Shivathandavam Movie Review – 2.75/5

October 5, 2012

Rating: 2.75/5.0
Presented by: UTV Motion pictures
Banner: Teja Cinema
Cast: Vikram, Anushka, Jagapathi babu, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Nassar, Santanam, Lakshmi Rai, Amy Jackson, saranya
Editing: Antony
Cinematography: Nirav Shah
Music: G.V.Prakash Kumar
Producer: C.Kalyan
Written and Directed by: Vijay
CBFC Rating: ‘U’
Release Date: 5-10-2012

Story: Kenny (Vikram) is a blind man who lives in London and plays piano in a church. Sarah (Amy Jackson) is a British born Indian girl and winner of Miss London title, meets Kenny in a church and develops a soft corner for him. Kenny travels in a cab for which Satya(Santanam) is the diver and kills few people. Veerakathi(Nassar) is the police officer who investigates those murders. Why Kenny does all this? What’s the story behind his silence is what the remaining story is about?

Performances: Vikram has delivered another finest performance. He is very good. Anushka is good and suited well to the role. Jagapathi Babu is good as friend of Vikram. Santanam, Nassar are okay. Lakshmi Rai and Amy Jackson fitted to their roles. Cinematography is topnotch. Music by G.V.Prakash is good. Editing by Antony is okay. The story is simple and the screenplay is predictable. The Direction is good.

Analysis: Vikram has come up with yet another different role. He tried a different character with varied shades. Vikram has done fantastic job both as Sivakumar and blind man Kenny. His body language and performance are of top class. Anushka played the role of wife of Vikram and she has given a very controlled and matured performance. Vikram does not have a lot of dialogues, but his eyes and expressions convey all the emotions. The Love thread between Vikram and Anushka is more like a Maniratnam montage with fewer dialogues. Jagapathi Babu is good in a pivotal role and he delivered the needed output.

Sivathandavam is the dubbed version of Tamil flick THANDAVAM released last week in Tamil. The story is not a new one, its simple – hero taking revenge type but the backdrop and execution is different. Music and background scores composed by GV Prakash Kumar are one of the highlights of the movie. The two melody songs with Anushka are good. The songs are melodious but slowed down the pace of the movie a little bit and appeared as speed breakers.

Santhanam has done a little bit of Comedy as a London taxi driver. He is good as usual with his typical comedy punches. Lakshmi Rai is seen only in a brief role. Art work is good. Cinematography by Nirav Shah is eye pleasing. The action choreography by Manohar Verma is awesome especially the fight scene when blind Vikram is attacked by foreigners in a park was well choreographed. The movie appeared bit lengthy, Antony could have trimmed the length of the movie; a ten minute chopping in the Telugu version could have helped in make it look crisper.

The director AL Vijay earlier directed KIREEDAM, MADRASAPATTINAM, DEIVATHIRUMAGAL(dubbed in Telugu as Nanna). The attempt of the director to mix the concept of human echolocation to a revenge drama is good but the concept could have been explained clearly to appeal to the masses. The screenplay is predictable at times. The movie runs with/around a few characters only. Vikram- Anushka love track was well dealt. It has shades of Ghajini. The concept of blind man performing murders reminds us of RENDU (starring Madhavan, Anushka) movie. There are some scenes which miss the general logic, keep them aside to enjoy the movie more.

The movie is targeted at Multiplex Audience.

Plus: Performances (Vikram), Direction
Minus: Slow Narration, Simple story

Verdict: Vikram’s show all the way, Not for all- Only for those who are bored of watching routine run-of- the- mill movies.

Handicapped hero’s quest for hits

October 5, 2012

Chiyan Vikram is extremely popular in Tollywood for his versatile acting and performances. He spellbound all in films like Siva Putrudu and Aparichitudu. While in Aparichitudu he connected well as person with multiple disorder personality taking on corrupt officials, in Siva Putrudu he attracted all as a graveyard keeper getting to terms with the society. He won national award for his performance as a dumb graveyard keeper. Even in Naanna he touched the hearts of all with his performance as mentally retarded father trying to bring up his daughter.

