Arrasu - The Mass(ive) Entertainer

Much has already been told about the storyline of ARRASU(double R!! yeah :-o numerology may be ) already in the posts so wouldnt like to touch upon that again. Would like to put forward my views about the movie here.

The movie has got a very thin storyline and hence fully banks upon the performances of Puneeth which he carries on well with his good acting. He truly is a the power star as he is called. He gives powerful performances in emotions, comedy, dance and action. Espicially the action sequences have been so effective show his stuntmanship. Good work Puneeth. Expressing emotions with the right facial expressions and body language I think he has learnt a lot from his father. He does it well. He typically reminded me of Annavru when he starts a dialogue with By the By. He still can do a better job in speaking pure kannada well. Totally this is a tailor made movie to show off his talent in all respects.

About the heroines, its Meera who catches our mind the most better than Ramya. Meera is bubbly and lively throughout the movie and hence she appealed to me the most throughout the movie. Rather strange that Ramya has done a subtle role in this. Shes known for her lively roles but we dont get to watch her in that avataar here. What we get to see her is as a responsible and thoughtful girl. But its completely Puneeth's movie where he comes way ahead than his arasis.

Despite his little role, veteran Srinivas Murthy impresses as Ramya's father and Arasu's Manager. We truly get a nice dose of laugther whenever we see Komal Kumar on the screen whose sense of humour and timing seems to improve with every movie he does. Aadi Lokesh in a bit role as villian is okay.

The songs of the movie are not that catchy and have tamilish touch. Joshua Sridhar tries to recreate kismat se tum humko mile ho from Rahman created Pukar. Baaro Baaro sung by Puneeth is good. Rest are just ok.

Action sequences are well executed and stunts are good. Songs have been picturized by Ramesh Babu too well at various exotic locales abroad.

The film actually has got a thin story line and some scenes in the second half tend to be repetitive ... may be to create a helplessness or confused state of mind for Arasu(and viewer ofcourse) Thats where the screenplay could have been more tighter. Actually I got the feeling that why same things are being shown again and again and wat are they trying to prove. But these things are overcome with a surprising climax. Thats where Mahesh Babu, the director has scored well.

Totally I feel its a masala family entertainer with lots of power from the power star.

Jugaari Cross @ Rangashankara

[21^st January 2007 at 3.30 pm]

“Jugaari Cross”, a highly acclaimed novel written by K P Poornachandra Tejaswi has been adapted to stage by Samudaya Group and is directed by Nataraj Honnavalli. Since I haven’t read the novel, so can’t say much about the same but after having seen the play, I feel it must be a great novel with lots of political overtones putting forward the present status of society where there is always one person controlling the other who is depicted as “boss”.

The whole set of events take place in a span of twenty four hours at a place called Devapura where there is a crossing of four roads named “Jugaari Cross”. Once we start getting into the play we get a feeling that the characters, the turn of events, situations etc., are not at all linked to each other and raises a question in our mind that there is a big “boss” who is controlling all these. What is that person doing and why is he doing that is what we start thinking about. But lateron in the play we get to know how the events and characters are linked to each other. What starts off as a question in our mind culminates in a quest for some ancient hidden truths which get answered at the end of the play.

Jugaari Cross as mentioned is a place where people from different walks of life commute with different goals/aims – travelers, cardamom traders, farmers etc. At the cross, it is shown that the forester there is corrupt and extorts money from innocent farmers and traders who pass by that place. The cross is also shown to be a place where lots of underworld activities like smuggling of opium, ganja etc., take place. The main story is told from the point of view of a couple Suresh and Gowri who set out to sell their cardamom at a nearby town called Devapura. Suresh an ex-communist is shown to be a person who is influenced a lot by his guru Ganguli whereas Gowri is a simple girl who wants to be rich by selling off the cardamom at the highest price possible. On their way, in the bus two people from the underworld place a box in their sack of cardamom to protect it from the eyes of police. What is inside the box becomes the centre of attraction from this point.

