Dookudu (Daring)

I remember planning to watch this movie on big screen, somehow never got around to doing it. Finally saw it on Hotstar recently where its available with subtitles.

The movie starts with Shankar Narayana (Prakash Raj) who is a popular leader and an independent

MLA from Shankar Nagar (in Hyderabad) during the time of NTR. Shankar Narayan is an honest man who loves his people and has dedicated his life to them. He is a widower, lives with his son Ajay and his brother’s family. Shankar has three close followers namely Sivayya, Meka Narsingh Rao and Ambarpet Ganeshan and his close rival is the highly corrupt Mallesh Goud who vows to destroy him. One day while going for a function, he meets with an accident and is presumed dead along with his brother.

The timeline moves to the current time where we see the Police commissioner in Mumbai being questioned by media about the illegal activities of a local don Nayak (Sonu Sood). Here we see the entry of larger than life hero Ajay Kumar (Mahesh Babu), mercilessly beating up some goons. He is part of a task force charged with arresting Nayak, headed by Nassar (Murthy). Ajay’s identity has been hidden from the media for the success of the operation. To get to Nayak, Ajay captures Guru Talwar who is a close aide of Nayak. Since no one knows where Nayak is, Ajay learns that the way to get to Nayak is through his brother Bunty who is sometimes seen visiting his girlfriend in Istanbul, Turkey.

Ajay and his team go to Turkey. There he bumps into Prashanthi (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) and falls in love with her. Prashanthi, her mother and younger sister are in Turkey for a fashion designing competition which Prashanthi won.

Ajay successfully captures Bunty, and when Bunty calls Nayak, Ajay shoots him. Nayak believes Bunty to be dead. The team returns to India.

Meanwhile, we see that Shankar Narayan didn’t actually die in the accident, but has been in a coma ever since. He has a miraculous recovery and the doctor tells the family that he should be kept away from any shock and should stay happy to aid quick recovery. Shankar Narayan’s one desire was that his son should also stand with his people and be a leader like him.

To take care of his father, Ajay puts on a huge act. He rents his old house in Hyderabad and pretends to be the leader his father wanted him to be. Even the newspapers and TV shows are modified to reflect that his dad's beloved leader NTR is still alive and is the prime minister of the country. The entire act is quite hilarious. Ajay enlists an aspiring actor Padmasri (Brahmanandam) to help him with his drama. Padmasri believes that he is in a reality show being sponsored by Nagarjuna TV channel.

Meanwhile Bunty confesses about Nayak’s close associates to Ajay namely Mallesh Goud, Meka Narsingh Rao and Ambarpet Ganeshan (his father’s erstwhile followers). Ajay is quite unaware of his connection with these men. Nayak returns to Mumbai and kidnaps the police commissioner and sends a warning video to Ajay. Ajay brings Bunty to exchange for the PC. In the fight that ensues, Nayak escapes and Bunty is picked up by Shankar Narayan’s old aide Sivayya. Ajay recognizes Sivayya and runs after him while Bunty dies when he is hit by a train. Ajay captures Sivayya and learns that Sivayya was trying to kill Bunty to get to Nayak. He also learns, that is father was not injured in the car accident but was murdered in a conspiracy by Mallesh Goud and Nayak. Sivayya also learns that Shankar Narayan is alive and goes to meet him.

With this new-found knowledge, Ajay plans his revenge (what a coincidence that his personal and professional enemies are the same 😊). Ajay plans an intricate plot where he pretends to be a film director with some granite land to sell in Bellary. He tricks Meka’s PA and an aspiring actor Bokka Venkata Rao (M. S. Narayana) to get close to the trio of Mallesh Goud, Ganeshan and Meka. He kills the first two in encounter and Meka is later killed by Nayak himself.

Nayak is captured by Ajay and killed unknowingly by Shankar Narayan.

Ajay and Prashanthi also get married in between this revenge drama. Shankar Narayan learns the truth behind the deception and is happy that his son did all this to take care of him.

And they all live happily ever after.

