And if you are inside a theater for the opening show, you realize a whole new meaning to the word frenzy. The hysteria engulfs all in its wake, as a mass of humanity transforms into one homogenous entity that's unanimous in its raucous ecstasy, and shows it through zillions of shredded paper billowing into the hallowed air as The Man does his thing. Sometimes, life is all about blending. If you're still feeling like your own man, God help you.

Yes, there's a world out there.

Andarivaadu is almost perfunctory Chiranjeevi fare - a mass entry, big bad wolves who want more money and are willing to bite for it, 2 (two) heroines, a warehouse of family sentiment, glitzy dances, riotous comedy and charged stunt sequences. Govindaraju (Chiranjeevi) is a boorish mason who can kick ass real bad, and is quite the man in his community. A brash yet soft-hearted widower, he's raised his son Siddharth (Chiranjeevi again) through enormous hardship, and the latter is now a celebrity TV anchor with his own show, and opulent in love for his father.

Siddharth pisses off a big local don when he exposes him on his show, and coincidentally Govindaraju gets the same guy's kid brother in jail on a murder rap. That's obviously going to entail payback, since big local dons don't celebrate these things.

A parallel thread of the film encapsulates a romance between Siddharth and Shweta (Rimmi Sen), which doesn't meet its logical end since Shweta herself despises Govindaraju - he is the reason that Siddharth insults her rich dad Virendra (Prakash Raj) at their engagement ceremony, even if Virendra invited it. She then marries Siddharth, deciding to use that as a means to split the father and son.

Most of Andarivadu deals with the relation between Dad Chiru and Son Chiru, and is well-done simply since Chiranjeevi is such an evolved actor. His portrayal of Govindaraju shows just why he is amongst the finest of Tollywood. From comic timing to tear-jerking scenes, he has a range that lends everyone else a benchmark.

Tabu as the demure, poised second wife of the elder Chiranjeevi does a good job, too. The film has a generally riotous comic track with the Big C himself leading it, though there are some unfortunate exceptions (like when Chiranjeevi drives with Sunil on a Bullet). Venu Madhav and M S Narayana support him pretty well. The music by Devi Sri Prasad is average, and none of the songs particularly lingers, except to some extent the title track.

Andarivadu is not among the sleek, trendy kind of movies that increasingly hit the screens these days - it is more a throwback to the '80s, with its sentimental theme and its rustic look. Chiranjeevi has more-or-less painted himself into an image that's increasingly not going to help with the urban youth, thereby restricting his appeal as an ongoing process. He also looks too painted, literally, and needs to lose weight and try different genres to sustain his position.

On the whole, though, this one entertains, and is worth a watch.

Cast: Chiranjeevi, Tabu, Rimmi Sen, Prakash Raj, Satyanarayana, Venu Madhav, M S Narayana, Sunil, Rakshita
Director: Seenu Vytla

Let's begin at the beginning. Mythili (Jyothika) has a nightmare that she is raped by Madan (Simbu), whom she does not even know yet. A little later, she discovers she's pregnant. She's thinking about how the Church now has a new problem to worry about, when Madan, who she's met in this time, points out to her that it's all a mistake and that she's not really pregnant. She promptly falls in love with him, since anything is better than getting pregnant.

All this time, little does she know that her Madan is a modern day Dr. Jekyll with a dark side. When night falls, he identifies women who cheat on their husbands/boyfriends, and has sex with them. With the women, we mean - this film has enough complications already. All these women are inevitably scantily dressed, "fast", and making love to him in nanoseconds. If you're wondering what he got that you don't, you'll be thankful when you find out - it's blood trickling down his nose. It's one of the several pieces of inexplicable crap in this film.

The flashback is that Madan had a younger brother whose girlfriend cheated on him, and who therefore brutally killed her, her lover, and then himself. Madan feels that he let them off easy, and decides to wipe out all women in the world. Or close to that - women who sleep with other men. In a final dramatic monologue, he states, "I don't know whether my actions are right or wrong." Yeah, now there's a real toughie. We're going to need more than two lifelines to get this one right. Or we'll just leave it to God (we approached Him, but even he refused to do this review).