At Devapura they get to know that the weight of the sack is increased by 2.5 kgs and are surprised at this. By this time the people who had placed the box in their sack get to know that it is missing and go in search of the couple. Huchche Gowda, a cardamom merchant at Devapura puts the cardamom they bring for auction and two mysterious people bid at a very high price and pay them through cheque. Since the couple require cash, they go to a commission agent Sethu, who pays them cash after checking out the cheque they bring in and also warns them to be careful. He reveals to them that the person who has signed the cheque is related to the underworld and two people previously have vanished after receiving similar cheques from him. He also tells them about a precious “red stone” which is got near Doni Hole near Devapura. After getting to know about this, the couple get more curious about why they were paid so much for the cardamom and also want to know if the “red stone” story is a reality. The rest of the story is their saga in getting to know the truth behind these and how the different characters they encountered during the day take them towards the truth.

Being a metaphorical story, it is quite interesting to know where the couple head towards and the revelations they face make us think of our present society where there is a “boss” above everyone of us to control us and makes us dance to his tunes. A lot of thought is required to get into the real idea behind the story which might be fully clear if we read the novel.

Coming to the play, it is a great work by Samudaya to bring such a complex novel (can guess it by the plot!!) on to the stage. Their effort is highly commendable. Good props and sets by Keshava Murthy are an added advantage to give the feel of the Jugaari Cross. Good lighting by Muddanna Rattihalli and Shashidhar Bhaarighaat to give the special effects of a railway tunnel and the smoke to give the misty feeling make the play a treat to watch. The title song which the actors themselves sing on the stage is good to hear and catchy. The play gets a good feeling by the good music of Gajanana T Naik. (Heard that the music for the play was composed in just a day!!!) Good makeup and costumes add to the feel of the play. Some comic moments in between provide a good relief for the viewers who get too involved to know what will happen next in the two hour long play!

It is a great work by the director Nataraja Honnavalli to take up the challenge of adapting the novel to stage. He gets the best out of every performer in the play.

What I remember the most from the play are some characters like Gowri, Shastri, Ganguli, Suresh and Sethu played with good perfection. Also the title song in chorus from the troupe is captivating and hummable.

With each enact, the plays improve and move towards perfection. Also not being the right person to judge the act and actors, what I can say is it’s a good effort by “Samudaaya” and I appreciate their efforts and wish them all the best for their future presentations of ‘Jugaari Cross’ and forthcoming ‘Pampa Bharatha’.

[I wish to mention three artists who made good impression in their act. Padma Shivamogga who played Gowri, Vishwa Rao who played Ganguli (also Huchche Gowda) and Sriharsha Nadahally who played Shastri. (Vishwa being my colleague and Harsha my new acquaintance)]

Mungaaru Male - Freshness Galore

Often some love story based movies are branded as "Old Wine in New Bottle" and most of the times they are discarded as duds. But here is a movie which tells about love and sacrifice(same old stuff !! ) but with a breath-taking effect. Its got all the elements a family entertainer should have - romance, songs, sentiments..... (the list never ends probably for me).

As I told, its about love and sacrifice. "Preeti Madhura Tyaga Amara"(Love is pleasant but sacrifice is eternal). All through the movie we see nothing but love and only at the end we see sacrifice and that too for a truly valid reason.

The story is very simple. Preetam (Ganesh) is a easy going guy who happens to get his eyes on Nandini(Sanjana Gandhi) in a mall and falls in love with her at the first sight. Why only in love, he falls into a manhole also :) Being a careless son of a rich father(Jaijagadish), he is very much attached to his mother(Sudha Belavadi).

Preetam and his mother set off to Madikeri to visit her mother's friend(Padmaja Rao) and her ex-military man Major Subbaiah(Anantnag). On the way he tells his mother about that girl and his love towards her despite not meeting her. After reaching their destination he finds out that Nandini is his mother's friend's daughter and is heartbroken after getting to know that they are there to attend her wedding seven days from then. Nandini is getting married to a guy who saved her father's life in the battlefield. So they are very excited to get her married to him. After knowing this, Preetam wishes to leave the place suppressing his
feelings but Nandini provokes him and he comes back to woo her and get married to her even at the cost of running away from home with her. And this he does with style. He makes his way into her heart with his love and care towards her. She too reciprocates and they decide to marry each other. At this stage, the story takes a turn wherein some beans are spilt and Preetam will have to sacrifice his love. What we see next is his mental turmoil and pain in facing this and getting over. Will he sacrifice? Or will their romance become eternal? Catch the movie if you want to know !!!


