The Delivery Man Movie Review

Delivery Man' fails to deliver perfect entertainer
By Troy Ribeiro (IANS)
Rating: 2/5

Delivery Man movie review; Cast: Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders, Andrzej Blumenfeld and Adam Chanler-Berat; Director: Ken Scott; Rating: **

While the Indian audience has seen "Vicky Donor", which was inspired by Ken Scott's French-Canadian production called "Starbuck", Delivery Man is a blatantly brazen Hollywood version of the same film by the same director.

The premise of all the three films maybe alike. The film's story explores the life of David Wozniak (Vince Vaughn), over 20 years after he made his donations.

They say the past catches up with you. So, after losing over a hundred thousand dollars in a pyramid scheme business, David is now a harried and hassled truck driver working in his father's establishment, delivering meat. While the creditors are chasing him, he learns that his girlfriend Emma (Cobie Smulders) is pregnant. At the same time, he learns that he is the center of a confidential lawsuit.

Apparently, 20 years ago in order to make some extra money, David made 693 donations at a local fertility clinic under the pseudonym 'Starbuck' which in turn resulted in 533 children, of whom 142 were now seeking legal help to reveal Starbuck's true identity.

Bullet Raja: Movie Review

Rating: 3.0/5 

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Shergill, Vidyut Jamwal, Gulshan Grover, Raj Babbar

Direction: Tigmanshu Dhulia

Genre: Action

Duration: 2 hours 18 minutes

For whatsover reasons, you cannot afford to ignore a Tigmanshu Dhulia movie. After winning acclodes with movies like Paan Singh Tomar, Saheb Biwi Gangster, Dhulia's new offering ADVERTISEMENT Bullet Raja merges power, politics, action and love, resulting in a heady cocktail that hits your mind.

 Featuring Saif Ali Khan, Sonakshi Sinha and Vidyut Jamwal, Bullet Raja is a hi-octane drama flick, set against the backdrop of Uttar Pradesh-based mafia while dealing with the political and industrial powers of the state. Like most of Dhulia's earlier films, Bullet Raja too is raw, unrefined, rustic and unique in it's own way. 

Bullet Raja: Movie Review Story: The story of Bullet Raja revolves around Raja Mishra, a commoner, who gets transformed into Bullett Raja - a notorious, care a damn attitude gangster. A faithful friend and a loyal lover, living life on his own terms, setting his own rules, commanding respect and fearing no one, Bullett Raja in his true inimitable style takes on the system that creates people like him in a compelling struggle for power and ambition. 

Mishra's character commands respect, but at the same time he makes sure he respects women. Although he is a gangster where he finds glory with guns, the movie also has for us some instances of romance between Saif and Sonakshi Sinha, who plays Mishra's love interest in the flick. This gangster has his lady love to whom he is very loyal.

What's Good?

Tigmanshu sets things up skillfully in the first hour. Like most of Dhulia's movie, Bullet Raja too boasts of some fiery and impactful dialogues, bringing a vital spark in the movie, that flows so effortlessly. Performances: As for Saif Ali Khan, you'll get to see a bit of Langda Tyagi in Bullet Raja. Saif's looks, his mannerisms, his body language, his overall behavioral pattern takes you by complete surprise in Bullet Raja. 

From a sophisticated charmer to a rustic gunda, Saif makes the audience believe him. Sonakshi Sinha looks beautiful, but she's again repetative. Sinha doesn't get to do much in the movie, while Vidyua Jamwal on the other hand, is just 'wow'. Verdict: Bullet Raja might not be Dhulia's finest work, but this one is worth one time watch. On the whole, apart from Dulia's midas touch, Bullet Raja works big time due to Saif's power-pack performance.

Review : Venkatadri Express – Decent Attempt

		Release date : 29 November 2013
		123telugu.com Rating : 3/5
		Director : Merlapaaka Gandhi
		Producer : Kiran
		Music Director : Ramana Gogula
		Starring : Sundeep Kishan, Rakul Preet Singh, M.S.Narayana, Jayaprakash Reddy

Director Merlapaka Gandhi is making his debut with the film ‘Venkatadri Express’. The movie has Sundeep Kishan and Rakul Preet Singh in lead roles. The movie has been produced by Gemini Kiran and it has released today across the state. Let us checkout the film now.

