Super Star Rajinikanth starrer Chandramuki which released in the year 2005 has created a new wave across all industries as the film become one of the biggest hits by collecting around ₹50Crs in both languages. Almost after 15 years, P.Vasu who directed Chandramuki comes up with the sequel.
This sequel will star choreographer turned actor Lawrence in the role of Vettaiyan played by Rajinikanth in the Varaai song in the first part. This film to deal with the back story of Chandramuki which stars Prabhu, Nayanthara, Jyothika, Vadivelu in crucial roles, and Vineeth, Sonu Sood, Malavika in supporting roles. According to inside reports actress, Jyothika has been roped as the female lead for this sequel. The film will go on sets once Rajini and Lawrence complete their ongoing projects.
Every film industry comes up with nearly 150 new releases every year irrespective of language and Tollywood will be ahead with more releases compared to others. Like every year this year also there were 5-6 top star films that were planned to release.
2020 started with a bang at Box-office with the releases of Sarileru Neekevvaru and Ala VaikunthaPurramuloo and going ahead Pawan Kalyan’s Vakeel Saab, Chiranjeevi’s Acharya, Prabhas20 and much awaited KGF2 were scheduled to release this year. Corona Virus OutBreak has entirely changed their plans. If everything goes well Pawan Kalyan’s Vakeel Saab which has a small portion of the shoot left will be the only star hero film from Tollywood to release this year and the rest of the films likely to be pushed next year.
Same situation will prevail even in Kollywood. 3-4 films are scheduled to release this year but as of now, Vijay’s Master which completed all of its shooting part is ready for release this year. Only 1 Star film from each industry is scheduled to release this year.
South India Super Star Rajinikanth who has an immense following and huge fan base around the world is continuing his film journey even he stepped into politics. After Darbar which released this year Rajini is teaming up with Director Shiva who earlier directed back to back three films with Tamil star Ajith Kumar and even directed a few Telugu movies.
Director Shiva who roped in senior actress Kushboo for a pivotal role is now planning to make duet song with Rajinikanth. Rajini and Kushboo are again teaming up nearly after 28 years. This film is titled as “Annaatthe” in Tamil which showcases Meena, Nayanathara, and Keerthy Suresh in important roles. This film is being produced by leading Production house Sun Pictures and Music is being composed by D.Imman. This film is earlier planned to release in the month of August but to lockdown, the film shoot has been paused and the film release is said to be postponed.
Covid19 virus which is originated in China and spread across 200+ countries are still fighting with this pandemic while China has lifted up its lockdown couple of weeks ago many countries like India are continuing lockdown.
Australia and New Zealand countries that were successful in controlling the spread of Covid_19 have lifted up their lockdown today across the country but still, entertainment zones like Parks and Theaters were not yet opened. Leading Theater chains are planning to take a few precautions and open the theatres after 2 weeks if no new positive cases were registered.
It’s clear that Corona Virus Outbreak has effected may industries and things are going to be different post-Corona pandemic. As of now there is no clarity about shooting of films and reopening of theaters. Few Producers started arguing that all actors should cut down their remuneration and work efficiently post lockdown.
RRR which is the biggest multi-starrer and a high budget movie that is currently under production has completed its business and the makers have zeroed in on the release date to be 8th January 2021.
Earlier RRR was announced as a July release and business was completed for record numbers. However, seeing Sankranthi blockbusters revenue, SSR postponed RRR to Sankranthi 2021 release and the business numbers have been revised to new record levels. Now, going by current situation, RRR releasing for Sankranthi 2021 is highly unlikely and needs to be postponed.
Director Rajamouli himself said that “not only the film dynamics but also lifestyle of the people will be entirely changed and there would be a considering difference between life before Corona and after Corona” in a recent interview. He also added People will definitely not come to theaters as enthusiastically as they have done before.
Even though lockdown may end by the end this month there are no signs of the movies releasing on big screens in the near future. So to keep yourself entertained during this period you can binge watch some of the series available on famous OTT platforms. Here is the list of best Netflix series that you can binge-watch during the Lockdown.