The real hero of the movie is the "mungaaru male"(monsoon rain) wherein all major events and twists take place. Preetam seeing Nandini for the first time at a mall, next on his way to Madikeri, he confessing his love towards her, he breaking down at his helplessness about not being able to get her, Nandini expressing his love towards him, Preetam breaking her heart to get away from her and finally he himself breaking
down after she gets married... all these major events happen in the rain. Most of these are natural and very less artificial. Thats what is good about the movie. Everything is natural. Maybe its used as a symbol to give a feeling that rain brings in new life, clears the mind and cleans up the heart.


Next comes in the hero Ganesh who has done a tremendous job in expressing all kinds of emotions with great sincierity. For almost 12 reels he makes us laugh and finally he makes us feel so sad for him. With a powerful author backed role he emotes well to show both his mirth and pain. [I was initially reluctant to watch this movie because of his comedy time show but now I am damn sure that this guy would give other heroes
here a tough competition with his powerful acting skills and perfect timing sense for delivering the dialogues. All the best Ganesh!]


Cameraman Krishna does a great job in getting some breath taking views of Jog Falls from different angles. The best shotsa re the ones in which Preetam and Nandini are at the tip of the Jog Falls where she confesses her love towards him and the scene is shot with superb details of the falls with the camera being at almost right above their head. Mostly this is the only film wherein Jog has looked so beautiful. [Wish I could have got more details on how these scenes were shot. Got info that cranes for the cameras were specially got from Mumbai... dont know if thats true] Also
beautifully captured are the estates of Sakleshpur and views of Madikeri. All these scenic beauty captured in rain adds on the feel of the movie that is 'freshness'.


The dialogue writer and director Yograj Bhatt deserves a huge round of applause for handling the old story in a different way and presenting it with a fresh look. That is what is expected from any director. Creativity rules and wins and Yograj has proved that. The dialogues are very catchy and hit the right cord at the right time. They are very funny at times presented with the right punch by Ganesh and at other times its really touching. There are two scenes where the dilogues, director, actor and cameraman deliver their best together. First one is when Preetam is drunk and confesses his love towards Nandini and breaks down saying he just cant forget her and will keep on loving her despite her marriage to someone else. The next one is where Preetam is leaving Nandini's house just before her wedding where he talks about his state of mind and his love to his pet-a rabbit which he names as Devadas(symbolizing sacrifice). These are the two scenes which made a huge impact on me and these two scenes showed the real results of good team work.


Mungaru Male review would not be complete without mention of the music by Mano Murthy who captures the rainy feeling in the music with ultimate grace. The title song sung by Sonu Nigam penned by Yograj Bhatt himself is really great. Next comes the Kunidu Kunidu Baare sung by Udit Narayan, Sunidhi Chauhan, and Stephen. Anisuthide sung by Sonu Nigam and Araluthiru sung by Shreya Ghoshal are like love poems suiting the characters and fitting in at the right time in the movie. These three are penned by the well known writer Jayant Kaykini who has given poetic justice to these three songs. Onde Ondu Sari is a good fast paced number sung by Kunal Ganjawala and Priya Himesh. Suvvi Suvvali is just ok not that catchy like others. For the last two songs mentioned, lyrics are by Shiva. Mano Murthy puts his full efforts into making these songs memorable and hummbable for a long time to go.

Other performances which are good are by AnantNag, Padmaja Rao and SudhaBelavadi. Sanjana is good in her scenes and looks but is completely overshadowed by Ganesh! Some other parallel tracks in the movie which are worth mentioning are about the rabbit Devadas and about the Gautam(Digant) who is the groom in waiting to marry Nandini.

Finally, we come out of the theatre with fresh thoughts about love and sacrifice from the point of view of a normal lover and Preetam. We also remember the breathtaking visuals of Jog, Madikeri, Sakleshpura and each of these in mungaru male.... with all the freshness needed. Thats why I called it "Mungaaru Male - Freshness Galore"

Guru - A Masterpiece

Guru - A Masterpiece

Meet India's most powerful man, scream the headlines........

