Ever since I watched the Telugu remake of the Malayalam blockbuster Premam, I have been playing the song Evare, and the original Malare over and over. The sweeping melody and the lyrical voice of Vijay Yesudas in both versions just transport me into a place of peace.
The Malayalam song video I found has English subtitles.
Margaret of Don’t Call It Bollywood raved to me before she posted her review that I had to watch Manam [Us], especially when I told her the other movie I was taking on my flights was Aligarh. I’m so glad I did. It was so wonderful! The perfect cozy family film – like drinking a big mug of hot chocolate.
I didn’t realize until I looked up the movie when I got home from my trip that the actors in this film are all in the same family. And the family company, Anapurma Studios, produced the film. This was the final film of ANR, who died of colon cancer during post-production. His son Nagarjuna wanted to work together on one last film, and it’s a worthy tribute to his father. Nagarjuna’s son Chaitanya is one of the leads, and there’s a cameo with his other son Akhil == and a special appearance by Amitabh Bachchan!
The only other film I’ve seen with Nagarjuna is King. I liked him, but the action comedy movie wasn’t the best. I loved him in Manam. Manam is a reincarnation movie. Nagarjuna loses his parents the day after his 6th birthday, and in their honor has become one of the wealthiest businessmen in India. He happens to sit next to the reincarnation of his father on an airplane. His father is played by Nagarjuna’s son Chaitanya (who is adorable!).
Nagarjuna then searches out his mother, and finds her reincarnation, too, played by Samantha Ruth Prabhu. He has an instant connection to his mother, but has to work a little harder to connect with his father. He plots how to get his parents reunited again. They had been about to divorce when they died, and there are unresolved issues.
But my favorite part of the film is when we discover that Nagarjuna has been reincarnated, too! His son is played by Nagarjuna’s father, ANR. The flashback scenes of the romance back in the past with Nagarjuna and Shriya Saran are just magical. Nagarjuna is wealthy in the past, too, and chooses a poor woman to marry because he likes her picture. He is puzzled why she wants to wait 6 months to marry and seeks her out. He discovers that she needs 6 months to earn enough money to purchase his traditional groom gift of clothes. She doesn’t know who he is and lets him stay and be her worker on her farm to earn the money faster.
The reveal scene at the wedding when she the curtain drops and she just leaps on him because of course she had fallen in love — the best! Oh, my goodness, how I loved this scene:
None of the issues and problems in the film are horrible, and even though people die — they come back and work it out in the next life.
This movie is like a big ole family group hug. I loved every minute. Highly recommend!
Margaret was right. This was the perfect feel good movie to follow the darkness in Aligarh.
When I realized Naga Chaitanya has the Nivin Pauly role in the Telugu Premam, I went out to see that film next. Review coming soon!
The love music numbers were pretty darn adorable.
Janatha Garage (I think it translates to People’s Garage) is writer/director Koratala Siva’s third feature film, and his first collaboration with Jr. NTR. I loved Siva’s previous blockbuster films, Srimanthudu with Mahesh Babu and one of my favorite Prabhas films, the fantastic Mirchi. Malayalam superstar Mohanlal returns to Telugu films after a cameo appearance 2 decades ago. Janatha Garage was filmed in both Malayalam and Telugu, and released in both languages. I find it really interesting the cross promotion, because the film also includes Malayalam star Nithya Menen as the second heroine, in her first collaboration with NTR. Samantha Prabhu is the first love interest, a star in Telugu and Tamil Cinema.
Expectations were extremely high with this director, and with this star studded cast. I think having Mohanlal and Jr NTR in a movie together is brilliant. They were fantastic together, and frankly look like they’re family. I’ve only seen Mohanlal in Thenmavin Kombath (review soon) and NTR in the fantastic Yamadonga. The theater five minutes from my house had the film on two screens for the premiere, and pretty full crowds. It was fun to be there the opening night and hear the whoops and hollers for NTR’s first entrance. (My ticket seller wasn’t used to Telugu films – “That will be $8…I mean $20”.)
The first half of the film chronicles the creation of Janatha Garage (the people’s garage). Mohanlal not only fixes cars, but he fixes the problem of anyone who comes to him. When his brother and his wife are killed by one of their enemies, Mohanlal gives the orphan infant to the mother’s family saying that he will have nothing to do with the boy, as they wish. And as young Anand grows up, his family don’t even have a picture of his father in the house. They just tell him his parents died in an accident.
