Comments on: Review: Sunday

By: raj

raj — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:49:26 +0000

zero, like I said, I am not a percent of the film-buff that you are. It just so happened that I was in hyderabad for long and saw a few films on screen and many on TV. No ‘Show’ for me. Agree that Missamma was weird and that in a non-hollywoodic way as you observe. Or for that matter non-korean or european. Which is not what you can say for most ‘different’ hindi movies:-).
But on the whole, even if you want to consider these off-maisntream movies, there is a better chance for it in tamil. One Grahanam and One Vanaja is all we have in telugu in more than 10-15 years. That is not the case in Tamil, where atleast B Lenin regularly makes movies that win national awards . We have had a better proportion thatn Telugu there also – and that is not coincidental. Like I said, they are yet to come out of the 70’s. This reflects in their overall setup, too. Show was possible because Krishna’s daughter indulged herself as producer. This is the only way different movies get made there. Even NFDC hardly ever makes a telugu movie, does it:-)

By: Zero

Zero — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:01:04 +0000

And, like I already noted, films like Missamma were underwhelming experiences for me too, but these films seem to have consciously rejected the mainstream cinematic form (they're not 'Hollywoodic' either!) with considerable success. Missamma was a weird film for me -- I did like the droll humour that runs through the film, which otherwise has a totally silly plot that gets only sillier! I also liked the lead actor's goofy act. No kidding, I half-expected some surreal twists in the story, the cloyingly "feel-good" ending was a real turn-off for me. Nandanavanam also had a very dull ending. Have you seen Show, by the way?

By: Zero

Zero — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:59:43 +0000

Raj,
Actually, I wasn’t really thinking about box-office success or the impact the films managed to make around the overwhelming majority — the thud-fests of Mahesh Babu, Junior NTR etc. I don’t have much idea about that part, and yes, I didn’t have the “misfortune” of watching those films.

I was only talking about the spate of “new” films that are being made over there (like Baradwaj) in Telugu cinema which has its typicalities lying somewhere else altogether. Telugu cinema on the whole, of course, can’t really stand a comparison with Tamil cinema. We’ve longstanding stalwarts still making films, and one has to go back to the ’80s to pick even someone as good as K. Vishwanath in Telugu cinema. (RGV is like a son who ran away from the house at a very young age, of course!)

By: raj

raj — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 07:00:45 +0000

zero, none of the fils you mentioned, except Missamma, was a success.B***dy they didnt even register 1 in the richterlu scalu. And stay away from Maya bazaar.

By: raj

raj — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 06:58:45 +0000

I saw sadha mee sevalo and Missamma – underwhelming, both. Different, yes. Good, even average – no.

By: raj

raj — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 06:57:47 +0000

zero, oh like that-aa…
I was thinking of mainstream telugu. Telugu stars are so far removed from even a sniff of an attempt to make good cinema. Atleast, a Vikram, a Surya here give a chance to the balas and ameers. The problem with telugu is that mainstream telugu is still in the 80’s or 70’s – only, stylish making has replaced thousand pots and pot-bellied dancers and Mahesh Babu has replaced Krishna. Just look at the recent hits – Pokiri, Yamadonga(Ah! but you never had the misfortune of watching these, did you?), even a Dr.Rajasekar movie hit the bulls eye. Atleast, Paruthiveeran succeeded here. Another gripe. Do you ever see the ‘real’ village in Telugu mainstream movies. Come to think of it, they have not even had a ‘16 Vayadhinilae’ yet!!! Viswanath’s Swathi Muthyam Village was hardly real.

If you are talking Vanaja or Grahanam, dont we also make Nadhi karaiyinilae(with allits flaws), Sringaaram and Oorukku Nooru per. Adhellam kanakkula varadhu pa

By: Sid

Sid — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:08:32 +0000

One more Telugu thriller which ought to be seen is ‘A Film by Aravind’. I wonder why the others have missed out on that one.

By: Zero

Zero — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:13:52 +0000

I meant to say, “Though not all these films are outstanding efforts per se…”

By: Zero

Zero — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:12:10 +0000

Raj,
No. (I haven’t seen all those Mahesh Babu flicks actually, but hey, that much of prejudice, we all deserve, I think. )

Mohan Krishna Indraganti (Grahanam which fetched him the national award for for the Best First Film of a Director, Maya Bazar) for one. Grahanam probably owes it almost completely to its source — a short story by Chalam, one of the giants of modern Telugu literature — but it was a very powerful and well made film. I’ve been wanting to catch Maya Bazar, but never managed to.

Neelakanta (Show, Missamma, Sada Mee Sevalo, Nandanavanam 120 k.m.) is another director who comes to mind. I’ve seen two of his films (Missamma and Nandanavanam), both of which were not entirely satisfying experiences for me, but were surely interesting films (with horribly out-of-place feel-good endings though). Missamma particularly is such a weirdly constructed film (drolly funny, at times just absurd) that I found it hard to straitjacket it as a “feel-good family entertainer” though it plays out like nothing but that. I’m eager to catch his National Award-winning film Show, which I’m led to believe is his best effort.

Vanaja by Rajnesh Domalpalli is another art-house effort (after Grahanam made waves). I haven’t seen the film, so can’t say much about it.

Though all these films are not outstanding efforts per se, they truly belong to a “new wave” and have completely abandoned the regular formula; not just for the sake of it, but with commendable success.

All said, I won’t put down Tamil cinema in comparison at all. The artistry of someone like Bala is simply unmatched, I’d say with the very limited exposure to Telugu cinema that I have.

By: raj

raj — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 04:01:12 +0000

zero, i am not even 1/4th the film buff you are, so i darent question your pronouncement on Telugu cinema. But Kammula, Yeleti thavira vera yaarupa ‘new wave’ telugu film maker? Puri Jagannath? Can’t be,s urely? The directors of Mahesh’s films following pokkiri? Cant remember their names but surely you dont mean the directors of Athithi or Athadu?