However his mass entertainers like Majaa, Veedinte and others failed to generate the interest of movie lovers. Even his film ‘Sethu’ he attracted movie lovers as a road side goon falling in love and turning mad. Now in his recent film ‘Siva Tandavam’ he is out to exact revenge as a wronged RAW officer who turned blind in London bomb blasts.

One wonder why only Vikram’s handicapped roles are liked by people while his other roles are rejected by movie lovers. Even Vikram knowing his fans tastes are getting confined to these kind of roles. Hope Vikram though excel in this roles take care that his films will be fast paced with action just like Aparichitudu. Otherwise quest for success by this handicapped hero will continue.

Film makers fear festivals?

October 5, 2012

Since the advent of films and film industry, everyone used to wait for festivals as film makers used to treat them with beautiful films from top heroes or excellent heart touching storylines. Till over two to three decades there used to be heavy competition between top heroes films and even stars used to give their best to satisfy their fans. Though other regional languages like Tamil and Hindi are following this tradition, it seems Tollywood seems to be doing away with entertaining movie lovers with films.

The change in film makers thinking is noticed when films like Adhinayakudu, Nippu, Body Guard backed off from sankranthi race at the start of the year. Even Independence Day saw only one release ‘Devudu Chesina Manushulu’ while no film makers cared to wish movie lovers on Vinayaka Chavithi. Now if one go by the current developments many films like Damarukam, Cameraman Gagato Rambabu and others are backing off from Dasara delight. As of now there are no releases on Diwali.Though film makers are promising X Mas treat it has to be seen how true it will be.

Many feel that film makers are fearing festivals but one wonder what could be the reason. Film analysts feel that if film makers don’t change their attitude they will be alienating movie lovers from theatres.

Rana’s romantic traits soon to end

October 5, 2012

Leader Rana may not have that numbers under his belt to show that he is the successful star in any film industry. However if anyone underestimates him then they will be in for a shock. He is Tollywood’s real macho man and when this hot hunk made his debut in Bollywood, then he all north Indian gals fell for his looks. His he manly figure was such a hit in ‘Dum Maro Dum’ that they started enquiring about this hot guy from South India.

There were even reports that dusky Bengali bomb shell Bipasha Basu, fresh from her breakup from John Abraham was so smitten about Rana that both were seen closely at many places. However Rana did not fall for her. Down south there were rumors that he earlier enjoyed with Goan babe Ileana and even sensuous Sameera Reddy. However nothing worked out but now with Rana and Trisha spotted together at each and every function, kollywood media is even writing stories that both are cleared for marriage by even all powerful Daggubati Ramanaidu.

If this turns out to be true then Rana’s romantic traits will not be seen in real life any more except for the reel life on silver screen.

Jagan’s jail tenure till 2014?

October 5, 2012

Opposition may indulge in some wild allegations that there was some secret pact and understanding between Jagan and Sonia so that Cong will slow the process of CBI investigation so that YSRCP leader will be out of Jail on Bail. However it seems this is not the case as Jagan’s bail has been rejected outright by Supreme Court. To the top of it yesterday Enforcement directorate attached Jagan’s media SAKSHI’s properties with Govt. This is a huge blow to Jagan and YSR CP. It is no wonder that YS.Vijayamma and Sharmila cried foul and alleged secret understanding between TDP and Cong and cite TDP MPS meeting PM Manmohan Singh prior to CBI’s decision.

Till the other day TDP was alleging that Jagan and Cong will be merging together and there was an understanding regarding to this during presedential elections and Vijayamma was saying the same thing again and again that Jagan would be out on Jail. All these developments point out to one thing that come what may be and the future political understandings not withstanding, Cong Bosses and high command is clear on one thing that it would not allow Jagan to be out on jail till 2014 elections as they know how much influence he can cast on its leaders and cadre. They fear when in jail itself, Jagan is wiping out party and if he is out party will be disappearing from AP map. So they don’t want that to happen at any cost.

