Manchu Vishnu's "Anukshanam" Movie Review

Cast: Vishnu Manchu , Revathi , Tejaswi Madivada , Madhu Shalini , Surya

Directed by : Ram Gopal Varma

Produced by : Vijay, Parthasaradhi

Banner :24 Frames Factory, AV Pictures

Music by : Seshu KMR

Release Date : 2014-09-13

 

Plot: 

Goutam (Vishnu Manchu) is a sincere police officer who stays with his loving-wife Satya (Tejaswi). Everything goes well for him till he confronts a trouble in form of Seetharam (Surya), a cab driver-turned-serial killer who brutally murders beautiful girls in Hyderabad for pleasure. And now, Goutam launches a manhunt for Seetharam. In the mission, he is assisted by Sailaja (Revathi) who mastered in the behavioral sciences and has a knack over the psyche of pyshos.

Performances:

Vishnu Manchu: The pitch-perfect performance by film's lead protagonist Vishnu is what stands out in the film. Vishnu deserves all the laurels, accolades for choosing a film like Anukshanam. He has set a new precedent to his peers by picking such out-of-the-box story. Not many star heroes would dare to essay a role. And Vishnu seeks teeth into it. Vishnu is in good form throughout the film. He evolved as a matured-actor with this flick. Acting-wise, this could be one of the best films in Vishnu's career.

Revathi: After a long hiatus, Revathi has made her comeback. Simply put, she couldn't have better comeback. She aptly fits the bill as a psychologist. 

Surya: Despite the fact that he's newcomer, he emoted well. Unless you're informed that he's debutante, you'd not know that through his acting skills.

Tejaswi: Tejaswi as Satya sizzled in brief role as Vishnu Manchu's wife.

Madhu Shalini: Madhu Shalini essays the role of TV journalist Aasha.

Others: It's tailor-made role (Home Minister) for Kota Sreenivasa Rao and Brahmanandam is passable in the film. Brahmi's role should have been etched well.

Direction: Directing a crime thriller is a cakewalk for Ram Gopal Varma and Anukshanam is no different either. Varma does it with ease. However, he continues his uncanny camera techniques, at places, but that didn't deter you at all. RGV is back with a bang with Anukshanam.

Editing: Anukshanam is slick, fast-paced. Editing is done with great finesse. 

Thumbs Up:

Vishnu Manchu
RGV's expertise
Screenplay

Thumbs Down:

Scenes involving Brahmanandam

Analysis:

Anukshanam instantly strikes a chord for reasons that are manifold. The movie's gritty realistic narration is something bolt out of the blue in Telugu films and this works in a big way for the film. At a time, T-town is running after illogical mass-masala commercial potboilers like Power, Rabhasa, one needs a lot of courage to come up with such a film which sans songs, comedy, over-the-top action episodes. Kudos to Vishnu and Varma for putting efforts in what they believed in. What forms is a Telugu film on the lines of a Hollywood film. Especially the film's pace is what hooks and engages audience throughout the film. Vishnu Manchu succeeds in keeping you on your toes.

Sample this, Goutam (Vishnu) receives a parcel sent by serial killer Seetharam (Surya) which has the "head" of a girl Nidhi Seetharam had killed. When Vishnu opens up the parcel in front of the Nidhi's boyfriend Navdeep, but he manages to conceal it. Vishnu's subtle action here takes the movie to new high. Sailaja (Revathi) too works in favour of the film.

Yet the movie has its share of stumbling blocks.Bramhanandam is a spoilsport for the film. Though he tries to but fails miserably. It's conspicuous that his role has been forcefully included. But it's passable. If you're a regular complainant about Telugu films, you must watch Anukshanam. And if you're not, still you should watch Anukshanam. It's not a routine Telugu film you get to watch every now and then.

Ravi Teja's "Power" Movie Review

Movie: Power
Rating: 3.25/5
Banner: Rockline Entertainments
Cast: Ravi Teja, Hansika Motwani, Regina Cassandra, Bramhanandam, Sampath, Posani Krishna Murali and Others
Music: S Thaman
Wtitten By: Kona Venkat, Mohana Krishna, K Chakravarthy
Editing: Goutham Raju
Cinematography: Jayanan Vincent
Producer: Rockline Venkatesh
Story, Screenplay, Direction: K. S. Ravindra
Release Date: September 12, 2014

It’s the season of writers turning directors. There are many who have debuted in the recent past and Power sees the debut of Bobby aka KS Ravindra who penned the highly successful Balupu among other films. The film has put immense pressure on Ravi Teja as there has been lots of speculation about his future in the industry. So, let’s see how the film has shaped up and if it will be yet another hit in Ravi Teja’s career…

Story:
The movie starts off in Kolkatta where the city’s dreaded don Ganguly (Sampath Raj) and younger brother of the state home minister Jaya Vardhan (Mukesh Rishi) is to be produced in court to be sentenced. And like in all commercial films, his cronies pay the police to let him off on the way. Enters ACP Baldev Sahay (Ravi Teja) who tries to stop them and take Ganguly to the court. This leads to a major chase sequence in hitherto untapped locations in Kolkatta and during the ensuing fight Baldev manages to stop the villains from getting hold of Ganguly. But his police jeep falls into a valley and he is reported killed in the blast and labeled a corrupt officer.