Jr NTR as Anand is like a cross between Captain Planet and DJ Khaled with his flowers (“I love you. I like that.”) This movie has a Message with a capital “M” and that is environmentalism. Anand is all about green spaces, planting trees, and against pollution and over development. Srimanthudu had a similar message with Mahesh Babu riding his bicycle everywhere. There’s one fight sequence where he lectures the goons on the forces of nature raining down earthquakes and tsunamis on them. He’s no pacifist environmentalist — at all. When a park is set to be demolished, he threatens the developer and the MLA – “The MLA will die, I mean, because of lack of oxygen if the trees are destroyed.”)
Anand (NTR’s) love interest is his cousin (Samantha Prabhu) and that was a little squicky for me because it seemed like they’d been raised as sister and brother. He meets Nithya Menen early in the film – and scolds her for things like setting off firecrackers for Diwali creating air pollution. Nithya becomes part of the group of friends with NTR and Samantha. One of my two favorite songs is NTR with Samantha in the Apple Beauty love song. He’s really fantastic dancing in this one.
Anand goes to Hyderabad to study Environmental Science, and has a run in with Mohan Lal’s son who has joined forces with the family enemy, the evil developer. NTR hears about Janatha Garage, and Mohanlal hears about his good deeds. Rather than confront him for the dust up with Mohanlal’s son, he asks NTR to join the Janatha Garage to carry on his work. Mohanlal had been in an “accident” and the doctors had warned his family that he should stop and not have stress.
Neither realize that they are nephew and uncle. But they have a natural affinity. They both just want to help people. In Hebrew, we’d call it Tikkun Olam – Repairing the World, which encompasses the environment and good deeds. It’s just that NTR knocks heads together to fix things as well as plants trees.
One of the best fight sequences has NTR coming to the aid of a government clerk who is ready to commit suicide rather than sign off on shoddy plans for a hospital. The builder has threatened his family, and he comes to the Janatha Garage for help. He’d been turned away by the others at the garage after Mohanlal got out of the hospital, but NTR resurrects the true mission of the garage by helping him out — and inspiring his co-workers to view the clerk as the true hero.
Koratala Siva has set up an emotional family drama to punctuate the action. Mohanlal has the son who rejects his way of life and joins the enemy camp. He also has the son of his heart, NTR, who he doesn’t even know is his true long lost nephew. And there is a very dramatic scene when Anand’s family finds him at the Garage, and forces him to choose the girl he loves or Janatha Garage.
The songs are mostly very good, and NTR’s dancing is great. Kajal has a really fun item number in the second half — the very catchy Pakka Local (Strictly local girl).
Jr. NTR has lots of charisma and screen presence, and his dancing and fight scenes are great. NTR is looking much more fit than his Yamadonga days, but he’s not as playful as he was in that film. Srimanthudu had more moments of levity than does Janatha Garage. Mohanlal is predictably excellent as the sort of do-gooder don of Hyderabad, with tough fights in the first half, and anguish over his wayward son in the second half. One thing that could have been better is the villain is more smarmy than scary. The romance elements are not the focus of the film at all, and take a back seat to the male family relationships and the action.
An enjoyable flick, even if it dragged a bit in parts, and especially fun to see Mohanlal and Jr. NTR act together. They make a perfect pair.
Three and a half stars out of five.
Rudhramadevi is currently on Netflix streaming in the US, unfortunately the original Telugu dubbed in Hindi. Anushka Shetty of Bahubali fame, plays queen Rudhramadevi. The coolest thing about this historical epic is that the main characters in this film are all based on real people. Rudhramadevi ruled in what is now Telegana, dying in 1295, and was one of the first reigning queens in India.
Gona Gannareddy (Allu Arjun) truly was a Robin Hood like figure supporting Radhrumadevi’s rule. [I read Mahesh Babu turned down the role.]
For some bizarre reason, the filmmakers frame the film by having Marco Polo narrate the story — to show how women ruling is a good thing, I guess. But the CGI of those opening scenes and the sailing ship, is just horrendous. At other points they use very cool animation drawings and I wish they’d just used those throughout, or drawings of maps.
