest advantage of this film is that Lakshmi is the only mass film for the entire season of Sankranthi which gives good market penetration in C and D centers as well in the first week itself.
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