"If you don't dream you will be stuck to your village all your life."
"There is a saying in our village - if people say bad things about you, you must be doing something good."
"I don't want to walk.... I want to run." [Turkey 1951]
"If a law can be made in a day, it can be changed in a day."
"I only know one thing..... there is only one person like me here... only one Guru."
"I don't fear the public. I am the public"

These are the words of Gurukant Desai(Abhishek Bachchan) in various stages of his life. Guru, a simple guy from Idhar village in Gujarat always dreams big things in life. His father(Rajendra Gupta) doesnt agree with him saying that dreams never come true. But as Guru grows up even his dreams also grow big. And he sets off to Turkey to earn money. There with his friend (Manoj Joshi) he distributes petrol cans to earn his livelihood. There too his dreams cant hold him back and he returns back to India after rejecting an offer to work for a rich man saying that he wants to be rich and not work for someone. Back home, he gets married to a village girl Sujata(Aishwarya Rai) after he gets to know from her brother, Jignesh(Arya Babbar) that her father(Sachin Khedekar) has saved lots of money for her dowry. Guru plans to use this money for starting a business of his own at Bombay.

So in pursuit of making in big in business he comes to Bombay with Sujata and Jignesh. In Mumbai, truth dawns upon Guru that the business world is a closed community ruled by a handful of rich and influential people who don't believe in giving opportunities to new players. Despite barriers, he starts a company called Shakti Trading and climbs the ladder of success at a furious pace.

Manik Dasgupta aka Nanaji [Mithun Chakraborty], who publishes a newspaper Swatantra, treats Guru as his son. But when he learns that Guru's means to make it big are not right, he along with the Editor of his newspaper, Shyam [Madhavan], decide to expose Guru's unjust ways. The rest is the story where Nanaji and Guru confront over ideals and ethics and it culminates with the very catchy reposition of Guru before an enquiry commission set up to probe into irregularities in Guru's business and his growth as the biggest businessman in India.

Touted as a bio-pic based on Reliance's Dheerubhai Ambani's life, the movie is very grasping and has been handled very well by the master of story telling - Mani Ratnam. Irrespective of how his films are received by the paying public, no one can deny the fact that a Mani Ratnam film is special! Special in many ways!!!! This time Mani, the supremely talented storyteller narrates the story of a man who rises from nothing and becomes the premier industrialist of the country through sheer hard work, determination, passion and grit. GURU is tremendously inspiring and makes anyone feel all the more confident to encounter challenges and hurdles that may crop up in a journey called life. This movie will add to his credentials as a superb film maker who has given us the great visual delights like Roja, Bombay, Dil Se..., Yuva, Alaipayuthey, Kannattil Muthamittal, Geetanjali ! Every sequence in GURU bears the stamp of a genius and the outcome is tremendous!!!

Coming to performances, its truly Abhishek's movie and he would surely win all the awards this time for his tremendous performance as the main protogonist! He makes us laugh, he makes us cry and we relieve all the emotions that he experiences. The role demands him to portray a guy in his teenage to his old age and Abhishek does it too much to perfection. The makeup and body language to suit various stages in his life are the main highlights. This movie truly would be a giant leap for this talented actor.
Aishwarya too gives a superb performance and impresses everyone with her acting. The chemistry between Abhishek and Aishwarya is too good to watch! We feel very much for her when she takes up the role of her husband's voice when he is half-paralyzed and cannot speak.
The other performance which draws our attention is by our own Mithun-da who delivers a natural performance all through. This just reminded me of the real Mithun after a long time since Agneepath and Prem Pratigyaa which were his best serious performances till date.Madhavan is just there but is as charming and refreshing when he confronts Guru. Vidya Balan as Nanaji's disabled daughter and later Madhavan's wife is just there doing nothing much. Arya Babbar is wasted in a bit role. Mallika Sherawat just dances to the tunes of "Maiyya Maiyya" when Guru is in Turkey. The other commendable performances are by Manoj Joshi, Roshan Seth (as chief of investgating commission) and Sachin Khedekar.