The film Rudhramadevi supposes that when she was born the King’s chief adviser (Prakash Raj) suggests the birth of a son be announced to the kingdom, so the unruly populous and the feuding relatives angling to take over the throne will be assured there is a male heir. The young prince is raised in the forest and trained in warfare and sword fighting. The young actress who played the young Rudhramedeva was really good. She comes to court as a young teen for the first time, and meets two princes – Gona Gannareddy and Chalukya Veerabhadra. They escape the palace together, and she sees a statue of a woman, and realizes with shock that that’s what she looks like. She runs home, and in a stunning scene for an Indian film, finds her pants soaked with blood down to her ankles. She runs to her mother who tells her the truth. She is given the choice to become the princess, but chooses to continue to live as the prince heir of the kingdom.
As a now young man, she’s expected to marry, and Nithya Menon plays the young princess she marries. (Which totally made me think of Yentl, but she tells the princess she must remain celibate.) Rudhramadevi has strong feelings for her best friend Chalukya Veerabhadra (Rana Daggubati). He catches a glimpse of her outside the palace dressed as a woman, and becomes obsessed. He’s derelict in his war duties he’s so smitten, and she appears again to him as a woman, which gives us this fantastic love duet, one of the highlights of the film for me:
What I loved about the story is that Anushka Shetty as Rudhramadevi is a kick ass warrior queen, and she’s not going to run off to marry her lover when she has duties as queen. The whole story is so awesomely feminist and woman positive, and Anushka’s performance, especially in the fighting and battle scenes makes me even more excited for Bahubali 2.
The story is great, but the CGI is so bad that it takes you out of the film at times. I don’t understand why they had to use digital outdoor backdrops for several scenes. It seemed completely unnecessary. This film wanted to be what Bahubali achieved, but they didn’t have the same money to execute it.
This is an example of some of the worst effects. To show either Allu or Rana riding a horse, they were head on to the camera with their head horribly photoshopped on a repeating GIF of a body moving up and down on a fake horse head. Over and over and over. It looked SO bad. And they made it a poster! Ugh!
If I had a young daughter, this is a fantastic story of a warrior queen, but I’m not sure older more sophisticated kids could get past the bad special effects.
Still, a mostly enjoyable watch, with very cool characters, great action battles, and some nice song numbers. Kudos to Rana Daggubati for playing the Chris Pine to Anushka Shetty’s Wonder Woman.
Three stars out of five.
Check out Margaret’s take on Rudhramadevi on her blog Don’t Call It Bollywood. She delves much deeper into the gender politics the film.
Pokiri (Rogue) is simply a fantastic Mahesh Babu action romance flick directed and written by Puri Jagannadh. I enjoyed it so much. Pokiri is from 2006 and was filmed with a very modest budget of 12 crore. The director wrote a great script and was really inventive in his shots. The editing really enhances and propels the pace of the action.
I had rented the DVD through Netflix, but the DVD crapped out on me half way through. I kept trying to make it work again because the movie is so delicious, but then realized I was watching a Telugu movie. Of course, the whole thing is on Youtube with subtitles. (Yay Chromecast!)
Among rival gangs in Hyderabad, Mahesh is the newcomer, Pandu. He’s a rogue, a free agent and his intro in the film has him running down a street with a cart of red mirchi peppers fly into the air. Loved that touch.
The action scenes are very visually inventive. There’s a cool action sequence when the lights get shot out in a dark room and then it’s all flashing flickering light with sparks waterfalling down. Mahesh kills off pretty much a whole opposing gang one by one in flashes. So many film directors rely on a few big fireball explosions and slow mo to make an action scene look cool.
The love interest is Ileana D’Cruz. She’s an aerobics instructor living with her widowed mother and her younger brother. Mahesh tries to stay away from her, but he can’t overcome his attraction to her. And his friends delight in throwing them together.
Ileana’s in dire need of a protector. Unfortunately she’s drawn the attention of a corrupt cop. Ashish Vidyarthi is just so eeeeevil. He’s not only involved in corrupt deals shaking down land developers with a local gang. He has no compunction in viewing his cop underlings as expedient kills. And then he approaches Ileana’s mother to propose she make her daughter his concubine. “And you’re not that bad looking either.”
Ileana as Shruti approaches Mahesh to ask that he be her protector. I really liked that she addressed it head on. She had no one else in her life that she could ask. But while he is drawn to protect her, he doesn’t think a rogue like him is right or deserving of her love.