It's dignifying this one to even analyze all the things wrong with it - the script-writer of this joke of a flick would be tried for crimes against humanity if anyone took it seriously. The first half of the film, though, is tolerable compared to the never-ending second half, thanks to Jyothika's screen presence.

Simbu appears in a double role as both the older and younger brothers, and does a pretty good job, especially compared to most Telugu heroes his age. The performances are all fine, though Jyothika actually doesn't have much to do with the main story - surprising, since the main reason that this film was released was that she's hot after Chandramukhi.

Sindhu Tonali as the cheating girlfriend just sits around and looks pretty. Yana Gupta and Mandira Bedi are in blink-and-you-miss-them roles. The few decent dance numbers appear at random places in the storyline, but since that happens in 99.99% of all movies, it would be unfair to give the whole credit to the fimmakers. And we must admit that Simbu and Jyothika do complete justice to the totally "mass" dance steps.

It's almost impossible to understand how this one fared however it did in Tamilnadu. And as a parting shot, we'd like to see how a film about adulterous men being murdered would do.

Cast: Simbu, Jyothika, Sindhu Tonali, Sayaji Shinde, Mandira Bedi, Yana Gupta, , Jyothika, Mandira Bedi
Director: Jai Murugan

There are films that try something different and fail. Narasimhudu is just an indigestibly crass and decrepit film, and what disappoints you all the more is how much of resources it had at its disposal. They apparently cleaned up Rs. 20 crores on this. Think of how many mouths that would have fed.

Then, take the actor himself. Aadi. Simhadri. Samba. Naaga. Andhrawala. Narasimhudu. How many times does he think it is worth? The same superhero-who-can-bash-up-20-armed-goons-singlehanded drill? There isn't one other actor in recent times who's been so repetitive. Right down to the extent of referring to his grandfather in every single film, 3 years after debut.

At its heart, Narasimhudu is yet another puffed-up MCP film that reeks strongly of the 80s formula - a superhero whose election symbol is testesterone, women who are eager to be shown their place, and comedy that you'd find in the Saturday midnight programs of Maa TV. Narasimhudu (NTR) is a he-man who can beat up 20 armed well-built goons single-handedly (assuming there's no shortage), and the darling of his village. One day an 11-year-old girl in the village gets raped by the sons of two fast friends and powerful bad men JD (Puneer Issar) and Surya (Kalabhavan Mani). Narasimhudu then goes to Hyderabad to track them down and kill them.

Some of the footage in the film is so bottom-of-the-barrel, you're wondering how any normal human can think it up - for example, Subbu (Amisha Patel), Narasimhudu's girl, tells him that he should not utter one word until the villians are dead, and so he stays dumb for a whole half of the film. Then, he actually keeps growling like an animal since his name is Narasimhudu. And for a man who has to keep a very low-profile given his mission, he makes threatening noises against a man no less than the Commissioner of Police, for no rhyme or reason.

Then, there is that reciting of the "Paritranaya Sadhunam…" verse, which must have hurt the feelings of the Lord Himself. More - when the Commissioner (Ashish Vidyarthi) comes to Narasimhudu's tenement to capture him, he (the Commissioner) starts badly beating up the people there asking them to confess that they saw him commit the murder of JP, but when one of them starts to indeed confess, he prays her to keep quiet about it, that Narasimhudu is a hero. Yes, it'd be interesting to see the results of an IQ test taken by the writers of these scenes.

There's also no explanation for a scene where some goons terrorizing a neighbourhood run away upon just seeing Narasimhudu - he is just a guy living in a non-descript village, not Osama bin Laden. There are millions more like this.

It's hard to care for anything else in the film, but the songs are the same fare, with lyrics bordering on vulgarity. The dances are tolerable, but since when did you start going to a film to see some guy dancing? Sameera Reddy has nothing to do but go around with her sari missing all through the film. Wonder if she dresses like that in real life.

Kalabhavan Mani is the only commendable thing about this whole film - after having seen every guy playing villian trying his hand at acting eccentric, you still get tickled by him. The women have nothing to do except be in the songs. Some performances, like by the young girl, are really bad.

We'll probably fill pages if we go on like this. Just remember one thing: "Paritranaya Sadhunam…" The Lord is protecting good people from films like this, in the form of reviews all over the media.
 
