Badrinath Preview

Badrinath - An epic action thriller

After an year long hiatus, Allu Arjun is back on the screen with an epic drama 'Badrinath'. Directed by V V Vinayak, a name that is synonymous with commercial hits in Telugu cinema, Badrinath is a mammoth project that cost the producer Rs 35 crore. Arjun's father Allu Aravind produced this action thriller on his Geeta Arts banner.

This movie stars Tamannah, Prakash Raj, Bramhanandam, Kelly Dorjee et al. Tamannah who is the most sought after actress in Telugu cinema now looks superhot in the trailers. Observers claim that perhaps this is the heights of skin show Tamannah could ever go upto.

If sources are to be believed, Allu Arjun plays the role of a warriror who is trained to protect a temple. Prakash Raj is the chief priest of the temple. But with the advent of Tamannah, Allu Arjun shifts his focus from his duties towards her beauty. In the process, enemies attack the temple. The story thereafter is about how Allu Arjun restores the sanctity of the temple and the identity of Tamannah is revealed.

The action sequences choreographed by Peter Haynes suggest a lot of gravity defying scenes in this movie. Allu Arjun's impressive dance is clearly going to be an added USP for the movie. It is after a long time that he is flaunting his body on screen.

Though the story of this movie written by Chinni Krishna doesn't sound anything new, the grandeur of the budget promises a visual treat. Apparently, the movie unit spent a whopping Rs 3 crore towards erecting a simple set for a song. Popular art director Anand Sai and his team worked on erecting huge sets for this project. Bunny learnt special martial arts at Vietnaam for two months to look authentic in this picture. He says his primary goal is to earn the investment back on this movie.

"Firstly my goal is to get the money back. We spent a huge amount of money on making this movie. At times we erected a set and then we had to remove it due to technical problems. We lost a lot of money there. But my dad spent a bomb on making this epic drama. I worked really hard for it. I hope we recover our investment" he says candidly.

This film is also releasing in Malayalam and Tamil soon. M M Keeravani composed music for it and the tracks 'Ambadari', 'Nath Nath', are popular now thanks to its repeated telecast on television. Since the look of this movie has a striking resemblence to Allu Arjun's cousin Ramcharan's 'Magadheera', expectations are high on the movie.

However, the promotions for such a huge project are not upto the mark and the trailers evoked mixed response from the audience. Lack of competition from other movies, summer vacations and Tamannah's charm might get the movie great openings. However, weekend collections are not sufficient to recover the investments. It is tough for it to breakeven unless it is earth shatteringly great film.

The box office fate of this movie will change the pattern of making films in Tollywood thanks to the budget spent in making this film. This action thriller hits the screens on June 10th.

JOGAR!

180 Preview

180 - Not Just Another Triangular Story!

Siddharth’s first original Telugu movie was ‘Nuvvostanante Nenodantana,’ and ever since there has been no looking back for the hero or his fans. He awed us all as a lover boy and his movies have always been looked forward to! He even bagged Filmfare awards for the best actor category for few Telugu movies!

Now he is back with ‘180’ a bilingual flick in Telugu and Tamil, directed by ad film director Jayendra, featuring Priya Anand and Nithya Menon in the lead roles opposite him. This bilingual movie has no dubbed scenes involved and every shot has been taken exclusively for both the versions at Hyderabad and Chennai individually.

It is said that the debutant director has put in a lot of thought into the movie and its script as he had always wanted to direct a movie and during the audio launch, ace film maker Mani Ratnam commented that, "Jayendra is a talented person. It is my longtime wish that he should direct a movie. It has come true now."

Giving details about the film, Jayendra says, "I guess I am the oldest director to debut. Jokes apart, the film is a contemporary love story. But it is not just any triangular love story, but goes beyond it.” Heaping laurels on music composer Sharreth, Jayendra says, "He came out with 180 tunes for the film, reflecting it title. I had a tough time to choose the best from his tunes as all of them were extremely good."

More than just love or the lead roles, the movie will highlight upon the emotions shared between lovers. Sathyam Cinemas and Aghal Films have jointly produced '180', which has music by popular Mollywood composer Sharreth.

Although Siddharth was initially introduced to the film industry through his Tamil project ‘Boys’ which was a blockbuster, the actor hadn’t continued into Kollywood but diverged into Tollywood. He says he wasn’t approached by impressive scripts which made him diverge to the Telugu film industry that worked wonders for the hero… With this bilingual flick, Siddharth is stepping back to Tamil cinema after seven long years!

The film also has an entire song that is shot using the phantom camera. The camera can capture micro second expressions and show in slow motion! The movie was otherwise shot using a Red camera. The visuals in the movie are on par with international standards, we learn.

With an interesting star cast, amazing music, and great camera works, the movie is eagerly awaited by all! Let’s hope the movie will be another feather in Siddharth’s cap!

JOGAR!

Sega Preview

Sega - A dubbing disaster

Nani and Nitya Menon whose pair won rave reviews for their on screen chemistry in 'Ala Modalaindi' are back again with 'Sega'. This realistic love story is a bi-lingual that is releasing as 'Veppam' in Tamil.

Like their previous movie, Nani and Nitya were once again directed by a lady film maker Anjana Ali Khan. Bindu Madhavi plays a special role in this flick. Sources say the story of this movie revolves around a couple residing in a slum. Nitya apparently plays the role of a prostitute. Nitya says she likes to play charecters like this.

"It is a sheer coincidence that I am working with Nani again. He is a good friend. The director Anjana and Ala Modalaindi director Nandini are best friends and that is how I got to know of Anjana. I like to play intense charecters like the one I did in Sega. I can't wait for it to release" Ntiya quips.

It is also heard that there is a lip lock scene between Nani and Bindu Madhavi in this movie. While in Tamil, Gautham Menon produced the movie on his Photon Kathaas banner, Ashok Vallabhaneni from Manadesam movies banner bought the Telugu dubbing rights for it.

Cinematography by Om Prakash has got the audience talking about the movie already. Nani and Nitya were potrayed very well in the trailers. However, Telugu audience are miffed with the pathetic dubbing for the movie.

A few songs from this film are being telecast on music channels and the lip movement of Nitya and the lyrics in the song are in absolute contrast. Care was not taken to ensure lyrics were written in accordance with the lip movement. Atleast the cinematographer shouldn't have taken such close shots of Nitya while she is singing the song as her Tamil lip movement doesn't match Telugu lyrics.

Joshua Sridhar composed music for the flick. The track 'Varsham Munduga..' sounds melodious. This movie marks the entry of Nani into Tamil film industry. While he is looking forward to its release, he gives out a disclaimer that it is mainly aimed at Tamil market.

"It is a dubbing movie and obviously there are going to be glitches in lip movement of artistes. It is mainly aimed at Tamil market and we are hopeful it will do well there" Nani says candidly.

This movie is all set to release in the last week of June. If the movie does well at Telugu box office, it is sure to spearhead the bi-lingual cinema movement in Tollywood.

JOGAR!