Mahesh Khaleja Songs download

Cast: Mahesh Babu,Anushka Shetty
Direction: Trivikram Srinivas
Production: Singanamala Ramesh
Music: Mani Sharma
Lyricis: Ramajogayya Shastri

Download All Songs In One File From Below Link:

Media Fire

Click Below To Download Individual Songs

01 - Sada Siva
Singers : Ramesh Vinayagam & Karunya
Lyricis : Ramajogayya Shastri

02 - Bhoom Shakana
Singers : Ranjith & Shravana Bhargavi
Lyricis : Ramajogayya Shastri

03 - Pileche
Singers : Hema Chandra & Swetha
Lyricis : Seetharama Shastri

04 - Makathika
Singers : Karthik & Saindavi
Lyricis : Ramajogayya Shastri

05 - Sunday Monday
Singers : Hema Chandra & Malavika
Lyricis : Ramajogayya Shastri

06 - Taxi
Singers : Ranjith
Lyricis : Ramajogayya Shastri

Allu Arjun's Badrinath logo released

Take a look at Allu Arjun’s ‘Badrinath’ movie logo. Allu Arjun and VV Vinayak combo movie is Badrinath and Allu Arjun is currently busy shooting for Badrinath.

Krishna Vamsi directs Ram Charan's 5th movie

Telugu cinema witnesses yet another unique combination as creative director Krishna Vamsi directs Ram Charan. Indeed, Krishna Vamsi and Ram Charan is a unique combination.



Krishna Vamsi got the call from Megastar Chiranjeevi dugout it seems and Krishna Vamsi knew there’s something great in store.

Krishna Vamsi narrated the script and the subject line to Chiranjeevi and he immediately got Megastar’s nod. Praja Rajyam party leader and MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao would be producing this movie.

Reports also say that this Krishna Vamsi Ram Charan movie story would be on the lines of spiritual backdrop – based on a powerful god story with cotemporary theme.

Ram Charan is busy wrapping up the shoot for Orange directed by Bommarillu Bhaskar, and Merupu directed by Dharani. Hence this movie might start after Ram Charan’s Orange movie. This means that the Krishna Vamsi Nagarjuna, Naga Chaitanya and Nageswara Rao film would be pushed further.

Don Seenu

Rating: 2.8/5

Genre: Comedy/Action
Type: Straight
Banner: RR Moviemakers

Cast: Ravi Teja, Shriya, Anjana Sukhani, Srihari, Mahesh Manjrekar, Brahmanandam, Ali,Yashpal Sharma, Sayaji Shinde, Kasi Viswanath, Venu Madhav, Brahmaji, Sudha, Surekha, etc.

Music: Mani Sharma
Cinematography: Sameer Reddy
Editing: Gowtam Raju Rao
Screenplay - dialogues: Kona Venkat
Art: AS Prakash
Fights: Stun Siva - Ram Lakshman
Story - screenplay - direction: Gopichand Malineni
Producer: Venkat
Release date: 6 August 2010
Theater watched: INOX, Maddilapalem.


Review
Story

Seenu (Ravi Teja) runs away from his family when he is a kid. Seenu is a great fan of Amitab Bachchan and Don film. He fancies himself to become Don one day. There are two mafia kingpins (Srihari and Sayaji Shinde) in Hyderabad. Seenu wants to join one of these dons and grow up in the ranks. In the process he is forced to go to Swiss to seduce the sister of one of the dons (Shriya). The rest of the story is all about how Seenu realises his dream and also settles personal score in the process.

Artists Performance

Ravi Teja: Ravi Teja brings fabulous energy and entertainment with his interpretation of character. And we never get tired of his kind of comedy. All he needs is an average script to make a film hit. Ravi Teja is excellent in mimicking Amitab Bachchan.

Others: Shriya is seen in a Telugu straight film after a long gap. She is nice. New actress Anjana Sukhani is good in the role of second heroine. Srihari repeats his role after Dhee and King. Mahesh Manjrekar has a spineless role of international don. Ali entertains a lot in the swiss episode though there are double meaning dialogues. Venu Madhav’s comedy episodes are good. Brahmanandam partly entertains in the second half. Brahmaji and Sayaji Shinde are adequate.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: Story of the movie is routine and is of Seenu Vytla’s kind. It has resemblance to Seenu Vytla’s movies like Dhee, Ready and King. Screenplay is nice in the first half, but is messed up in the second half. Debutant director Gopichand Malineni shows promise and succeeds in getting the entertainment scenes right, but fails in narrating the movie in a crisp manner in the second half. There are too many loose ends and uninteresting moments in the second half.

Other departments: Cinematography by Sameer Reddy is adequate. Dialogues by Kona Venkat are interesting. Music by Mani Sharma is average. So is the background music. No proper care is taken during the post-production process and it shows up. Editing is ok. Stunt sequences are adequate and they look forced.

Analysis: First half of the movie is entertaining with a nice interval twist. The graph in the second half goes down as the climax progresses. Mute episode is good in the second half. Climax should have been better. The plus points in the movie are Ravi Teja’s performance and entertainment. On the flip side, a better second half would have helped the movie. There are a few double-entendre scenes in the movie. We have to wait and see how it performs at Box Office.

Rajnikanth's Robo Audio Released

1 - O Maramanishi
2 - Neelo Valapu
3 - Inumolo O Hrudayam
4 - Chitti Dance Showcase
5 - Harima Harima
6 - Kilimanjaro
7 - Boom Boom Robo Da

To Download All Songs CLICK HERE

Komaram Puli Theatrical Trailer

Maryada Ramana

Jeevi rating: 3.5/5
Punchline: musical comedy
Genre: Comedy
Type: Straight
Banner: Arka Media

Cast: Sunil, Saloni, Nagineedu, Brahmaji, Rao Ramesh, Supreet, Venu Gopal, Prabhakar, Kanchi, Anuj Gurwar, Jayavani, Sandhya, Anitanath, Vinay, Baby Rishika, Master Sadwik & Ravi Teja (voice)

Music: MM Keeravani
Lyrics: Sirivennela, Anant Sreeram, Rama Jogaiah Sastri and Chaitanya Prasad
Cinematography: C Ram Prasad
Editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Art: R Ravinder
Visual Effects: RC Kamalakannan
Fights: Peter Heins
Styling: Rama Rajamouli
Story idea: Vara Mullapudi
Story - dalogues: SS Kanchi
Screenplay - direction: SS Rajamouli
Producer: Shobu Yarlagadda & Prasad Devineni
Release date: 23 July 2010
Theater watched: INOX, Maddilapalem

Story:

Ramu (Sunil) is a hard-working youngster from Hyderabad. He is forced to visit his village in Rayalaseema to sell off his land so that he can invest that money to buy an auto. On his way to village he meets a beautiful girl Aparna (Saloni). Ramineedu (Nagineedu) is a landlord in that village and is obsessed with providing great hospitality to his guests. Due to certain circumstances, Ramu goes to the house of Ramineedu as a guest and Aparna is the daughter of Ramineedu. Ramineedu in the past had few family feuds with Ramu's family. Ramu is not aware of this flashback. Since Ramineedu is known for his hospitality, he doesn’t want to kill Ramu while he stays in his house. The rest of the story is all about how Ramu escapes from his death trap.

Artists Performance:

Sunil: We have always seen Sunil doing slap-stick comedy with into-your-face antics in his past movies. He is completely fresh and acted like a normal actor in Maryada Ramanna. He gave a natural and controlled performance. It is tough job and Sunil perfectly executes it. His dances are amazing in two songs and his body language during dances resembles that of Chiranjeevi.

