Rating: 2/5
Banners: UTV Motion Pictures, Prakash Jha Productions
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Manoj Bajpai, Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Indraneil Sengupta and others
Music: Salim-Sulaiman
Cinematographer: Sachin Krishan
Editor: Santosh Mandal
Director: Prakash Jha
Producers: Prakash Jha, Ronnie Screwvala, Siddarth Roy Kapur
Release date: 30/08/2013

Story
A honest teacher (Amitabh) with Gandhian philosophy lives in a small town and his son Akhilesh also grows with the same values. But his son’s friend Manav (Ajay) is more practical and believes in money and success. He grows big.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh ends in problem when the flyover project he is handling collapses. To make things worse, he gets killed in an accident. Manav comes to help the family and discovers the corrupt system. This pits him against the corrupt minister Balram Singh (Manoj Bajpai).

Leaving his business, Manav decides to take up a just cause and what happens from there forms the rest of the story.

Performances
Amitabh Bachchan has carried out his father figure role in a good way and did his job. Of course, he didn’t have anything powerful to project so his role was somewhat sober.

Ajay Devgn shined at few places but yet again his character was not etched strong enough to generate that motivation and inspiration through his performance.

Arjun Rampal must be appreciated for taking up a rather side role. Still, he made his presence felt wherever required and fitted well as the youth leader.

Kareena Kapoor was too bright for a hardcore journalist’s role but she ensured it didn’t affect her performance and carried it out effectively.

Manoj Bajpayee is the best among the lot and steals the show. His calm demeanor mixed with his wily political thinking gives the required impact and entertainment. This was something for the audience.

Amrita Rao was alright, Indraneil Sengupta was brief, Vipin Sharma was good. Others did their bit as required.

Highlights:
Star cast
Subject
First half

Analysis
Prakash Jha is one of those rare blend of filmmakers who believes in giving something to the society and his focus is constantly on the corrupt system, the politicians and the agony of the common man. Throughout his career, he came up with some impact creating flicks like ‘Gangajal’ ‘Apaharan’ ‘Raajneeti’ etc but this time it appears he could not generate the required juice.

Primarily the plot is very good and given the current condition that our country and society is in, this is a much needed one. However, bringing in a good concept requires good execution and balanced approach so that the audience is able to connect to the emotion. This was missing.

The good side of the film was the heavy star cast who managed to infuse life but without a strong conflict point and trying to highlight only a tepid issue hampered the energy. The film takes off on a good note and looks promising but as it progresses the steam comes down. The second half had few bumps and was not convincing. Still, appreciation goes to Prakash for his attempt though it may not create an effect. On a whole, over dos eof cliched drama marred the seriousness in narration.

Bottomline: Failed to deliver as anticipated

Film: Thoofan
Rating: 2/5
Banners: Reliance Entertainment, Flying Turtle Films, Rampage Motion Pictures
Cast: Ram Charan, Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt, Prakash Raj, Atul Kulkarni, Mahie Gill, Dayashankar Pandey, Kavita Kaushik and others
Music: Anjan-Ankit, Anand Raj, Chirantan Bhatt
Cinematographer: Gururaj
Editor: Chintu Singh
Director: Apoorva Lakhia
Producers: Puneet Mehra, Sumeet Mehra
Release date: 06/09/2013

After gaining stardom in Tollywood, Ram Charan has now forayed into Bollywood and he braved this by taking up a remake project. Did the mega powerstar show enough power? Let us see

Story
Vijay Khanna (Ram Charan) is an honest cop who keeps getting transferred to different districts and finally he is put in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Mala (Priyanka) is an NRI who comes to Mumbai to attend a wedding. She becomes witness to a murder and this brings her to Vijay. He gives her shelter in his home and the murder leads him to the Oil mafia baron Teja (Prakash Raj). A clash erupts between Vijay and Teja. In this, Vijay is helped by his friend Sher Khan (Srihari) and media person Jayadev (Tanikella Bharani). How things take shape forms the rest of the story.

Performances
Ram Charan’s body language was confident but his role was not etched as powerfully as it is done in the Tollywood films. The heroism element is missing. Still he did his best to create an impact.

Priyanka Chopra was a misfit. She was neither looking attractive nor was her performance appealing. She showed good energy levels but somehow it didn’t create the spark.