Money Heist
Money Heist Part 2 Trailer
No of Seasons: 4 No of Episodes: 31 Plot: Eight thieves take hostages and lock themselves in the Royal Mint of Spain as a criminal mastermind manipulates the police to carry out his plan. Starring: Ursula Corbero, Alvaro Morte, Itziar Ituno Creators: Alex Pina
No of Seasons: 2 No of Episodes: 18 Plot: A missing child sets four families on a frantic hunt for answers as they unearth a mind-bending mystery that spans three generations. Starring: Louis Hofmann, Oliver Masucci, Jordis Triebel Creator: Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese
No of Seasons: 2 No of Episodes: 16 Plot: Insecure Otis has all the answers when it comes to sex advice, thanks to his therapist mom. So rebel Maeve proposes a school sex-therapy clinic. Starring: Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Ncuti Gatwa Creator: Laurie Nunn
Narcos
Narcos Trailer
No of Seasons: 3 No of Episodes: 30 Plot: The true story of Colombia’s infamously violent and powerful drug cartels fuels this gritty gangster drama series. Starring: Wagner Moura,Pedro Pascal,Boyd Holbrook Creators: Chris Brancato,Carlo Bernard,Doug Miro
Sacred Games
Sacred Games Teaser
No of Seasons: 2 No of Episodes: 16 Plot: A link in their pasts leads an honest cop to a fugitive gang boss, whose cryptic warning spurs the officer on a quest to save Mumbai from cataclysm. Starring: Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi Creators: Vikramanditya Motwane
Little Things
Little Things Trailer
No of Seasons: 3 No of Episodes: 30 Plot: A cohabiting couple in their 20s navigate the ups and downs of work, modern-day relationships and finding themselves in contemporary Mumbai. Starring: Mithila Palkar, Dhruv Sehgal
No of Seasons: 5 No of Episodes: 62 Plot: A terminally ill chemistry teacher teams with a former student to manufacture crystal meth to secure his family’s future. Starring: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn Creators: Vince Gilligan
The Last Kingdom
The Last Kingdom Trailer
No of Seasons: 4 No of Episodes: 36 Plot: As Alfred the Great defends his kingdom from Norse invaders, Uhtred — born a Saxon but raised by Vikings — seeks to claim his ancestral birthright. Starring: Alexander Dreymon, Emily Cox, David Dawson
13 Reasons Why
13 Reasons Why Trailer
No of Seasons: 3 No of Episodes: 39 Plot: Secrets. Lies. Revenge. Everyone at Liberty High has something to hide and the truth is about to come out. Starring: Dylan Minnette, Katherine Langford, Alisha Boe Creators: Brian Yorkey
Stranger Things
Stranger Things Trailer
No of Seasons: 3 No of Episodes: 25 Plot: When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one strange little girl. Starring: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Fin Wolfhard Creators: The Duffer Brothers
Starring: Mahesh Babu, Ileana, Prakash Raj, Nassar Directed by: Puri Jagannadh Released on: April 28, 2006
INTRO:
It’s been 14 years since the release of Pokiri, an iconic film which every movie-watching Telugu person would be familiar with. At a time when films with Rayalaseema faction backdrop defined typical telugu commercial cinema, Pokiri arrived to break the stereotype. Rayalaseema was replaced by Hyderabad city, knives/axes were replaced by guns and a loud hot-headed angry hero was replaced by a calm, smart, good looking and swaggy gangster.
The movie carried a very simple storyline. A small-time goon Pandu (Mahesh Babu) who beats up or threatens people for a living joins big gangs and bigger criminals only to finish them all off later as he is an undercover cop. Nassar reveals his son Pandu to be Krishna Manohar IPS in the climax which was a twist celebrated by the audience at that time. That climax revelation brings goosebumps to audience even now. Such was the impact of that scene.