Story :

Ram Murthy (Nagineedu) is a retired headmaster who does not tolerate mistakes. He enforces a strict code of conduct in his family and anyone making more than a 100 mistakes is banished from the household. Sundeep (Sundeep Kishan) is his youngest son and Ram Murthy is quite irritated with the young lad’s behaviour.

Sundeep has racked up a score of 99/100 in the mistakes department and he is one mistake away from being banished from the family. Meanwhile, a marriage alliance is fixed for Sundeep’s elder brother Brahmaji (Brahmaji) and the entire family boards the Venkatadri Express to travel to Tirupati for the wedding.

As usual, Sundeep gets into trouble and misses the train. Afraid of being banished from the family, Sundeep tries his best to catch up with the train. He must beg, borrow and even steal in order to get onto the train before Tirupati.

How Sundeep manages to do that and what happens during his journey is what this movie is all about.

Plus Points :

Sundeep Kishan is just about ok as a bumbling young fellow. He has given a decent performance in the first half. Raku Preeth Singh looks pretty and she makes a good impression, even though she does not have much to do in the film.

Nagineedu is effective as Ram Murthy. Thagubothu Ramesh and Sapthagiri take care of the comedy department and they have done a superb job. Sapthagiri will earn good recognition for his performance as the naive Dasthagiri. Brahmaji entertains briefly.

Screenplay is good and effective in the first half. It is quite tough to engage viewers with a plot that is so simple and linear but the director manages to do this by cleverly mixing comedy and entertainment into the proceedings.

Minus Points :

There are some fight sequences in the second half which are a little too powerful for a film like this. After setting up the first half quite interestingly, the director could not do much in the second half with the wafer thin plot.

M.S.Narayana’s comedy track is a big bore and it is not very effective. In fact, the film starts going downhill after his entry. Jayaprakash Reddy has been given a very cliched characterisation.

‘Venkatadri Express’ becomes very predictable in the final stages. The emotional scenes, where a suppressed son decides to voice out his feelings against a strict dad, are very similar to the ones found in films like ‘Bommarillu’ and ‘Parugu’.

Technical Aspects :

Cinematography is a big asset for the film. The frame looks very rich and colourful. Ramana Gogula’s music and background score help the movie. Editing is good in the first half, but it should have been sharper in the second half.

Director Merlapaka Gandhi’s efforts are commendable. His handling of the film is good in the first half but he has tried to play a safe game in the second half. Production values are good.

Verdict :

‘Venkatadri Express’ has a good and entertaining first half. This part is backed up by good pace and nice comedy. However, what looks like a promising ride starts going downhill in the second half. The film loses pace and it starts becoming very predictable. In the end, ‘Venkatadri Express’ becomes an okay watch. If you go in without any expectations, you may enjoy the ride

Singh Saab The Great Review

Rating: 3/5 Stars (Three Stars)

Star cast: Sunny Deol, Prakash Raj, Amrita Rao, Johnny Lever, Urvashi Rautela.

Director: Anil Sharma

What’s Good: Sunny Deol and Prakash Raj give exceptionally interesting performances.

What’s Bad: Tacky camera work, a drabby second half and an uninteresting romance angle are spoilers.

Loo break: Few.

Watch or Not?: Singh Saab The Great is perhaps one of recent times’ most novel masala films. Despite a multitude of grave hitches, the film is surprisingly original and intense. Being fed on a host of extremely trashy and mediocre masala films which have become Bollywood’s staple these days, Anil Sharma gives us a welcome change. Sunny Deol and Prakash Raj make the film worth a watch for their earnestness and ardour at portraying their respective roles. I won’t call this fantastic or thrilling but for its sheer unconventionality, the film had me impressed.

User Rating:

216 Votes

Collector Karanjit Talwar (Sunny Deol) is known for his honesty in the political circles. His life comes to a standstill following a posting to Bhadori where the corrupt Bhudev Singh’s (Prakaj Raj) words is the law of the land. As Talwar tries to stop the area’s malpractices with his strict norms, the man faces the brunt of his good deeds as the villain victimized his family.
It is not long before Talwar loses his dear ones and lands up in jail framed under charges of crimes he hasn’t even committed. But the determined man maintains his will power and mental strength emerging as a social worker under the name of Singh Saab and fights Bhudev’s intricate web of evil doings. The film retells how Singh Saab reforms Bhudev and takes a unique revenge on the guy.