Others: Saloni is refreshing in this movie. She is pretty good. Dubbing done by Sowmya is excellent. New actor Nagineedu impresses with his looks, voice and acting. Brahmaji gets another interesting character in this film after Athadu and Ek Niranjan. Supreet is nice. Rao Ramesh and Kanchi are loud in the movie (may be character demanded it). Anuj Gurwara (Panchadara bomma singer) acted in a small role. A special mention should be given for Ravi Teja who gave voiceover to Sunil’s cycle.

Technical departments:

Story - screenplay - direction: Story of the movie is simple and wafer-thin. It needs tremendous skills to pen screenplay for this story. Rajamouli comes up with a fabulous job in screenplay department. 70% of the movie takes place in a house. Hero wants to stay in house as villain wants him out of the house. There are three points of view in the story and Rajamouli clearly establishes the situation and plays around with these these points of view. The usage of cycle thread and sketch book thread is also impact-making. The progression in second half might appear slow because of the nature of the story. The director made sure that there is something in climax to make this movie worthwhile. Direction of the film is good. But, Rajamouli couldn’t get some of the scenes right in the movie (example: Kanchi comedy episode in train). The change of heart for Brahmaji also appears forced.

Music: I should give 50% of the credit for the feel in the movie to the music and back ground score. The flashback scene in the beginning of film would have been routine and boring but for the bit song composed by Keeravani. All songs in this movie are good. Keeravani used words in the background score to get the desired impact.

Other departments: Dialogues by Kanchi are neat. Cinematography by Ram Prasad is very good. Sunil never looked so handsome in his earlier movies. The house set constructed by art director Ravinder is excellent. Choreography is excellent. CG work is neat (especially fireflies). Editing is fine. Proper care was taken for costumes and styling by Rama in order to make the artists look natural.

Analysis: First half of the movie is good. Second half is neat. Climax has right emotions to make the audiences come out of the theatre with a good feel. The progression in second half is slow because of the nature of story line. The plus points are Rajamouli’s screenplay and Keeravani’s music/background score. We should appreciate Rajamouli who is riding high on success wave to choose a movie like Maryada Ramanna and directing it. This movie is not without it’s share of flaws, but they fade away because of the treatment given by Rajamouli. I would dare to call Maryada Ramanna as a musical comedy. Go and watch it.

Don Seenu Songs Download

Cast : Ravi Teja, Shreya,Anjana Sukhani, Shri Hari
Director: Gopichand Malineni
Producer: Venkat
Music Director: Mani Sharma

01 - Aidhella Vayasu - Baba Sehgal
02 - Raja Raja Raviteja - Sri Krishna, Geetha Madhuri
03 - Naa Yanakana - Venu, Rita, Bhargavi Pillaye
04 - Aduguthundhi - Hemachandra, Malavika
05 - Andhamemo Istaraku - Hemachandra, Malavika
06 - Aidhella Vayasu (Remix) - Baba Sehgal

To Download All Songs CLICK HERE

Pawan Kalyan's national popularity

Top 10 National Communities On Orkut:

At the national level, South star Pawan Kalyan is most popular, with several communities debating his movies, looks and lifestyle. Friends and Tom and Jerry also make the cut.

India
Power star Pawan Kalyan
Stylish People
Boys vs Girls
Tamil Cinema
Telugu Movie World
Friends
I love my school friends
Tom & Jerry
Selena Gomez

Mahesh Babu's Movie Title Logo

Mahesh Babu's coming movie title logo has been released.The movie name is "Khaleja". Thrivikram is directing the film and Anushka is the heroine of the film. Manisharma is giving the music. "Athadu" has come in the combination of Mahesh Babu, Thrivikram, Manisharma which was a huge hit. Mahesh fans are eagarly waiting for the movie to release and wishing it to be a big success.

200cr business in tollywood industry for next 2-3 months

All the big guns movies are releasing in the next 2-3 months. Firstly, "Maryada Ramanna". There may not be big guns in the movie but the director S.S.Rajamouli himself is a very big gun. This is the 8th movie after his 7 super hit movies. After that Pawan Kalyan's "Komaram Puli" is relesing on August 11th. Already its trailers are rocking the world. Hoping movie is gonna rock. And the most awaited movie of the year is "ROBO". It is coming in month August. Its audio is releasing on July 31. News is that Shankar and Rajni Kanth once again had a great combination and movie is going to break all india records. After 3 and half years Mahesh Babu coming with a new movie which is directed by Thrivikram. This duo already rocked the theatres once with Athadu. So hoping this duo get success again. This is going to release in September. It is completing its shooting with "Kaleja" as its working title. And last but not the least, Ravi Teja coming as "Don Seenu" in august 3rf week. After Kick Ravi Teja is hoping again he is just a few steps away from success once again. So atlast the analysis is that approxly 200 crores of business is going to be taken place in the coming 2-3 months. This is a very good news for the telugu film industry.

Maryada Ramanna Audio Review

Rating: 3.5
Music Director: M M Keeravani
Director: S S Rajamouli
Cast:Sunil, Saloni
Lyrics: Sirivennela, Anant Sreeram, Rama Jogaiah Sastri, Chaitanya Prasad
Producer: Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni

Maryada Ramanna Audio is vey nice. Personally i liked ammai kitiki, raye raye saloni, udyogaam udipoindi, telugu amai. Its a very catchy audio.

Parugulu theeyi is the last song for the movie at the time of climax. It has been written so perfectly by Sirvennela. SPB has sung very well. Its an emotional song.

Ammai kitiki song is very nice classy song with a good melody in it. With the pleasant voices of Karunya and Chaithra, song is at its best. Ofcourse, at some places song remainds us the song "Vasthava Natho", but we really dont mind it. Anantha Sri Ram gave good lyrics.

Telugu Ammai song which was sung by Keeravani and Geeta Madhuri is being liked by girls more than boys. Anantha Sri Ram gave his best for that tune.

Raye Raye song was sung by Raghu Kunche and Geetha Madhuri. Lyrics was given by Chaitanya Prasad. It is a nice fast track but at the end we are remainded by the tunes similar to vikramarkudu. But on the whole song is good.

Udyogam udipoindi is a very funny song. Hope Sunil have rocked in that song to make us laugh. Worded wonderfully by Ramajogayya Sastry and sung in a sprightly yet lackadaisical manner by Ranjith with backing vocals by Keeravani himself.

Iniesta puts Spain on top of the world

Champions of Europe and now champions of the world, Spain captured football's Holy Grail for the first time with a 1-0 victory over the Netherlands thanks to Andres Iniesta's 116th-minute strike at Soccer City.

The solitary goal came with penalties looming as substitute Cesc Fabregas played in Iniesta and the little midfielder drove emphatically across Maarten Stekelenburg and into the far corner. With this victory – their fourth successive single-goal win in South Africa – Spain became the eighth name on the FIFA World Cup™ Trophy and also the first European team to have triumphed on a different continent. For the Netherlands, who lost defender John Heitinga to a red card in extra time, there is only the heartache of another tale of what might have been after they completed a hat-trick of Final losses.

This was a match preceded by much talk of two like-minded footballing cultures, of the influence of Dutchmen like Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels, of 'tiki taka' and Total Football. In many ways, as the first 116 minutes showed, it was also a case of the irresistible force versus the immovable object. The Dutch had won 14 straight games to get to the Final, in qualifying and the tournament proper, and Spain 15 out of 16, their only slip the defeat by Switzerland in their first game here in South Africa.