Pokiri showed Mahesh in a new look and attitude. This film was undoubtedly a landmark film in Mahesh Babu’s career. It made him a “Super Star” and his fan base reached new heights and made him a popular name all over South India. His style, dialogue delivery, body language, mannerisms, dances and fights in this movie were trendsetters at that time and earned him untouchable craze among young boys and girls. Ileana, as the female lead is very impressive in this film and this film ensured a bright future for her in Tollywood. Prakash Raj as Ali Bhai impresses in his own style. Ashish Vidyarthi as a corrupt police officer, Ali as a beggar, Brahmanandam as a software engineer, Ajay as Mahesh’s friend – all played memorable roles which added more value to their successful careers.
Okkasaari commit aithe naa maata nene vinanu
Shyam K Naidu’s camerawork and Manisharma’s music are major plus-points to the film. The songs and background score are popular even today and were a rage at the time of the release. Mahesh’s simple and stylish dance moves in Dole Dole song, costumes in Gala Gala Paarutunna song, enegetic moves in Devuda Devuda song and Mahesh in lungi avatar in Choodadhantunna song were all major crowd pleasers. Vijayan’s fight sequences also turned out to be a major advantage for the film. The intro fight scene inside a factory and the popular “Khairathabad hero” train fight and the climax fight shot in Binny Mills are all powerful and a bit violent too justifying the A certificate given to the movie. Despite being violent, the fights paid off as they were more stylish, massy and different from the usual commercial films.
Finally, the captain of the ship- Puri Jagannadh, usually known for his hero characterizations once again used it to his advantage and showed Mahesh in new light which connected immensely with the audience. Not only with hero’s characterization and script but Puri also left his mark with the dialogues too.
Nenu entha yedhavano naake telidhu
These dialogues became a rage among audience and are very popular even today and people use them in their casual conversations. Many people watched the movie multiple times just for these dialogues. Hence, this film became a turning point in Puri Jagannadh’s career too and made him one of the top directors in Tollywood.
RECORDS AND LANDMARKS:
Pokiri was a sensation at the box-office and became the highest grossing South Indian film and second highest grossing Indian film at that time. As per data in several popular sites, Pokiri had collected a distributor share of over 40 crores, becoming the first South Indian film and the second Indian film to achieve this feat. The movie set new benchmarks for the box-office performance of a South Indian film by overtaking the then South Indian industry hit ‘Chandramukhi’ in domestic box-office. In telugu states, Pokiri overtook the then Industry Hit ‘Indra’ by a huge margin to emerge as the new Tollywood industry hit. It became the first Telugu film to cross 10cr share mark in Telangana and 20cr share mark in Andhra, thus creating all time records in both states. It is also the first film to cross 30cr and 35cr share mark in Telugu states.
Pokiri had a dream run in theatres and completed 50,100,150 and 175 days in a record number of theatres most of which are unbeaten even today. The movie made huge profits for each and every person involved. Puri Jagannadh and Mahesh’s sister Manjula had produced this film and the movie’s performance exceeded their expectations and shocked them with the revenue it made. Pokiri ran for 50 days in nearly 300 centers, 100 days in 200 centers, 175 days in 63 centers and 200 days in 15 centers which is an unbeaten record till date and most probably might remain untouched forever.
Among the movie’s memorable landmarks, Pokiri had a 202-day run at Jayshyam Theatre, Tirupati with 5 shows daily and ran houseful non-stop for the first 105 days which is an unbeaten state record till date. The movie had 1005 shows screened in it’s 200-day run in this theatre which is an All India Record (The first few days of release had more than 5 shows). Pokiri also completed 365-day run in Bhagiratha theatre, Kurnool and went on to have a 500 day run in the theatre. Pokiri also became the first Telugu film to cross 10 crore distributor share mark in Nizam region and the only Telugu film to have 175-day run in 2 theatres in Hyderabad city. Also, Pokiri was the highest grossing telugu film in the United States at that time and also the highest grossing Indian film with an ‘Adults only’ censor certification (This record remained unbeaten for several years after that).