My favorite scene was just right before the interval. The editing and directing in this flick were really a step above, even if it doesn’t have the production money of something like Srimanthudu. Shruti’s (Ileana’s) fallen in love with Mahesh, a rogue, and he’s trying to say don’t fall in love with me, I’m no good for you. Then they’re attacked by a gang. Mahesh is so intense, and torn. He tells her he loves her, but can she live with a criminal like him after seeing him like this?
That’s the thing. This movie is not just a great action gangster flick. There is a real conflict and threat to the love interest. The romance gets equal weight, and the dance sequences are fantastic. I really liked the music in this one. This is yet another reason I love Indian cinema. All that love he cannot express, the music lets you see what he’s feeling in his heart.
I think Mahesh really is what makes the romance work, too. He just looks tortured, but you can sense an innate goodness in him even while he’s acting like a gangster. He projects “heart of gold” better than just about anybody. He wants to leave her alone because he knows she shouldn’t be attracted to a gangster, but she really, really needs a protector. And I loved that she out and out asked for one! She didn’t just sit there and whimper, she took some action to protect her family.
Prakash Raj is the ultimate villain gang don in the film, but for once, though, I think the always fantastic Prakash Raj is upstaged by that creepy evil cop Ashish Vidyarthi. Nasser plays a key role in the denouement at the end. There’s a great twist to the end of the film. Pokiri was so successful that it was remade in several languages, including the Salman Khan Hindi film Wanted (which Margaret told me is not nearly as good as Pokiri). The comedy uncles are even almost funny with a running gag about a beggars union.
I highly recommend this all ’round Telugu entertainer. It’s going to be one I’ll love going back to rewatch. The director Puri Jagannadh really impressed me, and he also directed one of my favorite Prabhas flicks, Bujjigadu. He reteamed with Mahesh Babu for Businessman which is moving right on up on my watchlist. Four stars out of five.
I’m convincing Margaret of Don’t Call It Bollywood to watch some Mahesh Babu movies. Check out her rapturous review of Pokiri!
Aagadu (He Will Not Halt) is a 2014 action comedy starring Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu as a super cop, the Indian superhero genre. On Friday night I was glued to news of the military coup in Turkey, but I just couldn’t take all the bad news with that chaos on top of the massacre in Nice. It was too much, and I needed something crazy to get my mind off it all. Telugu films are great for that, and this one was particularly crazy. Aagadu is not the greatest movie in the world, and it’s certainly not the best Mahesh Babu film, but it made me laugh. Evidently it was not his most successful film, but it was an enjoyable watch. The director, Srinu Vaitla, had previously made the hit film Dookudu with Mahesh Babu (which I really liked.) And, I’ll admit it, I just like Mahesh Babu in a cop uniform.
Aagadu mixes the comedy with some more serious drama of an orphan boy adopted by a policeman, who takes the blame for a fatal accident for his adopted older brother. He’s sent to reform school, but his only goal is to become a cop like his estranged adopted father. Telugu action films I expect to be over the top in their violent action scenes, but the director and Mahesh seemed to delight in taking it even more over the top, for the amusement value. Mahesh even references many of his past films, and there’s a running gag of him conning the crooks that they’re just like his long lost brother, who…..insert plot of Dookudu, Okkadu, etc. I was glad I’d seen a number of Mahesh Babu films so I was in on the joke, but the subtitles also pointed out which movie he was referencing.
I recently watched the Malayalam film Neram, and the language play comedy in the film went right over my head. This film veered towards slapstick comedy, but it made me laugh out loud.
Sonu Sood is the mustache twirling villain. I took a picture of this scene where he’s intimidating a local and explaining that Sonu’s power plant project cannot be stopped. His examples of what ELSE couldn’t be stopped cracked me up! “I didn’t like Abishek Bachan [sic] marrying Aishwarya Rai. Could we stop it?” LOL
Tamannaah is the love interest. Mahesh thinks she’s sweet and innocent when he sees her handing out sweets to children, but comes to find out she’s a strident sweets shop owner. She’s about to marry an NRI just to be able to open new sweet shops in the US. Mahesh cons her, and her family, too, in a very amusing way, to stop the engagement to the NRI. Tamannaah catches on, but enjoys the manipulation of Mahesh — she sees she’s met her match in scheming.
The songs are completely over the top and crazy, too. For no apparent reason this one is filled with what look like Thai dancers. This song compares Tamannaah to Bhel Puri, the spicy street food – and all sorts of other foods. I’m sure I’ve never, ever heard a girl compared to tomato soup.
