Disclaimer

You are at the risk of entering my world as I see it. Any resemblance to people or situations to the real world is coincidental. The names and characters are fictional and the fiction posts are a mere fantasy of my whim. This is a make-believe world of my complex mind and while I try not to be offensive, if the content is too strong, please do not continue reading the post.

Aug 3, 2009

Magadheera

Ha.. Magadheera is a film, basically driven by a love aged 400 years. I heard love defying age, but defying time, must be true love, if it ever exists! Man, the heroism in a man has a new definition as a person who does mindless stunts.

The opening of the film is one of the worst openings of all. C’mon, the hero literally pushes the bike up at the height of 20 feet and then somersaults and lands on the vehicle from 25 feet and then lands the vehicle on the ground! Well, I am unsure if it can actually be done, but then, I know little of stunts on bike! But, well, it was an opening of a telugu film and I knew I was in for a good laugh from that moment. The hero can defy physics and law of gravitation too. And the heroine entry, wow, you GOT to give it to the director! The electricity literally sparks between the hero and the heroine and the very touch of her is sufficient to flutter his heart. What starts of as a jovial start went on to become hilarious when the flash back started.

The protagonist, Bhirava, is a guardian of the kingdom and the scene in which he needs to defend the pride of the prodigy of the king, the fight was almost pointless. What is it with a horse ride on a desert (WHITE DESERT!!!) to bring the scarf of the queen? And supposedly it is the battle of the two most eligible bachelors and it was shown as a game show. Give some credit to the actors and the fight masters and show a damn fight! No, it has to be a ridiculous horse ride. A war hero should have his name etched in the stone and a war hero is a hero not because of his stupidity, but because of his valour and courage and strength and above all, intelligence. You cannot portray a hero, when the opponent is a dummy actor who knows nothing about a fight. A hero’s valour is only as good as his opponent and here, in this film, the opponent is shown as an egoistical maniac, obsessed with the queen and an immoral creature. The hero on the other hand is an embodiment of loyalty, who willingly sacrifices his love for his responsibility. And the flashback fight where the hero supposedly kills about a 100 soldiers, well, if it was an imitation of the stunt in ‘300’ movie, it was a cheap imitation. The fight could have had some plan, but it was shown as a one man fight and ridiculously about a heroic valour. What good is a hero if he can chop the head of a foot soldier as though he cuts a vegetable. Aren’t soldiers supposed to have the strength and spine and hard muscles or are my convictions about a soldier wrong? Fine, may be a handful of soldiers on a narrow path, but a hundred, who have spears, bows and arrows, knives and the hero only has a single knife and no sheath to offer any protection, yet he manages to kill and that, to me, is the most hilarious of all the scenes.

The songs, well, thankfully, (Mr.) Charan can dance, else, they would have been the worst of Mr. Keeravani and the lyrics, well, I don’t even want to talk about them. The artists though show a credible performance, the movie did not live up to the hype that was given and certainly, the direction is not satisfying personally. Why can’t we take movies which temple the heroism in a man, as it should be, strong and with spine. If it is about a kingdom, please do not insult a hero by placing an unworthy opponent. And to think I heard that Chiranjeevi (sir) can now step aside, please give me a big break. Chiranjeevi sir, has a presence on the screen. When he dances, you want to get out of that seat and do a step or two. The cheerful eyes or the small smile at the corner of the lips, the way he engages you and binds you is impossible to beat and Charan Tej, with all due respect to his dancing and acting, has a long way to go. He has a splendid rhythm, but he still, does not have the screen presence. With age, it might improve, but for now, no comparisons with the megastar. I should say, there should be no comparisons at all. Chiranjeevi sir is an unchallenged king in his time and Mr. Charan needs to earn that respect and he has a long way to go. His acting was tolerable, but it could be much more dramatic, because the movie or the situations in the movie demanded it. The romance or the class appeal or the mass appeal, require a lot of improvement. The last song when the credits are rolling was the best of all.

Mr.Srihari, gave a commendable performance with the limited script in the film. The setting is good, but the richness of a kingdom did not come through. The hero was built up, but nothing was shown about his heroism. The defender of the kingdom is shown as a damsel, happy to be in the arms of a hero, than a queen of royal blood! Stunts were unrealistic and laughable. I could not help but laugh my head off and wondered if someone would kick me in the gut, if I do not stop laughing. Hero worship!! So, need to beware! I personally would have expected a realistic heroism, for the story line itself is ludicrous, what with a reincarnation of love between the hero and the heroine and the villain also being born at the same time, how convenient!!!

To me, this is a comedy flick, plain and simple. But the cinematography, atleast for the Telugu industry is commendable. That is the only positive point about the film.

11 comments:

Su.. said...

O... Are you talking abt the much discussed telugu film which is on screen currently?

Man.. I thought 'Hangover' was the best comic flick that has hit the screen this year but then "Magadheera" did turn tables big time...

The opening scene of the movie was ossom :)... Guess they were on moon - no gravity. :p...

Anonymous said...

I want to see this film now...Long time since I had a hearty laugh at a telugu film.

