2007- A flashback

Of the total 102 straight Telugu films released this year, only six films are blockbusters and six other movies made money.

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Raviteja, Vinayak's Krishna Audio Launched

The audio of 'Krishna' directed by VV Vinayak, presented by DVV Danaiah and produced by B Kasiviswanatham on the banner of Lakshmi Narasimha Visuals with Raviteja and Trisha in the lead was launched at a glittering function held at a local hotel in Hyderabad on December 28.

Those who attended the function include Rajamouli, B Gopal, Sagar, Chandrabose, Vinayak's father Krishna Rao, Akula Siva, ML Kumar Choudary, Bhogavalli Prasad, Brahmanandam, Gemini Kiran, PD Prasad, Chota K Naidu and others besides the unit members including Raviteja, Vinayak, Chakri.

Rajamouli released the audio and handed over the first audiocassette to B Gopal. The cassette was then purchased by Krishna Rao, father of VV Vinayak. Later, noted comedian and Guinness record holder, Dr Brahmanandam unveiled the audio CDs and handed over the first piece to Sagar and the CD was purchased by Jakkampudi Chinna.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajamouli says, The combination of Raviteja and Vinayak is long awaited, Director of the film Vinayak thanked everyone for attending the function and blessed the unit. Chakri scored music for the flick and all the guests who spoke at the function wished that the film would be a big hit during the Sankranthi festival.

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Honor to Dr. Brahmanandam

Unit members of Premabhishekam richly honored Dr. Brahmanandam to celebrate the moment of his getting a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. The cast and crew of the film garlanded him, almost drowning him in the petals.

Tannikella Bharani read out a specially and poetically prepared write-up on Brahmandam's career and growth at the venue. Jayaprakash Reddy termed the achievement of his colleague as a rare honor to the all of the comedians' fraternity in particular and the whole of Telugu film industry in general

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TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2007

Ninne Ninne Ninne Ninne
Dilse DilseIshq Kiya Tumse
Vaaye Vaaye Vaaye Vaaye Vaaye Vaaye
Raaye Raaye Raaye Raaye Raaye Raaye
Inava Inava Inava Ende nee Godava
Neethone Jeena Marna Samjha Nahi Hai Kya

goes the beautiful song picturized among the locales of Kulu-Manali and Kashmir. Tollywood’s latest sensation Hansika Motwani coupled with ‘six-pack’ energetic Allu Arjun stole the hearts of the audience with their performances and gave Tollywood the first hit of the year 2007. In this article, we present the top 10 movies of 2007 sorted by their release dates.

1. Desamuduru (12th Jan)
Puri Jagan continued his winning streak in 2007 after his mega-successful Pokiri last year. His simple story line coupled with interesting screenplay along with Chakri’s foot-tapping music captivated the moviegoers. Allu Arjun’s ease in performing comedy scenes and his innovative dance steps enthralled the audience. His portrayal of Bala Govindam’s character can be considered his best performance in recent years. Hansika Motwani’s glamour also added to the success of the movie along with Pradeep Rawat and Jeeva’s action.

2. Dhee (13th Apr)
Srinu Vytla proved his command over comedy subjects when he churned his hit of the year ‘Dhee’ and gave some relief to the Telugu audience from the summer heat. Kona Venkat’s chirpy one-liners coupled with Vishnu’s timing and body language was liked by the audience. Brahmanandam, Vishnu and Sunil’s comedy stood as a highlight in the movie. ‘Nannu involve cheyyakandi’ being the highlight. Genelia continued her success this year after last year’s Bommarillu. Srihari’s controlled performance in comedy and action scenes added to the success of the movie.

3. Aadavari Matalaku Ardhale Verule (27th Apr)
Victory Venkatesh completed 22 years in Tollywood with this year and his ability to give hits seems to be increasing year by year. His first hit of this year was AMAV. In this movie he plays the character of 'Ganesh', an unemployed bachelor for 10 years who lands in a software company with the inspiration of Keerthi. His exceptional comedy timing coupled with his trademark emotions in drama scenes were instantly appreciated by the audience. Trisha continued her form in this year with this movie. She enacted the role very well. Selva Raghavan's direction, Ramesh-Gopi's dialogues and Yuan Shankar Raja's music all added to the success of the movie.

4. Shivaji (15th June)
Rajni mania continued in the year 2007 as well when he teamed up with Shankar for the first time and gave the hit film Shivaji. Shankar developed another story based on his favorite subject of 'corruption'. Rajni enacts the role of an NRI millionaire who returns to India to help the poor people of India only to get duped by the local corrupt kingpin. He returns back with a vengeance and robs the black money from the rich and helps the poor. His mannerisms, style and his imitation of the dances of NTR, ANR and Chiru were received very well by the audience. Shriya got a chance to show her acting talent with this move while Nayana Tara sizzed in an item song.