Cast: NTR Jr., Amisha Patel, Sameera Reddy, Puneet Issar, Kalabhavan Mani, Ashish Vidyarthi, Satyanarayana, Dharmavaparu Subramanyam, Rahul Dev, Krishna Bhagawan, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Tanikella Bharani
Director: B Gopal

For example, Venkatesh and his friends stiff speakers from a mosque, a temple and a public rally, and have irate mobs chasing and cornering them. Then Venkatesh gives them a 100% corny lecture about how public speakers disturb children at study, making all the mobsters collectively drop their clubs. We'd like to see a 25-year-old try this in real life. A C Guards is a good place. A brilliant solution to a complex situation is one that anybody can pull off, and something that requires no luck or special skills (except being able to think on one's feet). This is chickening out.

There's plenty more flume. Venkatesh drives 600km on a 100cc bike from Hyderabad to somewhere near Vizag for no tearing reason, when the alternate option is the Godavari Express that averages 80kmph on a 100% traffic-free track and keeps your backside functional at the end of it. Then, he hits on the head, a British soldier wearing an army-designed helmet, and the latter starts bleeding.

More: ill-timed duets with a raunchily-dressed Shriya when people are geared to watch a passion-filled freedom struggle; completely inane and intolerable comedy in that period-film part with Brahmanandam, Kota and Babu Mohan (especially the inaugural scene involving them); random and inconsistent reactions to local intolerance by Gulshan Grover, the British officer in charge who can't decide between being funny and being cruel; and a lot more.

The film deals with an unemployed man who gets a job as a TV reporter after, yes, he's seen lecturing a mob, and then recalls a previous lifetime when he was Subhash Chandra Bose, a fierce freedom fighter who is betrayed and ultimately killed by Venkata Ratnam (Prakash Raj), who has now become a big leader and is all set to become PM. The reborn Bose now has to stop him, with the help of his colleagues in the channel.

An error like Bose being 23 years old in his current birth, when he died in 1946 and this is 2005, is perhaps unavoidable given the premise of the script. But when you see him whispering "Orey Bandoda!" in Prakash Raj's ear and then disappearing in a split second before the latter can look, you slap your forehead.

That whole mind-game thing in the end on Prakash Raj is so completely not up to snuff, as isn't Prakash Raj's detailed confession - like he wants to leave no loophole when they show it on TV. It's just pandering to an audience that somehow wants to see the hero win, and putting thought and good film-making aside.

The strength of the film is Venkatesh. There's simply nothing else. Shriya and Genelia are pretty, and the comedy mostly sucks, except in rare parts like in the interaction between Prakash Raj and his son when they're drinking towards the end - but when you are putting in so much comedy, some part has to statistically turn out good.

The music is plain average. The period part doesn't pack well at all because it rouses very little passion in you, thanks to poor scripting, the dousing of this part in songs whenever things are just heating up, the comic portrayal of Gulshan Grover, and the length (2 hours). Commercial elements are all okay, but the film should do justice to an unorthodox subject if it takes up one. And the film should be good.
 

Cast: Venkatesh, Shriya, Genelia, Suneel, Prakash Raj, Gulshan Grover, Tom Alter
Director: K Raghavendra Rao

Sindhu (Naveena) is a young, beautiful and cultured Indian girl who is stubbornly individualistic and determined to carve out her own place in the world. Raghu (Vamsi) is an American-born lad who has recently been transplanted to India. Though an initial misunderstanding antagonizes Sindhu against Raghu, this feeling soon gives way to friendship and affection.

The first half of the movie targets various socially relevant issues. Sindhu is an assertive woman, who fights for her rights in a consumer court and donates the money she gets to the CARE Foundation. A scathing attack is launched on 24-hour news channels and the abysmal lack of content in their telecasts. The unnecessary pressure on students to perform academically is criticized. Mildly sensible views are expressed on love and marriage.

Meanwhile, Sindhu and Raghu become close friends and Sindhu falls in love with him. She does not, however, think it necessary to confirm whether Raghu reciprocates her feelings. She confides in her parents, they give her their blessings, and all that remains is fixing a date for the wedding.

When Sindhu merrily informs Raghu that her parents approve of their match, the latter is stumped. He informs her that he is not in love with her and that she should get all ideas of marriage out of her head. Sindhu is angry and heartbroken. And this is where the movie altogether loses its way.