If its defying the laws of Physics - its a must watch. I always wonder - How technology would be used, to make things look abnormal...Weirdly true.

Let me see and come back.

---Space Reserved---

Anonymous said...

honestly I agree wid your review from your point and i can add few point in that angle, but the thing is the movie isnt really meant for you nor me, its meant for da legacy of chiranjeevi fans who can watch da movie 40 times or 50 times and go absolutely crazy wid the movie, i heard someone was killed fighting for the movie tickets. Each movie is made basically considering the target audience who generates bussiness for them, you cannot expect the movie "godavari" budget as 10+ crores, shekar kammula doesnt carry a movie of that range and make a hit, the reason for godavari considered as flop. He has a very few sensible audience who really like his thought process me being one of them prior to happy days. i did not like happy days as much as godavari movie. Coming to the point, Magadheera has out and out all the commercial elements for its target audience, if you wanna enjoy that movie you have to change your mind set thats it and think from that angle. THe action scenes and all weren't so brilliant technically but the emotion it carries will be hysterical for an average fan of chiranjeevi. Audience will connect to the hero only if the villian is shown as worst as possible, be it an egoistical maniac or worst then that Otherwise the sympathy lies with the villian, I think partly it was shown that the villian also heads the soldiers that should clear your dout of the villians heroism. Mr charan doesnt has face value, i dont think he would have been eligible to this profession had he not been Chiranjeevi's son. His dance movements are good but doesnt match to the rhythm of chiranjeevi. Rajamouli is known as the best director who can elevate heroism, typical formula - introduction scene goons chasing gal or biking racing here, slowly introducing hero and his machosim, next song to show the dance skills, next chase the heroine, hero loves the heroine to the core, but villian create emotional counterpoint between heroine and hero. Hero in the end proves that he is not guilty but in the middle tortures emotionally making the movie super hit and this movie isnt an exception. I felt background music was not up to the mark, some bits and pieces copy from ENIGMA thats it. An average telugu movie goer heart lies in emotion, if the emotion is brilliantly portrayed and carryed off, no matter the story defying logic, no matter anti newton law's scenes, the movies is watched number of times. I am sure the movie would generate great business probably beat Pokiri industy records, no matter we like it or not.

Mahita said...

@Su
Welcome to the heroism in Tollywood...

@Chandu
Looking forward to your view :)

@Vijay
I quite agree with you. After a "discussion", if one would call it, with a few colleagues, I am the only one who seem to have lost it.. to think that the movie is not upto the mark.. Well, you cannot blame me, if I tend to find reason when it is not a fantasy fiction... or perhaps it IS a fantasy fiction... :)

Anonymous said...

@Mahita

To make urself better,watch out for the rambling from srinivas kanchibotla, the fans will kill him.
http://idlebrain.com/research/ramblings/ramblings-magadheera.html

Anonymous said...

@Vijay - Was that a comment or a blog :D

Adi said...

you have been harsh on a young kid :-)... for his second movie, i think he has done a brilliant job. and regarding stunts.. come'on this is TOLLYWOOD..

Do you like rajnikant's movies?

Unknown said...

hi vijay...
gud 2 see ur opinion on Magadheera, wat u said here is obviously correct. Although Charan has no face value but chiru's great legacy pulling crowds as much as his movies. U Did not mention first half of the movie much, d luv saga between charan n kajal was cute, that draws audience into strong emotional second half. honestly it may crush all previous records in telugu bcoz of no movies recently release not upto d mark. Audience never think of technical values and rules, needed to be fantasized themselves, far better one like "Magadheera", no doubt its a real croud puller after Arundhati in this year...

Mahita said...

@Adi
:)... Well, perhaps !! But I think my irk lies with the fact that the hero can ONLY be elevated with a worthy opponent. What good is it to watch Federer play a match, when it is almost guaranteed that he would win it? :)...
Barring that, I think, (Mr) Charan, will have a bright future, for there is a significant improvement in his performance from Chirutha to Magadheera. And more importantly, he looks like a promising actor ... so, lets watch the graph of his career:)...

I do like a few of Rajnikanth's movies, but I never accepted action without logic, so, you might perhaps understand my preference :)...

Tollywood aspires to reach the credibility of Hollywood, then, the script should give the scope for that performance, the music should be commendable and the actor persona should be identified. Else, no point in taking a movie, just for the heck of a commercial value. Or perhaps, this is my thinking :)

Anonymous said...

so u think all viewers are waste fellows......
common man....
ask urself... u r absolutely wrong.....
u r making comedy of entire telugu people and industry.........

if some one puts a great effort and succeeds .. try to encourage.....


and even if u dont..
entire AP is already with the film making it industrys biggest hit......

Mahita said...

@Anonymous
Looks like I have one fan here, but anyway, if you can read the post correctly, you would notice that it is spoken from my perspective and not from the common man's perspective and so, the "making commedy of entire telugu people and industry" or the mockery of "u think all viewers are waste fellows" would not enter into the equation.

Yes, the movie is successful commercially.

My appreciation or encouragement makes little difference to the people out there :), so it matters little. And FYI, entire world is watching the film, not just AP :)...