5. Lakshyam (5th Jul)
Gopichand continued his success with debutante directors this year with ‘Lakshyam’ after his last year’s Ranam. Lakshyam is a story of the revenge of a younger brother against the villain for the brutal killing of his elder cop who is a sincerely cop. Gopichand’s ease in action sequences coupled with his subtle emotions in emotional and romantic scenes showed his acting prowess. Anushka portrayed her role with ease. Jagapathi babu, Kalyani, Kota, Yashpal Sharma all acted well in their roles. Debutante director Srivas showed his talent with this movie. Nallamalupu Bujji shows his grip over mass pulse again with this film.

6. Yamadonga (15th Aug)
S.S.Rajamouli coupled with NTR Jr and completed a hat trick hit with this film. Made on his home banner 'Vishwamitra Creations', this socio-fantasy movie evoked very high interest from the audience. NTR Jr worked very hard for this movie and slimmed down drastically which made him look very handsome in the movie. His dialogue delivery coupled with his dexterity in dances captivated the audience. Mohan Babu as Yama Dharmaraju acted very well. His dialogue delivery in 'Grandhika Telugu' was also well received by the audience. Priyamani, Mamtha Mohandas acted well for their roles. Ananda Sai's excellent work with the sets, Prem Rakshit's variety steps, Keeravani's music and the ability of Rajamouli to churn a commercial entertainer were the plusses of the movie.

7. Chandamama (6th Sep)
Creative director Krishnavamshi continued his hit-spree this year with the movie Chandamama. He selected a simple story of a girl loving someone else when her parents fix her marriage with someone else. Lakshmi Gopal’s dialogues coupled with the impeccable timing of Ahuti Prasad and Navadeep proved as a major highlight of the film. The rest of the cast like Shiva Balaji, Kajal and Nagababu all acted well in their roles.

8. Happy Days (29th Sep)
Shekhar Kammula proved he is here to stay in Tollywood with his hat trick hit ‘Happy Days’. Arguably the favorite movie of this year to all college going youth, this movie was released in the USA before it was released in India, which speaks volumes about the confidence of this genius director on his movie. Woven around a bunch of freshers entering into a college, this movie shows their relationships over their entire 4 years of college life. Perfect casting, catchy songs, neat screenplay and spectacular direction showed its effect when this movie broke many records in many centers of AP and abroad. We wish Shekhar Kammula gives many more hits like this in the future to Tollywood.

9. Thulasi (12th Oct)
Venkatesh gave his second hit of the year and completed his hat trick with the movie ‘Thulasi’. Boyapati Seenu continued where he left with Bhadra when he churned out this hit, thanks to the dialogues by veterans ‘Paruchuri Brothers’ and the performances of the lead pair Venkatesh and Nayana Tara. Boyapati Seenu showed his directorial prowess by extracting proper fine tuned performances in comedy, action and sentimental scenes from all the cast. Devisri’s music also helped in the success of the movie.

10. Mantra(14th Dec)
Charmme proved her sway over the audience with the surprise hit of the year ‘Mantra’. This suspense thriller directed by new comer Thulasi ram definitely succeeds in scaring and entertaining the audience. Excellent sound effects, gripping screenplay, all round performances by the lead pair Charmme and Shivaji along with Sivendra’s cinematography resulted in the success of the movie.

This year only Venkatesh, NTR Jr and Allu Arjun from the top heroes list could give appreciable hits and the rest either did not act in movies or could not give hits. This year also did not witness any big hits from big banners. It remains to be seen how our big heroes and big banners will fare in the year 2008. This year witnessed the launch of the most promising hero in recent years, Ram Charan. Charan was introduced in the form of Chirutha by Ashwini Dutt and Puri Jagan.

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Mantra Movie Review

Review

Story

Mantra’s (Charmme) parents die when she was young and she lives with her friend Vinny (Karuna Sri). She inherits an ancestral property called 'Mantra Nilayam' in the outskirts of Hyderabad. Mantra Nilayam is called as haunted house because of two untimely deaths in that farm house few years back. She wants to sell it off, but no body comes forward to buy the property due to its reputation. A professor comes forward to buy that house with a condition that somebody should stay there for three months. Hero (Sivaji) is a small time goon who looks after land settlements. Hero wants to stay in the house so that he would get a commission of the sale once 'Mantra Nilayam' is sold. The rest of the story is all about how Hero demystifies everything.

Artists Performance

Charmme: Charmme is extremely good in a shot where she acts like as if she has seen the ghost. She is very good in the title role. She exposed liberally in the film. She has put on a bit of excess weight and it shows up in certain odd angles. The dubbing provided by Sunita should also be commended.