Srihari carried out his role as required and rolled out few punch lines in his style. Yet again, weak characterization failed to give that adrenalin rush to the audience.

Prakash Raj is the saving grace to the film. His antics and his versatility of expressions brought some life into the otherwise monotonous film.

Tanikella Bharani was elegant, Mahie Gill was sexy but trying to show a little of humor in her didn’t work. Ankur Bhatia was apt. Dayashankar Pandey was not used properly. Others hardly made a difference.

Analysis
History has shown that south Indian superstars were never able to show the same charisma in Bollywood. Barring the exceptions of Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan, the rest failed. So, it came as a surprise when Charan announced his Bollywood debut. At a time when he should aim for capturing Tollywood throne, his bravery to venture into Mumbai raised eyebrows.

Second- the choice of his project. This is a remake which had icons like Amitabh Bachchan and Pran along with Ajith doing the original. So, comparison is beyond comprehension. Despite all this, he took the plunge and as it deals with oil mafia, what has resulted is a total dip in an oil well with no chance of removing the stains. The film didn’t work for many reasons but if one has to point out the cause, it would go towards director Apoorva Lakhia. He was unable to exploit the potential of Charan, Priyanka properly and failed to create that juice in the script.

Any flop Telugu director can bring out much better product than this. The film tests the patience of the audience those move restlessly in theatres from beginning to the end. There is no single joke to laugh and audience feel stressful in searching a moment to laugh.

Since the plot was known it had to be laced with taut screenplay but the film was more like a rehash of the 80s tales. Romance was absent, humor was silly, technical values were not strong, dialogues were pale and generating the adrenalin rush required for an action packed treat was nil. The first half was routine and goes without an intensity and same with the second half. This turned out to be a dusty book in a neglected cupboard.

Overall, the film doesn’t deliver to expectations and ended up as a dud. Like Komarum Puli for Pawan Kalyan, this Thoofan stands as an unforgettable knockout blow in the career of Ram Charan. 

Let's get one thing straight. This isn't what you want to see a super-gifted filmmaker like Rajkumar Santoshi do when he gets together with a talented star-actor like Shahid Kapoor.

But what to do? Everyone wants a good laugh! It makes us forget about the troubles outside. Never mind the trouble that humour seems to encounter on screen each time someone makes a comedy.

To his credit, Santoshi deftly delivers the dynamics of drollery. No two ways about it. Unlike last week's lewd laughter in "Grand Masti", "Phata Poster Nikla Hero" (PPNH) avoids vulgarity like the plague.

Dirty word plague....sorry wordplay is firmly eschewed. What we get is an earthy robust over-accentuated tribute to Salman Khan's Chulbul Pandey act from "Dabangg", with Shahid Kapoor stepping into the khaki uniform with the same wonky elan as our dear Chulbul Khan.

Shahid has confessed it is easy to play a Salman Khan fan. The young actor who has so far not revealed his comic chops and has in fact shown dramatic synergy to be his forte, pulls out all stops to play an imposter cop, a role that makes him a Chulbul Pandey twice-over because Salman's cop-act was underlined as a spoof in the first place.

So what we get in PPNH is a khaki-clad clown impersonating a cop who is actually impersonating Salman Khan in "Dabangg".

Does that make sense? Even if it doesn't, it's just fine. Don't sweat over it. This is not one of Santoshi's seriously-intended films. For that, please refer to this wonderful director's "Lajja" or "Halla Bol". And if you are looking for hardcore gut-spilling action, go to Santoshi's Deol-driven juggernauts "Ghayal" and "Ghatak".

Come to think of it, PPNH is not even an all-out zany comedy of errors like Santoshi's 'Andaz Apna Apna'. So what is it? After painful pondering over the over-punctuated parodic material in PPNH, I'd say it's a mongrelized mirth machine. A sort of "Dabangg" mated with Santoshi's last very successful comedy "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani" which evidently taught Santoshi a lesson: farcical frivolity and lengthy titles translate into big bucks.

"Phata Poster..." gives poster-boy Shahid Kapoor a custom-built opportunity to get seriously comic. He digs deep into the very slim plot, ferreting out meager meat from the skimpy material. I must think that Shahid has a ball doing the droll act for the doll Ileana d'Cruz who abandons her serious sari-clad audacious wife's role in "Barfi!" to play the kind of "social worker" who brings a bad name to all charity work.