Sunny Deol in a still from Singh Saab The Great

Singh Saab The Great Review: Script Analysis

Gori Tere Pyaar Mein Review

Average Critic’s Rating: Not Rated Yet
Cast: Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor
Direction: Punit Malhotra
Genre: Romance | Comedy
Duration: 2 hours 18 minutes
 

Verdict - Gori Tere Pyaar Mein is partly fun but mostly a ridiculous romantic comedy

The plot of Gori Tere Pyaar Mein is ridiculous even for a romantic comedy. This is something I felt during the first half of the film. After the second half, there is nothing left to call ridiculous or even a romantic comedy. I have enjoyed Dharma’s romantic comedies in the past, especially Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (2012) and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013). I was even amused by Punit Malhotra’s first film – I Hate Luv Storys (2010). I admire both Kareena Kapoor and Imran Khan. The genre, the actors, the songs, the production value - everything is in place, in fact it is so much in place that there is nothing left for a script.

The first half of the film is fun and entertaining. There are many moments, which don’t make sense, and the script seems to have been given no attention but there is something likable about it. It is goofy and the actors have good chemistry. Imran and Kareena look great together (again), but I was more interested in Imran and Shraddha Kapoor’s sub-plot. I won’t go into it because it contains spoilers. I hope they are cast in a film together and with a good director.

If there is any actress today who knows how to be a Bollywood actress, it is Kareena Kapoor. I love watching her make average scenes look interesting. She can overact and make it look like she could do it on command. This kind of praise is meant for another review of a better film but in a film like this one you realize its importance. I think they were trying to make her into a memorable character like Geet from Jab We Met (2007) but didn’t go the distance. She plays an “NGO types” and pretty much nails it.

Imran Khan is an actor who I admire for reasons which could easily be taken for why he isn’t considered a good actor. I don’t exactly think he can act well but there are few actors in our industry who can do deadpan humor well. In romantic comedies like Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (2008) and Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, you can see how he fits the characters like a glove and gives humor to situations which would fall flat otherwise. It is also extremely difficult to do “regular guy” roles. Every actor wants to be a star these days and make his presence felt. It is continually refreshing to see an actor who isn’t trying too hard and just exists on screen. You feel like you know him or could even be his friend. To me, that is not something as casual as it seems. In this film, he plays a rich brat and does not make it look stereotypical.

The music of the film is enjoyable. I love Dhat Teri Ki and Tooh. There is slapstick song set in a village called Moto Ghotalo which is amusingly choreographed with the villagers in the background getting their groove on. This is where I was confused as to what the film was aiming for. The tone is inconsistent. Sometimes, it wants to be silly and sometimes goes overboard with its filmyness. Other times, the humor is completely different ranging from dry to dumb.

Irandam Ulagam Movie Review

Released on November 22 2013
Director: Selva Raghavan
Producer: Vimalgeetha
Music Director: Harris Jayaraj
Cast: Arya, Anushka Shetty, Siva Karthikeyan, Y G Mahendran, Radhika Sarathkumar  Complete Cast & Crew

Irandam Ulagam Tamil Movie Reviews | Arya,Anushka Starrer Irandam Ulagam Movie Review

Updates of the Movie Can Get Here Irandam Ulagam Update Review 
Arya and Anushka Shetty Lead roles Irandam Ulagam In Telugu as Varna is also releasing tomorrow,Directed by Selva Raghavan


Kolaveri Di Composer Anirudh Ravichander has composed IU background and couple of additional songs for Irandam Ulagam audio album

Prasad V Potluri of PVP Cinemas has lavishly produced Arya's Irandam Ulagam, which red hot among fans, inustry and trade.

Arya also has two different roles as warrior in the romantic fantasy film set in different time periods.