It was the Spanish found their stride first, living up to their pre-game billing as favourites. Vicente del Bosque's side dominated possession and created the early chances. With the Dutch penned inside their half, goalkeeper Stekelenburg had to make a save after five minutes, diving low to stop a Sergio Ramos header from Xavi's free-kick from the right. Gerard Pique looked poised to follow up only to be denied by a combination of Joris Mathijsen and Dirk Kuyt.

Ramos came again in the tenth minute, beating Kuyt on the right and driving in a low centre that Heitinga deflected behind. From the corner came another scare for the Netherlands. Xavi played the ball back to Xabi Alonso whose cross went beyond the far post to David Villa but the in-form No7 sliced his volley into the side-netting. After those near things, however, both defences got on top with none of the flair players on either side able to take a grip on proceedings. Instead the yellow-card count began to rise with Nigel de Jong becoming the fifth player in Howard Webb's notebook by the time the half-hour mark arrived.

With the orange sections of the 84,490 Soccer City crowd finding their voice, Bert van Marwijk's men almost gave them something to sing about from a corner in the 37th minute. Robben rolled the ball to Mark van Bommel on the edge of the box and although he failed to make a clean connection he unwittingly diverted the ball on to the unmarked Mathijsen but the defender missed his kick. As half-time approached, Iker Casillas had barely had a save to make but entering stoppage time, he had to be alert to deny Robben at his near post as a spell of Dutch pressure ended with the winger spearing in a low shot from the corner of the box.

Puyol, Spain's semi-final matchwinner, showed his aerial threat once more minutes after the restart when he rose above Heitinga and headed to the far post but Joan Capdevila failed to make contact. The game was gradually opening up and the Dutch spurned a golden opportunity in the 62nd minute when Wesley Sneijder sent Robben running clear. Casillas came to Spain's rescue, deflecting the shot behind with his right foot when falling the wrong way.

Spain coach Del Bosque had already sent on Jesus Navas for Pedro on the hour and the winger helped pick a hole in the Dutch defence in the 70th minute. Xavi sent him flying down the right into the box and when Heitinga failed to deal with Navas's low cross, the ball fell to Villa who looked odds-on to score only to see his effort deflected behind. Ramos was equally profligate after 78 minutes when he headed over a Xavi centre when unmarked, after Villa had forced another corner.

Spain were looking the more likely winners and it took Sneijder of all people to foil Iniesta with a smart tackle after his jinking run into the box. Yet Robben's pace was a persistent threat and the Oranje No11 almost embarrassed Puyol in the 82nd minute, speeding clear of the Spain defender when second-favourite to reach a through-ball. Resisting Pique's attempt to tackle too, he was foiled only by Casillas, the captain saving at Robben's feet as the Dutchman tried to round him.

Extra time began with opportunities for Spain. Xavi failed to connect when well positioned and when the ball ran to Villa, his shot went wide off an orange shirt. Substitute Fabregas then broke clear on to Iniesta's through-ball but was foiled by Stekelenburg. Mathijsen headed wide from a corner but like waves, Spanish attacks kept rolling on to the Netherlands back line and Navas was close with a shot deflected into the side-netting.

Fernando Torres replaced Villa midway through the extra period and Spain gained a man advantage four minutes later with Heitinga's dismissal for pulling back Iniesta on the edge of the box, the offence earning him a second yellow. Iniesta would not be denied, however, and his fine late strike put Spain into the history books and left a Dutch dream shattered.

FIFA AWARDS

Final Tournament Standings:


Winner: Spain
Runners-Up: Netherlands
Third: Germany
Fourth: Uruguay




adidas Golden Ball:

Diego FORLAN is the winner of the adidas Golden Ball award.Diego Forlan has been named Best Player at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The Uruguay striker topped the prestigious poll of accredited media representatives ahead of the Netherlands’ Wesley Sneijder and Spain hitman David Villa. The 31-year-old Forlan took the starring role in his country’s heroic performance at the FIFA World Cup finals.

adidas Golden Boot:

Thomas Muller is the winner of the adidas Golden Shoe award.Thomas Muller’s opening goal for Germany against Uruguay in the third-place play-off proved enough to earn the Bayern Munich starlet the adidas Golden Boot. Muller finished on five goals at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but claimed the top scorer accolade thanks to no fewer than three assists, leaving him ahead of Spain marksman David Villa and Dutch hitman Wesley Sneijder, both of whom finished on five goals but with only one assist apiece.

adidas Golden Glove:

Iker CASILLAS is the winner of the adidas Golden Glove award.The Spain keeper has conceded just two goals at South Africa 2010. Under pressure after La Roja opened up with a shock defeat to Switzerland, Casillas has since answered his critics with a string of superb displays that have proved crucial to his Spain’s progress to a Final they have long dreamed about.


Last Man of the Match:

Andres INIESTA has been elected Man of the Match.





FIFA Fair Play award:

SPAIN







Best Young Player Award:

Thomas Muller is the winner of the Best Young Player Award award.Thomas Muller has been named as the Hyundai Best Young Player for his performances at South Africa 2010, in which he helped Germany to a third place finish.

Rajnikanth's Endhiran(Robot) Audio Release on JULY 31

It is already the most talked about film of the year and the buzz surrounding the film is deafening as the D day approaches. Endhiran starring Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai for the first time is poised to be the biggest film ever in the history of Indian cinema. Directed by Shankar, the film’s a magnum opus which is being produced by Sun Pictures. The film, which has been in the making for the past two years, is soon in the offing. The production of the film has been completed. Recently a song was canned at the Sun Studios in Perungudi and also in Padi, near Chennai. The audio launch of Endhiran has been planned in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 31 and it promises to be a bigger than all other Shankar, Rajinikanth’s films in the past.

Shankar began filming songs for this film in Peru, Brazil and another song was shot in Hyderabad. Few key scenes were shot in Vellore Institute of Technology and another star hotel which is yet to open its doors for the public in Chennai. Endhiran, a sci-fi film has been penned by Sujatha Rangarajan, Balakumaran and Shankar. Rathnavelu is the cinematographer and Anthony Gonsalves is the editor. National Award winner Sabu Cyril is the art director and Academy award winner A R Rahman has composed the music. Another academy award winner, Resul Pookutty is designing the sound effects for the film. Manish Malhotra and Mary E. Vogt have designed the costumes for the lead cast.

Shankar’s another production Anandhapurathu Veedu is ready for release. The latest buzz is that Shankar will fly to Los Angeles for the post production of Endhiran. Winston Studios is handling the animatronics and Industrial Light & Magic is working on the visual and special effects for Endhiran. Incidentally, this is the first time that Industrial Light & Magic will be working on an Indian film. They have been pioneers of visual effects in Hollywood with films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pirates of Carribean and Ironman to name a few.

Although the release date of Endhiran hasn’t been confirmed, it’s got enough star power to shatter box office records. Sun Pictures has negotiated a deal with HBO Pictures to release the film across the world later this year.

Allu Sirish On Released Puli Full Songs

"Had a word with Sony Music. The original CDs have been dispatched from their warehouse to reach far-away places like Chennai, Bangalore. To make it available tomm morning in stores, they have to be distributed 1-2 days in advance.

So all the music thats out is only rips from the CD, but not any "leak". Once its in the hands of shopkeepers no one can stop it from going online. Just like post-release piracy. Hope you guys enjoy the music."

