‘ రక్త చరిత్ర ' సినిమా రివ్యు : History Told In Extremes

(రక్త చరిత్ర సినిమా రివ్యు)

Film: Rakta Charitra
Banner: Cinergy productions
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Abhimanyu Singh, Shatrughan Sinha, Kota, Radhika Apte, Zareena Wahab, Sushant Singh, Tanikella, Subhalekha Sudhakar, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Rajendra Gupta, Ashish Vidyarthi, Kitty and others
Dialogues: Nageswara Rao
Music: Dharam- Sandeep
DOP: Amol Rathod
Editing: Bhanodaya, Nipun Ashok Gupta
Story, screenplay, direction: Ram Gopal Varma
Producers: Madhu Mantena, Sheetal Vinod Talwar, Chinna Vasudeva Reddy, Rajkumar
Release Date: 22nd Oct 2010

Ram Gopal Varma is back after a long hiatus into the Telugu circuit and he chose his favorite genre of violence, intensity and bloodshed. Let us see how far RGV is successful in convincing audiences. Let us peep into good and bad in the movie:

StoryNoted MLA Narasimha Reddy (Kitty) has got a trusted aide in the form of Veerabhadriah (Rajendra Gupta) in Anandapuram area.
 
However, Narasimha’s relative Nagamani Reddy (Kota) is unable to take this for reasons of caste and losing his presence. He plants a seed of friction and in no time, Narasimha Reddy gets Veerabhadriah killed. This enrages Veerabhadriah’s elder son Shankar Ravi (Sushant) and he gets into a killing spree and operates from forests.
 
Veerabhadriah’s younger son Pratap Ravi (Vivek) who is away from all this gets to know of this and before he realizes, Shankar Ravi also gets killed. He vows revenge on his father and brother’s killers and in this process, Narasimha Reddy, Nagamani Reddy and others are brutally killed. Nagamani Reddy’s son Bukka Reddy (Abhimanyu) who is insane to the core is unable to take this and he becomes Pratap’s main enemy.
 
Meanwhile, the rise of Pratap as opposite force to Bukka Reddy is noticed by Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan) who sets a new party and he decides to lift Pratap to put an end to Bukka Reddy. What happens after that forms the rest of the story.
 
Performances:
Vivek Oberoi is an apt choice, his eyes deliver the sufficient emotion of revenge and his body language is intense. He has done full justice to his role.
 
Abhimanyu Singh is a complete show stealer. His menacing looks and his cold blooded performance will give some spine chilling moments.
 
Shatrughan Sinha was contained and it must be said that traces of real life N T Rama Rao are quite prominent in his gestures and dialogue delivery.
 
Kota was perfect, Radhika was naturally appealing, Zarina was neat, Tanikella was impressive and he made his presence felt, Rajendra Gupta was adequate, Sushant was brief, Ashish Vidyarthi was alright, Subhalekha Sudhakar was standard, Subrat Dutta was good, the others did their bit as required and added value.
 
Highlights:Symbolism shots with respect to showing a cycle in Shivaji Rao (Shatrugan Sinha)’s place (recalling TDP and NTR), usage of left had, addressing as ‘brother' are impressive.
 
Showing a dog barking after the death of Naga Mani Reddy (Kota) depicts ‘kukka chaavu'..That’s impressive.
 
Ram Moorthy (Tanikella) saying to Pratap Ravi ‘to shave beard as a politician should look clean at face although dirty at heart'
 
Bukka Reddy’s introduction scene
 
Disappointments:RGV’s voice over is overflowing. It’s not a radio drama to explain everything with a voice over. Whatever RGV is saying in voice, is being conveyed visually! It disturbed the mood to some extent.
 
Pratap Ravi stays in forest as per the dialogue. But he stays in a dusty hill area that hardly looks like a forest. It may sound trivial, but when such observations linger in mind, some audience gets distracted from the mood.
 
Why Dabbunnoda song? The context is not convincing.
 
Challenges:The subject chosen is quite hard hitting so one needs to have some background information before actually connecting to the film.
 
Facing criticism with respect to Shivai Rao’s (a replica of NTR) characterization and converting it into publicity element.
 
Facing criticism and questions with respect to ‘pedda sir' (implying YSR) and again converting it into a publicity element
 
Mood is suddenly dropping down at the conclusion point of the movie. Waiting till Part-2 to get completeness in feeling is a challenge for audience and it’s challenge for maker to sustain interest for 1 month till Part-2 release.
 
Analysis:“Goodness or badness can never be anyone’s property. They are situational.
If a man is hunger free, he showers only goodness. But if any sort of hunger (be it lust, power craving or greed or vengeance) hits him, he spells badness'. 
Rakta Charitra is a fiction based on historical facts.
It’s rather powerful to say that it’s a true depiction of human emotions.
It’s a tour to extreme human beings.
 