Eat me like a Dhoodh peda (Milk sweet)
There is Sweetness in your words, cuteness in your deeds, Lassi (Butter milk) in your smile, there is coconut water too in it!
(Thanks to Bollymeaning lyric translation.)
Aagudu was welcome escapist fair. Mahesh seems to delight in mocking his past film personas, but at the same time, acts super cool in the action sequences. After a huge one at an oil refinery (big explosions! crooks covered with oil!) he strides off and says — “My bladder is full with useless discussions with fools. Where’s the toilet?” And interval. Bwhahaha!
The romantic plot is not the main thrust of the film. It’s mostly Mahesh the cop, tricking and catching each crook in turn, as he works his way up the criminal empire to Sonu Sood at the top. And of course avenging his adopted family, and making his adoptive father proud. Sonu Sood is reliably great as the villain, even if most of his dialogue is obviously dubbed. Nasser plays a bumbling corrupt cop, none too pleased to have Mahesh as his new boss. Shruti Hasaan has a nice item number, too.
Aagudu is not my favorite Mahesh Babu film, but it was an enjoyable timepass. I’m sure there were tons more Telugu movie line references I missed, but it was still funny to this non-Desi. It took me away from the darkness around us for a few hours. I’m glad I own it, in case I need something silly again.
Three stars out of five. Aagudu is available for rental on Amazon video or iTunes, but it’s free with subtitles on Youtube! (Love that about Telugu films!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZZG0z6pXoc
I purchased the Telugu film Yamadonga [God of death thief or Thief Yama] on DVD months ago because it was highly recommended by a friend. I kept picking it up, and putting it back down. Frankly, the cover image doesn’t do anything for me. But I forgot that I bought it because it is by director S. S. Rajamouli (of Baahubali fame!) Yamadonga came out in 2007 (between Chatrapathi (2005) and Magadheera (2009)). Yamadonga was my first Jr. NTR film, but his third collaboration with Rajamouli.
Chatrapathi has that amazing CGI shark fight with Prabhas, and Magadheera anticipates Baahubali with its lengthy past life fantasy flashback. And then of course, Rajamouli made the hero reincarnate as a FLY in Eega. His imagination has no bounds, and continues to amaze me with every film. I was blown away by Baahubali, which I saw four times in the theater alone, and cannot wait for part 2 next year. Yamadonga is a delightful flight of fantasy as a thief insults Yama (the God of Death) and is sent to hell before his time.
Jr. NTR is no Prabhas (my favorite Telugu actor), but he definitely has an impish charm. I was trying to think what Hollywood actor he reminds me of. He’s sort of like Chris Pratt – looks cool in the action sequences, but has that charm and sense of comedy silliness about him.
I know this is shallow of me, but I hated NTR’s hair in this film. It just looked awful. There were a few music numbers where his hair was much shorter, and he looked a thousand times better. He has that same look in the poster for his next film Janatha Garage (with Mohanlal) coming out next month.
As children, the thief Raja (Jr. NTR) meets Mahi. She gives him an amulet necklace that had been blessed in a temple. He can’t pawn it, and throws it away, but over his life, it keeps turning up.
Mahi (Priyamani) grows up and is an orphan treated as a servant in her family’s household. She’s sort of a Cinderella waiting for her prince. (Isn’t it handy NTR is named Raja?) NTR rescues her but then tries to ransom her to her family when he sees a TV report that she is a wealthy heiress (which she doesn’t know.)
For the first time, Mahi who had been treated as a servant, is waited on like a princess by Raja. Raja has cursed Yama (the God of Death) to the heavens, and Yama vows revenge on this human. Raja is killed before his time by goons sent by Mahi’s family and then half the movie is set in the fantasty realm of hell. Raja is a thief by nature, and tricks Yama and steals his rope of death, becoming the ruler of hell himself.
The modern day parts of Yamadonga aren’t that different in plot than any other Telugu action romantic film, although the action scenes are great. But the film takes off in the fantasy hell sequence and in a scene in heaven with all the gods. The sets are glorious. Mohan Babu is fantastic as the insulted god Yama. The comedy uncle of pretty much every Telugu film, Brahmanandam, is Yama’s sort of clerk Chatragupta keeping track of the book of deeds of the human sinners.
