100 Days of Love movie review

Movie Name  :  100 Days of Love
Rating            :  3.00 / 5
Starring         :  Dulquer Salmaan, Nithya Menon, Sekhar Menon, Vineeth, Praveen, Rahl Madhav and others.

Story              :  Jenus Mohamed

Music             : Govind Menon 
Background score : Bizibal Cinematography : Prateesh Varma
Dialogues : Shashank VennelakantiEditing            :  Sandeep Kumar
Producer        : Venkata RAthnam
Screen play & Direction :  Jenus Mohamed
Date of Release  :  26th August, 2016

"100 Days of Love"  is a Malayalam romantic comedy movie written and directed by Jenus Mohamed.  This film was released in Malayalam language in 2015 world wide.  It received positive reviews from critics.  

Dulquer Salman and Nithya Menon have become hit pair with the movie "Ok Bangaram" all over South India.  So the Malayalam film is dubbed into Telugu in order to capatilize on that craze.

In order to encash on the hit combination of Nithya Menon and Dulquer Salmaan,  the makers of the Malayalam movie "100 Days of Love" dubbed the movie into Telugu with the same title and released the movie on 26th August, 2016.  Let us see how the film is going to be..

Story  :

The story of the film is about a writer called Rao Gopal Rao ( Dulquer Salmaan ) who is a rich person who leads life on his terms rather than bothering about family.  He works as a writer for an English daily, but aims to become a Comic Cartoonist.  He faces few problems due to his aggressive nature.  One fine day he accidentally meets Savithri ( NIthya Menon ) 
in a taxi and it is like love at first site for him.  Savithri disappears in a flash after their first meeting.  So he starts searching for her and after lot of difficulties manages to find her. 

Gopal goes in search of Savithri and he comes to know that Savithri is already engaged to some other guy.  What did Gopal do then? Did he sacrifice his love or won the heart of Savithri?    Gopal also comes to know that Savithri is his old school mate whom he hated all the life.   The rest of the story is how Gopal changes his mind and manages to win Savithri who is already engaged to the other guy...

Performance of the artists  :

It is always a great pleasure to watch the excellent actors like Dulquer Salman and Nithya Menon together.  They gave a matured performance and the sequence looked natural.    In the role of Hero's friend, Sekhar Menon earns good marks.  He did a nice job during funny scenes and touches the hearts of audience with emotional sequence in climax.  Vineeth made a comeback after a longer gap and he did well.  Rahul Madhav is perfect as arrogant guy.

Dulquer Salman comes out with matured action similar to "Ok Bangaram" movie.  In the role of a writer whose creative urges ( he wants his comic strip on Obama  to be published in the news paper he works for ) don't get fulfilled.  As Savithri's fiance, he is very convincing.   

Next comes Nithya Menon whose performance was excellent.  Though she has very less to do in first half, she covers things well during the second half.  The second half has some breezy and romantic moments which can go well with youngsters.  The last fifteen minutes of the film is a bit interesting.   Pradeesh Varma's cinematography cackles up the screen.  The lighting and camera angles are beautiful.  Back ground music is not bad but OK.  

Technical aspects of the movie :

The production values are just average as the film looks quite dull.  Dubbing is very good but the background music is not that much good.  Telugu dialogues are written nicely.  Editing is not good.  Director has done a very ordinary job.  He just took the lead pair and played around their stardom.  Had he introduced the heroine a little earlier and made things breezy, things could have become a little better.

Overall analysis of the movie :

The basic story of "100 Days of Love "  is nothing different from hundreds of routine love stories we have seen in the past.  For a love story, it is very important to see whether the audience get connected with the lead pair and does it have required feel to move the viiewers.  This movie is successful in these aspects. 

Even though the movie is predictable,  matured performance and the feel-good factor works in the favour of the movie.   The slow narration could test the patience of the audience.  Though Climax is similar to what audience would expect, Director succeeded in making the viewers sit in their seats till the very end.

See the Trailer of the movie "100 Days of Love "  below......