Then the scene shifts to Hyderabad where Thirupathi (Ravi Teja) is a happy-go-lucky guy whose sole dream is to become a police officer. He even dresses like a cop and settles cases in the city instead of his brother-in-law CI Animutyam (Brahmanandam). If you thought that is absurd, then you must remember it is a commercial film and nothing is impossible for the hero. One day, he meets Nirupama (Hansika) the beautiful and popular fortune changer, who promises to change the fortunes of people by giving them a miracle stone. Nirupama gives him a ring and lo and behold, life really changes forever for Thirupathi. Is Baldev alive? Will Thirupathi become a police officer? The rest of the story shows how these parallel tracks get connected and how the baddies meet their end.

Artistes’ Performances:
Ravi Teja plays the cop once again. Like in Vikramarkudu, he looks convincing as the sincere police officer and equally amiable as Thirupathi who dreams of becoming a cop. After Balupu, Power has released with lots of expectations and he does try to do his best to do justice to his characters. But age is catching up on mass maharaj and the director should have taken care not to put in too many tight shots. Otherwise, he is his usual self.

Coming to the leading ladies, Hansika looks pretty glamourous and pulls off her role with ease. She dresses well and dances well. In short, she is what the mass audience would want to see in a commercial entertainer.

Regina plays the good Samaritan Vaishnavi who runs the orphanage Aasha Foundation. Due to some misunderstanding, she walks into the life of Baldev without realizing who he is and ends up falling for him. Though her character is killed half way through the second half, Regina tries to make the most of her presence. However, due to the nature of her character, she does not get to do the usual bare all act of a commercial heroine. Instead she gets to dance around in sarees and big bindis.

As for the baddies, both Sampath Raj and Mukesh Raj put in decent performances as always. Ajay and Subbaraju as honest cops are also predictable.

Brahmanandam as Animutyam and Saptagiri as Hansika’s sidekick do manage to evoke few laughs. Kota as Baldev’s uncle is his usual best.

Technical Excellence:
Since Power falls into the typical commercial entertainer genre, all departments are well taken care of. Music is by SS Thaman and the album has a couple of mass numbers that will remain among the top 10 songs in the next few weeks.

Despite having all the commercial elements, Power falls flat due to its story. Like in many movies these days, there are two parallel tracks and when the movie ends, you are bound to leave the theatre feeling a bit disappointed. While Bobby’s debutant attempt at making a huge commercial film is laudable, he fails to hold the audiences’ attention by putting in too many twists.

Highlights:

• A couple of songs
• Lead actors

Drawbacks:

• Screenplay
• Plot

Analysis:
Story of an honest cop is a sure-shot hit at the box office, providing it has ample doses of action and entertainment. Power has enough action and romance. Still, it fails to touch the hearts of the audience. The director tries to make a classic masala dish out of Power. But the problem is that it has very little salt.

Even as the audiences try to figure out how Baldev’s track would evolve, Thirupathi is introduced. And as one tries to get into that track, the story reverts back to Kolkatta. In his attempt to come up with an interesting story, Bobby loses grip over screenplay and second half.

At a time when audiences are craving for new stories and innovative scripts, Bobby feeds them with stock characters like Baldev’s mother and ACP Goutham’s track in the flashback. While both are essential for the story, their treatment is definitely old school.

In all, Ravi Teja fans will be happy watching him play yet another mass character. But Power lacks that extra something which makes for a successful, racy commercial entertainer.

Bramhanandam's Fight For Son

There are many examples of those actors and other film personalities who have seen a lot of success but the same was not inherited by their kids. One such case is that of Brahmanandam. The kind of success and fame he has seen, his son Gautham was unable to see. But here is an update from that family. 

Gautham is making a comeback of sorts with his new film titled ’Basanti’. So, it is heard that Brahmanandam has taken it very personally and decided to give it the maximum push. Reports reveal he is determined to see the film should have a grand launch so he has entered the field. 

As a result, Brahmi is having a series of meetings with the ‘Basanti’ team and is planning on how the promotion strategy should be, the positioning of the release, how many theatres etc. The way he is fighting it out for his son, let us hope his efforts work and Gautham gets the much needed to make his father proud.  

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