Annayya, ee thokkalo meeting lu ento naaku artham kavatledhu
AFTERMATH:
Pokiri bagged a lot of awards in a lot prestigious award ceremonies. Some of them include the Nandi Award for most popular feature film and the best actor award for Mahesh Babu at the 54th Filmfare Awards.
Pokiri was remade into Tamil as Pokkiri starring Vijay and into Hindi as Wanted starring Salman Khan and both ended up becoming huge blockbusters in the respective industries. Pokiri was officially remade in Kannada and unofficially in Bengali.
Pokiri will forever remain a memorable and unforgettable film in Tollywood and among movie lovers, masses and fans for the amount of entertainment and satisfaction it created and among trade circles for the unimaginable revenues and records it generated.
Starring: Pawan Kalyan, Bhumika Chawla, Vijayakumar, Sivaji, Ali, Nasser, Rajan P Dev, Mumtaj Directed by: SJ Suryah Released on: 27th April, 2001
Story: How does destiny unite Siddhu Siddhartha Roy (Pawan Kalyan) and Madhumathi (Bhumika Chawla), who belong to different places, cultures and are miles apart from each other forms the story. It is a remake of Tamil film Kushi by the same director.
Performances:
Kushi is a turning point for Pawan Kalyan in many ways. Despite some of his earlier movies and performances earning him a lot of appreciation and success, Kushi was the game- changer. He got a full-fledged role to unleash all his talents. His entire look, costumes, style, dialogue delivery, mannerisms, dances were all unique and trendsetting at the time. Those mannerisms and dialogues are very popular even today.
Bhumika Chawla got to perform in a very important and well written role and she did extremely well in this film. Vijayakumar, Nasser, Ali, Sivaji, Mumtaj, Rajan P Dev are among the other notable characters in the film and all of them make their presence felt but the movie is totally focused only on the lead pair and does not allow others to score much.
Nuvvu Gudumba Satthi kavocchu thokkala Satthi kavocchu, but I don’t care because I am Siddhu.. Siddhartha Roy.
Technicalities:
PC Sreeram’s camerawork is an added advantage for the film. Both Kolkata and Hyderabad are captured well along with beautiful foreign locales in the melody songs. Fight sequences are designed by Pawan Kalyan himself and they are creative and entertaining. Editing work is suitable for the screenplay. Manisharma’s music is a pillar to the film. Three fast beat songs and three melodies constitute the album.
All songs are beautifully composed and picturised and will remain as an evergreen album forever. ‘Ammaye Sannaga’, ‘Cheliya Cheliya’ and ‘Aadavari Matalaku Ardhale Verule’ are some of the very popular and loved songs. ‘Ye Mera Jahan’, the intro song for Pawan Kalyan in the movie is a favourite for fans despite the entire lyrics being in Hindi. Manisharma’s background score is also terrific in this film. Production values by AM Ratnam are superb and movie has a rich feel. Rajendra Kumar’s dialogues are good. Though there are not many punches, they are entertaining.
Screenplay-Direction:
This is SJ Suryah’s third film as director, after making two films in Tamil one of them being the original version of Kushi. What made the major difference between tamil and telugu versions of Kushi is Pawan Kalyan’s performance. His entertaining mannerisms and variations made this film a one-man show. SJ Suryah succeeded in understanding the capabilities and strengths of Pawan Kalyan and extracted them well. With a thin storyline, he has worked on a fresh and entertaining screenplay. He shows us how ego plays spoilsport in two people expressing their feelings. This ego-clash idea has been used in hundreds of South Indian films post Kushi.
Prema Doma ani elanti thokkalo commitments pettukokudadu…ippudu nannu choodu entha Santoshanga Unnano…entha ullasanga unnao
SJ Suryah has done a very good job with the characterisation of male and female lead roles. He exhibited his unique style of handling love stories through scenes like Bhumika misunderstanding Pawan Kalyan in several instances in the first half, Pawan Kalyan caught by Bhumika while staring at her waist and climax sequence where both search frantically for each other in the railway station.