Where another girl would have moved on with life, Sindhu decides to fight for the man she loves. An admirable, gutsy move. Only, she files a case against him in court, on the grounds that his behavior aroused love within her and that he is therefore responsible for her heartbreak. As if that was not ridiculous enough a premise, the court actually admits the case, claiming that it will set a legal precedent for the youth of the nation. Yes, now you've seen it all.

Raghu defends himself along expected lines saying he was just being friendly and was misunderstood. He is reproached for hurting Sindhu's 'Indian sentiments', though it occurs to no one to reproach Sindhu for being presumptuous. And not once in the movie is it acknowledged that Sindhu was being a pompous ass when she filed the case.

Raghu takes it upon himself to find a suitable match for Sindhu, and Sindhu decides to stay in his house to make his task easier. This is another bizarre but convenient arrangement. Over a period of time, Sindhu tries to soften Raghu's heart, but in vain. Fate intervenes, however, and Sindhu ends up saving Raghu's life by giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. His gratitude turns to affection, and affection to love. This love reaches a crescendo when Sindhu is about to be engaged to another man. Nothing like some competition to make one realize that one is in love.

Yes, so logic is not the strong point of the movie, but the flick is high on drama and emotion. Some time is spent on characterization, though it is still difficult to understand how the ABCD Raghu lands up in India with no American accent and fits instantaneously into the Vizag college scene.

The performances are decent, with Suman appearing in a cameo as Raghu's father. The music is catchy, and is likely to become popular. The locations in Vizag and Kerala come as a welcome relief from the usual foreign locales. The one item number, as well as the item-girl who performs in it, are insufferable.

This film would have been far more tolerable if the court case had not been dragged into it. The role of Sindhu was supposedly a central and strong one, but all that comes across is as a spoilt brat who is fishing for importance.

Watch this one only if you are willing to ignore the obvious flaws in the plot.

Cast: Naveena, Vamsi Krishna, Suman
Director: Avinash O S

This film has got many scenes involving chases and robbery. Set in the backdrop of Mumbai, Goa and Hyderabad the climax of the film was shot in Goa. Chase sequences were canned in Mumbai. Anuksha (Ayesha Takia) is paired up with Nagarjuna. The English song 'Hotel California' is being reused in Super. Producer Nagarjuna has obtained special permission from Jay Oliver to use the tune. This film would have six songs with westernized music. Sandeep Chowta scored the music.
The film has many bike chases for which several bikes of Rs. 10 lakh each have been imported from abroad. Three Australian champion race bike riders have been employed to work for this film. The unit would visit either South Africa or Bangkok to shoot a few sequences underwater. A special camera is being imported from Germany for this film.
Shayaji Shinde, Piyush Misra, Shabbir, Aryaman, Brahmanandam, Ali, Venu Madhav, Sunil, Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao, Khayyum & Sumitra are the other artistes. Editing is by Marthand K Venkatesh,Art is by Chinna . Lyrics are by Bhaskarabhatla Ravi Kumar, Kandikonda & Viswa,Stunts Alen Amin, Vijay and Cinematography by Shyam K Naidu, the film is produced by Nagarjuna

Seetharam Prasad who is the writer of Suryam is directing this film, Music director is Sreelekha and Photography is by Sarath. Sridevi (daughter of Manjula) is paired with Aryan Rajesh in this film.
Suresh Productions had launched Aryan Rajesh with the film Hai. Hai was directed by his father E.V.V. Satyanarayana. Rajesh proved himself as an actor in his second film Leela Mahal Centre. He established his image as a hero with his latest flick Evadi Gola Vadide. Rajesh has done a few Tamil films also. Evadi Gola Vaadide, a slow starter turned out to be a hit. Initially Seetaram was to handle the story department only but the producer felt that he could handle the direction part too. Recently at the 50th day function of Evadi Gola Vaadide D Ramanaidu said, "When Sridhar ventured into this big budgeted film with a small star cast, I thought he was taking risk as both producer and distributor. But I am so happy for him that the film did great at the box-office. I wish that Sridhar makes my film too successful."
Sreedevi has two Telugu films to her credit - Eashwar with Prabhas, and Ninne Ishta Paduthaanu with Tarun. The film is a comedy based romantic film. If this film clicks then it will be a hat trick for Aryan.

