'Kaashmora' Review: Graphical Comic Arundhati

Movie: Kaashmora
Rating: 3/5
Banner: PVP Cinema
Cast: Karthi, Nayanathara, Sri Divya, Vivek and others. 
Music: Santosh Narayan
Cinematography: Om Prakash
Editing: Sabu Joseph
Art: Rajeevan
Action: Anbirav
Producer: Pearl.V.Potluri, Param.V.Potluri ,Kavin Anne
Direction: Gokul
Release date: October 28, 2016

Karthi who has huge following in Telugu states has come up with this graphical extravaganza. When the first look from the movie released, interest was created on this movie.

The trailer, the promotions further added buzz to it. Kaashmora is here. Let’s find out about its merits and demerits.

Story:
Kaashmora (Karthi) cons everyone by claiming that he can catch any ghost. Although he doesn’t know anything about parapsychology he makes people believe with his techniques.

Yamini (Sri Divya) who is researching on ghosts comes to his place to observe him and he doesn’t welcome her. A funny incident brings him to a deserted old fort. Once he enters into the fort, all doors get closed and he is trapped.

It is revealed that a real ghost called Raju Nayak brought him to this place and now the real drama begins. Some centuries ago, Raju Nayak was a soldier in a kingdom. What is his Aatma doing now in this fort?

Artistes’ Performances:
Karthi is stunning in the two roles he has portrayed. While the Kaahmora role is funny, he has excelled in the other role of Raju Nayak.

Karthi’s comedy act when he enters in old fort is superb fun. He has shown lot of variation in his performance.

Nayanathara as queen steals the show. She has limited role but she has brought livewire to the screen in the second half. Sri Divya is wasted. Vivek is good as Karthi’s father. 

Technical Excellence:
The film is shot with excellent production values and visual effects. The VFX work is okay. The sets are huge. Cinematography is impressive.

Music by Santosh Narayan is totally bad. The pace of the movie is very slow and runtime is excruciatingly long.

Highlights:
Karthi’s performance in dual role
Nayanathara
Pre-Interval scenes

Drawback:
Ups and downs in narration
Lengthy runtime
Last portion lacks effectiveness

Analysis:
The trailers and promotions of “Kaashmora” gave impression that the film deals with wars and old kingdoms like “Baahubali” did but this movie is more of a horror-comedy. 

The “Baahubali” kind of episode is limited to few minutes of runtime in the second half.

“Kaashmora” begins on an interesting note with the story of a girl waiting for the character called “Kaashmora” to complete an unfinished mission. 

Immediately the story forwards to the introduction of Karthi, the fraud ghost buster. How he dupes people evokes good comedy.

His father Vivek running an ashram for the devotees of Kaashmora baba and how his family takes offerings in the form of eggs and milk which are later sold off to restaurants is too funny.

The track of Karthi the Kashmora going to a minister’s house and duping him is another hilarious moment and the best scene is when Karthi is trapped in fort. 

All these funny episodes come in the first half and till here we feel like we are watching a good horror-comedy. Trouble begins post interval, it goes completely off-mark. 

The entire track of Raju Nayak and Rani Rathna Mahadevi is almost like Arundhati. Which is why this episode doesn’t excite, and scenes drag on.

As the film progresses towards the climax, we turn restless and we also get the feeling that we were also duped by Raju Nayak and Kaashmora. While some of the graphics are best, some don't add much value.

Overall, "Kaashmora" is not entirely dismissible, nor worth praising. It works to some extent only thanks to comic timing of Karthi.

Bottom-line: Con-Mora!

Source: https://goo.gl/OZABW6

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Premam Movie Review - Beautiful tale of love

Movie: Premam
Rating: 3/5
Banner: Sithara Entertainments
Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Shruti Haasan, Anupama Parameshwaran, Madonna, Prudhvi, Srinivas Reddy, Chaitanya Krishna,  Praveen and others
Music: Ghibran, Rajesh Murugan
Original Story: Alphonse Puthren
Cinematography: Karthik Ghattamaneni
Editing: Kotagiri Venkateshwara Rao
Presents: PDV Pasad
Producer: Suryadevara Naga Vamsi
Story, screenplay and directed by: Chandoo Mondeti
Release date: October 7, 2016

One Telugu film that has been making buzz for a long time is Naga Chaitanya and Shruti Haasan's 'Premam' as this film is based on a roaring Malalaylam hit of the same name that starred Nivin Pauly. 

