Premam Movie Review - faithful remake!!

Movie Name  :  Premam
Rating            :  3.25 / 5
Banner           :  Sithara Entertainments
Starring         :  Naga Chaitanya, Shruti Haasan, Anupama Parameshwaran, Madonna, Prudhvi, Srinivas Reddy, Chaitanya Krishna,  Praveen and othersStory             :  Alphonse Puthren

Music             :  Ghibran, Rajesh Murugan

Cinematography : Karthik Ghattamaneni 
Editing            :  Kotagiri Venkateshwara Rao
Producer         :  Suryadevara Naga Vamsi
Screen play & Direction :   Chandoo Mondeti
Date of Release  :  7th October, 2016

There is a lot of curiosity on the telugu remake of Malayalam movie "Premam" which has become blockbuster in Malayalam.  The movie was a super hit in Malayalam and it is remade in telugu with same name.  

The curiosity has picked after Naga Chaitanya and "Karthikeya" fame Chandoo Mondeti joined hands.  Casting of Shruti Haasan, Anupama Parameswaran and Madonna as female leads made the project something special.  This movie was released as Dussera special.  Let us see what is the story of the movie..

Story  :

Vicky ( Naga Chaitanya ) is a school student and is bewitched by the beauty Suma ( Anupama.  He follows her daily and makes friendship with her.  When he is about to propose her, he gets a shock from her.  His first love broke his heart.

When he joins college, he falls in love once again.  He falls in love with his college lecturer Sithara ( Shruti Haasan ) who also reciprocates the same.  When everything is going normal for him, he gets another shock.  Second time he gets a heart break.  

A number of years are passed and he is now settled in life as chef and restaurant owner. and this time a girl very much younger to him comes to his life.

Performance of the artists  :

This movie is one of the good works of Naga Chaitanya till date.  He shown the variation to all the three shades of his character.  He is perfect as school student and also as a university student.  As an entrepreneur also he is convincing.  He has not the intensity like the original Malayalam hero, but was suitable for the role.  

Shruti Haasan as a college lecturer performed well.  Both Anupama and Madonna have played the same roles that they did in the Malayalam movie.  Chaitanya and Praveeen acted well as Naga Chaitanya's friends.   Narra Srinu and Brahmaji's comedy is good.

Technical aspects of the movie  :

The music of the movie gives mixed feelings.  A couple of better songs in second half would have made a lot of difference.  Karthik Ghattamaneni's camera work is really decent.  Editing is very good.  Movie has rich production values.   Chandoo Mondeti as screen play writer and director did not spoil the original movie's content but he changed many things to make it more suitable for Telugu audience.

Majnu Movie Review - Nani Makes it

Movie Name  :  Majnu
Rating            :  3.00 / 5
Banner           :  Anandi Art Creations, Keva Movies
Starring         :  Nani, Anu Emmanuel, Priya Sri, Vennela Kishore, Sathya Krishnan, and others.
Story             :  Virinchi Varma

Music             :  Gopi Sunder

Cinematography : V S Gnanasekhar
Editing            :  Prawin Pudi
Fights             :  Anal Arasu

Art                  :  A.S. Prakash

Producer         :  Geetha Golla

Screen play & Direction :   Virinchi Varma
Date of Release  :  23rd SEptember, 2016

Nani is having great form with series of hit movies and every new film is creating  interest among the audience.  His dream run began with "Yevade Subrahmanyam" and continued till "Gentleman".  That means four hits in a row and two of them released in this year.   The movie "Majnu" also made the audience wait eagerly for the release of the movie.  The posters, promos and interviews with Nani generated a positive buzz..  So Nani has come up with another entertaining movie.  Let us see what is the story of this movie.

Story  :

Aditya is an assistant director working with Rajamouli for the movie "Bahubali".  He hails from Bheemavaram town.  He likes a girl in Hyderabad.  Her name is Suma ( Priya Sri ).  Even though he likes her, he does not forget his old girl friend.  One day he tells Suma how deeply he loved his Bheemavaram girl Kiran ( Anu Emmanuel ) and the reason for the breakup between them.  .Realizing his great love, Suma also starts loving him and asks him to come to railway station to meet her.  There he finds that Suma is receiving her cousin who turns out to be Kiran.  So what happens next?  is the story of the movie.

Performance of the artists :

As for as performance of Nani is concerned,  he is one of the most dependable stars in Tollywood for any kind of story.  He once again shines in this movie even though the movie does not give any scope for showing his acting skills.  

Now coming to the two heroines,  Anu Emmanuel is beautiful and has a nice role.  Priya Sri lacks both glamour and acting skills.  Vinnela Kishore is OK in a small role for a brief period.  Both Director Rajamouli and Raj Tharun made guest appearance.

Technical Aspects of the Movie :

There are no much technical values in this movie but is eye-pleasing.  We can thank the Jnasekhar's cinematograpny.  The frames which are shot in very few locations are colourful. The entire first half is told in songs.  Some of the songs are very good.  Other technical departments have done average performance.  Dialogues by Kiran are OK

Highlights and drawbacks of the Movie :

Some of the highlights of the movie are   -  First Half,  Cinematography and acting of Nani

Drawbacks of the movie is the dragging second half..

Overall analysis of the Movie :

Virinchi Verma has proved his mettle with "Uyyala Jampala" by presenting a routine story in a lively manner.  He relies on same formula for "Majnu" also.  The combination with Nani worked nicely here.  Even though it is like watching a routine story, the narration is so pleasant and there is no dull moment in the movie.  

Majnu is a love story with one hero and two heroines. Even though this is not a regular triangular love story, yet the story is quite routine.  It is very simple like this -  he loves girl A, but differences crop up and both of them split,  then  he meets girl B who fails for him but girl A comes back in his life and he realizes his feelings for girl A.

Even though the story is plain and simple,  the content dries up by first half and there is no further matter for the second half.  This is the issue with this movie even though the pre-interval are fun and entertaining.

The total first half of the movie is very much entertaining and enjoyable. After interval when Nani fails in the conflict with these two girls, the movie goes at an un even pace.  Some scenes are entertaining.   Overall the movie works fine and thanks to Nani for his effective charm and acting.

Nani has given his best for the role given to him to make the movie entertaining.  To impress Anu Emmanuel, he joins in her college as lecturer and there after how he woos her is quite interesting.  The student-lecturer love track has been dealt very sensibly and in a funny manner.  The movie has this kind of good moments in first half.

After the interval,  the comedy track between Nani and Vennela Kishore creates some laughs but it has side tracked the story and increased the length of the movie.  All in all it is a time pass romantic drama and watchable once.