Raja proposes an election to have the demons of hell pick their new ruler between Yama and Raja. Yama brings three goddesses to dance, but then NTR as Raja dances with them and brings out the spirit of his grandfather. Jr. NTR is the grandson of the famous actor and (then politician) NTR. Rajamouli uses CGI to have Jr. NTR and NTR talk and dance together onscreen (like Dhoom Taana in Om Shanti Om). This Young Yama song reminded me of the song Manohari in Baahubali with NTR dancing with the three women.
NTR is a great dancer (he’s accomplished in Kuchipudi dance), and this sequence was one of my favorites in the film.
Raja returns to earth, but if he sins again, he will be returned to hell. He’s about to marry Mahi, when Yama decides to trick Raja into sinning. Yama takes the form of a woman to tempt Raja – Raja’s former partner in crime and money lender.
Mamta Mohandas is Dhanalakshmi (Yama in disguise), and I loved her portrayal. She’s seductive, but she has the air of Yama’s arrogance and swagger at the same time.
That’s the thing about this film. Not only is NTR great, but so many of the supporting actors are simply fantastic. Priyamani‘s performance is just okay as the innocent naive Mahi. She has some great dance numbers with NTR, but her acting was not on the same level with the others.
I had so much fun watching this movie. Rajamouli never disappoints, and NTR provides a lot of comedy, great dancing and cool action scenes. I have never seen a Ramayana TV serial, and I’m sure the hell scenes reference some of those, or Ram-Leela pageant plays. But you don’t need that background, or even an understanding of the Indian gods to enjoy this film.
Highly recommend this Rajamouli fantasy film. Four stars out of five. (It’s available on Youtube with English subtitles here.)
Now I can’t wait to see NTR in Janatha Garage next month. NTR has a real screen presence, and I look forward to catching up with his other films.
Srimanthudu [Wealthy Man] is one of the better Telugu Mahesh Babu movies I have seen. I downloaded it from Google Play and watched it on a flight (and finished up at the hotel.) It’s about a wealthy young man who goes to his ancestral village and saves the town from the evil goons running the place, as well as donating his millions to rebuild the village. It reminded me very much of Mirchi, one of my favorite Prabhas movies, and there’s a reason why. When I looked up Srimanthudu, I discovered that Mirchi and Srimanthudu have the same writer/director: Koratala Siva. Mirchi, amazingly, was Siva’s debut directorial feature film. Srimanthudu was also a major hit, and with good reason.
Mahesh Babu is Harsha, son of a super wealthy business tycoon played by Jagapathi Babu, who was absolutely fantastic in the role (he won a best supporting actor award for the role.) Mahesh Babu won the Filmfare South best actor award for his leading role in Srimanthudu. Mahesh’s love interest in the film is Charuseela – Shruti Haasan, master actor Kamal Haasan’s daughter. I was much more impressed with her here than in the Hindi film Gabbar Is Back.
If we didn’t catch from the get go that this princely son of a business king wants to live as a common man, his opening number is Rama Rama. His father won’t deign to celebrate at the festival with the company employees, but Harsha (Mahesh) makes a point of making an appearance and dancing along. He also gives money to a long time employee struggling to get his daughter married, and admonishes his father for not doing it himself. His father despairs for him ever taking the reins of the business empire. Harsha has no interest and mostly rejects his father’s Rolls Royce lifestyle by traveling by his eco-friendly bicycle.
One of the strong points of the movie is the first half romance between Mahesh and Shruti. He first spots her painting a Rangoli in her courtyard as he is driving his mother, aunt and sister to a temple early in the morning in the dark. He keeps driving around the block to catch more glimpses of her until his aunt complains that they’ll never make it on time. He then meets her at his friend’s birthday party, and sees that she is a kindred spirit because she takes the cake being delivered and gives it to some street children. What really intrigues him is that Charu is in a Rural Development course following her MBA. He’s never heard of such a thing, but it appeals to him immediately.
This is where Mahesh Babu’s inherent sweetness in romantic scenes shines through. He can really pull off going from sweet shy young guy around the girl he really likes, to a tough action fighter and commanding presence against bad guys all in the same movie with ease. Their falling in love song sequence I absolutely adored as it shows how they slowly hung around together more and more at school and it’s just adorable from start to finish as their romance deepens naturally and organically.