Komaram Puli MP3 Songs Download

Cast: Pawan Kalyan, Nikesha Patel, Manoj Bhajpai & Shriya Saran
Direction: SJ Surya
Production: Singanamala Ramesh
Music: A.R. Rahman

1. Power Star -Vijay Prakash,Tanvi Shah
2. Amma Thalle -Naresh Iyer,Swetha Mohan
3. Maaralente -A R Rahman,kavita Baliga
4. Maham Maye-Javed Ali,Suchitra,Mili Nair
5. Dochey-Shreya Ghoshal,Lady Kash N Krissy
6. Namakame-Chitra,Madhushree,Harini

To download songs click one of the below links:
MEDIA FIRE | ZIDDU | RAPIDSHARE |

Amma Thalle Song lyrics of Released Promo

"Sutiga sutiga dheetugua dheetuga natukupoina chupula kottudu. Cheetiti matiki matiki cheetiki gatuga kottina vupiri kottudu. Dhataka dhataka geethanu dhatiki chekkili chere chekkara kottudu.

Meetaga meetaga manase meeti matalu cheppe chethala kottudu. Kotina vade daggara jarige daggara jarige siggule perige,siggulu karige premalu perige,
Premalu pindaga navvulu pandaga.... Amma Thalle Noru Muyavee.... "

Spain and Netherlands in the Grand Finale

The first FIFA World Cup™ on African soil continues to throw up historic moments at every turn, with the Netherlands and Spain emerging victorious from two tense, close-fought semi-finals to set up a Final that will guarantee a new name on the Trophy.

Up against two-time world champions Uruguay and three-time winners Germany in the last four, the Oranje and La Roja won through in Cape Town and Durban respectively and will now square off at Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium, with the winners becoming only the eighth nation to claim the coveted crown.

Both teams can offer compelling arguments for the favourites’ tag going into a showpiece occasion that will be the Netherlands' third Final appearance and Spain's first. Bert van Marwijk's Dutch charges' efficient brand of football has brought them an unbeaten run of 25 games and they are also on the verge of becoming only the second team to follow up a 100 per cent record in qualifying by winning each and every game at the final tournament. The only side to do so previously was the legendary Brazil squad of Mexico 1970.

Spain, for their part, are the reigning European champions and will be buoyed by their elimination of a Germany side that pummelled England and Argentina in reaching the last four. Can Vicente del Bosque's classy, short-passing side become the first national team to follow up UEFA European Championship success with a global triumph since West Germany in 1974?

Results
Uruguay 2-3 Netherlands
Germany 0-1 Spain

Goal of the semi-finals
Uruguay 0-1 Netherlands, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, 18 mins: What a way for the Elftal's left-back and captain to score his first goal for the national side since UEFA EURO 2008. Not only did the Feyenoord defender's strike break the deadlock in a tense semi-final, the 35-year-old posted a strong contender for goal of the tournament when receiving the ball on the left flank before thumping a stunning 40-yard drive beyond the outstretched arms of Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera and into the top corner. Curiously he had scored a virtual replica for Feyenoord in a Dutch Cup match in January.

One to remember
An intriguing subplot looking ahead to the Netherlands-Spain Final will the battle between Dutch attacking midfielder Wesley Sneijder and Spanish hitman David Villa for the adidas Golden Boot. Both the Inter Milan creator and Barcelona's newly signed forward are on five goals apiece, though both would surely forego that individual honour for a winners' medal come Sunday night at Soccer City.

Quote of the semi-finals
"I love beautiful football but I also want to win. I've been with this team for two years now and over that period I've told the players that we've got a mission to accomplish and we need to believe in ourselves. We're a small country so it's incredible that we've reached the Final. The last time we reached the title decider was 32 years ago," Bert van Marwijk, Netherlands coach.

Stat of the semi-finals
3,000,000 – On Wednesday, South Africa 2010 broke through the three-million spectator mark after 62 games played and with the Final and play-off for third place still to come. In FIFA World Cup final tournament history, only at USA 1994 and Germany 2006 did more people catch the action at first hand.

Voice of the fans
"Spain, the Netherlands and Germany were the best teams at this tournament! We're in for a great final, and Spain or the Netherlands will lift the cup for the first time ever," FIFA.com user Geoavra.

Have your say
With the likes of Sneijder, Xavi, Arjen Robben and Villa set to be involved, there will be no shortage of big names come Sunday’s Final. In your view, which of these superstars looks likely have the biggest influence on the destination of the title?

Puyol sends Spain into the Final

First Europe and now, possibly, the world for Spain, who won through to the Final of South Africa 2010 with a 1-0 victory over Germany in Durban. Carles Puyol's 74th-minute header repeated the single-goal triumph over Germany that secured La Roja the European title two years ago and now only the Netherlands stand between them and a first FIFA World Cup™ title.

Whatever the outcome at Soccer City on Sunday, there will be history made with a new name on the Trophy after Spain produced their best performance of these finals to end Germany's hopes of an eighth Final appearance and secure their first. Joachim Low’s men, by contrast, missing the suspended Thomas Muller, were unable to repeat the scintillating displays with which they swept aside England and Argentina and, as in 2006, suffered the anguish of semi-final defeat.

While Germany were playing in their 12th FIFA World Cup semi-final, this was Spain's first, although it was business as usual for Vicente del Bosque's side, who dominated possession. Indeed Spain might have had an early goal when Pedro, making his first start of the finals in place of Fernando Torres, slipped a through-ball to David Villa after just six minutes. Clear of the Germany defence, Villa produced a sliding finish but Manuel Neuer was out of his goal fast to deny the Spaniard.

There was another nervy moment to follow for Low's men after 14 minutes. From a short corner, Andres Iniesta drove in a centre that Puyol met with a flying header that, to the relief of the Germans, cleared the crossbar. Spain had more than 60 per cent of the ball in the game's first quarter but Germany, happy to sit deep and continue the counter-attacking game that had brought them such reward in previous matches, began to offer a threat. Lukas Podolski played in Mezut Ozil on the left and he duly supplied Miroslav Klose on the edge of the box, but the Bayern Munich forward was crowded out.

Iker Casillas was called into action for the first time just after the half-hour to turn behind a low 30-yard drive from Piotr Trochowski, the man brought in to replace Muller. On the stroke of half-time, Germany finally picked a hole in the Spain defence when Ozil broke into the box on to a pass from Klose. As Sergio Ramos challenged, the German midfielder went to ground but referee Viktor Kassai waved play on.

The second half began like the first, with Spain threatening Neuer's goal as Xabi Alonso drove narrowly wide from 25 yards, then Villa curled another attempt wide of the same post. The pressure intensified with the hour approaching and Germany's goal was lucky to survive intact. Pedro's low shot drew a fingertip save from Neuer and as Per Mertesacker dawdled over his clearance, Iniesta nipped in and drove a low ball across goal that the lunging Villa was within a whisker of reaching at the far post. With Germany still unable to clear their lines, Pedro then fired wide.

Low sought to change things, sending on Marcell Jansen in place of Jerome Boateng and, later, Toni Kroos for Trochowski. It was Kroos who had Germany's first attempt of the second half in the 69th minute, meeting Podoski's far-post cross with a side-footed shot that Casillas beat away.
Instead, with 16 minutes remaining, the decisive goal came at the other end. From a corner by Xavi, Puyol leapt above team-mate Gerard Pique and powered a header past Neuer. Pedro could have ensured a bigger margin of victory in the closing stages but he allowed Arne Friedrich to dispossess him after bursting through in a two-on-one with substitute Torres. It did not matter in the end, Spain's third successive 1-0 win carrying them into their first Final.

