After watching the trailer I am sure anybody would expect this movie to be a blockbuster hit. V not only set the expectations but met them too.
Disclaimer: Anyone with faint heart or low tolerance for bloody crime scenes should come prepared with worst case scenarios. Never in recent times had Tollywood shown gore at Game of Thrones level.
V has every aspect covered which you typically expect from a movie:
A hero who has six pack abs and is not afraid to show off his body. In this case it was a bit much considering the profession of the said hero. Opening sequence packed with action just worked for Sudheer. In order to solve the serial murders, Sudheer keeps self-inviting himself to the high profile parties in and around Hyderabad. The only thing I found a little hard to digest is Sudheer’s arrogance through the major part of the movie.
Another hero who is quite good with his humor even in the dire situations. Or maybe it is just his charm working, trying to impress a girl or the precision with which he kills people.
A female lead who is headstrong and a straight shooter, knows what she wants from her life and gets it.
Another female lead that is dainty, also headstrong. Puts others needs ahead of her’s.
If you are watching a crime movie, your vision should be able to take note of all the minute details if you wish to solve the murder as the story progresses. Or you will be left behind questioning what you have missed. Good thing this movie released through OTT, you can go back and re-watch the missed clues to catch up to speed.
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Multiple telephonic interactions between Nani and Sudheer, the clues Nani leaves behind for Sudheer for the next victim and the chasing sequence on Mumbai roads in the dead of night are few highlights of the movie.
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The flashback is a very brief one and to the point. Nani and Aditi Rao’s whirlwind romance and marriage was a sight to sore eyes having watched the gory scenes in the first half of the movie.
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More than the “why” Nani was killing few specific people, it is the reason behind Aditi’s murder and the “why” that keeps you hooked to the movie till the end.
It is a well edited movie. No additional scenes where included to increase the run time. Thaman’s BGM did complete justice to the movie and adds that extra suspense factor to the film. And you will simply fall in love with Amit Trivedi’s soundtracks from the film!
All in all it is an all round entertainer and a must watch film. And by the end of it, I was asking myself this question: would I do what Saheba did in the movie being in that situation? The answer my conscious gave left me more sad than scared.
Here is another movie from the 90’s that had Indian audience in awe with its sheer grandness at the time, covering major cities around the world and capturing their beauty. Most of all the coverage the makers have given to the United States in this film could be one of the reasons many moved to this continent to pursue their higher education and eventually settle there. I wouldn’t blame them, the locations were exquisite!
I have recently re-watched this film for…I don’t know, I have lost the count! The twin’s concept was unique. I loved the aerial view of Los Angeles at the beginning and the theme song playing in the background just gives wings to the butterflies residing in your heart! This theme song was my ringtone for far too long than I would care to admit. A R Rahman worked his magic right from the starting credits and all the songs from the movie were a huge hit!
Stressing the point on the spending the weekends with family and friends was refreshing. Juno destroying all the gadgets throughout the song was just driving the point home.
Aishwarya’s introduction scene was a little concerning. Who can lose their American address while just having landed in America? It is probably for this reason parents don’t trust their 20 year old daughters and an elder brother with their parents and let alone send them off to a different country to get their parents treated. Anyway, Aishwarya’s costumes in the movie were awesome from the get go!
Lakshmi’s action was part funny and part naive, though spot on for an aged women with her inhibitions. Her fear of death even though it is melodramatic, is something every person put in that situation goes through. Obviously only option available to make her feel comfortable is changing her attire and sneaking her away from the hospital to eat Indian food like you have not eaten it before and going out on an excursion to the Universal studios (The makers went to a great deal of persuasion to get the permission to shoot within the Universal Studios, at that point in time, no foreign filmmakers were granted permission to do so.), sing and dance like you were not in pain just one day ago. And yes, these things happen only in a movie.
One other thing that happens only in movies? The hero talks in Indian regional language and the foreign doctors understand his concerns and replies in English!
Cut to the airport scene, not once in the 40 minutes duration of the movie did the makers try to work the romantic angle between Madhu and Visu, but as soon as they reach airport, both Madhu and Visu are desperately trying to profess they love for each other. I found their hesitance rather cute! But, why wait till the time you are leaving the country to tell someone that you love them? That’s how the story sells! And it did!
It was again very cute of Madhu for trying to get away with Visu’s keeps sake (although it was all garbage) but did not go unnoticed by Lakshmi and she tries to be the fairy godmother along with being the grandmother. Change of plans, quick confessions of being in love and a song that covers the New York City like nobody’s business, when we find trouble in the paradise in the form of Peddabbai wanting his twins to be married to twins only! And the flashback ensues.
We understand Peddabbai’s concerns over how his wife and her co-sister could not get along, which led to his wife death, essentially destroying both his and his twin’s lives forever and not wanting a repeat of the same. What he failed to understand at this point is no two situations are same and let alone the outcomes. Drawing conclusions from his experience and forcing his children into something they cannot control is plain cruel!