Music has always been a intimate part of Maniratnam's movies and as usual A R Rahman holds the show here. " Maiyya Maiyya" and "Barso re Barso" are too good to hear and watch. "Tere Bina" is a duet which is very melodious. "Ek Lo Ek Muft" is a funny song sung by Bappi Lahiri which Guru sings celbrating the birth of his twin daughters. The background score by Rahman is topnotch.

Rajiv Menon's cinematography is truly of international quality where he captures everything from the 1950s look till present day. The scenic beauty of Hampi and Badami are a treat to watch on the big screen. The last five minutes of the movie where Menon uses different camera speeds to give a superb effect to the scene where Guru gives his statment in front of the enquiry commission. Vijay Krishna Acharya's dialogues are too good. The writing in the last twenty minutes of the movie is fantastic.

There are a few loose ends in the movie though as in Guru's confrontation with Jignesh is not very well explained and also the romance between Madhavan and Vidya is somewhat out of track. (their smooch is very aesthetically filmed ...:) )

On the whole, GURU is one of the finest films to come out of the Hindi film industry. Three Cheers to Mani for giving us such a movie. It has already got good opening everywhere and the recent Abhi-Aish engagement will surely add to its success.

Rajeev - The review

Ee Rajeev Gandhi Alla

Seeing the promos I was very excited about watching an out and out action movie in Kannada and that too with police touch. The promos are good no doubt. Except for the action and a superb performance as the action hero by Vijay Raghavendra, nothing seems to be good in the movie. This is what I felt after watching the movie.

The movie has good stars two good stars Vijay Raghavendra and Rakshita. The movie seems to bank only on the action oriented performance of Vijay who carries on the job well. The movie tells the story of bravery of 5 police officers of crime branch of Bangalore city and also about their crusade against rowdies, underworld, press and politicians.

The movie starts off well with good narration about the five police officers Rajeev Rai(Vijay Raghavendra), Shravya (Rakshita), Vivek, Musa and Bhiku who are working in Crime Branch Bangalore and their only motto is to free Bangalore from crime and their methods are very very bloody. Their main motto is pumping bullets into body of underworld people and rowdies. In the due course they confront with Dubai based underworld leader names Samson(Shobharaj) and his brother Bachchan. With their act, they become heroes in people's view but they face the ire of the lady Human Rights Commissioner. Their only support is their senior officer who would be shielding them. But once they come in the view of Human Rights Commissioner, he is forced to transfer them to normal police jobs. Here also they perform their duties with full sincerity and try to highlight the problems faced by Police Officers and Constables during their course of duty and bring these to the notice of their seniors. While they are busy with their normal police duties, the underworld activities of extortion etc., increase in Bangalore with Bachchan coming to Bangalore and creating terror. Even the Human Rights Commissioner's child is kidnapped for ransom and is killed and that's when she realizes their necessity in Crime Branch and they get back the job which they are good at! They continue their job of hunting down the underworld people and end up killing Bachchan after he kills Musa. That's when Samson is enraged and comes to Bangalore vowing to kill all of them. He hatches a plan to replace their supporter-the commissioner with his man. Also he plans to break their friendship and damage their career. Will he succeed in his intentions and how does Rajeev and his friends face this? Will they succumb to his plots or fight back is the main story.

With this there are sentimental moments wherein the relationship of Rajeev and his sister (Pavitra Lokesh) is brought about very well. Also, the love between Shravya and Rajeev is given some highlight. But what catches in the movie are its hard hitting dialogues which target towards the Press, Politicians and the Public. Two scenes are very catchy. One wherein the five officers confront the police saying they are doing wrong in accepting bribe quoting their low salary as reason and second is one wherein they confront their new commissioner calls their deceased friend is a mess and they should clean up the mess. Also finally there is a message by Ravi Belegere who puts question to the public about their role in making this society a better place to live by supporting the police by treating them as humans.

Speaking about the technicalities of the movie, the screenplay has a very fast pace which takes a beat with the two unnecessary songs. But I do agree that the songs are required to give a relief to the people from the blood bath all through the movie. One song is an item number which was quite unnecessary. The other one is a duet which I felt was quite out of frame. The music and background score by Sadhu Kokila are just ok and at times too loud to suit the action. Good camerawork to suit the action sequences is mindblowing. But I wonder if it was really required to use so much green filters while filming. The dialogues by Rajashekar and Ramesh are very hard hitting and sometimes very vulgar to invite lots and lots of beeps all through the movie. The dialogues where they speak about the status and real lives of police inspectors and constables, confrontantion with politicians explaining situation of police and their confrontation with their new commissioner after their friend's death are really good.