BO Analysis:
Kushi marked 6th straight hit in Pawan Kalyan’s career and was an All time biggest blockbuster movie till that date. It is the 1st 20Cr Film for Pawan Kalyan and created All time record in Nizam territory. It was all time #2 at that time. Telugu States share was close to 19.5 Cr with Nizam Share being an all time record of 7.5 Cr.
Kushi created several unique records during its run. One such record is all time gross record in Raj theatre of vijayawada where it collected 1.05 Cr.
Conclusion:
Several rom-coms made in Telugu over the past 2 decades have been inspired by Kushi in some or the other way. Such was the impact of Kushi on the way love stories were made in Tollywood. Kushi was a huge success commercially and is one of the biggest hits in Pawan Kalyan’s career. It would definitely rank among Top 3 favourite films in every Pawan Kalyan fan’s list. This film helped Pawan Kalyan a lot in building his own individual fan base after having started in the industry as Mega Star’s brother.
Recalling this evergreen love story as we approach it’s 19th anniversary !
Rating: 2.5/5 Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda, Golshifteh Farahani, Pankaj Tripathi Director: Sam Hargrave Producer: Chris Hemsworth Release Date: 24th April 2020
After all the hype since the release of its trailer, Netflix original Extraction released on Netflix yesterday. The film stars Chris Hemsworth in the lead role and he himself is the producer of the film. Randeep Hooda also plays a very important character in the film.
Plot: Ovi Mahajan, son of India’s biggest drug lord, played by Pankaj Tripathi gets kidnapped by Bangladesh’s drug lord Asif. Then Saju (Randeep Hooda) working under Ovi’s father decides to hire foreign mercenary Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) to get bring back Ovi. The rest of the story revolves around how the kid was extracted from Dhaka.
Action Sequences: Sam Hargrave who was the stunt coordinator of Captain America- Civil war and Avengers endgame is the director of the film. It completely makes sense to hire a stunt director to direct an out and out action movie. Surely there needs to be a special mention about action sequences. The Dhaka chase sequence is exhilarating and the cinematography is brilliant. Continuous shots of the chase sequence are breathtaking. Sure enough, the film has great action scenes but it doesn’t have much else.
Extraction Movie Trailer
Performances: Chris Hemsworth is the soul of the movie and carried this single line plot on his shoulders. He was pitch-perfect in all action sequences and emotions with the boy worked out well. The boy justified his role with decent performance. Pankaj Tripathi’s screen presence was very limited and you hardly remember him through the movie. Randeep Hooda justifies his performance. Rudhraksh Jaiswal who played the role of Ovi Mahjan, also played his part well.
Analysis: The background of the characters was not shown which makes it hard for the emotions to settle in. Actors like Pankaj Tripathi and Randeep Hooda were underused. Keeping logics aside, Extraction is a decent watch for action lovers.
P.S: It’s 2 hours of raw action with no logics and a way to time pass during this lockdown. So, why don’t you give it a try!
With Rajamouli in, doors shut for Vamsi Paidipally!
Superstar MaheshBabu and Vamsi Paidipally collaborated 2 years back for Superstar’s landmark 25th film Maharshi. Vamsi was supposedly be working again with the Superstar after his 26th released.
Everyone was convinced that after SarileruNeekevvaru, it was Vamsi Paidipally’s project. During the 8 months after Maharshi’s release, Vamsi Paidipally worked on the script and narrated to Mahesh just after SLN released. To everyone’s surprise, Mahesh didn’t like the script at all and rejected it. Meanwhile, Sensarional Director Rajamouli and Mahesh combination was in works since 2010 when they both had officially announced it. Due to the prior commitments rajamouli had, this project didn’t go on sets for almost a decade now. During one of his recent interviews, Rajamluli confirmed the movie with Mahesh after RRR.
With Superstar about to start Parasuram’s movie in the next 2 months and having SSR’s movie in the pipeline, he might have just 1 more movie in between. Trivikram, Koratala Siva, Harish Shankar etc. are trying to work with the superstar. With that many directors in line, the doors are almost closed for Vamsi Paidipally.