Anushka plays the title role in the movie as Varna and she appears in two distinct roles as an innocent lady and a doctor

Varna Telugu Movie Review, Rating

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• Title : Varna (2013)
• Star Cast : Anushka, Arya
• Director : Selva Raghavan
• Producer : Prasad V Potluri
• Music : Harris Jayaraj
• Released on : Nov 22, 2013.
• Anushka’s charishma has doubled after ‘Arundathi’. Anushka brought in a special craze after the success and collections of Arundathi. She has become the director’s choice for heroine centric movies. She became cautious with ‘Panchakshari’. She decided to wait and watch for such scripts. Sri Raghava has brought her such impressive script. Varna is a blend of Sri Raghava and Anushka. This Friday she is reaching audience on screens. Let us go through the highlights of Varna.
  - Sri Raghavan has converted youth audience as his fans through ‘Brindavan Colony’. He excelled in various genres later. He dealt with stories like ‘Uganiki Okkadu’. Now he has crafted Varma. He gave major focus on visual effects. Two worlds concept will be seen in this movie. How would the second world be? From this question arose the story, it seems.
  - Film is likely to take us to strange locations. It is said that Indian screens have never seen such locations. Film unit says that audience will thoroughly enjoy this new experience.
  - Whopping 60 Crores have been invested on this movie. Strong belief on Anushka lead to such a huge budget movie in Telugu as well as in Tamil. Isn’t it quite astonishing?
  - The centre of attraction would be Anushka with her dual role. She will appear in Varna & Ramya roles. Varna is a tribal girl and Ramya a doctor. The relation between them is quite interesting.
  - Arya will be presented as a Hero. Film unit claims that stunt scenes designed on Arya are thrilling.
  - Music, cinematography and art departments have been done in top most quality. Colouring and framing will bring new experience to the audience, as said by film unit.
  - Anushka says ” As an artist this movie is a test”. She worked hard for more than 90 days in locations where temperatures are in minus degrees and with no facilities available. The end result of her efforts are to be seen soon.
   

Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela box office collection: Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh starrer becomes fifth biggest opener of 2013!

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela starring Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh has proved to be a crowd puller. Though the film was in a bit of trouble because of its title, that hasn’t affected its box office collections so far. After getting off to a great start, Bhansali’s desi version of the Romeo and Juliet story continued to attract audiences on the second day too. Film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted, “Ram Leela continues to win hearts. Saturday Rs 17.5 cr. Total so far: Rs 33.5 cr nett. Expect a bigger total on Sunday.” The movie has collected approximately Rs 52.75 crore in its first weekend.  Thanks to Dippy and Singh’s solid performances, great music and brilliant cinematography, Bhansali’s film has managed to impress audience and critics alike. But will it enter the Rs 100 crore club?
Exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi says, ” Ram Leela has taken a very good start at the box office. Having virtually no competition at the cinemas, the film got a good number of shows that allowed it to score great numbers. The music and Deepika’s current popularity level deserve maximum credit for the amazing weekend the has had! While 100 crore is a slightly ambitious target for Ram Leela, the possibility cannot be written off! A lot will depend upon how the film sustains on Monday.”
While Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus is enjoying a superb run at the box office, Kangna Ranaut’s Rajjo which released on the same day, failed create any magic. “Rajjo on the other hand did virtually nothing at the box office. With absolutely nothing that could draw the audience to the cinema for it, the film was poised to with this fate right since the 1st trailer was launched,” points out Rathi.
Besides being Ms Padukone’s third biggest opener this year, Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela is Ranveer’s biggest so far. Though the film has garnered rave reviews and is going rock steady at the ticket windows, it may have a tough time in the coming week, as Gori Tere Pyaar Mein (Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan) and Singh Saab The Great (Sunny Deol) are set to hit the big screens.

Kaalicharan Movie Review

 

Cast: Chaitanya Krishna, Chandini Tamilarasan, Nagineedu, Rao Ramesh, Pankaj Kesari

Direction: Sri Prawin

Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Story: Kaalicharan (Chaitanya Krishna), the son of tahsildar, who earns the wrath of the villain (Pankaj Kesari) for refusing to toe their line. The situation becomes even worse when Kaalicharan's sister is defiled by the right hand man of the villain. In troublesome situations, a politico, played by Rao Ramesh takes him under his wings. Kaalicharan is transformed from a plain thinking boy who was once more happy following his love interest Thirtha (Chandini Tamilarasan), into embracing violence - but only to wriggle himself out of his troubles.