Didn't Katrina play a similar busybee's role in Santoshi's "Ajab Prem..."? Didn't Ranbir do the goofy Chaplin-meets-Kondke act for the commodious camera in that film? Shahid seems comfortable doing the irrepressible comic impresario. But he's far more at home in the more sensible sober scenes he shares with his screen-mom Padmini Kolhapure, who looks too young to play Shahid's mom. But then at least her talent is being aired.

Come to think of it - everyone in this over-the-top comedy seems to be in it for the sake of getting into a massy mode. The art direction is kitschy. The camera wallows in the carnival mood. In the endeavour to enroll enthusiasm into the rom-com, the film succeeds. But be warned: the writing is repetitive. The scenes all end in exclamation marks and italics... like an essay by a schoolboy who is out to impress his favourite teacher. The humour jumps out of the screen like an eager 5-year old brat which must get your attention at any cost.

If you think Shahid is one of the more interesting star-actor's of the current generation, then PPNH is a frenetically fashioned farce fest with excessive energy oozing out of every saturated pore. Shahid's songs and dances, especially the zanily unpredictable "Agal bagal" number are the highlight of the humour-hamper. And that's not such a good thing. Shahid gets to share camera space with some accomplished actors like Saurabh Shukla, Mukesh Tiwari, Darshan Jariwala and Sanjay Mishra. And that's a good thing.

At least we are ensured that the slender pretext for laughter is bolstered by hefty actors.

Oh yes, and the real Salman Khan shows up. (IANS)

Shah Rukh Khan's "Chennai Express", which logged over Rs.200 crore at the box office, has also scored high on the movie-on-demand service of direct-to-home operator DishTV.

"Chennai Express" was offered by DishTV to its users starting Sep 25, and the entertainer replicated its roaring box office success, on this platform too.

The volume of orders broke all previous records for "largest number of orders for any single title" on the movie-on-demand platform.

"Shah Rukh Khan's unique ability to connect with fans across all age groups and in all parts of the country worked as a huge catalyst in redefining the dynamics of movie viewing on movie-on-demand, and in achieving this breakthrough viewership," Salil Kapoor, chief operational officer, DishTV, said in a statement.

"We look forward to building this synergy of entertainment with more such more such big titles from the superstar to delight our subscribers," added Kapoor.

Directed by Rohit Shetty, the mass entertainer also features Deepika Padukone. The movie managed to cross the Rs.100 crore mark within its opening weekend itself.

Rating: 1/5
Banners: Good Cinema Group, SK Productions
Cast: Sundeep Kishan, Dimple Chopade, Jagan, Livingston, Uma Padmanabhan, Srinath, Swaminathan and Others
Music: Gopi Sunder
Cinematographer: Raana
Director: R. Madhan Kumar
Producers: Antony Nawaz, Sathya Narayanan, R Madhan Kumar, Suresh Kondeti
Release date: 20/09/2013

Sundeep Kishan who is budding his way to the hero league has come up with a dubbed package. The title is strong given the person’s name but is the film strong enough? Let us see

Story
Shiva (Sundeep) is a careless and irresponsible student at college and he is accompanied by his friend Vasanth (Jagan). Shiva comes across Sandhya (Dimple) and falls in love with her. Eventually she also falls in love with him. One day Shiva visits Sandhya’s home and they end up making love. Sandhya becomes pregnant and both get married. The story takes a turn when Shiva discovers he may not be the real father and there is a guy called Mahesh. He sets out on a mission to locate who this Mahesh is and what happens from there forms the rest of the story.

Performances
Sundeep Kishan is neat and has a cute face. He was alright in most scenes but he was unable to carry the emotional and comedy sequences that well. Still, he has a good spark in him as a performer.

Dimple Chopade has sex appeal written all over her. The lust quotient that comes from her eyes and the innocent desire raising quotient is high. In terms of performance, she was upto the mark.

Jagan is the real entertainer in the film. Due credit must be given to Dhanraj who has dubbed his voice and gave some entertaining punch lines.

Livingston was standard, Uma Padmanabhan was apt, Srinath was usual, Swaminathan was okay.