As you can see, the story line of Dookudu is quite complex with many twists and turns. This I would 

say, is a huge differentiator for the movie. From a regular action revenge drama, the various subplots keep the movie lighthearted without compromising the main theme. The flipside is that the movie is way too long (almost quarter to three hours) and at times you just want the villain to come on to the screen quickly. A little crisper editing and fewer songs (songs are below average anyways) would have brought it under two and a half hours and it would have made all the difference.

Having said that, Dookudu is out and out full family entertainer and mostly credited to Mahesh Babu. He has a brilliant screen presence which is almost unassuming. This helps to keep it real in spite of larger than life action sequences. Supported well by Prakash Raj, Brahmanandam, M. S. Narayana and Sonu Sood. Samantha Ruth Prabhu as Prashanthi is ordinary bordering on irritating. You just want her scenes to be over quickly. Like I said music is nothing to write about and the movie could have done with fewer songs. Writer Director Srinu Vaitla definitely has the winning formula (much better than our own Rohit Shetty I must say).

All in all, if you need a lighthearted entertainer to watch with the entire family, this is the movie for you.

Do watch.

Udayananu Tharam (Udaya is the Star)

Today I saw the movie which was later remade into Vellitherai in Tamil. Since it is an almost exact reproduction, for the story please see the review of Vellitherai - http://manymorewoods.blogspot.com/2010/05/vellitherai-silver-screen.html

Even though I knew the story of the movie I enjoyed watching it. Mohanlal plays Udayan and Sreenivasan plays Rajappan. Mohanlal gives a superbly restrained performance. Where Prithviraj (playing the same character in Vellitherai) comes across as an angry young man, Mohanlal is slightly more sophisticated and mature. Prakash Raj played a much more melodramatic form of Sreenivasan and I must say, I felt that Prakash Raj brought more color to the movie. After all the satire on cinema should be slightly exaggerated...

Again, Good direction, interesting script, superb performances.

(Do Watch)

Kannathil Muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek)

After watching Raavanan I had to see an actual Mani Ratnam movie to remind myself how great his movies are. And I decided to watch Kannathil Muthamittal.

It’s a story of a young girl, Amudha (P.S. Keerthana) who on her ninth birthday learns that she is an adopted daughter. She was adopted by a popular Tamil writer Thiruchelvan (R. Madhavan) and Indira (Simran). For a child that shatters her entire sense of security, her identity and her world view. She feels herself alienated from the family and tries to run away from home to try and find her birth mother. Finally her father promises that he will help her find her birth mother.

Amudha was born to Shyama (Nandita Das) and Dileepan. While pregnant, due to the strife torn state of Sri Lanka, Shyama came to Rameshwaram to give birth to Amudha. After the baby is born Shyama however chose to go back. Thiruchelvan writes a story fictionalizing the inner turmoil of Shyama who left her new born to go back to a devastated homeland. While writing the story he sees the baby and wants to adopt her. However the law does not permit a single man to adopt and he asks his neighbor, Indira who also likes him to marry him and adopt Amudha.

Meanwhile Amudha runs away to Rameshwaram where she learns that that her mother was from Sri Lanka. Keeping his promise, her parents take her to Sri Lanka where Dr. Herold Vikramsinghe (Prakash Raj) helps them. Throughout this while Amudha refuses to listen to Indira, dreaming about her real mother. Mani Ratnam has beautifully depicted the chaos and pathos of the war torn Sri Lanka. The rest of the story moves with Amudha and her parent trying to get to the Tamil heartland to find Shyama.

A beautiful and poignant story exploring various facets of human relationships against the backdrop of war and strife… All aspects of the film are very sensitively handled. A child’s dilemma and resulting stubbornness, a mother’s helplessness and love, a father willing to go to any length for his child, a writer trying to make sense out of the world around him…the movie takes you on a journey and you identify in one way or the other with each character. The best thing about the movie is the way Mani Ratnam builds up the character so much so that the act of Thiru taking his wife and daughter to a place where war can erupt any minute seems natural. You know that this is his philosophy of life; to do what he believes is right. The honesty with which all characters are portrayed is what makes this movie a treat.