Movie Review: Set in the 1980s, the movie is about an MBA aspirant who gets caught in murky situations created by a gang that threatens his father, a government employee to bend the rules to favour their business. The father makes no compromises and the son's silent anger gets the goat of the bandicoots.
The first thing that impresses you is the 80's images that come alive on the screen. Splendid creative camerawork by Vishwa Devabattula and lilting music by Nandan Raju are a perfect fusion. The movie is set in Nalgonda district and for most part of the movie, the characters speak the Telangana slang. At a few places, they seem to have forgotten that in the script writing. That in any case, is not a drawback.
Chandini's large eyes are captivating but it is the director Sri Prawin who should be lauded for churning out a product that is pleasing. The lead character Chaitanya Krishna is much like the boy next door and the very fact that he does not have a role that makes him a super human is enough to touch the right chord with the audience. You get to see different shades of character of the person in different conditions and his appearance also changes. After a long time - very long time, hand cuffs make an appearance in Telugu movies as the lead character is arrested. Otherwise, Telugu cinema heroes get away with daylight murder and massacres and their actions are shown as being heroic on the screen.

The problem you have with the movie is the director's attempt to create suspense at some places. You feel cheated and taken for a ride. The narration is a bit convoluted but the only thing that keeps you glued to the screen are the visuals. It is not a 'just for laughs' movie at all as there's absolutely no comedy - and there was hardly any scope for that. Any attempt to introduce forced comedy or what they call a 'comedy track' would have spoilt the movie. The movie looked fresh with the 80s era.

Nenem Chinna Pillana..? Movie Review

 

Cast: Rahul Ravindran, Tanvi Vyas, Sanjana, Suman, LB Sriram, Sharath Babu, AVS, Venu Madhav, Jayaprakash Reddy

Direction: P Sunil Kumar Reddy

Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes

Story: Freedom is what she wants. Total freedom. Family ties are a strict no, no. She shocks a suitor by shedding some of her clothes to tell him away. The man is game but she's not fine with him and boots him out. Swapna's definition of freedom lands her in Sweden and she meets her match there.
Movie Reviews: Just one year of staying abroad is what Swapna (Tanvi Vyas) craves for. Her doting father, played by Suman, allows her to go, much against the wishes of the joint family. In Sweden, Swapna has an encounter with Krish (Rahul Ravindran) who is so money minded that she wishes him off. Krish is the kind of guy who would do anything to earn five euros by running any kind of errand. It takes a long while for her to understand what the guy is up to and why he does what he does. He's not the type who would sacrifice his freedom and do a job that deprives him of his liberty. She so much hates his nature but there's something about him that draws her to him.
When Swapna returns to India for her father's Shashtipoorthi, the family has problems accepting her friend Krish. Swapna's parents almost finalise an alliance for her when the 'would have been' father- -in- law drops a bomb saying that he saw Swapna buy a pregnancy testing kit once on a trip to Sweden. Swapan's family is shaken by the revelation. In a turn of events, Krish literally gets kicked out of Swapna's house.
It's not the end of life for Krish. He starts life afresh - not by getting involved with another girl but finding a family that he can call his own in Vizag. The villain in Swapna comes out when she hands over Rs 50 lakh hard cash to that family so that they can free Krish from their 'stranglehold'. The cash is accepted and it is the beginning of a tale of woes for Krish, a youngster who values family ties.
No fights, no heroism, no double meaning dialogues, and no indecency except for a five-euro challenge that makes Swapna detest Krish's attitude. The movie inculcates and underscores the importance of family ties and values and gets the message across without going overboard by making some character mouth boring dialogues. There's some sentimental stuff but you don't get put off with it. This is a movie for families - to stay together, to stick together and understand the value of relationships. Rahul Ravindran deserves appreciation for portraying his role in just the right manner. It is the kind of movie that doesn't draw the masses into the theatres but is worth a watch.