Analysis
Tamil films coming to Telugu in dubbed format is a tradition being followed since many decades.

There was a time when the success percentage was high but lately that impact is not being seen. This time, we have a small budget flick and that too with a familiar face as the male lead.

Ideally, the concept of the film was impractical and slightly humorous. But the director failed to conceive it rightly on the cinematic format. This is where most of the filmmakers fail. There was ample scope for entertainment, comedy and other interest aspects in this but that momentum was not generated. Still, there were few entertaining bits here and there.

The film takes off on a humorous note but the graph dips from second half onwards. Also, the director didn’t explain why the heroine comes up with that idea. The realization point is missing. Overall, the film works in few places due to the dialogues but overall it doesn’t carry that weight to hook the audience throughout its duration.

As the film comes to climax it ends up like a B grade Malayalam film.

Bottomline: Can be ignored

Film: Attarintiki Daredi
Rating: 3.5/5
Cast: Pawan Kalyan, Samantha, Praneeta, Nadiya, Rao Ramesh, MS Narayana, Posani, Prithvi, Sameer, Brahmaji, Sivannarayana, Raghu Babu, Ali, Kota, Brahmanandam etc
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Action: Peter Heins
Producer: BVSN Prasad
Director: Trivikram Srinivas
Released on: 27th Sep 2013

Pawan Kalyan, after the super block buster hit ‘Gabbar Singh’ and crowd pulling film ‘CGR’; and Trivikram Srinivas after delivering another super hit ‘Julayi’ have come together with ‘Attarintiki Daredi’ today. This actor-director duo has earlier given a massive hit ‘Jalsa’.  ‘Attarintiki Daredi’ has quivered the websites and TV channels a few days ago with piracy news and hence it was released in an emergency. Let us get into ins and outs of the film.

Story:
Gautam Nanda (Pawan Kalyan) is the grandson of a rich man (Boman Irani). The Nandas are the business tycoons in Milan, Italy. 80 year old Nanda asks Gautam to get back his daughter whom he necked out years ago for marrying a man not of his financial standard.  Recalling the memories of his daughter, he asks Gautam to get her as a birthday gift for him.

Thus Gautam finds a mission to get back his aunt (Nadiya), the daughter of his grandfather and sister of his father (Mukesh Rishi).  He starts his journey in search of Attarintiki Dari!

As Gautam lands in India, he attempts to get close to the family of his aunt hiding his identity. He changes his name as Siddhu and joins them as a driver. One of the daughters of his aunt Samantha falls in love with Gautam alias Siddhu. On the other hand Gautam supports and protects both his aunt and uncle (Rao Ramesh) from conspirers those wish to conquer their business.

Finally, if Gautam will be successful in bringing back his aunt to his grandfather forms rest of the story.

Performances:
Pawan Kalyan as usual a powerful crowd puller appeared with right grace and glory. He performed jovially with his trade mark dialogue delivery. The dances were not so complicated but just pleasant. In Bapugari Bomma song he dances wearing lungi receiving claps from masses.

Praneeta is beautiful with her big eyes. But she didn’t came out from her over expressiveness.

Samantha is cute and up to the requirement.

MS Narayana is ok but he must have been used more efficiently. Ali’s part brings laughs. Posani is impressive with his mass pulling appearance. His style of dialogues like, ‘nenemanna Benhur cinemani burra kathagaa chebuthunnaanaa?” bring guffaws from front benchers.

Raghu Babu is perfect in his role and Rao Ramesh could deliver right performance in right degree. Above all, Nadiya, the main actress in the film turns the heads of all with her beautiful screen presence and apt performance.

Brahmanandam brings laughs in 2nd half but some scenes on him became too lengthy. Kota is reasonable.

Analysis:
The title “Attarintiki Daredi” has the power to pull the family crowds. At the same time the content in it is appealing equally good for mass audience. Thus it stood as a product with right blend of elements those entertain both families and masses.  

Trivikram’s pen that has huge expectations met the requirement but gone overboard in some parts.  It being Pawan Kalyan’s film audiences do expect more and more from his pen. Though there are some just normal sparks here and there with respect to his dialogues in 1st half, he has shown his true mettle all over. But some dialogues and scenes where Pawan Kalyan orders to purchase the Railway Station are not in tune with the maturity levels of Trivikram. Though such scenes were conceived to show how rich the protagonist is, they are not convincing. Simlarly Ahalya-Gautamudu rehearsal scene on Brahmi-Pawan-Samantha and Ali is lengthy and boring. 