Radhika’s performance was really good as a perverse female character and her ultimatums about every small and big things in the flashback. And she pulled off the villager look like a pro!
Juno’s comedy was timed accurately and although all the questions he asked were valid, his question would put people on spot in a funny way, especially Lakshmi and how she struggles to keep up with her web of lies.
Have I already mentioned about how beautiful Aishwarya’s costumes were in the movie? If I have, it is worth the mention again. Her costumes in the song – “Priya priya” were just awesome and can be pulled off as wedding collection at any given point in time. And she was looking as beautiful as she was described in the song. This is the one duet song the makers did not go for exotic locations. At the same time they did not slum in the area of sets, they were beautiful too, befitting.
Moving on, it was extremely hilarious to watch the computerized Vaishnavi’s malfunctioned dance: turning into a roll, spring, bulging into a balloon and finally becoming a skeleton! The closing act by the skeleton was just a cherry on the top!
Peddabbai’s suggestion of going to their hometown as Chinnabbai is preposterous even for a movie! And Ramu’s desperation for Vaishnavi’s affection during the last train scene was a bit much to watch. Madhu’s conflicted feeling about cheating Visu, Visu discovering the truth of Vaishnavi’s existence, drama never seize to unfold in a well scripted movie.
Ramu, in spite of being shattered will be the first one to come to his sense and tries damage control. After some well deserved grovelling and the seven wonders song (apparently the crew explored all the beautiful cities across the globe and shortlisted the ones featured in the movie. Back then they were not officially announced as seven wonder of the world. Back to Aishwarya’s costumes: Did I already cover that part twice? Well, what can I say? It is worth the mention for the third time too. All the ball gowns she wore in this song are to die for! Absolutely, timeless!! As the song suggests, she can get away with being called the eight wonder!), they are back to being the happy couple.
Mardhesh, unbeknownst to the latest developments happening on the other side of the story, visits Chinnabbai to execute his own plan to make this work for his sister. But only invites trouble by spilling the proverbial beans to Peddabbai who is pretending to be Chinnabbai.
The drama that unfolds during the wedding scene and Peddabbai pulling the Villain card only to realize he walked right into the trap set by himself, unknowingly. I would like to call that instant karma served by Radhika!
Thellabbai throughout the movie goes around in circles with his conversations, for once makes a good argument point while talking some sense into Peddabbai. He scored a point right there for me.
And in the end my friends, the skeleton comes back again and dances to the end credits right along with the happy couple. Over all it is an entertaining watch, never throughout the movie you will feel bored. If you are looking for a 90’s feel good movie to kill time, Jeans is it!
Criminal movie had created quite a buzz in Tollywood and did just about OK in Bollywood. The ever green song: Telusa manasa, was the trademark romantic song of that era, and still gets you transported to a magical place.
I never got a chance to watch this film until quite recently. It never crossed my mind to watch it, even though I love the song. Because I have learnt my lesson getting carried away with just one song in a particular movie and do not want a repeat of the same. This movie certainly changed that opinion for me.
Watching this movie had me question a couple of things in Indian film industry. To begin with: I did not know Indian women were as advanced back in early 90’s to talk about sharing men. Don’t get me wrong! I absolutely loved Ramyakrishna’s role. It was very powerfully written and she did justice to it and portrayed all the emotions quite well. Be it the police officer role, as a best friend, taking a step back when she realized her friend was also in love with Nagarjuna, a friend to Nag, when he needed someone in his corner. She was also looking much prettier compared to Manisha Koyirala. But that’s just my view.
Now, Manisha’s role was a bit confusing. She is all a mess when Nag is right in front of her but is bold enough to make a video to seduce him. And when he tries to seduce her back she shies away? Not convincing! (She should have owned it!) She looked adorable as Nag’s wife, even if it was for a brief period of time.
Apart from that one song, I did not know other songs existed in the movie, simply because of the fact that one song took over and it plays in the background throughout the movie. That is the only song which is worth a watch, be it locations or otherwise. Other songs are just fillers.
Costumes in the other songs? Disaster!
I believe they have just discovered a technique to change colors of the costumes on screen while the actors are dancing. It was horrifying to watch songs like that. The dancing itself was questionable. While we are on the topic of costumes, the makers made more efforts in Ramya’s costumes than Manisha’s. The bob cut and the wig were just not doing it for her.
The plot as such is good. It is of course a remake of an English film. But more than that, I liked how they have kept the movie engaging with the back and forth with past and present. And to think selling human parts illegally existed at that point in time is simply terrifying! While the idea of Gulshan Glover not having a single dialogue in the movie was working for him as a villain. But I think the makers were simply saving him the efforts of speaking Telugu even for lip-syncing purposes.