When Bapu reminded Bapuji

October 5, 2012

Director Bapu is hailed as the most techno savvy director from yesteryears. He did many great master pieces and more recently he cameup with critically acclaimed Natasimha Balakrishna, Nayanatara starrer ‘Sri Rama Rajyam’. The film won many awards and even was screened at many international film festivals.Many tollywood film makers expected the film to National award but to the utter dismay of all did not win the award.

But many feel one look at beautiful creations of Bapu, then many wonder whether he is just a beautiful copy cat. People cannot but appreciate his creative skills at copying from another language. True Bapu made super hits like ‘Mana Orri Pandavulu’, ‘Vamsa Vruksham’, ‘Toorpu Velle Railu’. None of the films will be forgotten by movie lovers ,however all those films are copied and inspired from tamil and kannada films. For mythological films according to scenes and situations, copies may come.

Bapu’s Sri Rama Rajyam reminds one of Vijay Bhatt’s hindi film ‘Sri Ram Rajy’ on Prakash Productions. This Prem Adib, Sahu Morak, Sobhana Samarth’s film is the only one appreciated by Mahatma Gandhi. No one need be critical of the much acclaimed Sri Rama Rajyam as one should be appreciate Bapu for reminding all of the old hindi classic liked by great Bapuji.

KVJ Audio Function confirmed!

October 5, 2012

Daggubati Rana’s latest movie Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum is complete except for an item song. The song will be shot on Rana and Sameera Reddy very soon. The post production of the movie is currently underway. The makers are planning to release the movie on 9th November.The movie will have its audio launch on October 7 at Cinemax in Hyderabad. The makers are also planning to release couple of trailers and song promos on this occasion.

Rana is sporting six pack body abs as ‘Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum’ is a full length mass action entertainer. Rana trying for completely different diction and performance with B.tech Babu role in this movie. Vedam fame Krish is the director. His narration and dialogues are said to be the highlights for this film. Nayanthara playing the female lead in this film. Mani Sharma composing the music for this movie. Jagarlamudi Sai Babu is producing this film on First Frame Entertainments banner.

Anushka as Rani Rudramma Devi

October 5, 2012

Yoga beauty Anushka is in full throttle as she will moving on to another heroine oriented subject which will be directed by Gunasekhar. Apart from her glam doll image, the actress is also known for her dynamic roles in films like ‘Arundhathi’ and ‘Panchakshari’.

Director Gunasekhar, who had delivered a flop movie, ‘Nippu’ has roped in Anushka for his next flick in which Anushka will be playing the role of Rani Rudramma Devi. The director has been working on this script since a long time. Maestro Illayaraja is expected to score the music for this film, which showcases the efforts and tribulations of Rudrama Devi. Thota Tharani is going to erect lavish sets for this film, which will be made as a Telugu-Tamil bilingual..

Record amount for CMGR Krishna Rights

October 5, 2012

As per the latest news we are hearing, The distribution wing of 14 Reels Entertainment, which produced blockbuster film Dookudu starring Mahesh Babu, has apparently bagged the theatrical screening rights of powerstar Pawan Kalyan’s forthcoming action entertainer Cameraman Ganga Tho Rambabu (CGTR) for Krishna District.

The film is gearing up for a massive release on October 18th and Pawan Kalyan will have Tamanna as his leading lady in the movie. Puri Jagan is the director and Danayya is the producer of this entertainer. Post production is currently going on.

Jaipur Paan for Kareena Marriage

October 5, 2012

The arrangements are on for the high profile wedding of the year. The wedding will have paans from Jaipur served at the entrance. The famous Paan Bandhar Anu’s Mobile Paan Bhandar had got the order for more than 15 varieties of paan have been ordered for both the wedding ceremonies in Mumbai and Pataudi.

The varieties of paan, with gold and silver varq, include paan laddoo, dry fruit paan laddoo, Anu ki potli, and flavoured paans like butterscotch and vanilla. There’s also a chocolate paan, in which all the ingredients like saunf and elaichi will be mixed together and rolled into paan leaf, which will be dipped into chocolate sauce.