Ramayan or Mahabharat or any chronicled history in dramatic form depicts the extremities of emotions in every character. For example if Karna is known for generosity, its shown with eccentricity of chopping off his own armored skin to offer for a beggar. If Bheeshma is known for sacrifice, its shown in extreme point of choosing life time celibacy to keep himself and his legacy far from kingship. Any drama holds grip only when the characterizations are strong. This fact was known for dramatists right from Veda Vyasa and Valmiki. Similar path is now chosen by Ram Gopal Varma is depicting a historical fact in dramatic form.
 
He has shown Bukka Reddy as a determined rapist (!) and dedicated murderer (!).The incidents canned around this characterization are extreme in imagination. Pratap Ravi is shown as a bad guy, but for a true reason (since he is chosen to be the hero of the plot).
 
Ram Gopal Varma is a master of movie making and an expert storyteller. This is seen here yet again. As such, the storyline can be understood in few words and there is nothing unpredictable about it but then it is the way Ramu takes off with each scene and how he gets the viewer into the film which counts.
 
His screenplay techniques and shot compositions are one of those dexterities he possesses. Perhaps a layman might find the visual appeal to be dim but then there are few flashes of his brilliance which are seen on and off. The focus was more on the emotion of the protagonist and the villain so that is a challenge to handle for more than two hours.
 
On the other hand, it is not a typical Varma characterization where most of the actors give hard expressions, talk less and convey more. Here the characters speak sufficient and sometimes little verbose!! But still there is a rhythm in their performance and it connects to the regular audience.
 
On a whole it’s a movie about the raise of a leader.
 
Bottom-line: For the lovers of realistic violence.

Is Kim Kardashian too old to pose nude?

The world is in love with Kim Kardarshian’s drop dead gorgeous body. Indeed, Kim Kardashian recently posed completely nude for W magazine, flaunting her voluptuous body for the world to see. But her fans may as well enjoy those photos because, horror of horrors, if Kim is to be believed she may never go nude again. "It turned out beautifully, and I love it," she told Us Weekly of the W spread. But: "I don't know [if I'll pose nude again]. I'm too old for that now...I wanted to get it all out of my system before I turned 30." Kim turns 30 this Thursday, and over the weekend she celebrated at Tao Las Vegas, where she wrestled with sister Khloe while wearing a silver lame mini-dress. Kim has earlier posed nude for Playboy and Harper's Bazaar. We do hope that Kim reconsiders. We don't want the world to be bereft of her spectacular body shows, do we?

Photo Feature: Bollywood Bombshell’s Awesome Amazing Assets

          She may not have scored a success in her career as a heroine but she is in the top league when it comes to the hottest bollywood sirens. Her name is Udita Sharma and here is the reason why she is called hot. Sitting cosily with the intent of revealing her juicy assets, Udita has got a pair of luscious thighs which are partly exposed. Her milky white skin mixed with her raw sex appeal makes her look delicious and desirable. Wonder how the impact will be when this visual feast happens on the big screen…

A Right Movie For All Human Beings :: Robo Review

Film: రోబో   (రోబో)
Cast: Rajni Kanth, Aishwarya Rai, Danny Dengzompa, Santhanam, Karunas
Lyricists: Vanamali, Suddala, Bhuvana Chandra
Dialogues: Sree Rama Krishna
Music: AR Rehman
Producer: Kalanithi Maran
Main Story: Sujatha
Cinematography: Rathnavelu
Editing: Anthony
Costume: Mary E Vogt
Screenplay-Director: Shankar
Released On: 1st Oct 2010

This is the most talked about movie in recent times. Huge technical values, whopping budget, star casting in high élan and a gen-next concept…all conglomerated to spell out ‘Robo’.

Story:
Dr Vaseekaran (Rajni Kanth) makes a Robot and gives him his own shape. The Robot is omniscient and omnipotent. His motive is to prepare his Robot to join Indian Army. He wishes to make many more such Robots to help Army and reduce loss of lives during wars. But Dr Vaseekaran’s enemy, another scientist (Danny) disproves that his Robot cannot fit to be used for military purposes as it cannot think like a human. He states that it has no emotions and reasoning capacity.

Dr Vaseekaran pumps in human feelings and reasoning capabilities and makes him almost a human. But things turn upside down. Robot starts loving Sana (Aishwarya Rai), the fiancée of Dr Vaseekaran. Robot gets attracted to Sana and that makes Vaseekaran angry. He destroys it.

But the enemy scientist takes the destroyed Robot, repairs it and infuses destructive mechanism in it. He wants it to sell to some international gangsters. But the love for Sana in Robot aggravates as wild possessiveness and that pesters Sana.

Robot becomes very strong physically and becomes like a cruel demon. It even kills the scientist who gives him second birth. It creates massive destruction to society by creating many Robots like itself.

How Dr Vaseekaran deactivates the Robot and brings things to peace is the end of the film.

Performances:
Rajni Kanth is tremendously good at age 60. His moves, his gait and expressions didn’t wane even a bit. He got connected to new age kids and they cannot forget him for rest of their lives. That way Rajni Kanth added another 60 years to his image.