But the twist is that Harsha has never told her exactly who he is. Her roommates show her an article that reveals he is actually a super wealthy son of a tycoon, and she then rejects him utterly when he proposes. His father is from her same village, the one that she is studying how to save and develop. And with all Harsha’s father’s millions, Harsha’s family has done nothing. “Do you even know your village? You have no roots.”
Harsha just tells his family he will be traveling, but he goes straight to his ancestral village – by bike and bus. His traveling montage song is the title track Srimanthuda, and it is my second favorite song in the movie. The music in this film is really catchy and great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PApgtrPK1D8
Conditions in the village are horrible when he arrives. He doesn’t let anyone in the village know who he is, either, including the village leader, Charuseela’s father. But when he sees that they need a new school, he offers to donate the money needed. And then he sees more and more projects that need doing. He puts to use all he has learned in the rural development course.
As you can imagine, this does not sit well with the corrupt politician and his evil brother the enforcer who have run this town into the ground. Stealing even the water needed by the farmers for their liquor factory. There are some great action sequences as Harsha takes on all the bad guys single handedly.
Just like in Mirchi, when you go up against the rural village goons, be ready for a machete fight. Unlike most regional films, our hero actually gets injured enough to have to be hospitalized. Good thing he built that new hospital! But it’s a plot point to get his father back to the village, and for Charu to admit she still loves him.
Does he make his father proud? Does he get the girl? Does he save the village and vanquish the bad guys? I told you this was a Telugu film at the beginning, so you know the answers, but it sure is fun to watch it all unfold. And as an added bonus. Mahesh in a lungi! Hubba hubba.
Srimanthudu is a thoroughly enjoyable all around entertainer. Great family drama, truly evil substantial bad guys to fight, exciting action fight sequences and a terrific romance. It’s a four star out of five, and I’ve already rewatched it. It has a leg up on Mirchi in one way in that I really liked that there was only one romance, rather than the fake out first one we had in Mirchi.
My husband was walking through and he noted one of the irritating things about the film. I expect lots of slow-mo in my regional films, but this had tracking shots so many times when characters were speaking. “The camera is always moving!”, my husband noticed. It got distracting, especially on the rewatch. And the subtitle translations are just not the best sometimes for these Telugu films. I have a feeling what is being literally translated to English sounds very cool and slang in Telugu, but the subtitles end up ridiculous. “Return the money you stole or you will end up obese.” Wha??? Lost in translation there a bit.
I was intrigued to read in the wikipedia article the impact this movie had — people started adopting rural villages after seeing the film, including several celebrities and Mahesh himself. I really liked the message of the film, that it is the responsibility of the wealthy to give back, and to bring development to these backwater rural villages.
I’m now really looking forward to the director, Koratala Siva’s next film with Mohanlal and NTR, Janatha Garage, due out mid-August.
After the searing Malayalam gangster film Kammati Paadam, I wanted something lighter to watch. Someone had recommended to me Athadu as their favorite Mahesh Babu film and it’s free on Youtube with subtitles. (Love you Telugu Cinema industry for doing that!). Athadu evidently means simply “He”.
It starts super violent. A young street kid murders someone, and then joins a gang. And then we see the now grown up Mahesh and there is more violence. I despaired at first as it was all this violence and blood — I’d had plenty of that with Kammati Paadam. Mahesh is Nandu, a killer – a stone cold hitman, and Sonu Sood is his getaway driver. He’s hired to stage an almost assassination of a politician, and is double crossed and chased for the murder. During his escape on a train, an innocent person is killed. And he takes on that victim’s identity, as the victim Pardhu was on his way to reunite with long lost family who hadn’t seen him in over a decade. Pardhu had been orphaned and his grandfather and family had been searching for him.
Mahesh arrives in the village, and is welcomed as the prodigal son returned. No one had seen Pardhu since he was a child, so they just say, “My you’ve grown tall!” and the like. Nasser plays the grandfather, and Trisha Krishnan is Poori, Pardhu’s cousin. Mahesh lays low and stays at the rural family compound for over a month. You can tell he’s never had a normal family life and that this is all new to him. And that’s when I realized, that this was going to totally be my catnip trope — killer disarmed by love and family!! With a heaping helping of taking on an identity and trying to blend into a family.
It’s like Witness crossed with The Professional crossed with Sommersby! (In a good way.)