Babu Bangaram movie review - Babu boredom

Movie Name  :  Babu Bangaram
Rating            :  2.25 / 5
Starring         :  Venkatesh, Nayanathara, Savukaru Janaki, Sampath, Vennela Kishore, Prudhvi, Brahmanandam, Posani Krishna Murali and others
Banner           : Sithara Entertainments
Story              :  Dasari Maruthi
Music             : Ghibran
Cinematography : Richard Prasad
Editing            :  Uddhav
Producer        : Suryadevara Naga Vamsi, PDV Prasad
Screen play & Direction :  Dasari Maruthi
Date of Release  :  12th August, 2016

Venaktesh who is in his 50's wanted to slow down and it took nearly one year before signing "Babu Bangaram" movie.   So there was so much curiosity about the movie and had good expectations.  Audience were curious about the story and thought that it would be special because this movie was done by Venkatesh after a long gap.  When the trailer came, it has proved that "Bobbili Raja" is back once again.  Director Maruthi is also on the success track in recent times.  He recently had a hit movie with Nani.  So all these factors created a great hype around this movie.  Is it really that much worth to create a hype?  Let us see what is there in the story of "Babu Bangaram".

Story  :

ACP   Krishna ( Venkatesh ) is a kind hearted man and he comes to know about Sailaja ( Nayana Thara ) and her problems.  Her father Sastry ( JP) is hiding some where as a goon (Sampath) is after him  Sailaja runs her family with her catering business and faces some issues.  ACP Krishna introduces himself as a common man and starts helping her.  They develop a bond and she accepts his love.  But actually Krishna has another agenda in his mind.  She comes to know that ACP Krishna wants to send her father to jail who is accussed in a murder case.  Why her father is absconding? Did he really commit the crime.  Does Sailaja realize the intention of ACP Krishna? Grab the tickets of "Babu Bangaram" to find the answers!!.

Performance of artists  :

Venkatesh has been playing middle aged guy roles in recent times.  But he is now back playing a young role.  As ACP Krishna he has shown his fitness and tough body.  He has exhibited comedy as well in this movie with assured manner. 

Nayanathara role is quite boring.  She is not seen much in the movie but she looks perfect for Venkatesh.  She neither impressed with glamour nor performance.  It is the performance of Prudhvi that entertains the audience.  Vennela Kishore is a waste.  Posani has done his best in the second half.  Sampath as a villain is OKay.  Rest of the actors have nothing much to do.

Technical aspects of the movie  :

Maruthi has made the movie with good production values.  The songs composed by Ghibran were good.  Even the background music is quite good.  Richard Prasanna's camera has given the movie a bright look.  Dialogues are good.  Editing is good.  But this movie is the weakest i the career of Maruthi both as a Director as well as Writer.  However, Maruthi score heavily as he ends the last fifteen minutes with some good dose of comedy and brings vintage Venky back.

On the whole, Babu Bangaram showcases Venky in yet another interesting role after a long time. Venky’s performance in various shades and decent comedy during the first half are huge assets

Srirasthu Subhamasthu movie review - The family hang over

Movie Name  :  Srirasthu Subhamasthu
Rating            :  2.7.5 / 5
Starring         :  Allu Sirish, Lavanya Tripathi, Prakash Raj, Hamsa Nandini, Rao Ramesh, Sumalatha, Subbaraju, Pragati, Ali, Tanikella Bharani and others
Banner           : Geetha Arts
Story              :  Parasuram
Music             : Thaman S.S
Cinematography : Manikandan
Editing            :  Marthand K Venkatesh
Producer        : Allu Aravind
Screen play & Direction :  Parasuram
Date of Release  :  5th August, 2016

Allu Sirish who is the younger son of producer Allu Aravind did not impress any one with his first two films "Gouravam" and "Kotha janta" even though the latter was a hit.  "Srirasthu Subhamasthu"  is a third attempt of Allu Sirish to prove himself.  This time the trailer of the movie directed by Parasuram has generated superb buzz and increased the expectations.  Has Allu Sirish scored a better score now?  Let us see what is the story of "Srirasthu Subhamasthu" movie..

Story  :

Sirish ( Allu Sirish )  is a son of a millionaire.  He is a jolly guy.  On a Kashmiri trip he sees Anu ( Lavanya Tripathi ) who is a middle class girl and a student studying in Vizag.  But Sirish's father ( Prakash Raj ) disapproves their alliance as he does not hae a good opinion on middle-class people and believes such girls trap rich kids.  Sirish tells his father that not all girls love rich people for money.  He challenges his father that he will win the heart of Anu without using his family background.  If she loves him as he is, not for his background, Sirish's father has to change his opinion or he would marry any girl his father arranges for 
him.  Both father and son agree to this challenge and he goes to Vizag and starts wooing her.  Has he succeeded in this mission?  Did Sirish's father change his opinion and agree for their marraige? Watch "Srirasthu Subhamasthu" movie in theater to know more.......