Film review: If 'Ram-Leela' had more roses than guns

Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela'
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Richa Chadda, Supriya Pathak, Gulshan Deviah
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
IE Rating: ** 1/2
To twist Shakespeare's immortal words, sometimes there is something in a name. In Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela', the legacy is double-barreled. There is not only the weight of the Romeo-Juliet saga (which the director acknowledges as inspiration in the credits), there is also a huge overhang of the Ramayan: the hero is called Ram, who is sent to 'vanvaas', and he returns to fight for all that is right on the day of Dusshera. And because he is also Romeo, he fights for his love. Only Sita is called Leela.
The result is equal parts exhilaration and exhaustion. Bhansali's 'Ram-Leela' is mounted as pure spectacle, no surprises there, because that is his style. The setting is the Rann, in Gujarat. The warring clans, the Gujju versions of the Montagues and Capulets, are attired in costumes where not one thread is out of place. Each scene is meticulously designed: the desert, the havelis, the swirling ghagras, the spurting of the blood. It gets to the point where you start feeling breathless, and that is exactly what Bhansali intends, for you to get encircled by his universe. And in that he succeeds. I was swept up by the way he builds up the love story, between Ram (Ranveer Singh) and Leela (Deepika Padukone). Where he fails-- his old failing-- is in the insistence on every little thing being perfectly choreographed: a messy love story requires messy emotions, and Bhansali doesn't ever let his gorgeous Leela's tears streak down her cheeks. No leaky nose, no hiccups, just back-lit loveliness, which becomes too perfect to be real.
In 'Saawariya', Bhansali had tried to do the same thing in palettes of blue and black with Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor. That world was more claustrophobic than inviting, and the film, despite the Kapoor lad dropping a tantalising towel, failed. This is much more in the director's familiar territory: the 'dhols' and the 'nagadas', the dances and the songs, the Gujarati idiom. Every character, minor and major: Supriya Pathak's Godmother-like Ba, Gulshan Deviah's heavily-kohled wannabe leader, Richa Chaddha as the woman who gets to make rousing love-and-let-live speeches, all the bit parts who play the members of the battling clans, speak in the lingo, and for the most part (to my ear) sound authentic. But the whole superstructure gets too stretched and too wordy (there is also a superfluous Priyanka Chopra item number) and crumbles.

Chandi Movie Review, Rating

	Release date : 08 November 2013 123telugu.com Rating : 1.5/5 Director : V. Samudra Producer : Dr. Srinubabu G Music Director : NR Shankar and Chinna Starring : Priyamani, Krishnam Raju, Sarath Kumar..
	Story : Chandi (Priyamani) is a powerful and talented young lady who is well versed in the art of combat. She is handled by a guy named Azad (Sarath Kumar) and together, they hunt down some government officials and political leaders. The helpless Police Department turns to the CBI for help and Nagababu comes in as a special officer to tackle the case. During the course of investigation, some shocking truths are revealed about Chandi. The young lady has a violent and tragic past. She belongs to the village of Krishnapatnam and her father is Ashok Gajapathi Raju (Krishnam Raju). They belong to the Alluri dynasty. The village of Krishnapatnam and Ashok Gajapathi Raju’s family are destroyed by the evil Minister (Ashish Vidyarthi), as they stand in the way of some lucrative mines. How this young lady turns into Chandi and avenges the destruction of her family is what the movie is all about. Plus Points : Krishnam Raju looks regal as Ashok Gajapathi Raju. Priyamani looks good in a few scenes. Posani manages to tickle the funny bone in one or two scenes. Minus Points : ‘Chandi’ is a text book example of how not to make a film. When a national award winning actress like Priyamani finds herself in such a mindless mess, one can’t help but feel sad. There is absolutely no logic or conviction in the narration. Samudra’s direction is very bad. Dialogues are terrible and cheesy. There is no entertainment quotient at all, save for a few scenes involving Posani. Sarath Kumar and Vinod Kumar have been wasted in poorly written roles. Ashish Vidyarthi is made to look foolish in the film. There is no emotional conviction in the film. Despite issues like land grabbing etc, the scenes do not make any impact on viewers. The famous anthyakshari scene from ‘Gabbar Singh’ has been destroyed in the film. Poor Harish Shankar will have a heart attack if he sees how the scene has been used in this movie. The film’s pace is quite slow and boredom sets in quite early. Poor placement of songs just adds to the misery. Technical Aspects : Cinematography of the film is very mediocre. Editing is not up to the mark as there are jump cuts in the film and transitions are not smooth. Music and background score are very bad and do not help the film in any way. Samudra’s direction is the biggest drawback for the film. There is neither entertainment nor serious political drama in the film. Verdict : ‘Chandi’ is an avoidable flick. The tagline of the film is ‘The Power of Woman’. But it should have been ‘The Power of Torture’. Poor direction, weak screenplay, bad dialogues and atrocious placement of songs just make this film unbearable.