The A-Team

Rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 1hr 57mins

Genre: Action & Adventure, Comedy
Cast: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Sharlto Copley
Director: Joe Carnahan
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Story and Analysis:

Director Joe Carnahan lends his signature kinetic, seriocomic stylings to this big screen rendition of the small screen classic The A-Team. The film's opening sequence is essentially the origin of the team, introducing our four main protagonists – U.S. Army Rangers Col. John "Hannibal" Smith (Liam Neeson), Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Bradley Cooper), Capt. "Howlin' Mad" Murdock (Sharlto Copley) and Sgt. B.A. Baracus (Quinton "Rampage" Jackson) – before moving on to the main narrative.

In the last days of the U.S. occupation of Iraq (that's how we know the film is set in the future), the A-Team is given an off-the-books mission to snatch back some U.S. printing plates (it's a long story, but one inspired by true events). As expected, they're set-up and betrayed. Court-martialed and stripped of their ranks, medals and honor, the team is split up and sent off to separate prisons. As if that's going to stop them from eventually escaping, reuniting and going after those responsible for the injustice that's befallen them. The A-Team is pursued by a sketchy CIA agent named Lynch (Watchmen's Patrick Wilson) as well as Face's ex-flame, military cop Lt. Sosa (Jessica Biel). Although the film was shot entirely in Vancouver, the story takes the team around the globe, from Mexico and Iraq to Germany and Los Angeles.

The A-Team may very well be summer 2010's most pleasant surprise. It's a balls-to the-walls action flick that owes more to 1980s action movies than it does to the '80s TV series that it's adapted from. The film captures the spirit of the show and the camaraderie among its titular quartet while jettisoning much of the campy humor and ramping up the action to almost absurd levels (a tank falls out of a plane for Pete's sake!). Indeed, there's an action set-piece seemingly every 15 minutes, and yet the movie isn't so breathlessly paced as to forget to pause to have some quieter moments (even if it's just banter).

We don't know much about who these guys were before they met each other save for B.A., the only one with a bit of backstory (enough to explain where his mohawk came from). We know Hannibal was in Desert Storm and that he and Face have been brothers-in-arms longer than the rest of the team, but otherwise these guys seem to live in the moment moving from one mission to the next until their military careers (and their sense of identity) are stripped from them. Performance-wise, the four main actors for the most part do a fine job in paying homage to their small screen predecessors even as they attempt to make these beloved characters their own.

Neeson makes for a tougher, gruffer Hannibal than George Peppard's version, but he still captures that knowing glint in the eye that TV's Hannibal had. Cooper is ideal as Face, capturing the smug, roguish charm of Dirk Benedict while making Face a more believable military man. Copley proves that his acting debut in District 9 was no fluke, playing Murdock as comic relief but not quite as wacky as Dwight Schultz was. The only real weak link of the four is Rampage as B.A., but in all fairness he also had the most iconic predecessor to live up to. He's decent, but just never as intimidating as Mr. T was in any given episode of the series. On the show, the team was rather afraid of angering B.A. lest he tear them apart; these guys seem more amused than intimidated by Jackson's B.A. Even the villains aren't really that afraid of him. Jackson's B.A. is just another tough guy; Mr. T's was nitroglycerin.

The supporting cast is able but not necessarily noteworthy. Wilson makes the most of his role as company man Lynch, as does co-writer Brian Bloom as the main villain, a merc named Pike. Both actors find the humor in their otherwise standard-issue characters. Biel may be there simply to be the movie's eye candy, but thankfully she's not some damsel-in-distress and her subplot with Face doesn't take up more screen time than is absolutely necessary. It was kind of funny to see Gerald McRaney, himself the star of a 1980s TV series, in the big screen version of one of his show's small screen rivals, but he brings his down home trustworthiness to his small role as the A-Team's general in Iraq.

The A-Team offers viewers a lot of bang for their buck, perhaps a bit too much so at times. The opening prologue that establishes the team goes on a bit long, and the climactic shootout outstays its welcome. But overall The A-Team is a hell of a lot of fun and a real throwback to summer action movies of years past. You gotta love it when a TV-to-film adaptation comes together.

The Karate Kid

Rating: 3.5/5
Runtime:2hrs 9mins

Genre: Comedy,Action,Drama
Director: Harald Zwart
Written by: Christopher Murphey (screenplay), Robert Mark Kamen (story)
Cast: Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson
Released: 11th June,2010

Story and Analysis :

In this reincarnation of the film we have Jackie Chan playing the teacher (Mr. Han) and Jaden Smith playing the bullied new kid in town (Dre Parker). In this case the town is Beijing, where he and his mother have moved after the automobile factory she worked for in Detroit closed down. Apparently Dre’s mom was transferred from Detroit to China by the company (a situation that strained credulity if you ask me). She’s upbeat about pretty much everything, much like the mom in the original film, much to Dre’s chagrin.

Upon arriving he gets a crush on a local girl called Meiying (played by Wenwen Han), who is training to become a violinist and hopes to enter the prestigious Beijing Music Academy. In this version the bully is an overprotective friend of the family instead of an ex-boyfriend, and it doesn’t take too long into the movie until the initial beatdown happens.

We go through similar motions that we’ve seen in the original film, with Dre having to avoid the bully and his gang, although in this version they emphasize Dre’s fear of the bullies more than they did in the original. In a bit of adolescent revenge Dre dumps some sort of liquid on the bully and is chased and cornered by half a dozen who are beating him badly when Mr. Han comes to the rescue. The scene where Jackie Chan fends off half a dozen young kung-fu bullies is pretty amusing. Also here his character is shown to be not quite as seemingly invincible as Pat Morita’s character came across.

You know how the story will go: Mr. Han tries to reason with the evil kung-fu school teacher, reluctantly takes on Dre as a student, has Dre perform seemingly meaningless tasks for thousands of repetitions, this turns into martial arts training and we eventually end up at the big martial arts tournament.

And do they explain why they called the film The KARATE Kid instead of The KUNG FU Kid? Barely. There’s a throwaway sentence by Jaden about 30 minutes in that’s certainly not enough to justify it. They just named it that to tie it to the original, and in my opinion they could have done that with the latter (and initial) title. Bad marketing move if you ask me.

Director Harold Zwart doesn’t exactly have a high brow film pedigree (Agent Cody Banks, Pink Panther 2) and here he does an adequate job. It’s nothing spectacular but it’s not terrible, either. Sure, there were some beautiful shots of Beijing, China’s mountains and wooded areas, but I’d have to say to me it felt almost more like a made for TV movie than anything else. While Will Smith’s son Jaden is an OK little actor, he’s not yet ready to carry an entire film. There just wasn’t as much heart in the thing as they were shooting for. One thing I did get a kick out of though was where in a couple of scenes Jaden was definitely channeling his dad’s mannerisms. On the other hand some of the emphasis on how buff he was with a few shirtless scenes struck me as a bit… weird (considering he was just 11 when this was filmed). Similarly, I found a scene in which the young lady he had a crush on danced fairly provocatively (for a 12 year old) to be too much considering her age.

Besides following the overall plot of the original very closely, there were several nods to that film that were nice to see – and I thought the replacement for “wax on, wax off” wasn’t bad.

It takes a while to warm up to the characters – too long, really, but once it gets down to the final 30 minutes or so the film improves quite a bit. It was quite cute in a few places and the scene where Dre finds out the source of Mr. Han’s solemn disposition was really quite touching. And speaking of Jackie Chan, I thought he was quite good in this role – a fitting one for an aging martial arts movie master such as himself.

