| Rrating:3.5/5
Punchline : Action
Genre: Straight
Type: Straight
Banner: Nandamoori Taraka
Ramarao Arts
Cast: Kalyanram (dual role), Priyamani, Sindhu Tholani, Rajeev Kanakala, Chalapati Rao, Sudha, Chandramohan, Seetha, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Brahmanandam, Ali, Venumadhav, Raghubabu, Nutan Prasad, Ashok Kumar, etc.
Music: Mickey J.
Meyer
Dialogues:
Swamiji-Vijay
Lyrics:
Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry
Story:
Gowri Shankar
Action:
Ram-Lakshman, Selva
Art:
Vivek Annamalai
Choreography:
Suchitra Chandrabose, Brunda, Sobhi, Swarna
Editing:
Gautham Raju
Screenplay & Direction:
Harsha Vardhan
Producer: Nandamuri
Kalyanram
Release date:
18 July 2008.
Story:
Harikrishna and Ram (both played by Kalyanram) are born twins, but Ram is diagnosed to be soft-headed and he develops a grudge on anyone who's more intelligent than he is. In a situation where their dad (Chandramohan) is very concerned about Ram hurting even Harikrishna for the latter's being more intelligent, their mother (Seetha) walks out of the house with Ram, in order to protect her mentally affected child. In a turn of events, Hari, raised by his uncle and aunt (Chalapati Rao & Sudha), turns out to be an IPS officer - the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).
In events that follow, Hari gets into a little altercation with the health minister Shiva Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao) who is behind a health mafia along with his brother Dr. G.K. Reddy (Rajeev Kanakala), and the chairman of 10TV channel Surya Prakash (Ashok Kumar). Suddenly, both their brothers get killed one after the other. Ram is thought to be behind the murders, since those dead met him just before their murders, and because they claimed they were very intelligent. ACP Hari is in a fix to shoot his twin brother at sight! With CBI intervention, and with the health mafia case in the backdrop, the rest of the story revolves around nabbing Ram and punishing the baddies. Of course, there are twists and turns that retain the interest of the audience.
Performances:
Kalyanram dons two roles
as Hari and Ram, and he does the job very well.
His performance as a psychopath and as a sophisticated
officer are distinct and appreciable, starting
with his body language and makeup to his diction.
Kalyanram's ease in acting can be seen all through.
Priyamani as the love interest of the ACP role,
and as an undercover CBI officer, handles the
two shades of her role really well. She also gets
into some glamor show in the songs. Sindhu Tholani
comes as an element of surprise, as a journalist
that loves Ram and makes him normal. This is not
the first time she takes up such a role - she
makes herself a good fit.
Brahmanandam as taxi driver Nijam is good, while
Raghubabu as a police inspector adds to some comedy
along with him. Ali and Venumadhav appear in insignificant
roles that they could have easily handled anyway.
Rajeev Kanakala has a short role as a wicked doctor
who isolates deadly viruses and later creates
and sells the remedy at a high price. The rest
of the cast does the job well. Seetha is particularly
good in sentimental scenes.
Technical Departments:
The story
reminds of Manmatha in its theme, but it seems
to be inspired from the Korean film Soo (2007)
too. Swarna Subbarao (Vijayendra Varma fame),
rechristened as Harsha Vardhan, handled the direction
department well. With good screenplay and a story
that's modified a lot to suit our nativity, he
comes up with a movie that does portray his caliber.
Narration is good too, though it could have been
better-paced. There are also symbolic shots such
as a confident Kalyanram confronting Kota and
wearing his "cooling" glasses (sun-goggles)
while Kota removes his own "cooling"
glasses, indicating that the protagonist is cool
and the antagonist lost it. Music by Mickey J.
Meyer is one major plus point of the film - songs
are good because of lyrics by the veteran Seetarama
Sastry and good orchestration and visuals. The
choice of using a rap, hip-hop styled song (inkonchem
freedom tecchEsukundaam... for a love duet is
a bit surprising.
Also, the choreography for this
song is more surprising because the lyric says
the love pair doesn't care for anyone else in
the world and that they're the world themselves,
but the choreography includes tens of group dancers
all over the place! The theme song is really good
and used very effectively. Rerecording needs particular
mention too, since it elevates the mood of the
movie on the whole.
Camerawork by Ramprasad is very
impressive, with mind-blowing shots such as the
glass piece through Kota's hand, reflection of
Kalyanram having a different expression than his
face, reflection of the hospital roof in Kalyanram's
eyeball after CBI investigation, etc.. Dialogues
were good in parts, but faced a lot of censoring,
with new rules in place. Even the caste-indicating
part of Rajeev Kanakala's name is cut out, thus
making him "Dr. G.K. (muffled pause)".
Some dialogues connected to the current political
scenario such as "chaTTam tana pani taanu
chEsukupOtundi" by the Health Minister are
edited out. Action sequences are well-choreographed
and the camera work is very good in fights, but
one can expect that the violence levels would
be high because one of the two male lead roles
is portrayed as that of a psychopath.
Bottom Line
: The film has a not-new story told in
a decent way, coupled with decent enough performances
by everyone. The film is surely an okay film,
but how the film fares actually is to be seen.
It seems to be inspired by Korean film Soo (2007).
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