Some parts of the movie had me thinking, is it possible to jump off dam gates while they are open, with a day’s old wound, swim across the river and live to see another day? But, it is just a movie right? Anything is possible!
Nagarjuna’s performance in terms of romance was very good. Well, he is called Manmadhudu for a reason! But the emotional scenes, not so much. Maybe because I have seen his better emotional performances in the movies that followed.
Ramya’s timing when it came to daydreaming about Nag when he is in pain recovering from the wound mentioned earlier was incredulous. They could have easily done way with the special song towards the end of the movie which was absolutely not necessary along with the rest of the songs apart from the trademark song from the film.
The action sequences were realistic. Since it was still 90’s, the heroic tactics of 00’s were still not introduced to the film industry, wherein the Hero even after being attacked by multiple goons can still stand and finish them all. Just one Hero! But in this film, Nag took equal amounts of blows from Gulshan, making it believable.
All in all, it was a well written thriller with good plot. It was quite refreshing to watch a 90’s film and enjoy it! I would totally recommend this movie, if you have not already watched it. If I were to rate this film, I would give it a 3.5/5.
Two people who where not meant to fall in love, but they did anyway, when they least expect it. When we are bored with our daily routine and seek diversion or when you have too many people around you absorbed in their own lives, you go about seeking attention elsewhere. Some people seek those little curiosities around them and like to explore more, some seek magic. We all know magic is fictional. But then, it is in the eye of the beholder!
I recently re-watched When in Rome. There is no better way to put it, that movie is just a silly love story, with comedy scenes placed at the right time. It makes me laugh every time I watch it. At the same time it did show the emotions in the right light. Parts of the movie can indeed be someone’s problems in real life. And if you are a hopeless romantic, you would very well be crying an Ocean watching such Rom-com movies. Sweet Home Alabama, Sleepless in Seattle, The Proposal, The Holiday, 27 Dresses, Two Weeks Notice, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Letters to Juliet and many more I can’t remember now, have that effect on me.
There is just something magical about the way they have shown the lead characters falling in love in the movie When in Rome. She desperately wants to believe it is real with Nick but the poker chip keeps coming up! For Melanie, it was staring her right in the face, in Sweet Home Alabama! But she had to make her own mistakes to realize she was already in love with her high school sweetheart! That last office scene in The Proposal, just love Andrew’s speech! And how Sophie thinks Charlie is off the market, only gets to know later that it was a misunderstanding in Letters to Juliet. Ah, the balcony scene, which is a cliché but has made many women swoon!
For a person who is watching these movies, only get to see the emotions shown by the actors. Most of the times they are depicted well, sometimes it is lost in the translation. A Walk to Remember is one of my favorite books, but somehow I feel, the movie did not do justice to the book. Nicholas Sparks’s books are known for his heart wrenching love stories. What is the whole point of making a movie if you can’t show that emotion to the audience? I did not get the chance to read The Notebook, but the movie was a good one to watch.
Back to reading, when you read a particular story, you would feel for the characters and connect with them on some level. You would feel confused right along with the characters, falling in love, the jealousy, the contempt, falling apart at the seams, laughing and crying, everything!
There are not many books which had that effect on, just about 50 or so! In the last couple of years I was and am obsessed with Bethany-Kris’s books. I am sure these books fall under the category of mafia. But, she somehow managed to create love stories along the plot. She has created a web of series with the characters in the books, with multiple spin-offs. A couple of series that has torn my heart apart while reading were: Cross & Catherine Legacy series and Renzo & Lucia Legacy Series. Both series talk about young love, heart break, growing apart and finally falling back in love and living happily ever after! It is not the happily ever after we look for in a book when we start with it. It is the journey that makes the story worth it. It is the ups and downs, it is sticking together beating all the odds and above all knowing that for the rest of the lives they are going face difficult situations and choosing to do it together. How often do we get to see that in real world? Not often enough!
If there was ever a modern day re-write of The Beauty and The Beast that has made an impression on me, it is Broken written by Lauren Layne. I managed to finish the book in one go. It is the concept, which is fascinating to me. She has written a number of books that had made me connect with the characters. The Stiletto Series is like any other regular Rom-com books, but the problems faced by the characters are quite relatable. Disclaimer: Never a judge a book by its cover, pun intended.
Saving my most favorite book of all times to the last, which is like Wuthering Heights to Sandra Bullock in The Proposal, The Cornerstone from The Walshes Series by Kate Canterbary. The entire series as such is quite engaging. But I read this book at least once a year. I haven’t understood the pull I have towards this book yet, but I enjoy the easy banter of all the characters from this series.
Maybe it is magic! Living in the pages of a very well written book, knowing it is fictional. At the same time, it gives your heart the kind of solace, the real world cannot manage to give!