Guests can pick their choice of flavours. However, they will be informed only 2days before the delivery.

Damarukam Release Postponed

October 5, 2012

The release of Nagarjuna-starrer Damarukam might be postponed. The film’s release was originally planned on October 12, but that looks unlikely as sources say that the makers are planning to push the release to first week of November. However, they are also in talks with the producers of Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu to postpone their movie to 24th. So, that Damarukam will hit the screens on 19th. The talks are still on.

On the other side, The buyers and distributors are urging the producer to postpone the movie till Sankranthi in case they miss out Dussehra as a high budget socio fantasy movie like Damarukam also need the patronage of family audience.

Letter wars in Cong

October 5, 2012

Currently letter wars are going on in the ruling congress party . It all started with telangana congress MPs started sending letters against CM to Cong high command and even criticizing CM Kiran in full public gaze. Now CM’s supporters also got into act and they are also indulging in sending letters thus highlighting the fact that Cong party is divided into various groups. It is a pity that T-MPs instead of fighting for their cause are not allowing CM Kiran to work in peace. They are not realizing that their acts of criticizing their own Govt is defaming the party in public.

Dy CM Damodara Rajanarasimha is heading the anti CM group and he along with T Cong MPs is taking war to CM. Even now ministers are a divided lot. The war reached ugly stage with T MPs starting and CM Kiran’s group pitting new team on everyday to take on them. Rcently MLC Premsagar, MLA Atram Sakku warned MP Vivek for criticizing CM saying if he don’t mend his ways they will ensure that he wont get ticket for next election. Then MLC Pulla Padmavathy and Farookh Hussain and Rajeswara Rao dared T MPs to show their strength and the same vigor and fervor in Delhi in front of High Command rather than be paper tigers in Hyderabad. It all started with Ponnam Prabhakar,. Madhu Yashki and V.Hanmanth Rao taking on CM Kiran branding him as seemandhra supporter. They were joined by Gutta Sukhender Reddy, Madhu, Manda Jagannatham and others. Cong cadre is worried where all this will lead to.

Megastar Power is smiliar to AP Power situation

October 5, 2012

Mega Star Chiranjeevi became laughing stock of himself after he entered political arena. For some time till the elections, he was given due respect as a leader of Praja Rajyam Party. However after he lost elections and when everyone started deserting him accusing of nepotism and favoritism, none showed any respect. When he decided to side with Cong party hailing Sonia and its leaders and merging his party even his fans started hating him. Though everyone hail him as a great actor, the same people criticize him for being a political novice and merging his party with Cong which is practicing anti people measures.

Though Chiru denied merging his party for posts and power, he was duly made RS MP and was expected to become Union Minister. However his dream is not yet fulfilled but however his party member C.Ramachandraiah became minister in CM Kiran cabinet. However even Rama Chandraiah made fun of Mega star Chiranjeevi saying just like Chiru doesn’t know when he will get power and cabinet post, AP state power situation is in the same manner with people unsure when power will be there. This is a huge insult to Chiru and one has to wait and see how Chiru will be responding. One can not expect him to respond as Chiru is busy attending some functions silently to fill his pockets.

Padayatra shortcut to Power?

October 5, 2012

Now a days any politician who wish to come to power at any level of election is hitting upon roads in the name of padayatar. It all started with former CM YS.Rajasekhar Reddy’s popular padayatra that bought him to power after Cong party lost hopes of coming back to power in AP since it spent more than 8yrs in opposition. The moment YSR bought it to power, importance of Padayatra gained popularity with political leaders at national level. More recently Mulayam Singh did it during UP elections, Sharad pawar did it in Maharashtra and Rahul Gandhi practiced it many times. BJP and other parties are not behind any stage. Now Chandra Babu Naidu is on 117 day yatra to regain power in State.

However one wonder whether whether Padayatra is sureshot to success. NTR who was the pioneer in rathayatra and padayatra created a world record when he came to power with in 6 months of launching a party. He could do so not due to yatra but people were looking for an alternative vexed with Cong Govt. Similar is the case of YSR as people are vexed with Babu’s high handed ways, they voted him to power. If any one thinks that just by going on padayatra they will be voted to power then they will be committing a grave blunder. For people issues are important and not political yatras.