The direction by Ravi Srivatsa is good and he handles the narration very well. But finally what I wonder about is his intention behind the movie - whether to glorify police or to give a message that nothing can change here in this society and also that honesty in a policeman is bound to ruin him. Finally I came out of the theatre with a question myself that what the director was trying to prove.

Coming to performances, its clearly Vijay Raghavendra who steals the show with his action. He emotes well in his scenes with Rakshita and his sister. Rakshita does a good job as a police officer. Good to see her in such a serious role. But one thing which I noticed was she just disappears in action sequences while the other four are bashing the goons. Quite natural!!! J Shobharaj as Samson is always on phone in the movie fails to impress as the villain. Other three officers – Vijay, Nagashekhar and Hareesh Rai are just there doing their part. Pavitra Lokesh surprises with her act as Rajeev's sister. She proves that she is talented and needs better roles.

Talking about box office, I personally feel this might not get the family audience which is very much required because of this bloody action and (at-times) vulgar dialogues. Also it might take a back seat because of the other releases Shivrajkumar – Rakshita's "Thayiya Madilu" which is a family tear jerker and also Abhishek-Aishwarya starrer "Guru" which has got a good opening.

I finally feel that Ravi Srivatsa should have taken steps towards making it more watchable with the family. Actually I found exactly two ladies in balcony in the theatre where I watched the movie. That's what might affect its box-office performance very much.

RANGABHOOMI gaagi SATYAAGRAHA

ಪ್ರಿಯರೆ
ಜನವರಿ 5 2007 ಶುಕ್ರವಾರ ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ಹತ್ತರಿಂದ ರವೀಂದ್ರ ಕಲಾ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರದ ಆವರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡದ ರಂಗಕರ್ಮಿಗಳು ಶ್ರೀ ಪ್ರಸನ್ನ ಅವರ ನೇತೃತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ಉಪವಾಸ ಸತ್ಯಾಗ್ರಹವನ್ನು ಆರಂಭಿಸಲಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಕವಿ G.S ಶಿವರುದ್ರಪ್ಪನವರು ರಂಗಕರ್ಮಿಗಳನ್ನು ಆಶೀರ್ವದಿಸಿ ಸತ್ಯಾಗ್ರಹಕ್ಕೆ ಚಾಲನೆ ನೀಡುವವರಿದ್ದಾರೆ

ಕಾರಣ:ರಂಗಭೂಮಿ ಹಾಗೂ ಮಾತೃಭಾಷೆಗಳದ್ದು ಜನುಮದ ಜೋಡಿ. ರಂಗಭೂಮಿ, ಮಾತೃಭಾಷೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಪ್ರಾಥಮಿಕ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಒಂದಕ್ಕೊಂದು ಪೂರಕವಾಗಿ ನಿಂತಾಗ ಮಾತ್ರ ನಮ್ಮ ಸಮಾಜವು ಆರೋಗ್ಯಕರವಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆಯಬಲ್ಲದು. ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರದ ಬೆಂಬಲವಿಲ್ಲದೆ ಮಾತೃಭಾಷಾ ರಂಗ ಚಳುವಳಿಗಳು ಬದುಕಲಾರವು. ರಂಗಕರ್ಮಿಗಳು ಟೆಲಿವಿಷನ್ ಹಾಗು ಸಿನಿಮಾದತ್ತ ಗುಳೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಿರುವುದನ್ನು ತಡೆಯಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಅವರಿಗೆ ರಂಗಭೂಮಿಯಲ್ಲೇ ಉದ್ಯೋಗ ದೊರಕಬೇಕು. ಅಂತಹ ಉದ್ಯೋಗ ಲಭ್ಯವಿರುವುದು ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ರಂಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತ್ರ. ಇತ್ತಕಡೆ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ರಂಗದಲ್ಲಿ ರಂಗಭೂಮಿಯ ಪಾಲ್ಗೊಳ್ಳುವಿಕೆ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ಶಾಲೆಯೆಂಬುದು ಮಗುವಿನ ಮನಸ್ಸನ್ನು ಅರಳಿಸಲಾರದು. ಯೋಚಿಸಿ! ನಿಮ್ಮ ಮಗುವು