"Simham podukundi kadaa ani joolutho jada veyakoodadu raa..ade puli palakarinchindi kadaa ani pakkana nilabadi photo digaalanukokoodadu roi" is one dialogue that got huge applause equally good as it got in trailer. And some other such dialogues are:-

"Paamu paradhyananga undi kadaani padaga meeda kaaleyyakoodadu roi"

"Nenu simham laantonnabba..adi geddam geesukoledu. Nenu geesukogalanu. Anthe tedaa".

Another dialogue, “Ramudu samduram daggaraki vellaaka bridge elaa kattalo plan chesadu kaani, adivilo koorchuni plan geesukuni samduram daggariki raledu” is another line that worked well in theatre situationally.

A scene in which Pawan Kalyan imitating Mohan Babu and in another scene Pawan’s character behaving as if he doesn’t know who Chiranjeevi is brought claps and shouts instantly but especially the latter scene may remain as controversy element down the line. The scene with Chiru goes like this:

Seeing a scene from Chiranjeevi’s Gang Leader on TV, the conversation between Pawan and MS goes like this:-

And some naughty scenes where Pawan unzips Samantha and Samantha saying, “Thinnadanthaa ikkadike potondi” holding her butt do attract masses but keeps family audiences in awe. But every thing passes without any quip due to Pawan’s aspect. 

And coming to the music part, all the songs are impressive. ‘Bapu gari Bomma’ entertains family crowds and ‘Ori Devudo’pulls the attention of masses. 'Ninnu choodagane' stands as highlight. 'Kevvu keka' parody entertains Pawan fans.

Peter Heins’ action episodes are interesting if looked at understanding cinematic liberties.

First half runs hilarious while the sentiment and right tempo builds in second half along with a few boring moments. Pawan's performance in the climax is impressive. 

On a whole, Attarintiki Daredi will be an entertaining film when entered into theatres with average expectations.

Bottom Line: Family and mass entertainer  

When an intelligent filmmaker (Trivikram) and a superstar (Pawan Kalyan) join hands, one definitely needs to compromise. We can't expect a superstar to compromise, can we? Therefore, Trivikram ends up compromising on his potential and in turn gives us an aspirational film such as "Attarintiki Daaredhi" (AD), which is shallow from the inside, but stylish on the outside. By doing so, Trivikram might add another commercial hit to his credit, but sells himself short.

An ailing grandfather (Boman Irani), two decades after disowning his daughter (Nadhiya) for marrying against his wish, feels guilty for his mistake. He requests his grandson (Pawn Kalyan) to bring her back to make amends.

Gautham Nanda (Pawan Kalyan) travels to Hyderabad, earns a place in his aunt's (Sunanda) house as a driver. There, he uses every opportunity to get closer to his aunt and earn her trust, but it doesn't take her much time to figure out his true identity. Will Gautham succeeds in his endeavour to take his aunt back to his grandfather? This is what we get to see in the rest of the film besides some romance, lots of action and occasional laughs.

For the millionth time, we are made to sit through a hackneyed story, yet we cheer for it for the simple reason that it features Pawan Kalyan. The problem with the film is that it strictly caters to the fanboys of Pawan; entertain them as much as possible even by defying logic and creativity.

When you throw in extra bucks, shoot in exotic locales, make your hero wear stylish clothes and sport an expensive ride, any film will look stylish regardless of whether it features Pawan Kalyan or not. AD is synonymous to that. It's merely ambitious, but its wafer thin story makes its interior appear superficial.

It's easy to say to watch the film with least expectations (one of the most common answers to a superstar film), but with Trivikram (known for writing brilliant films such as "Athadu" and "Manmadhudu") at the helm, there's definitely some level of expectation and when it's not met then you're bound to be disappointed. Unfortunately, Trivikram succumbs to star pressure and churns out a highly disappointing product.