Overall, I’d just call this a fresh take on the original – it’s not as good (even with the first film’s 80s music throughout), but it’s not a horrible stain on the memory of that film either. My score is maybe a bit generous than it might be (half a star) because I’m concerned I might be comparing it to the original (which I saw the night before I saw this one) too much. However I think audiences will like this film, especially the young ‘uns who’ve never seen the 1984 version and won’t know ahead of time how the story unfolds. It’s rated PG so it’s OK for kids, although some of the very young ones might not like seeing Dre get beaten up pretty badly.

Toy Story 3

Rating: 4/5
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Runtime: 1 hr. 49 min.

Genre: Animation, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy, Kids & Family
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger, Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton, Kristen Schaal, Blake Clark, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, Jodi Benson, Timothy Dalton, Jeff Garlin, Whoopi Goldberg, Bonnie Hunt, R. Lee Ermey
Director: Lee Unkrich
Screenwriter: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
Producer: Darla K Anderson

Release: Jun 18, 2010

Story and Analysis:

The multiple award-winning 1995 "Toy Story" was a landmark film in many ways. Not just in terms of technology, but especially in its brilliant storytelling and themes of friendship, brotherhood and camaraderie. Fifteen years later, the team - most of them from the original, delivers a double bill. Or shall we say, triple bill.

These films prove that beyond all the technology and glitter in cinema, what truly wins audiences over is a good story well told.

Woody (Hanks), Buzz (Allen) and the gang of toys are leading a retired life as their master Andy is grown up. They make desperate attempts to get his attention, but he prefers to spend time with his laptop and would be off to college in a few days.

His mother has given him the option to either throw away the toys or donate them. But Andy plans to keep them safely in the attic. A series of unfortunate incidents lead them to the playschool 'Sunny Side Up'.

The place at first seems like a toy heaven with an endless supply of children to play with and an affable toy leader in Lotso. Woody pleads to his gang to return to Andy as that is the first duty of a toy, to be always there for their master. However, believing they have been abandoned by Andy, the gang decides to stay while Woody tries to make it home alone.

The reality of the playschool dawns on the gang as a bunch of kids thrash the toys violently while Lotso and his gang are handled in a different section by gentle kids. Barely surviving the day when the gang decides to take matters into their own hand, calamity befalls as Lotso and his gang restore Buzz to his factory setting, and imprison the rest.

On his way home, Woody learns of the true nature of the playschool and returns to try and save his friends.

There is practically nothing you can find wrong with this film. The screenplay, the characterization, the pace, the score - everything hits bulls eye. 3D, though not necessary, only enhances the experience.

A host of new characters with their idiosyncrasies and witty dialogues add to the fun. But the best thing about the film is that it neither patronises the audience (kids and adults alike), nor takes them for granted. So what you have here is the best family film you may have seen in years.

John Lasseter, who directed the first two parts, turns producer with this one, passing on the directorial baton to team mate Lee Unkrich, who's been involved as co-director and editor of films like "Finding Nemo" and "Monsters Inc".

The animation industry pioneered by Walt Disney had a resurrection with the first "Toy Story" and you can conveniently segregate modern animation films into the pre and post 'Toy Story' era. Watch "Toy Story 3" to know why it is so and why cinema, despite the glitter and glamour, will always be about basic human emotions and good story telling.

I Hate Luv Stories

Rating: 3.5/5
Banner: Dharma Productions

Genre: Comedy, Romance
Cast: Imran Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Sammir Dattani, Sameer Soni, Kavin Dave, Khusboo
Special Appearance: Aamir Ali, Pooja Ghai
Director: Punit Malhotra
Music Director: Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani
Lyricist: Anvita Dutt, Kumaar, Vishal Dadlani
Shroff, Bruna Abdullah, Pooja Ghai, Ketaki Dave, Anju Mahendru, Shirish Sharma
Producer: Karan Johar, Ronnie Screwvala
Release Date: 2 July 2010

Story and Performances:

The first thing that attracts you to I HATE LUV STORYS is its title. Let's face it, we adore love stories... at least I do. We idolise the characters decades after the movies have come and gone. The songs that come on our lips instantly while playing a game of antakshri are romantic songs as well. In fact, the biggest moneyspinners, let's face it, have been love stories, right? So how can we 'hate' a love story?

No matter how mushy or cheesy they are, we find love stories irresistible because of the tremendous rush we experience at the end. Some of us are big suckers for love sagas, aren't we? That's precisely the reason why this title [I HATE LUV STORYS] nagged me no end every time I watched the promo of this film.

Helmed by first-timer Punit Malhotra, I HATE LUV STORYS is aypical candyfloss romance with a story that's not jaw-droppingly different, let me forewarn you. But if you're young at heart or a diehard and hopeless romantic, you'd lap up I HATE LUV STORYS like a kid laps up his fav candy.

Now to the vital question: If I HATE LUV STORYS rests on a thin plot, what is it that drives the film for the next two hours? My answer to that is, four factors: The fresh pairing and chemistry between the lead cast, tremendous youth appeal, terrific music and magical moments that make a love story work.

Final word? The makers have never claimed that I HATE LUV STORYS will change the face of Hindi cinema. Nor did they ever claim that I HATE LUV STORYS will change the mindset of the viewer towards romantic films. So let's sit back and enjoy the fun ride. This one's by the youth, for the youth. It's this age-group that would come out smiling, cheering and rooting for this prem kahani.

'I hate love stories' is the maxim Jay [Imran Khan] lives by. But as an assistant director to Veer [Samir Soni], the most famous romantic film-maker of Indian film industry, Jay has little option but to live with larger than life, glossy, cinematic love on an everyday basis. Things only get worse when he is made to work under the new production designer on the film, Simran [Sonam Kapoor], with whom he shares the strangest first encounter.

Simran loves love stories, so much so that even her life has begun to resemble one. With her ideal job and the perfect boyfriend Raj [Samir Dattani], she lives a blissful, dreamy life. One that is rudely interrupted by Jay's cynicism.

Writer-director Punit Malhotra wins Round 1 by casting the right actors in the roles of Jay and Simran. In fact, it wouldn't be erroneous to state that the casting is the trump card of this film. But what Punit ought to know by now is that every story ought to have a strong grip to keep your attention arrested for the next two hours. In this case, the film rests on a waferthin plot, with not much movement in the story in the first hour. In fact, the story barely moves in the first part.

Yes, post-interval, the story does gather momentum and though you're well aware of the journey and what the culmination will be like, you don't mind the ride because you can't take your eyes off Imran and Sonam. Also, a love story works if one pines for the on-screen lovers and in I HATE LUV STORYS, you genuinely want the duo to sort things out, which means that you're involved in their lives. Even the finale - it won't be fair on my part to reveal how this movie concludes - may be filmy or cliched, but let's face it, it works.

Let me draw parallels with another love story, also starring Imran Khan. Recall the finale of JAANE TU YA JAANE NA, which had Imran riding a horse to reach his sweetheart [Genelia] at the airport. I distinctly recall, a lot of people found the end bizzare and rightly so. Can you imagine anyone galloping to the international airport in Mumbai? But I was truly surprised when I learnt that the youth were whistling and clapping all through. The finale is different here [no horses, please] and you exit the auditorium with a smile on your face.