Charmy: The character of Sahasra is the best role etched for any heroine in the recent years. Charmi acted sans make-up. She fit in her role effortlessly and gave an extremely natural performance. She wore long skirts throughout the film. Sunitha's dubbing adds more strength to her characterization.

Sashank: Sashank made his debut as one of the four youngsters in Aithe. Later on he acted as gang leader in Sye. This is his 1st film as solo hero. He played the role of righteous cabbie. His characterization too is very strong. He impresses everybody with faultless portrayal.

Jagapati Babu: Jagapati's character in this film is going to be a sweet surprise. He did the role of a suspended cop who unveils the mystery by collecting the clues. He also has a softer side where he tries to impress up on heroine. His role in this film would be another unforgettable cameo in his career like that of Anthahpuram character. Jagapati Babu is definitely an asset to 'Anukokunda Oka Roju'. However, Jagapati carrying juice packs with him throughout the film appears more like an advertisement to 'Real' brand.

Others: Narsing Yadav grabbed a memorable role in this film. He did the role of a typical Government employee who tries to pick up roles in stage theater and cinema fields. Harsha Vardhan (of Amrutham fame) is hilarious with the portrayal of a tuition teacher who entertains with his funny English. He has got terrific comedy timing and right expressions that generates subtle humor. Pawan Malhotra has a pivotal role in this film and he is just great. Ravi Prakash is good. Amit, Pingpong and Kaushal are adequate. Pooja Bharati fits the bill as fast going girl. Baby Roopika is impressive.

Technical Departments:

Story: The director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti should be commended for coming up with another authentic and original idea for Anukokunda Oka Roju. A major incident happens to Sahasra at the beginning of the film followed by series of murder attempts. A cop gathers all the clues and tries to uncover the mystery.

Screenplay - direction: The first best thing about direction of this film is characterizations. Each and every character in this film is carefully etched with a definite purpose. Each and every character makes an impression on you and all the characters are somewhere linked to the main story of the film. Screenplay of the film is good. Telling the flashbacks with the little clues obtained and slowly unwrapping the mystery makes the audience keep guessing all the time. There are certain seemingly unnecessary scenes in the first half. When you watch the second half, you would realize how those scenes are well connected. However, the narration of the film is pretty slow. A crispy narration would have done wonders to the film. At the same time, the director made sure that there is an element of interest in every scene he narrated.

Dialogues: Dialogues by Gunnam Gangaraju are excellent. The dialogues written for all the characters are sensible and measured ones. The way he plays with English words for the dialogues written for Harsha Vardhan's character is hilarious.

Music: Music by MM Keeravani is excellent. All the songs in this film are situational and have proper lead scenes corresponding to those songs. These songs form the part of narration of the film. The way 'righto lefto' song is cut rightly in two flashback episodes corresponding interrogation is interesting. "I wanna swing' song has got pretty good visuals. However, the songs Needalle & Evaraina Choosuntara are so good in audio that the corresponding scenes and picturization of these songs on screen fall a little short of expectations. The background music and rerecording of the film is good.

Stunts: Stunts composed by Ramana are very natural and realistic. He used the objects we find in our surroundings as weapons to fight in most of the stunt sequences. It is a kind of relieving to see that neither wires nor graphics used for action sequences.

Other departments: Cinematography by Sarvesh Murari is good. There is brownish tint to the film. Editing is adequate. Choreography by Nixon is sensible with out tapori steps and pelvic thrusts. Artwork by Ravinder is good. Casting of the film is appropriate. Production values by Just Yellow Media are appropriate to the story chosen.

Analysis: First half of the film is entertaining with good amount of comedy and lots of unsolved questions. Second half starts off good and tempo goes down a bit as the actual climax approaches. The plus points of the film are original story idea, sensible direction, realistic approach, music, action sequences and well-measured dialogues. The minus points are slow narration (which leads to bit of boredom at times) and handling of climax. On a while, Anukokunda Oka Roju is a good film that should be watched and appreciated by all the sensible Telugu film lovers for its original concept and realistic approach. This film would have nice run in A centers. The run in B and C centers depend on how masses embrace the tantric involvement in the climax.