Pawan Kalyan is at his best, suave and comfortable in his role that reeks of panache, but he constantly tries to please his mass following with superstar acts. We get see more of his comic as well as emotional side as he attempts to tug at our hearts with some melodrama towards the end. Nadhiya turns in a decent performance, but her role isn't much different from her last release "Mirchi". Boman Irani is miscast in a role that could have been ideally played by any Telugu artist. His role limited to a wheel chair and tragedy.

The screenplay is wobbly and Trivikram has no clue why he has cast two heroines. Pranitha is merely used to divert Pawan Kalyan's attention towards Samantha, who is impressive in her role. Brahmanandam, who is mostly used as a trump card in big-budget flicks, is brought in too late and by then I had lost interest in the film. Scenes featuring him are a laugh riot, but it's seriously late by then. Rao Ramesh gives a very refined performance and it's good to see him evolving with every film.

The music and cinematography is passable, but the film's biggest letdown was its running time. At nearly three hours, AD makes you cringe in your seats, especially with the emotional punch it delivers in the climax. (IANS)

Film: Daughter Of Varma
Rating: 1.5/5
Banner: Forever Fantastic Films
Cast: Vennela Kishore, Roja, Naveena Jackson, Kavita, Uttej, Jeeva, Master Veeren
Music: Aadesh Ravi
Cinematographer: PG Vinda
Direction: Khaja
Producer: Narendra Reddy Bokka
Released on: 28 Sep 2013

Though Vennela Kishore couldn't score big hits till now, he gained huge popularity as a promising upcoming comedian. But his maverick ideas and ambitious outlook made him director and eventually became hero with this 'Daughter of Varma'. The title and poster itself is pulling the attention of many as it clearly indicates that its story inspired from legendary Ram Gopal Varma. Since recently RGV's daughter is in news with her marriage, the title gained more popularity. Let us see how this works at box office.

Story:
Rao Gopal Varma (Vennela Kishore) is a radio jockey. He is very good at alluring women. He is dead against to marriage, wife and marital relation. His only motive is to do romance with anyone of his choice. One day, out of the blue a girl named Deeksha (Naveena Jackson) comes to him along with his son (Master Veeren). She tells that she is the daughter who was born to a lady with whom he romanced while studying intermediate. Even DNA test proves what Deeksha claims is true. Varma, who loves to live as a young man forever becomes grandfather all of a sudden and that becomes hard to digest for him.

Performances:
This is the story that revolves around Vennela Kishore, Naveena Jackson, Kavita and Veeren. Though there are other artistes like Uttej and Melkote their part is lesser in the film.

This could be the only film in recent times in which Vennela Kishore acted very reasonably without over action. He could do well as a man who craves for romance and at the same time as a matured father. But while portraying serious scenes his face couldn't fit into the requirement. Naveena Jackson is ok but all that she knows is a single expression.

Kavita tried to lure only with her glamour but nothing else. Master Veeren did well in his role. Others are just ok. Roja turned heads with her slim look and gave signal that can fit into such novel look.  

Cinematographer PG Vinda is an asset for the film. The film is neat and colorful throughout. Aadesh Ravi's music is not catchy. Dialogues are ok but over dose of pauses irk the audience. Background score has no complaint. Director Khaja has satima to make a movie by extracting performances from the characters but he needs to gain more stamina to do commercial entertainers. Otherwise he will be branded as a boring narrator.

Analysis:
Telugu cinema is seeing worst phase where the audience are willing to come to theatres to watch only big films but not small ones. Until and unless there is a striking title, hitting trailer and intensity in poster it is difficult to pull audience to theatres. And it needs huge talent and ability to catch the pulse of majority audience to make them carry mouth publicity for the film.

The beginning of the film and Kondavalasa's narration brings out a take it easy feeling on the film. The film starts in comedy romantic genre takes off into the genre of love and family bond and finally crash lands without offering any pleasant feel for audience. Even the process of start and take off carries boredom but not interest.

These days’ audiences are kilometers away for the elements like family, relations and tears. Adding to this, who can bear if Vennela Kishore is going to be on screen portraying all these factors? Though the director feels that he is doing right, the audience cannot withstand with the artistes and the degree of intensity in narration he has chosen.

The major twist in the film reveals before interval itself. And hence it becomes difficult for audience to bear second half. And director thought not to make the audience miss romance angle and hence he glued that here and there in second half. Beyond this, the songs test the patience of audience. The film concludes abruptly after a sudden kidnap drama.