Performance of the artists  :

Allu Sirish tried to put a lot of efforts to improve himself but he has not changed despite acting in two films.  But this time his performance was a little better compared to earlier two films.  He impressed every time he acted in a casual manner.  How ever he appeared clueless in few scenes and presented a blank face.  He still needs to work on his body language.

Lavanya Tripathi as a middle class girl impresses with gorgeous looks and performance.  She got into the skin of her role so well.  But she has lost charm on her face due to weight loss.

The senior actors Rao Ramesh and Prakash Raj excelled in their performance.  In fact they are the strength to the movie. Their performance have changed the course of the story in second half.  Particularly they have taken the movie to a whole new level in climax.  Sumalatha was waste. Tanikella Bharani, Ranadhir, Ravi Prakash were alright.   Ali has come up with better comedy after a long gap.  His comedy with Subbaraju has generated some good laughs.

Technical Aspects of the movie:

The music by Thomas is decent and he showed his expertise by offering a feel-good music.  Songs and background score are very impressive. Cinematography by Manikandan is very rich.  Editing is not bad.  The movie was shot lavishly with rich locations and sets.  There is nothing to complain about production values of Geetha arts.  Parasuram is equally good as writer as well as Director. 

Highlights of the movie:

• Prakash Raj – Sirish Bommarillu scene
• Rao Ramesh performance
• Comedy in the second half
• Climax episode

The only drawback in this movie is that it is a routine story and first half is boring and lack of acting skills of Allu Sirish.

Overall analysis of the movie:

The telugu romatic movies are following the same pattern from the days of "Nuvvu Naku Nacchavu", or "Chiru Navvutho" or "Bommarillu".  Either hero comes to heroine house or heroine comes to hero's house.  Father -son, Father-daughter become emotional in second half -  like this kind of sequences are used in many movies.

If you see the recent movie "Nenu Shailaja", here too the hero comes to heroine's house and makes her father realize what his daughter is sacrificing for him.  This tested formula is used by Director Parasuram again in "Shrirasthu Shubhamasthu".

The movie itself starts with a dull note.  The introduction of hero Allu Sirish, how he meets Lavanya and he joining her house.  All these scenes are handled in a boring manner and irritates us.

When we get restless, Director throws the emotional angle between Rao Ramesh and his daughter Lavanya and showly builds the drama.  The movie becomes watchable towards the interval.  There is a good amount of comedy after the interval, we should be thankful to Ali for his comedy.

Sirish coming out to his home in the end and confronting his father Prakash Raj is similar to "Bommarillu":.  Rao Ramesh talking about middle class mentally reminds us the previous movie of this director "Solo".  The comedy track on Ali and Subbaraju is entertaining.

But how long these writers and directors show the story in the same way where a random guy comes to the heroine's house when she is about to get married and then he fooling everyone in the family and creating hangama.  Where on earth will parents welcome a guy before wedding rituals start and allow the would-be of the girl to turn into a bakra in the hands of this hero?   Despite this kind of scenes, the movie is entertaining in second half and the climax episodes are good.  All in all it is a regular romantic drama.

Manamantha Movie Review - Beautiful and Realistic!!

Movie Name  :  Manamantha
Rating            :  3.5 / 5
Starring         :  Mohan Lal, Gauthami, Viswanth, Baby Raina Rao, Anisha Ambrose, Vennela Kishore, Tarakaratna, Krishna Chaitanya, Nasser, Urvashi, Gollapudi Maruthi Rao, Naresh, Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao and Others
Banner           : Vaarahi Chalana Chitram
Story              :  Yeleti Chandra Sekhar
Music             : Mahesh Shankar
Cinematography : Rahul Shrivastav
Editing            :  Chandrasekhar G.V
Producer        : Sudarshan Reddy R
Screen play & Direction :  Yeleti Chandra Sekhar
Date of Release  :  5th August, 2016


We all know that Yeleti Chandra Sekhar is well known for his unique story and out of the box movies.  He created a mark of his own with moview -"Aithe", "Anukokunda Oka Roju", and "saahasam".

Chandra Sekhar has re introduced Malayalam Super star Mohanlal once again to Tollywood in this movie.  So he created a huge buzz by introducing Mohanlal to play a lead role in the movie "Manamantha".  Also starring Gauthami as female lead, the film has hit the screens today.   Let us see how the movie is..

Story  :

"Manamantha" is a movie based on the lives of four different individuals..

