United Movies
Gunde Jhallumandi (2008)
Cast: Uday Kiran, Aditi Sharma (debut), Srinivasa Reddy, Venumadhav, Ahuti Prasad,Surekha Vani, Master Ritham, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Ajay, Jayaprakash Reddy, Surya, Rangadham, Vidya, Ajith Mohan, etc.
Dialogues: Madan
Camera: J. Prabhakar Reddy
Art: T. Nagendra Prasad
Choreography: Swarna Babu, Vidya
Music: M.M. Keeravani
Lyrics: Chaitanya Prasad, K. Sivashakti Datta
Editing: K.V. Krishna Reddy
Producers: Paruchuri Sivaram Prasad
Co-Director: S. Srinivasa Rao
Story, Screenplay, Direction: Madan
CBFC Rating: U
Paruchuri Kireeti Presents
Release Date: September 12, 2008
What's it all about?
Neelima (Aditi Sharma), or Neelu,has a notion that every guy tries to impress girls and run away with them in the name of love/marriage. In order to keep guys away from her, she creates a character by name Rajesh, which she picks from the ID card of an Infosys employee that she accidentally collides with on the road. She goes around the college and paints all walls and boards with the message that Neelima and Rajesh are in love. Enters Balaraju (Uday Kiran), or Balu, a village youth wanting to study B.A. in the same college as Neelima, in order to become the President of his Village Panchayat. Balu and Neelu become friends due to certain encounters, and Balu even gets ready to propose his love to her. She establishes Rajesh's character more by speaking to someone over the phone randomly. Incidentally, the recipient of the call is really named Rajesh (Venumadhav) and some scenes ensue.
In order to hide his love for her, Balu also creates another lover for himself by the name Lavanya. Balu and Neelu finally try to bury these names when they both realize that they like each other. Once the love story seems to have reached its ultimate goal of marriage, one of the concocted characters haunts the love pair!
Performances
Cast:
Uday Kiran gives a decent performance. He suits the role of a village youth who's introverted in the buzz of the city though he's not generally timid. The change in both shades is shown with ease. For the actor who had been going through a rough patch, this film might give some breath! Debutant Aditi Sharma is good-looking and has an expressive face. She resembles Illeana is some camera angles, and add to this her ease at acting, and you don't feel like you're watching a debutant! Venumadhav and Srinivasa Reddy evoke good comedy, and so does Master Ritham in the role of the hero's kid cousin. Dharmavarapu is wasted in a limited role. Rest of the cast are okay.
Technical Departments:
Madan handles story, screenplay, dialogues, and direction. The screenplay is good, without many unnecessary scenes. Story offers nothing new, since the central point of lovers creating new characters had been an age old formula. The director has taken great care in the taking of the film. The way he brings in the character of Srinivasa Reddy each time the hero is in a fix is received well, and same is the case with Surekha Vani's character when Uday Kiran is about to throw his watch into the lake. Dialogues are good in parts.
Music is the best department, one could say. Re-recording is good, particularly towards the climax. Songs have good music and lyrics that make more sense on the screen and are shot well too. Scenes in interludes are also inserted with care. The old aged pairs in song telusaa, manasaa... or its lavish picturization didn't suit the setup very well. Editing is good in parts but could have been better.
Notable Scenes/Dialogues: - "[ maa akka] rocket-lu naDuputundi anukunnaaDu maa naanna. ippuDu jacket-lu kuTTukunTU koorchundi!" (Aditi about her sister who fell in love and failed in studies despite being a ranked student)
- A student: "veeLLa prEma aakaaSamanta ettundi."
Another student: "chillu paDitE tussumanTundi!" (referring to the balloon that reads "Neelima loves Rajesh") - " nuvvu chinnagaa unnappuDu Hyderabad kooDaa chinnagaa unDEdi. nuvvu peddayyaavu kadaa, Hyderabad kooDaa peddadi ayipOyindi!" (Srinivasa Reddy to Uday Kiran)
- " oka charitrakaaruDu charitra vraayakapOtE manaku science-yE lEdu! ... oka English vaaDu Telugu nErchukOvaalanukunTE kaneesam samvatsaram paDutundi. adE oka telugu vaaDu manasu peTTi chadivitE renDu nelallOnE English-lO maaTlaaDagalaDu!" (Uday Kiran explaining why studying B.A. or not knowing English is not a bad thing. The whole scene is commendable.)
- Aditi: " alaanTidEm lEdu naannaa... he's just a friend!"
Ahuti Prasad: " cheppina kada... yE pErainaa peTTukOvacchu!" (A dialogue after generally commenting that youth confuses with the terms attraction, love, infatuation, etc. and just calls it by some word.) - " idi corporate hospital. ikkaDiki naDichi vacchinaa paDukObeTTE teesukeLtaaru!" (Master Ritham to Uday Kiran, when the latter says he's not so hurt to be carried in a stretcher)
- " chaalaa manchi quotation. ... I mean, inta baadhalO kooDaa chaalaa manchi maaTa cheppaav!" (Uday Kiran to Aditi, covering up his feelings)
- " debba tagilitE venTanE gaayam maanaalanukunTaam, tappu chEsina venTanE kshamaapaNa kOrukunTaam! kaanee, renDU venTanE jaragavu." (Surya, a church father, to Aditi speaking in a confession box)
- The scenes about looking down towards B.A. students and Uday Kiran's anguish and retort are depicted well. English Lecturer Dharmavarapu's dialogue " ee college-lO B.A. undaa?!" is a good way of showing it too.
Minor Overlook: - In the scene before telusaa, manasaa... song, Surekha Vani's father's dialogue mentions "15th anniversary for [his daughter's] love", but the cake shows "25th anniversary".
- When Aditi's character is so averse to love, why is she an active part of Lovers Association?!
- Ever saw any "College of Engineering & Arts"? What's the heroine studying anyway? If hero is the only student in B.A., who'd take classes for him alone?
Bottom Line:
Gunde Jhallumandi is old wine in new bottle, but a new bottle alright! Its own lighter moments, good music and songs, and expressive performances could give the movie the required boost. The first half is more enjoyable than the second half that suffers due to slower narration and sudden turns.
It appears that the bumpy ride of Uday Kiran continues ever since he began his second innings. He has been credited with repeated failures in the form of Abaddham, Lakshmiputrudu and Viyyalavari Kayyalu that turned out to be a saving grace but, not much for him. Now, his forthcoming venture EkaLoveyudu seems to have gone into rough weather as there is news that the movie has been stalled due to some reasons. The prominent being ego clashes between Uday and the makers. This is not something new as Uday is known for his attitude and these are the days when simplicity and humility are given the maximum value. If this is what Uday’s stand is, then the day is not far when he will have to shut his shop and look for something else!