The Malayalam songs of “Premam”, the girls of the movie made all young hearts fall in love. So when the remake was announced with Naga Chaitanya, the buzz around the movie began.

But the movie also received online criticism for Shruti Haasan when the trailers came out as the fans of Malayalam movie felt that she didn’t fit in the role that was originally played by the beautiful Sai Pallavi. 

So how is the film in Telugu? Have the makers been faithful to the original, bettered or ruined it, let’s find out…

Story:
Vicky (Naga Chaitanya), a school student, is bewitched by the beauty Suma (Anupama). He follows her daily and befriends her. When he is about to propose her he gets a shock from her. First love broke his heart.

In college, he falls in love again. He is mesmerized by charms of his college lecturer Sithara (Shruti Haasan) who also reciprocates the same. When everything is going good for him, he gets another shock. Second time he gets a heart break.

Years pass and he is settled in life now as chef and restaurant owner, and this time a girl much younger to him comes into his life.

Artistes' Performances:
This is Naga Chaitanya’s good work till date. He has shown the variation to all three shades of his character. He is perfect as school student; he is apt as university student too. As an entrepreneur also he is convincing. Unlike the original Malayalam hero, he has not shown intensity but he is suitable to the role.

Shruti Haasan as a college lecturer is suited well. Both Anupama and Madonna have played the same roles that they did in the Malayalam original. Anupama is so beautiful but Madonna is okay.

As Naga Chaitanya’s friends Chaitanya and Praveen are okay. Narra Srinu and Brahmaji’s comedy track is hilarious.

Technical Excellence:
Music of the movie gives mixed feelings. “Evare” which is Telugu version of “Malare” is major attraction while “Agarotthula” and “Bang Bang” are also just average. A couple of better songs in the second half would have made a lot difference.

Karthik Ghattamaneni’s camera work is decent. Editing is neat. The film has rich production values.

As screenplay writer and director Chandoo Mondeti have not spoiled the original movie’s content but he has changed many things to make it more suitable to Telugu audiences.

Highlights:
Story
Naga Chaitanya and the girls
Cinematography
Comedy

Drawback:
Last 20 minutes

Analysis:
“Premam”, like the original Malayalam movie, is focused on three stages in hero's life, three girls he encounters in each stage. The story and screenplay of the movie is almost similar to the original movie.

The hero falling in love with a girl, getting heart break and moving on and failing in love... all are similar to the original story.

Director Chandoo Mondeti has incorporated little changes to make it more commercial which give mixed feelings. While the comedy part is hilarious, the changes also don’t fit perfectly to the sensitive storyline.

The beauty of this movie as well as the original film is the two first two stories. Naga Chaitanya is perfect in the role of a school boy who fell for the beauty of Anupama. This episode has come out so well but it is very short. Still it sets the mood perfectly to involve in the movie. Then the story draws us to the next story where in hero falls for his college lecturer.

While in the original movie Sai Pallavi played this role as Tamil girl, here the role played by Shruti is of Marathi and Tamil origin.

Although Shruti Haasan’s story is dragged a little bit this episode also works out due to sufficient inclusion of comedy. Both Brahmaji and Narra Srinu as lecturers have provided ample amount of comedy here.

Though the chemistry between Chaitu and Shruti is not crackling, they have looked good as a pair. The twist in the story of Shruti is interesting.

Metamorphosis of Naga Chaitanya’s love, his attempts to woo the girls have been shown beautifully too but it seems same care is not taken in the final part. The scenes seem to have shot in a hurried way.

The story has fallen drastically after the Shruti’s episode comes to an end. The final scenes are completely commercialized to satisfy Nagarjuna/Naga Chaitanya’s fans.

I he had shown the third episode more interestingly, the movie would have been a better one. On the whole, it turns out to be satisfying watch.

Bottom-line: Feel Good Love

Source: https://goo.gl/ZEffVJ

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