Sairam ( MOhanlal ) is an Assistant Manager at a super market and finds that his salary is not enough to run his house hold.  So he wants to become Manager so that his salary will be increased and he may meet the expenses in his house for the growing children and family.  But he sees a hurdle in the form of another Assistant Manager as a competition to him in the promotion.   Sairam's silly and greedy act to move further in his career puts him into danger. 

There is a small school child Mahitha ( RAina ) who is studying in 7th standard.  She develops bond with a poor child.  Her eagerness to help the poor child to study in her school also lands her into troubles. 

An intelligent college student Abhi ( Viswant ) is a computer student from a middle class family.,  He gets distracted from studies when he falls in love with a rich and beautiful girl ( Anisha Ambrose ).

Gayathri ( Gauthami ) is a middle class woman who walks kilometers to save money on groceries.  She is stuck in mundane  life and gets a chance to better her life with a chance to meet her guru ( Gollapudi ).  

The rest of the story of this movie "Manamantha" is about how these four individuals stories end? and what incidents connect them?     So the whole movie is about the journey of thee four characters.

Performance of the artists:

Mohanlal  is the pillar of the movie.  He is perfect as a middle class man who struggles to  make the ends meet.  Even though his dialogue delivery in telugu is not perfect, he proved again why he is called as one of the best actors of India.  We can see the real actor in him in the final emotional scenes. 

And coming to Gauthami,  she is perfect as a middle class wife who sacrifices for family members.  Her dubbing was authentic.  

Viswant and child artist Raina Rao played their roles well.  Viswanth is OK as an youngster who is stuck by love.  Raina Rao impresses everybody with her excellent performance as a kind hearted girl.    The small kid belonging to a poor household is so endearing with his performance.  Vennela Kishore as a school teacher has performed well.  Urvashi entertains you.  It is nice to see comedy actors Vennela Kishore and Dhanaraj playing serious roles.  Gollapudi Maruthi Rao plays an important role in this film.

Technical Aspects of the movie:

LIke in all movies of Yeleti Chandrasekhar's movies,  "Manamantha" has high technical values.  Being a Sai Korrapati movie,  the production values are excellent.  The background music by Mahesh is very impressive.  Editing is good and the different story lines have been woven nicely through an interesting screen play.  The dialogues are superb.

The movie has shown the other side of Hyderabad city -  middle class lanes, not-so-posh areas realistically.  The cinematography is excellent.

Next coming to Director Chandrasekhar Y,  he once again proved that he has ample amount of talent which is clearly visible in "Manamantha".  The way he took a simple story and made it thrilling is simply amazing..   He has excellent in bringing out the best performance of the actors. 

Highlights of the movie:

Emotional  scenes
Mohanlal and Gauthami’s performance
Last emotional episode
Climax
Different narration

One of the biggest plus points of the movie "Manamantha" is the plot that the film revolves around. The Director takes extra care to make sure it never bores the audience.

Since the characters do not meet till the end of the film,  the audience may be a little disappointed.  Anisha Ambrose character needed more clarity.

Overall Analysis of the movie:

"Manamantha" is a simple human drama with simple emotions and sensibilities.  The film follows the journey of four people at different phases of their life.  Four different and unique stories, different paths are interlinked in the end with a neat twist.  Even though the twist is not difficult to guess, it has enhanced the emotional build up in the end of the movie. Director has proved that he can make movies with emotional content very easily.  

Stories about different persons and all of them getting linked at the end with one incident is seen in films like "Chandamama Kathalu" but the Director treads a different path here.  The four people and four different stories are inter linked with a different new twist, which is what the movie's core emotion is about.  LIke in "Drushyam", the final episode of the film leaves a lump in our throat.

Raina Rao played a role of a good hearted kid who lands in trouble helping a poor kid.  Raina and the poor kid played their roles so naturally.  Director has shown his maturity and mark in these sequences.

Gauthami's thread is very interesting.  It has stretched beyond a point and the talk about Sarees etc are unwarranted.  But one scene involving Gauthami is very funny when she goes to Koti to save Rs. 400 and ends up spending more than that.  The typical middle class situation is portrayed funnily.

The film is a little bit slow paced movie.  But the movie is one of the best made emotional drama in recent times in Tollywood.  Director has proved that he is a person with a different approach.  All in all,  watch the movie for emotional content and excellent performance of the actors...  It is an excellent movie....

See the Trailer of the Movie "Manamantha"  and enjoy....   See the video trailer below.