On a whole, 'Daughter of Varma' ends up as much hungama about nothing.

Bottom Line: Boring of India   

Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: Sri Venkateshwara Creations
Cast: NTR, Samantha, Shruti Haasan, Mukesh Rishi, Ravi Shankar, Rao Ramesh, Kota, Ajay, Rohini Hattangadi, Tanikella Bharani and others
Music: Thaman
Cinematographer: Chota K Naidu
Editor: Gautham Raju
Director: Harish Shankar
Producer: Dil Raju
Release date: 11/10/2013

After scraping through with some success in the form of ‘Baadshah’, junior NTR has teamed up with Harish Shankar who is floating with ‘Gabbar Singh’s success. Let us see if this combination worked.

Story
Nandu (Jr NTR) and his group of friends are happy go lucky guys and he gets struck when he sees Akarsha (Samantha). From thereon, he tries all ways to impress her and finally manages to do that. He is invited for Akarsha’s sister marriage and there he meets her father (Mukesh Rishi) who is going through a series of life threats and other issues from hidden enemies. Nandu comes forward and offers to help. However, there is a motive behind Nandu’s help and what happens from there forms the rest of the story.

Performances
Junior NTR is the life and soul for this film. He has excelled in every department and few expressions of his in certain scenes are really absorbing. Of course, the quota of his punch dialogues is less.

Samantha looks cute with her somewhat plastic shaping but more than that, she has put on few kilos which has upped her sex appeal and oomph factor. As a role, it wasn’t much but she did her job as required.

Shruti Haasan looked a little misfit for her role. Added to that, her dubbing was not that effective. Barring the one song she did and her last scene, rest of the times her makeup and dressing were not proper.

Ravi Shankar was superb. His dialogue delivery, body language and expressions showed the much needed menacing effect. Though he arrives at a later stage he managed to grab attention in a big way.

Mukesh Rishi got a significant role and made his presence felt, few powerful dialogues for him would have given a good result. Kota was brief but brilliant. Rao Ramesh was elegant. Rohini Hattangadi was a miscast. Tanikella was neat. The group of friends for NTR brought some light moments.

Analysis
Story being old fashioned cannot be a complaint when the film is not up to expectation. Intact dialogues, in depth emotional quotient and a right intensity in all parts with conviction can work wonders despite old story. Harish Shankar could do that partly but not sufficiently.

There is no doubt about Jr NTR’s caliber as an actor and his screen presence. But that needs to come with a sensible plot and a reasonably good share of entertainment to expect a blockbuster from him.

Harish Shankar tried to exploit NTR’s action image ignoring the muscle needed for romance and entertainment. Since he was unable to cook up the right plot, he should have focused on giving a tacky screenplay with very convincing and interesting dialogues to keep the audience hooked, but that didn’t happen completely.

The other aspect that Harish must have focused was on giving strength and elevation to all the antagonists. Though he did a fantastic job with Ravi Shankar, Harish didn’t work on giving some strong dialogues to Mukesh Rishi, despite bigger screen space. Similarly he missed generating more fun with comedian like Praveen. And Rohini Hattangadi proves to be a miscast for the role. She is known for her decent roles and Seetaramayya Gari Manavaralu is yet to be forgotten by many. Some other actress who is known for generating laughs could have worked the comedy episodes made on her.

Also, he didn’t define his style of film making like that of Trivikram and Boyapati. He is making films for hero not defining his signature style which may damage his image in future. It is only after the interval bang that the real story begins and since the plot was predictable something different should have been included to make it more engrossing.

The entire first half goes without any direction towards the story and the typical songs, fights, some comedy, romancing follows one after the other mechanically. Even the music part is not gripping to keep the audience glue to seats. Except the songs ‘Neneppudaina’ and ‘Jabilli..’, others became cigarette songs. The final song ‘Idi Ranarangam…’ smelled rotten with out-dated idea. How can the director imagine a song in such a situation? The second half is completely action filled. Though there a couple of sparks on a whole, it ended up as an obsolete treat with cliched climax.

Given the stardom and image of NTR, he must have packed with strong dialogues. Story is less and buildup is more. Technically and production wise the film has no compromise but quality and ability to provide wholesome entertainment failed.

Bottomline: Ramayya Visigistavayya..!