Director Punit Malhotra is heavily inspired by Mills & Boon novels and several Bollywood films... love stories all. But like I pointed out earlier, Punit needs to polish his writing skills, although the director in him bails the writer out and takes the film to a different level. The sequences between Imran and Sonam are well penned, but the ones between Sonam and her parents or Sonam and Samir Dattani are half-baked. Directorially, Punit shows super-confidence in moulding the two actors in their respective parts, so much so that you get sucked into Jay and Simran's world after a while. A love story ought to be embellished with a lilting score - that's a compulsion - and Vishal-Shekhar are in true form this time. The score is trendy, energetic and beyond fantastic and what's more, it's already a rage. In fact, the musical score only takes the movie a step ahead. Ditto for Salim-Sulaiman's background score, which matches the mood to the T. Ayananka Bose's cinematography is awesome. The ace DoP proved his credentials in KITES recently and with I HATE LUV STORYS, he should find himself entrenched in the top bracket. The styling [Manish Malhotra] is top notch.

Imran enacts his part effortlessly. Though the role doesn't demand histrionics, you keep reacting to Imran because of the magnetism he radiates. The devilish streak in his character is sure to appeal to the youth. Besides, Imran has been photographed and presented very well. Sonam is a revelation. From salwars [SAAWARIYA, DELHI 6] to skirts in I HATE LUV STORYS, Sonam finally gets a role that does justice to her as an actress. The ease and class with which she carries off the glam look is fantastic. She's like a whiff of fresh air and you actually wonder, is she the same girl from SAAWARIYA and DELHI 6? In fact, I HATE LUV STORYS will only multiply Imran and Sonam's fan base manifold.

Samir Dattani is decent, although his role gets sidelined as the story moves forward. Samir Soni's character reminds you of a certain hi-profile director and he plays the part extremely well. Kavin Dave, as Imran's buddy, is first-rate and steals the show in several scenes. Aamir Ali is perfect, while Pooja Ghai doesn't get scope to deliver. Bruna Abdullah looks sensuous and adds to the glam quotient. Ketaki Dave [Sonam's mother] is wasted. Anju Mahendru [Imran's mother] is adequate.

On the whole, I HATE LUV STORYS is a young and vibrant love story with tremendous appeal for the yuppies. The fresh pairing and the on-screen electrifying chemistry, the lilting musical score and the magical moments in the film should attract its target audience - the youth - in hordes. If you're young or young at heart, this one's for you!

Pappu

Rating: 2.25/5
Banner: Arya Entertainment

Genre: Romantic Humor
Cast: Krishnudu, Subbaraju, Dipikka, Uttej, Banerjee, Junaid, Siva Reddy, Sangeetha, Melkote, Surya and others

Music: Phani Kalyan
Cinematography: Kesani Rajendra
Editing: Chandrasekhar
Story, screenplay, direction: Sapan Pasumarthy
Producers: Praveen Reddy, Yada Nagesh
Release date: 25/06/2010

The fat but cute and highly talented Krishnudu has now arrived with a new venture and this time, he is accompanied by a team of talented debutantes.

Story:
Pappu (Krishnudu) is a young man whose life is written with bad luck. His helping nature and kind heart tends to do good to others but at his own expense. His life takes a turn when he sees Radha (Dipikka), his boss’s (Banerjee) daughter and begins to like her. However, Dipikka gets kidnapped by few goons and this puts her family in a dilemma. They call for the help of the ace detective Ram (Subbaraju) and due to a sentiment, even Pappu is sent in the search mission. What is that sentiment? How does a guy riddled with bad luck help Ram? What happens to Pappu’s love story? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
This is an entirely new Krishnudu that we see. He has grown in confidence and his body language is more demonstrative. He is able to emote the expressions very well and does full justice to his character. His efforts and commitment levels are praiseworthy.

Dipikka is a natural beauty and has shades of Sharmila Tagore in few angles. She has shown ease in front of the camera though it is her debut attempt and she can do well if she works on her expressions and lip movement. She needs to change her hairstylist though…

Subbaraju looks handsome as ever but for some reason, he has imbibed Mahesh Babu in his expressions, body language and dialogue delivery. It looks like the ‘Pokiri’ effect is still strong on him. He is a naturally talented and high caliber actor so if he just does his own bit, that will give him great results. But it is good to see an elevated character for him in the film.

Banerjee was good, Uttej was apt, Surya was brief, Junaid did his bit as required, Siva Reddy was not used to his potential, the others tried to contribute in their own way.

Analysis
The film takes off on an interesting note but then it fails to get the audience into the flow. The key flaw in the entire movie is the weak direction. The presentation was somewhat okay but the narrative was poor.

Dialogues were strictly okay, script was average and the screenplay was not upto the mark. Since the storyline is known, a lot depended on how the characters are etched and what is the intensity they are showing to attract the audience into the film.

Though the lead cast gave spirited performances, it didn’t work that much due to the lack of depth in their characters. Editing was abrupt, background score was convincing but it could have been avoided at some scenes. Songs opened very well but lost grip in between, the ‘Anjaneya Stotram’ was impressive.

The film will have good openings at many centers due to the presence of Krishnudu and also due to the interesting combination of Subbaraju and Krishnudu. However, it would take some aggressive publicity and positive word of mouth for the film to sustain decent collections.

Bottomline: Just okay, could have been much better.

Jhummandi Naadam

Rating: 3/5

Genre: Romance/Music
Banner: Sri Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures

Cast: Manoj Manchu, Tapsee, Mohan Babu, Suman, etc

Music: MM Keeravani
Cinematography: S Gopal Reddy
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Art: Raghu Kulkarni
Base Story: Bhupati Raja
Story - screenplay: Gopi Mohan - BVS Ravi
Dialogues: Rajasimha
Direction: K Raghavendra Rao
Producer: Lakshmi Manchu
Release date: 1 July 2010
Theater watched: INOX,Maddilapalem,Vizag.


Review
Story

Balu (Manoj Manchu) has only one mission in his life - to become a great playback singer like SP Balu. He challenges a landlord in his village and comes to Hyderabad to become a singer. Captain Rao (Mohan Babu) stays in the opposite house. He is an old-fashioned man who hates the lifestyle of new generation. Sravya (Tapsee) is an NRI girl who stays in her father’s friend Captain Rao’s house. She is in India to do documentary on traditional Telugu music. Balu acts as a local guide to her and in the process, they fall in love. Captain Rao doesn’t like them fall in love. The rest of the story is all about Captain Rao’s restrictions and how the lovers emerge unscathed.

Artists Performance

Manoj Manchu: Manoj Manchu comes up with another rocking performance in this movie. His styling and dialogue delivery is more like of those characters we see in comic books and video games that are developing using comic books. His performance in the confrontation scene leading to interval is good. He matched the screen presense and comedy timing of Mohan Babu in the scenes involving both of them.

Tapsee: K Raghavendra Rao gives Telugu film industry another commercial heroine in the form of Tapsee. She has good camera friendly looks and reminded me of Rambha in many ways. She is effervescent and bubbly. She is good at acting too. It is no wonder that she grabbed many projects before the release of her first movie. She is going to be a good glamorous heroine in Telugu. It is up to her to choose right projects to make herself a performing actress too.