Sivaji: Sivaji is the man for all the seasons in Telugu film industry. He is just amazing and fits into any role effortlessly. He did a typical role of a Pokiri in this film. His comedy timing is excellent. He brings credibility to his character.

Others: The fine thing about this film are characterizations. All the characters in the film are well defined. Chitram Seenu is good. Vijay creates humor. Jeeva is excellent. Kausha did a special role in this film. Mallikharjuna Rao and others are adequate.

Technical Departments:

Story - screenplay - direction: Story deserves a special mention in this film. Story of the film is compact and the storyline is unpredictable laced with suspense. However these kind of stories are good for 1 and half hour films. Hence the narration becomes too slow. The initial part of the film is not interesting. But the story takes interesting twists and turns once Sivaji starts living in Mantra Nilayam. Screenplay of the film is nice. The director should be commended for sticking to his own plot in stead of trying to be commercial for the sake of masses. It is a decent effort by the debutant director Tulasi Ram.

Other departments: Background music by Anand is excellent. Cinematography, Color grading and sounds play vital role in any horror films. And all these three departments are good in this film. Since it is a horror film, the director preferred to shoot the most of the film is dark rooms and during the night. Dialogues are adequate. Choreography for Maha song (an unabashed lift of My Hump (Black Eyed Peas)) by Prem Rakshit is good. Editing is ok.

Analysis: If the motive of any horror film is to scare you, this film succeeds to that aspect. And the basic premise of any thriller is to maintain suspense till the end of the film. This film succeeds in suspense aspect too. But the narration of the film is too long. There are many unnecessary shots in the film which are just inserted for creating horror. Certain logics are missing. If you like horror flicks, it's a must watch.

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Pawan's film to have a Telugu rap song

Now, it’s a well-known fact that Pawan Kalyan has created sensation with the songs of 'Bhadri' and 'Khushi'. It set off a new trend in the industry.

Now, we hear, Pawan is about to set a new trend once again. Though it has become common to have rap interludes within a song, Pawan has gone a step ahead and is doing a full song with Baba Sehgal.

Baba, as is well-known, is the most rap singer in Hindi in India. Sari gama padanisa, karo karo jara jalsa… goes the song. Baba Sehgal had earlier sung for Chiranjeevi in 'Rickshaavadu'. It’s 12 years since he did it and now, he is singing for Pawan.

The film is being produced by the Geeta Arts and directed by Trivikram. Music is by Devisri Prasad. Another news from Tollywood grapevine is that Devisri too danced in a song, just like he did in 'Shankara Dada MBBS'.

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Megastar´s director for 149th film confirmed

Mega Star Chiranjeevi 149th movie has been confirmed which would be under the Direction of V V Vinayak

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Balaiah and family watch Mantra on Christmas

Balakrishna and his family watched a special screening of Mantra at the Film Chamber’s preview theatre on Christmas Day.

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Shekar Kammula ready for 'Prince' challenge

Director Shekar Kammula is the hottest guy in town. He is now the most busy as well as wooed person. Top actors as well as producers are now asking him to do a film with them

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Nayanatara is the bikini girl

Nayantara Picture Gallery

The film is the remake of a popular '70s Rajinikant film and Amitabh Bachchan starrer Don. Naturally, Nayanatara, who is not particularly skinny had to shed weight to show off her curves for the film.

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SEEMA SASTRI - REVIEW

Subramanyam Sastri (Allari Naresh) falls in love with Surekha Reddy (Farzana) who lives with her relatives in Hyderabad. After falling in love Sastri gets to know that Surekha Reddy belongs to a popular factionist family in Rayala Seema. The rest of the story is all about how Subramanyam and his family members convince the factionist for the marriage in a humorous way.

Artists Performance

Allari Naresh is good as the Seema Sastri. His body language suited the character of a timid guy. His dances are good in this film. Farzana complemented the role given to her. She has got amazing flexibility in dances. Brahmanandam, Ali, Krishna Bhagawan, Raghubabu etc did well in comedy department. Jaya Prakash Reddy is typical in a role that he got so much used with.

Technical Departments:

Story - screenplay - direction: Story of the film is simple. But director succeeded in maintaining grip throughout the film with comedy and necessary twists. The comedy in the film is good, though it is bit vulgar at times. Screenplay is alright. The spoof of Seema films has become stale by now. But the director made sure that there is something more for the people who have seen spoofs of Seema film.

Other departments: Music is good with popular picturization of songs. Dialogues are good in parts. Cinematography is ok.

Analysis: The first half of the film is alright. Second half is OK. The plus points of the film are comedy and songs. On the flip side, there is a bit of vulgarity and Brahmin-bashing. If you can ignore illogical scenes and vulgarity, it is a decent comedy film that does not bore you.

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