Dohchay Movie Review

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_single_image image=”145″ style=”vc_box_outline” border_color=”black” img_link_large=”” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”full”][vc_column_text css_animation=”top-to-bottom” css=”.vc_custom_1440768034763{background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][review][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]STORY: Chandu, a conman, has two goals to in life – to get his father released from jail and make sure that his sister becomes a doctor. And in the process, he crosses path with Manikyam, a criminal who is responsible for wrecking his family. The rest of the story is about how Chandu takes revenge on Manikyam and achieve his goals.

MOVIE REVIEW: Dohchay is a crime comedy about a conman, Chandu (Naga Chaitanya) who has the world at his feet. He just spots his prey like an eagle and accomplishes his job as if he’s born to do that, without any fear that he might get caught. But he’s also a guy who has principles. In fact, he cons people to be able to afford the college fees of his sister, who wants to become a doctor and to secure the release of his father, who is in jail. And he has no qualms to risk his own life to achieve these two goals. In the middle of all this, he falls in love with Meera (Kriti Sanon). And like every other film in this genre, there’s a motif – a bag containing Rs 2 crores. By a stroke of luck Chandu gets his hands on the bag, which triggers a chain of events, where everything that he had planned could tumble down.

Now, all this sounds like a perfect masala for a intriguing con drama, but what we get in the end is a partly entertaining, a watered-down version of everything you expect from a film in this genre. For all its well-conceived scenes, there’s barely any sense of urgency or adrenaline rush that might put Chandu in real danger. There’s always a plan B and Chandu makes every act of his seem like a child’s play. As if that’s not enough, his biggest nemesis, Manikyam (Posani Murali Krishna) is more of a comic-villain, who himself acknowledges that his personality doesn’t scare anyone around him. No wonder, we don’t take anyone or anything seriously in the film, and the film itself doesn’t suck us into its broad canvas.

At one point, you begin to wonder if this how it feels like to see a potentially good idea losing track of its tone and drama? Maybe. Maybe not. Because, if there’s anything which you take back after watching a Telugu film is the number of times you laughed and in that sense, Dohchay delivers quite well. The entire track featuring Posani Murali Krishna, Viva Harsha and Trilok is hilarious and the trio are lucky to get the best lines in the film. Then there’s the ever dependable Brahmanandam, who plays a lecherous movie actor named Bullet Babu. His entry into the story is one of the high points and as long as he’s around, nothing else seems to matter. Saptagiri has a brief cameo and his interactions with Naga Chaitanya are pretty funny as well.

Filmmaker Sudheer Varma, who made his debut with Swamy Ra Ra, is clearly in love with crime comedy genre and throughout the film, there are subtle references to other movies, which he tries to pay tribute to. The biggest of them all has got to do with Naga Chaitanya’s characterisation itself. Chandu comes across as a more polished and subtle 21st century version of Deva, a character which Nagarjuna had played in Hello Brother. Both of them are small time crooks, who are driven by their zeal to stand as a pillar of support to their respective sisters. Then there are plenty of Mexican-stand offs, which are common in films of Quentin Tarantino. For instance, take that scene that occurs just before the interval – it has the hallmark of a filmmaker who knows how a set of random events can come together in a spectacular fashion. Despite all this, the film never really goes on top gear and struggles to keep up with the pace that it merits.

Naga Chaitanya finds himself in the role where he has to underplay everything, whereas Kriti Sanon looks the part as a tomboy; however, the lack of romance between the two leaves a lot to be desired. Richard Prasad’s cinematography is a big asset to the film and the action sequences are well-composed. Beyond all its fine moments and laugh-out-loud moments, it all boils down to an elaborate con job. While Chandu pulls off a con job quite easily, in the end, we also realise that someone else has pulled off a con job on the film itself and took away its energy. No wonder, despite having all the elements, it just doesn’t add up to make a fine film.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_video title=”Dochey Movie Trailer” link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2LK5HCUdIU” css=”.vc_custom_1437642332505{background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: contain !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

S/O Satyamurthy

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text css_animation=”right-to-left” css=”.vc_custom_1440767775821{background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][review][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”left-to-right” css=”.vc_custom_1437643601754{background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: contain !important;}”]STORY: The film narrates the story of an youngster, who vows to live by the values taught by his father. However, his life turns topsy-turvy when his father passes away in a freak accident.

MOVIE REVIEW: You can trust Trivikram Srinivas to hit all the right notes, especially when it comes to exploring familial relationships. If his previous film, Atharintiki Daredhi dealt with the relationship between a hero and his aunt, his latest drama S/O Satyamurthy is all about the father-son bonding. Unfortunately, the film only has glimpses of everything one expects from Trivikram and Allu Arjun, which is a pity.

The film is narrated from Viraj Anand’s (Allu Arjun) point of view. And right from the onset, we are told that he wants to continue his father’s (Satyamurthy) legacy. In the process, he finds himself becoming the very thing his father wanted him to be – a humble, caring and kind person. Satyamurthy (Prakash Raj) is the epitome of all the goodness in the world, which in turn has a huge impact on Viraj. One fine day, Viraj’s life turns topsy-turvy when his father passes away in an accident. Later, he becomes the pillar of support to his family and the rest of the story is about how he regains everything that he loses in the beginning. In the midst of this riches-to-rags-to-riches story, he finds himself confronting Devaraj (Upendra), who holds the key to prove that Satyamurthy is truly a man of honour.