Masala Movie Review, Rating

Release date : 14 November 2013 123telugu.com Rating : 2.75/5 Director : K. Vijaya Bhaskar Producer : Daggubati Suresh Babu Music Director : S. Thaman Starring : Venkatesh, Ram, Anjali, Shazahn Padamsee

Story : Balaram (Venkatesh) is a good hearted strongman of the village of Bheemarajapuram. He treats everyone with fairness and takes care of their needs. But there is one thing that Balaram cannot tolerate and that is lying. If he catches someone lying, Balaram metes out a severe punishment to the offender. Into this scenario comes in Rahman (Ram). Along with his sister Sania (Anjali), Rahman comes to the village in search of a job. With a brave deed, he falls into the good books of Balaram but circumstances force him to change his name to Ram. He soon becomes a trusted aide of Balaram and all is well for a while. However, Balaram catches Rahman while he is offering Namaz and asks him for an explanation. Out of desperation, Rahman reveals that he has a younger brother named Rahman. (He says the brother’s name is Rahman, since Balaram knows the original guy as Ram). This Rahman character is portrayed as a gay and Balaram tasks him with teaching his sister (Shazahn Padamsee) the art of dance. Rahman struggles to manage the roles of Ram and Rahman and a confusion drama ensues. As can be expected, the truth comes out in the end and Balaram is outraged. Will he forgive Rahman? That forms the story of ‘Masala’ Plus Points : Venkatesh is quite entertaining as Balaram. Some of his butler english dialogues manage to evoke a strong response from the viewers. Ram looks good and he has managed to portray both the characters of Ram and Rahman quite effortlessly. He manages to make people laugh with his gay comedy. The movie has some entertaining moments in the first half. A few comedy scenes between Venkatesh and Jayaprakash Reddy have come out well. In the second half, Ram’s gay comedy sequences have come out well. Minus Points : Rohit Shetty liberally borrows ideas from Telugu films and ‘Bol Bachchan’ is no exception. To ‘remake’ a film like that in Telugu is a strange idea. Rohit Shetty’s films work due to the good entertainment quotient but they usually do not have strong story lines. ‘Masala’ too suffers from this issue. The plot is quite stale and outdated. Kovai Sarala’s recording dance scenes look garish. The twists and jokes are quite predictable. Another big issue is the placement of songs in the film. The songs are quite mediocre and they do not help the film in any way. Shazahn Padamsee needs to brush up her acting skills as she has one single expression for all emotions. Anjali has been wasted in an insignificant role. The climax block is terrible, with poor graphics and unnecessary hungama. Technical Aspects : Cinematography is quite average. Editing is not smooth as there are a number of jump cuts in the film. Thaman’s background score is ok but the songs do not have his trademark energy levels. Anil Ravipudi’s dialogues are good in places. Vijay Bhaskar’s direction is not very impressive. Entertainment quotient and pace keep dipping at a number of places. Verdict : ‘Masala’ has a few good moments. Venkatesh and Ram have tried their best to carry the film with their comedy timing. But a stale plot and outdated screenplay hamper their efforts. Any Masala gets a perfect flavour and taste only when the ingredients are blended in the right proportions. Sadly, that is not the case with this ‘Masala’.