Poori is infatuated with Pardhu/Mahesh. She is fairly immature and has obviously been very sheltered and pampered. She tells Mahesh that she is staying away from her sister meeting her potential bridegroom because she doesn’t want to overshadow her sister with her beauty. Mahesh tells her she is not beautiful — her family’s just been telling her she is.
Thus begins the teasing and mock fighting between the two which escalates to an accidental brushing of lips. (Swoon! — that’s both me AND the two characters swooning. Poori actually sinks to the floor in a heap from the emotional impact of it.)
Mahesh/Pradhu then fantasizes that he’s playfully nipping at Poori’s ear, and jolts back to reality in another favorite scene of mine. There’s some very nice song sequences as they each fall for each other.
Mahesh/Pradhu also comes to his grandfather’s aid in a land dispute with an evil neighbor. Cue the machete fight sequence! (It’s nearly a requirement in a Telugu film.) Mahesh finds out that the real Pradhu had played a mean trick as a kid, and gives money to the family anonymously so that their daughter can get an operation.
This film is filled with some of my favorite Telugu character actors. Nasser, as I mentioned, plays Pradhu’s grandfather. Prakash Raj, polyglot character actor of Hindi and many regional cinemas, plays the CBI officer on Nandu (Mahesh)’s trail. And Sunil, my favorite comedic Telugu character actor, plays the childhood friend of Pradhu. Mahesh confides in him that he’s not really Pradhu. The two comedy Uncles are in it, too, but not so annoying. Brahmanandam dares Mahesh to punch him in the stomach which he does so Brahmanandam actually made me laugh for once!
After one fight, Mahesh/Pradhu is fussed over by Pradhu’s aunt. She tends to his cuts on his hands, and then feeds him with her own hands as she’s afraid the spicy food will sting his cuts. This kindness affects Mahesh so much that he has to wipe the tears from his eyes. He’s been trying to quietly resist the family, because of course he’s not really Pradhu, their long lost nephew or grandson. He doesn’t think he’s worthy of any of their love and kindness. I was almost wiping the tears from my own eyes at this scene because you can see the loneliness of the life he had led up to this moment.
Poori was more than a little irritating in how immature her character was. She’s trying to be coquettish, but she really doesn’t know how. She pouts that Mahesh/Pradhu hasn’t told her she’s beautiful, and then came one of the best declarations of love I’ve seen in an Indian film. (I’ve posted the video starting at the scene below:)
He asks who said she wasn’t beautiful? “You did! You told me I wasn’t beautiful!”
Then he tells her that it was true. “Then I didn’t know you were so beautiful.”
“But I’m the same even now!”, she replies.
“I’m not. We see a moonbeam everyday. Only sometimes do we think it is beautiful. But it’s the same every day. The change is not there. It’s here!”, as he touches his heart. “I fought Buji…How else did you want me to express my love? I’m not like the others. I don’t know how to live. Only now I’m learning to live.”
I had to rewind and rewatch that scene a few times. So great.
One of Mahesh/Pradhu’s acts of generosity leads to Prakash Raj finding him, and his true identity being revealed. There is a fantastic scene that Mahesh has then with Nasser, the grandfather, that I won’t spoiler, but I really loved.
Then we’re back to action, as Mahesh goes back to the city to find out who the real killer was who framed him. There’s an amazing final fight scene, and great comeuppance for the villains. This is what Indian cinema does so well. Great action paired with emotional drama and romance. The plot is really nothing like Witness, but that is the film that I thought of immediately. Hardened man used to violence is forced to adapt to a rural family life. Total fish out of water, Nandu is not a cop — he’s who should be the villain, but we see through his actions that he has a marshmallow center.
This film goes right up there as one of my favorite Mahesh movies now. Really enjoyed it, and there were a few scenes that were truly magical.
Four stars out of five.
A weekly round up of all the news you're too embarrassed to admit you don't know. Or too embarrassed to admit you DO.
Shedding light on the world's most popular books.
Masala, movies, moustaches, and more!
Call it Indian film and treat it seriously!
A perspective on books, movies, music and more!
The Musings of a Vagabond
Spoiler-free film reviews
The good, the bad and the ugly; an uncensored look at the latest films hitting the big screen.
on Dope Hyderabad .
A journey through heroine-oriented cinema
a journey begins........
Reviews of films and television programmes *contains spoilers*
Movie news and review site
I'm really very sorry.
India's First Digital Native Movie Site
Freelance Film Critic
Pardesi Reviews 