As far as performances go, every one of them is outstanding. Amudha tugs at your heart every time she comes on screen. You cry with Indira and her love for her child is palpable. Madhavan has outdone himself in his portrayal of the father and the writer. I loved the songs and the music especially the title track. Ravi Chandran’s cinematography is breathtaking and the editing of the movie is very crisp yet the movie flows.

(Must Watch)

Vellitherai (Silver Screen)

The first thing you feel on watching the movie is that of subtlety and subdued emotions. Nothing over the top. Even the satire on Indian Cinema is more realistic than the actual cinema.

Prithviraj and Prakash Raj again come together with superb movie about the movies. Prithviraj is an assistant director doing the rounds with his script to get a break as director while Prakash Raj is an aspiring actor. And the similarity ends in their struggle. While Prithviraj is a serious student of cinema and has studied the renowned actors and directors across the world, Prakash raj is nothing more than a street rogue all out for over the top performance and melodrama who is conniving and manipulative. He tricks Prithviraj and registers his script as his own and goes on to become a megastar. While Prithviraj dejected never really makes it after that.

Finally he also gets a script but every producer insists that Prakash Raj must star in it. What follows is a brilliant satire on cinema, what goes for talent and how stars become larger than life. Inspired by the legendary Eddie Murphy movie Bowfinger though.

I really like Prithviraj for restrained performance. Prakash Raj though has outdone himself yet again. Superb performance. And while he transforms from almost a street urchin to a superstar, you can see the subtleties in his character remain throughout.
Gopika who plays an actress and love interest of Prithviraj fills in for the character but doesn’t really deserve a special mention. Music leaves much to be desired.

Good direction, interesting script, superb performances.

(Do watch)

Abhiyum Naanum (Abhi and Me)

The reason I picked up the movie was because of Prakash Raj and Prithviraj. And of course Radha Mohan who directed Mozhi has also directed Abhiyum Naanum.

Loosely based on “Father of the Bride”, the plot follows Prakash Raj who narrates his experiences of raising a (now married) daughter to Prithviraj who has a young daughter. It takes you through the journey of a father watching his little girl grow up and move on in life to the point where he is no longer the only man in her life. It’s definitely a feel good movie with a delightful freshness and keeps you engaged. Though after a while I wanted the movie to rush to its predictable ending.



The script would have worked a bit better if it was little crisp in the second half. The groom and his family are a little over the top and unrealistic. I mean seriously at an instance the Prime Minister calls the groom to enquire about work.

Prithviraj is in a cameo. Prakash Raj has acted the part and I think he can carry off any role in any script without the associated melodrama. So he is fun to watch.
I particularly liked Aishwarya playing the mum. Trisha Krishnan fails to make an impact as the daughter though the girl who plays the kid “Abhi” is very lovable.

Overall a movie with better performances than script and direction which has its moments. Mediocre music.

(Can Watch)

Mozhi (Language)…

Every person who has lived has a tale to tell. From shocking to amusing to melancholic to macabre. Many times in movies we blank out on all characters and their stories except the protagonist and the antagonist. Not in Mozhi though. The director has tastefully and beautifully woven the tales of people living in an apartment complex and while the story is about a girl learning to let go of the past and accepting life, others characters add life to the drama and take the story forward.

It’s a simple love story of a guy (Prithviraj as Karthik) who admires a girl (Jyothika as Archana) and falls in love with her. He then moves heaven and earth (no pun intended) to woo her and win her affection. The girl though happy to be friends is unable to look past her disappointments and fears and rejects him at every instance. Kitsch, I know. But what makes this story extraordinary is the treatment of the movie and the characters woven into the movie. Be it Viji (Prakash Raj) whose wit is unmatched playing the best friend of Karthik or the heart wrenching portrayal of Professor (MS Bhaskar) who is stuck in 1984.

The best bit is that the movie is made on a light hearted note and kudos to Prakash Raj for that. Jyothika portrays her character with finesse and no melodrama. In a particularly moving sequence you see her struggle, her anger and realize no words in any language can complete that emotion.

Cheers to the director (Radha Mohan) and the editor (M.Kasivishwanathan).

A little too many songs but I liked Kannal Pesum Penne, Katrin Mozhiye and Sevvanam Selaikatti.

Effervescent, delightful and memorable.

(Do watch)