Masala Telugu Movie Review, Rating

Masala - Cast & Crew

• Venkatesh
• Ram
• Anjali
• Shazahn Padamsee
• K. Vijaya Bhaskar
• Daggubati Suresh Babu 
•  Masala Movie Rating: 3.25/5

• Release Date: 14 Nov 2013
  Genre: Comedy - Romance
  Language: Telugu
  Director: K.Vijaya Bhaskar
  Masala - Story
  Masala is the story of Rahman (Ram Pothineni) stays with his sister Sania (Anjali) and they are legally fighting to get the title of their property. But, the odds turn against them and they lose the case.Their well-wisher, Narayana (M S Narayana), advises and convinces them to migrate to his village Bheemarajupuram, and assures Rahman that he will get him a job at his owner's place. And the owner is none other than the powerful Balaram (Venkatesh Daggubati).
  Rahman accidentally falls victim to an indistinct situation which makes him lie about his name in front of the villagers in Bheemarajupuram... Hence, a series of cover-ups, goof-ups and comic situations comes up, where to cover one lie; Rahman starts padding up witha bigger lie telling people that he also has a twin brother and then, starts the real story.
  Ram lands up working as a supervisor with the lie hater Balaram. Destiny plays a cruel role and forces Ram to perpetrate a bundle of lies in front of Balaram. What happens next? Will Balaram ever come to know about Ram’s real identity and his lie? Watch out the film to know more
  Masala - Star Performance
  Venkatesh Daggubati’s comedy timing is good, in fact he's the reason you get some laughs out of the film. The way he says the Telugu lines in English, or the scene where he says 'My English better than British' are just phunny.
  Ram was okay as Ram, but he was atrocious in the without moustache Rahman’s character. His performance in the interval bang is more like a drunkard than a gay dude. Ram’s mannerisms in Ram character recall his performance in Ready. Like Ram’s emasculate dance act just before the interval seems elongated and Venkatesh’s fustian English transcriptions, despite being frequently phunny, is so exaggerated that you lose the semantic biffs at several occasions.
  Anjali looks completely out of the character, the part where she plays the lover of Venkatesh in past is just feeless. Anjali & Shazahn Padamsee didn't have much to do other than provide scope for romantic numbers. Short dresses didn’t suit Shazahn in the Meenakshi Meenakshi track.
  The rest of the cast is as expected, loud and pretty much intolerable except for Jaya Prakash Reddy, Ali & M S Narayana who try to bring in some sort of order and balance to the chaos but of course aren’t given enough room.
  Masala - Techinical Team
  Rohit Shetty is really lucky that his films run well at box office inspite of having terrible madcap scripts. But Vijaya Bhasker is not as lucky as him.
  Director just lifted nearly every scene from Bol Bachchan and translated them into Telugu. He failed to understand his mantra “Hardwork is keyhole to success”. Working with ever popular formula of lies, lies and more lies creating confusion and more confusion, very much like another phunny phileem in Tollywood. Vijaya Bhasker failed to elevate Anjali’s flashback in an imp active way, even confusion of lies didn’t work well in Telugu.
  Thaman SS music was not upto his standards. Even BGM failed to lift thescenes. Vijaya Bhasker totally failed to grab the music he wanted in this film, “Thats why Balaram says music is fire handle with care”. The song shot at Hokkaido, the second largest island in Japan which marks this film as the first Indian movie to shoot in Japan is nicely shot.
  Choreography is fine for the other songs. Cinematography is neat, camera work is good in Meenakshi Meenakshi & Ninnu Chuddani songs. Editor could have easily cut short the film by 10-15 min in the film.
  Masala just copied Rohit Shetty’s action choreography into Telugu, which just failed. Dialogues are promising especially few English translations are hilarious. Production values are grand.
  Masala - Analysis
  Masala is an official remake of Rohit Shetty’s Hindi film Bol Bachchan which had Ajay, Asin, Abhishek, Prachi & Amtabh in the cast. Despite of having such an impressive cast Hindi version just failed to reach Rohit Shetty’s mark success at box office.
  Masala fails from the start as the comedy element didn’t work, the cast is imperfect and they don't seem serious about their performances (leaving Venkatesh Daggubati). It is so shabbily made that you will instantly feel that director Vijaya Bhasker has lost interest in the initial parts of the film.
  First half of the film is draggy and second half it makes audience tiresome. Masala is a wearisome entertainer, better avoid it in theatres.