Aishwarya Rai is the true asset for the movie. Her glamour made a lot of difference. As a true goddess of beauty she enchanted everyone.

Danny is apt in serious role. His performance is in contemporary international standards.

If there is anything to speak about the film, that’s technical brilliance.

Music is in gen-next style. Sound is marvelous. Canning of songs is opulent. But the lyrics in Kilimanjaro are lewd and weak. Rest of the songs are fine.

Director Shankar deserves great mention for making this biggest feat possible on Indian screen with a message.

Analysis:
“It is selfishness that we must seek to eliminate. I find that whenever I have made a mistake in my life, it has always been because ‘self’ entered into the calculation. Where self has not been involved, my judgment had gone straight to the mark”- Swamy Vivekananda

This saying of great soul of Indian soil lingers in the mind while watching this film. Knowingly or unknowingly Shankar made a movie basing on this saying.

It’s a movie for world children.

Yes, it truly influences the senses of new generation kids those developed relation only with video games but not human beings. Hardly there are joint families now where grand parents teach morals to kids. And the kids tend to listen only to machine. They tend to follow what machine says. And director Shankar aptly takes the way through machine, the Robot, to teach values.

Kids run away listening to words kama, krotha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya…but they assimilate that when shown in a dramatic way. That too, not in the style of Chandamama stories. They want something with scientific reasoning. Hence the path is chosen through ‘Robot’.

How peaceful the Robo was and how useful that was to society when it’s free from those 6 evils. And how it becomes detrimental to itself and society when injects them into it. That’s aptly narrated.

The true essence of the movie is narrated in the end. The dialogues delivered by Robot while dismantling himself are hitting the hearts. The dialogues touch every human being with introspection.  And at last, a girl looks back and goes with a thoughtful grimace. That is a symbolism for entire world kids those will be in thought process from now.

First half is entertaining. The first 30 minutes of second half are not gripping in right standards. That part is boring. But the climax action episode is marvelous to be on Indian screen. The last few closing dialogues are impressive and with true essence.

Hinduism or Islam or Christianity or Shintiosm or Taosim…every religion says one who is free from anger is the true strong man and one who shuns self is the true atman!!! ‘Anger’, as Sukhabodhananda says, is one letter less to danger. That is the true cause for destruction. Let us wish that this movie sows a seed at least in a few minds of children to prevent self entering into calculation while taking decisions….like a school girl that turns back and goes at the end on the screen..!!!!

 

Bottom-line: Watch it...

Aishwarya to walk the ramp for Manish Malhotra

Aishwarya Rai will be walking the ramp for designer Manish Malhotra at the upcoming third edition of the India Couture Week.

"Beautiful Aishwarya is going to be the showstopper at my couture week show, " Malhotra posted on micro-blogging site Twitter.

The designer, who has worked on Aishwarya's looks for the mega-budget Endhiran and Action Replayy, is known to have given makeovers to many actresses, including Karisma Kapoor and Rani Mukerji.

He will be opening the couture week, starting Oct 6-10.

The designer says he will be showcasing 55 different outfits and emerald will be the dominant colour in his collection.

Priyanka Chopra! Ravan's sister?

Ketan Mehta's 3-D animated Ramayan The Epic has Ravan's sister Shurpanakha looking similar to Priyanka Chopra.

Director Chetan Desai says, "In Hindu mythology, she was known as the most beautiful woman. We had to find someone as stunning as Shurpanakha.

No Indian celebrity could be found to match her face. It was then that I remembered Priyanka in Aitraaz and how she looked then.

I referenced Shurpanakha's character from Priyanka's basic looks in Aitraaz. " Wonder what PC has to say to this?

It's Bipasha v/s John this time!

Bollywood's hot couple Bipasha Basu and John are going great with their relationship since last nine years. They survived all their alleged relationship with their respective co-stars and after all the ups and downs they have remained a strong a hot couple of Bollywood.

But, this October 15, the couple will go through an 'acid test'! Well, there is nothing personal about it. Actually, on this particular day, both the actors are going to have their latest releases.

Bipasha Basu and Ajay Devgn starrer movie Akrosh, which is based on honor killings in the state of Haryana, was set to hit the theaters on October 1. But, the release date of the film got delayed due to the Ayodhya verdict. Now, it will release on the same day when John's movie Jhoota Hi Sahi will release.

The couple will face such competition at the Box Office for the first time in their nine year long career in the industry.

Bipasha has shared this on her micro-blogging page Twitter. The actress, who has gone for an issue based movie again after Lamhaa, posted that Jhootha Hi Sahi and Aakrosh are releasing on October 15 and this has happened first time in their nine year long career in Bollywood. The actress has expressed hope that both the movies do well at the Box Office.

Well, it will be a test for the two actors because it will also disclose their popularity among the audience? However, considering the promotions of both the films, it seems both of them belong to totally different genre and there will be different kinds of audience for the two films. So, keep guessing who will win the race, Bipasha or John!