At a thematic level, the film sounds near perfect and it almost seems like Trivikram wants us to believe that there is still plenty of hope left in this world. That not everyone is cunning and cruel, and more importantly, your actions will have a long lasting impression on people around you. What’s also interesting about the film is that it presents a smartly written character study of Viraj, especially when he tries to dig deep within himself to explore his relationship with his father. His girlfriend, Sameera (Samantha) is a diabetic; Sameera’s father (Rajendra Prasad) is obsessed with money; Devaraj himself loves his wife (Sneha) so much that he wouldn’t spill any blood in front of her.

Despite all these interesting aspects, the film just doesn’t have the verve of an Allu Arjun’s film or the structure of a Trivikram’s film, where you care about every character till the end. However, it’s by no means a lazy film. In the beginning, the unpredictability of the proceedings takes you by surprise, but in the larger scheme of things, they don’t just add up to the extent where you would be forced to invest emotionally in the characters. What this film has in plenty is dialogues – the exact type of rhythmic lines you expect from Trivikram. His obsession with epics, Gods and rise of heroes in mythology finds ample space in the script and just to make it clear what exactly he is trying to suggest, Trivikram makes several characters quote instances from the lives of Rama, Sita, Ravana, Yudhisthira, and Karna to name a few. While the analogies are apt, it’s a million dollar question if the director has lost faith in the audience to grasp the subtext in the film.

Allu Arjun finds himself in a new avatar, both in terms of styling and performance. While he has certainly toned down the quantum of energy, which he brings into most of his characters, you begin to wonder if he’s too big to fit into Viraj Anand’s shoes. Except in scenes where he gets sucked into a whirlpool of emotions while talking about his father, it’s tough to root for him. In the second half, it’s actors like Upendra, Rajendra Prasad and Sneha who steal the show with their respective performances. Samantha and Nithya Menen play their roles well, although there’s only so much that you can expect from them, knowing that they aren’t in the spotlight for most part of the film. On the other hand, Adah Sharma has a small role to play where she has more dialogues that begin with ‘actually’ than the expressions she’s allowed to portray.

In the end, there are a bunch of interesting moments and well-written dialogues that linger in your mind. But, this is far from the best works of Trivikram or Allu Arjun in recent times. It’s not even the lack of enough number of rip-roaringly hilarious scenes that strikes your mind, but the randomness with which most part of the film has been dealt with that is more jarring. The film works well as an idea, and leaves you with enough questions and thoughts to reflect upon your own life, but as a cinematic experience, it leaves a lot to be desired.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpnENU952gc” css=”.vc_custom_1437643676239{background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Tiger Movie Review

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text css_animation=”left-to-right”][review][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]STORY:  The story starts off with an injured Vishnu (Rahul Ravindran) being rushed to the hospital. He then reminisces about his happy-go-lucky past — how he, as a child, became friends with fellow orphan Tiger (Sundeep Kishan), how he met the love of his life Ganga (Seerat Kapoor) and how things brought him to where he is right now. The movie then cuts to the present with his friend Tiger avenging the harm inflicting on Vishnu in a case of an attempted honour killing. And of course, the movie has a happy ending with the couple being re-united by Tiger.

MOVIE REVIEW:The way the screenplay goes, it seems as if Sundeep Kishan has very little to do with the story except being Rahul Ravindran’s bodyguard and avenger. He does nothing except fight and release outbursts of punchline-filled dialogues. Rahul Ravindran gives his trademark performance with his standard angst and shock expressions throughout the movie; barring the few scenes when he is wooing the Seerat Kapoor. The same can be said about Seerat Kapoor; who does nothing more than what every female lead does in a mass entertainer — smile, get angry, cry and hug. Rahul woos Seerat in the stereotypical stalk-till-we-get-together style and the chemistry between the two is lost somewhere in the first 40 minutes of the film.
The saving grace of the film is the comedy. The comedians Thagubothu Ramesh, Chitram Seenu, Satya, Raghu and Fish Venkat who deliver slapstick comedy scenes that ensure laughter and some scenes with the baddies which are total rib-ticklers, (spoiler) like the scene where the henchman who is supposed to kill Rahul’s character is the one who ends up donating blood to him.
The only convincing actor in the movie is perhaps Bobby Parvez, the Bollywood actor who plays Seerat Kapoor’s father.
The other good thing about the movie is the intention to raise awareness on honour killing. Rest of the plot gives the audience a Deja vu of Arya 2. The first half is a painfully long build up to the main story and the second half has nothing but fights and forced realizations. Music by SS Thaman is mediocre at best. The first song Samayya, is worth listening to. All the other songs, like Vaddura Mama and Hey Tiger are bland. Most of the background score of the movie seems heavily inspired from various dubstep tracks.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]