Mahesh Babu’s Okkadu in Bollywood

October 4, 2012

Boney Kapoor is set to produce the remake of the 2003 Telugu film featured Mahesh Babu, Bhumika Chawla and Prakash Raj “Okkadu”. His son Arjun Kapoor is going to play the main lead. It will go on floors next year.

The film will go on floors in June 2013. Arjun is busy with other projects including ‘Aurangazeb’, ‘Gundey’ and ‘2 States’. Once he is done with these films, he will start shooting for the remake. However, the heroine and and the director of this film are yet to be finalized.

Mani Ratnam and Ash are not Teaming up

October 4, 2012

Mani’s wife, Suhasini had condemned the reports of director Mani Ratnam and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan teaming up for an adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s famous 1938 novel Rebecca. Suhasini said, “No, it’s wrong.”

She went on to add, “Mani is currently focussed on Kadal, which still has seven days of shoot left. He will decide on his next only after this film releases. It will take him eight more months after that to write his next script. So, any news about his future project that comes up in this time period is false.”

Budget Problems for SVSC ?

October 4, 2012

This decade’s first Multi starer movie, Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu is one of the most eagerly awaited films of the year. Victory Venkatesh and Super Star Mahesh Babu are acting together in the same film.

But the producer Dil Raju is not all happy. He is battling a tough time to keep the movie’s budget under control. Apparently the film is to go over budget. Sources close to the producer say that the movie might go up by almost 25-30% pushing the cost of production to over 40 crores! If that does happen then, the movie must turn out to be one of the biggest blockbusters ever in the history of Tollywood for it to just breakeven!

However, the makers are confident that the movie will enter profit zone as the audience base will increase due to the casting.

Ravi Babu’s Avunu now in Hindi!

October 4, 2012

If every thing goes well, Ravi Babu’s Avunu is going to be remade in Bollywood. This sophisticated thriller Avunu has caught the attention of Bollywood. Anushka Sharma is likely to be cast in the Hindi version. Ravi Babu himself is interested in directing the Hindi version himself. Also PVP Cinemas had acquired Tamil dubbing rights and is planning to dub and release Tamil version. The dubbed version is titled as Aama (literal Tamil translation for Telugu word Avunu). The movie will hit the screens there in November.

Avunu is based on a real incident which was narrated to him by Yami Gautam. Last year, Ravi Babu and Yami Gautam had worked together for Nuvvila and during the film’s shooting, Yami told him about a scary incident which inspired Ravi Babu to make it in to a film.

Suriya Vs Nagarjuna at Box Office

October 4, 2012

‘King’ Akkineni Nagarjuna’s big budget socio fantasy drama ‘Damarukam’ is all set to hit the screens on next Friday (12th). The movie is made with a budget of 35 Crores plus which is the biggest budget movie in the actor’s career. ‘Damarukam’ has some extensive CGI and special effects involved and that is said to be the highlight of the movie. The makers are planning to release the movie in record number of theaters to bag as much as openings possible. But these plans are hindered by the release date announcement of Suriya’s Brothers. The movie is all set to release on the same day as Damarukam (on 12th).

Suriya enjoys good popularity in AP and has the capability of getting a decent release and causing enough damage in the openings of Damarukam. Lets see who will emerge as the winner finally!

Cousins Clash in November!

October 4, 2012

Looks like the cousins of Tollywood, Daggubati Rana and Akkineni Naga Chaitanya are going to lock horns at the box office this November. Both the movies of them Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum and Autonagar Suriya, are eyeing a release on the same day i.e., on November 9th. Both Rana and Naga Chaitanya are struggling in their careers and are waiting for a decent hit.

Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum is complete except for a song and two songs are left in Auto Nagar Suriya shooting. The shootings will resume very soon and will be completed in this month itself. Already the post production activities of both the movies are under way.

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