Charmy: The character of Sahasra is the best role etched for any heroine in the recent years. Charmi acted sans make-up. She fit in her role effortlessly and gave an extremely natural performance. She wore long skirts throughout the film. Sunitha's dubbing adds more strength to her characterization.

Sashank: Sashank made his debut as one of the four youngsters in Aithe. Later on he acted as gang leader in Sye. This is his 1st film as solo hero. He played the role of righteous cabbie. His characterization too is very strong. He impresses everybody with faultless portrayal.

Jagapati Babu: Jagapati's character in this film is going to be a sweet surprise. He did the role of a suspended cop who unveils the mystery by collecting the clues. He also has a softer side where he tries to impress up on heroine. His role in this film would be another unforgettable cameo in his career like that of Anthahpuram character. Jagapati Babu is definitely an asset to 'Anukokunda Oka Roju'. However, Jagapati carrying juice packs with him throughout the film appears more like an advertisement to 'Real' brand.

Others: Narsing Yadav grabbed a memorable role in this film. He did the role of a typical Government employee who tries to pick up roles in stage theater and cinema fields. Harsha Vardhan (of Amrutham fame) is hilarious with the portrayal of a tuition teacher who entertains with his funny English. He has got terrific comedy timing and right expressions that generates subtle humor. Pawan Malhotra has a pivotal role in this film and he is just great. Ravi Prakash is good. Amit, Pingpong and Kaushal are adequate. Pooja Bharati fits the bill as fast going girl. Baby Roopika is impressive.

Technical Departments:

Story: The director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti should be commended for coming up with another authentic and original idea for Anukokunda Oka Roju. A major incident happens to Sahasra at the beginning of the film followed by series of murder attempts. A cop gathers all the clues and tries to uncover the mystery.

Screenplay - direction: The first best thing about direction of this film is characterizations. Each and every character in this film is carefully etched with a definite purpose. Each and every character makes an impression on you and all the characters are somewhere linked to the main story of the film. Screenplay of the film is good. Telling the flashbacks with the little clues obtained and slowly unwrapping the mystery makes the audience keep guessing all the time. There are certain seemingly unnecessary scenes in the first half. When you watch the second half, you would realize how those scenes are well connected. However, the narration of the film is pretty slow. A crispy narration would have done wonders to the film. At the same time, the director made sure that there is an element of interest in every scene he narrated.

Dialogues: Dialogues by Gunnam Gangaraju are excellent. The dialogues written for all the characters are sensible and measured ones. The way he plays with English words for the dialogues written for Harsha Vardhan's character is hilarious.

Music: Music by MM Keeravani is excellent. All the songs in this film are situational and have proper lead scenes corresponding to those songs. These songs form the part of narration of the film. The way 'righto lefto' song is cut rightly in two flashback episodes corresponding interrogation is interesting. "I wanna swing' song has got pretty good visuals. However, the songs Needalle & Evaraina Choosuntara are so good in audio that the corresponding scenes and picturization of these songs on screen fall a little short of expectations. The background music and rerecording of the film is good.

Stunts: Stunts composed by Ramana are very natural and realistic. He used the objects we find in our surroundings as weapons to fight in most of the stunt sequences. It is a kind of relieving to see that neither wires nor graphics used for action sequences.

Other departments: Cinematography by Sarvesh Murari is good. There is brownish tint to the film. Editing is adequate. Choreography by Nixon is sensible with out tapori steps and pelvic thrusts. Artwork by Ravinder is good. Casting of the film is appropriate. Production values by Just Yellow Media are appropriate to the story chosen.

Analysis: First half of the film is entertaining with good amount of comedy and lots of unsolved questions. Second half starts off good and tempo goes down a bit as the actual climax approaches. The plus points of the film are original story idea, sensible direction, realistic approach, music, action sequences and well-measured dialogues. The minus points are slow narration (which leads to bit of boredom at times) and handling of climax. On a while, Anukokunda Oka Roju is a good film that should be watched and appreciated by all the sensible Telugu film lovers for its original concept and realistic approach. This film would have nice run in A centers. The run in B and C centers depend on how masses embrace the tantric involvement in the climax.