Others: Mohan Babu plays the third most important character in the film. It is nice of Mohan Babu to allow others (including comedians) to have satires on him (especially ‘I appreciate you’ dialogue). He is comical most of the time and performed with extreme passion in intense scenes. Brahmanandam entertains though his comedy is of old-fashioned type. Ali is humorous as ‘naa name ranjith. Naa game encounter’. MS Narayana is extremely funny as the sidekick of Mohan Babu. Suman, Dharmavarapu, Apoorva, Sudha, Ahuti Prasad and Aishwarya are adequate. Tanikella Bharani is powerful in a small role.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: The basic story given by Bhupati Raja is simple. K Raghavendra Rao handled this simple story in a simplistic way by including adequate commercial elements so that it reaches everybody. Screenplay of the movie is adequate. K Raghavendra Rao proves that there is no retirement for creativity and age never becomes a disadvantage while dealing with romantic subjects. He has shown the heroine Tapsee in the most glamorous way. He also made sure that there is something in the film for A/B/C center audiences. There are a few old-fashioned scenes for the sake of commercial elements. But they are minimal and they don’t disturb the flow of the narration. There is trademark of K Raghavendra Rao in songs picturization of the movie.

Other departments: Music by MM Keeravani is good and background music is also handled well. I rate the 3rd song (shot in Kerala) as the best song in the movie. The last song (desamante Mattikadoi) is the life of the movie. All songs are picturized colourfully. Cinematography by S Gopal Reddy is very good. However, he should have shot stunt sequences in a better way. Dialogues by Rajasimha are good. Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh is smooth. Art direction by Raghu is neat. Production values by debutant producer Lakshmi Manchu are very good with rich visuals.

Analysis: First half of the movie is nice. Tempo goes down in the second half a bit. The climax song makes it up for all. Plus points of the film are main leads (Manoj’s comedy and Tapsee’s glamour) and K Raghavendra Rao’s commercial elements coupled with attractive music/visuals. On the flip side, old-fashioned story might not be liked by urbane crowds. On a whole, Jhummandi Naadam is a film that has something for every kind of audience (A, B or C). It is a K Raghavendra Rao's masala entertainer that has all ingredients do well at box office.

Vedam

Rating: 3.5/5

Genre: Romance/Action
Banner: Arka Mediaworks

Cast: Allu Arjun, Manoj Manchu, Anushka, Nagayya, Manoj Bajpai, Deeksha Seth, Lekha Washington, Siya Gowtam, Satyam Rajesh, Brahmanandam, Saranya, Ravi Prakash, Pruthvi, Posani Krishna Murali, Krish (guest) etc

Music: MM Keeravani
Cinematography: VS Gnana Sekhar
Editing: Sravan
Fights: Ram - Lakshman
Art: Rajiv Nayyar
Story - screenplay - dialogues - direction: Radha Krishna (Krish)
Producer: Prasad Devineni & Shobu Yarlagadda
Release date: 4 June 2010
Theater watched: INOX,Maddilapalem,Vizag


Review
Story

Story 1: Chakravarthy (Manoj Manchu) is an aspiring rock star. His mother wants him to serve army just like his deceased father. Chakravarthy wants to follow his heart to become a rock star. He starts from Bangalore to Hyderabad to give his first live performance.

Story 2: Ramulu (Nagayya) is a weaver from Sirisilla. His grandson is a bright student. Ramulu owes 50000 rupees to a financier and the financier takes Ramulu's son as a daily labour. Ramulu desperately needs money to get his kid back and put him in school. He finds a way of procuring the money and visits Hyderabad along with his daughter-in-law for that purpose.

Story 3: Saroja (Anushka) is a prostitute in Amalapuram. She works for a brothel company and she gets a cut of 20% as the pimp takes away rest of it. Her dream is to go to Hyderabad and start her own brothel company. She dupes her employer and flees to Hyderabad overnight with her hijda assistant.

Story 4: Raheemulla Khureshi (Manoj Bajpai) gets discrimnated in Hyderabad for being a muslim and he wants to leave for Dubai to make a living out there. He gets his visa and was about to fly to Dubai from Hyderabad. But his past catches up with him.

Story 5: Cable Raju (Allu Arjun) is a cable operator in the slums of film nagar. He gets hold of a rich girlfriend (Deeksha Seth). He dupes her saying that he is rich kid and spends lot of money on her. She asks him to take her to New Year party eve for which the entry ticket costs rs. 40000 per couple. He is in search of that money.

Artists Performance

When certain directors make movie, they make sure that each and every character is impactful and well-etched. Krish is one of those very few directors in Telugu cinema. Allu Arjun comes up with an awesome performance as cable Raju who pretends as a rich guy to his girlfriend. His performance in realization scenes towards climax is his best in his career. He has also entertained as a brat. Manoj Manchu comes up with another honest performance as an aspiring rock star. His performance in the hospital scenes and the scene with his mother is excellent. He performed the live action in the scene where he breaks the glass of car. Anushka titillates as the prostitute Amalapuram Saroja. She oozed sexiness and effused the vulnerability/innocence needed for the character. Nagayya is authentic for a first-timer. Manoj Bajpai comes up with power-packed performance as a righteous Muslim who is troubled by the cop. Deeksha Seth is sexy with nice smile and dimples. She has done well. The voice dubbed to her is excellent and that voice suited the Telugu we hear from the upmarket Hyderabad girls. Lekha Washingon is good as a companion of Manoj Manchu. Satyam Rajesh is excellent as side kick of hero. The person who has done the hijra role is the personal makeup man of Anushka and that person did an excellent job. Ravi Prakash comes up with his finest performance as a cop who hates Muslims. Brahmanandam is entertaining in a small role. Raghu Babu, Pruthvi and Posani Krishna Murali are entertaining in their brief roles. Giri is good in the noticeable character of a pimp. Director Krish who appeared in Che Guevara get-up as a naxalite in Gamyam appears again in Vedam as an entertaining Baba.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: It is a multiple story film where all the stories converge into the climax of the movie. It is extremely difficult task to narrate five different stories in one film in a gripping style. Krish who is just one film old comes up with terrific work in his second movie. He connected all the stories with brilliant screenplay. Each and every character in this movie has human element in it. Screenplay of the movie is authentic. Krish has shown how he sticks to the core human elements without losing the undercurrent commercial elements with his debut film Gamyam. He maintains the same philosophy in this multi-storied film as well. First half of the movie looks little disjointed because, the director has to establish and narrate five different stories. He connects all the stories well and gave a gripping narration in the second half. The transformation of characters from having selfish goal to do selfless service might appear similar to crash where all positive characters turn negative and vice versa. The climax scene reminds us of 26/11 Mumbai episode.

Other departments: Music by Keeravani is good. Songs are nicely integrated into story line except for Allu Arjun’s party song. Background music is very good and very apt for the movie. Dialogues by Krish are an asset for the movie. He penned entertaining dialogues and humanity-oriented ones extremely well. Cinematography of the film is of top-notch quality. Action sequences by Ram – Lakshman are well-choreographed. Editing by Sravan is excellent. Art direction by Rajeev Nair is nice. Producers Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni should be appreciated for producing sensible/coming-of-age film like Vedam (more so because they come from the family of K Raghavendra Rao who is known for commercial cinema).

Analysis: First half of the movie gets interesting towards the interval. Second half is good. It is a big experiment to do such a sensible movie with commercial actors like Allu Arjun, Manoj Manchu and Anushka. Three of these actors should be complimented for coming forward to act in this movie. Such big names help in taking this movie into masses. Vedam also shows the finest taste of producers. The success of Vedam will propel sensible producers to encourage new subjects and different screenplays in Telugu film industry. Krish proves himself with Vedam that he is a director who can take Telugu sensible films beyond regional borders. This film will be liked by classes and A center audiences. If masses and B/C centers patronages Vedam, it will not only do good to the film, but to the entire Telugu film industry. On a whole, Vedam is a good film. Please watch it and encourage good/meaningful cinema.