1 ಮೂರೂ ಹೊತ್ತು ಟೆಲಿವಿಷನ್ ಪರದೆಯನ್ನು ನೋಡುತ್ತಾ ಕುಳಿತಿರಬೇಕೆ?
2. ಚಾಕು ಚೂರಿ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ , ಅಶ್ಲೀಲ ನೃತ್ಯಗಳು ಹಾಗು ಪೋಲಿ ಹಾಡುಗಳನ್ನು ಕಲಿಯಬೇಕೆ?
3.ನಿಮ್ಮ ಮಗು ತನ್ನ ಮಾತೃಭಾಷೆಯನ್ನು ಮರೆಯಬೇಕೆ ?

ಬೇಡ ಎನ್ನುವುದಾದರೆ ನಮ್ಮೊಡನೆ ಬನ್ನಿ, ನಮ್ಮ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಉಳಿಸಬಲ್ಲ ಎರಡು ಸಣ್ಣ ಬೇಡಿಕೆಗಳ ಪರವಾಗಿ ಧ್ವನಿ ಎತ್ತಿ

ಬೇಡಿಕೆಗಳು
1. ಭಾರತದ ಎಲ್ಲ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಭಾಷೆಗಳ ರಂಗಭೂಮಿಯನ್ನು ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ರಂಗಭೂಮಿ ಎಂದು ಮಾನ್ಯತೆ ಮಾಡಿ
2.ಭಾರತದ ಎಲ್ಲ ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಶಾಲೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ, ಶಿಕ್ಷಣದಲ್ಲಿ ರಂಗಭೂಮಿ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಜಾರಿಗೆ ತನ್ನಿ

Kallarali Hoovagi - The Review

The latest offering by T S Nagabharana "Kallarali Hoovagi" starring Vijay Raghavendra, Umashankari, Anantnag, Bharathi, Ambareesh, Avinash etc., is truly a visual treat to watch.
The movie based on a novel of the same name by B L Venu is a fictitious love story set in Chitradurga during the reign of Madakari Nayaka. The novel itself is truly enchanting to read but T S Nagabharana has put full life into into it in the movie.

The story is about the love between a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl and their sacrifice for Chitradurga. The author has handled such a meticulous topic so well that there is no scope for so called fundamentalists to create a furore etc., Jayadeva(Vijay Raghavendra) is a postman and a talented youth of Chitradurga. One night he rescues an injured girl Noor Jahan (Umashankari) from the battle field who is shocked after her parents were killed by Madakari Nayaka's (Ambareesh) soldiers. She actually is the daughter of Hyder Ali's (Devraj) main sentinel. Jayadeva brings Noor to his house where his doctor-father, Basayya (Anant Nag) treats her despite Basayya's wife's (Bharathi) initial resentment to keep a muslim girl in their house.
The family has to protect Noor Jahan's identity since she is from the rival king's land. So they rename her as Ratna and she becomes a part of their house. As time flows, Jayadeva falls in love with her and he rejects the offer of marrying his uncle's (Mukhyamantri Chandru) daughter. Madakari Nayaka comes to know of this love between the Jaya and Rathna and approves their love and also makes Jaya one among his trusted men. Jaya too helps the king and kingdom by capturing Hyder Ali's spies with his valor and tact. Towards the climax, he himself acts as a spy of his king in Hyder Ali's army who gather around Chitradurga fort to capture it. He succeeds in defeating them with his clever plans. Finally what would happen to the lovers? Will he able to save chitradurga from Hyder Ali? The Climax becomes a sentimental part of the movie.
\n \nVijaya Raghavendra has given the best performance of his lifetime with his nice looks, acting, dancing, fights and espicially the right body language at the right time. Umashankari is good as Noor and looks pretty. (but personally I feel she isnt the right pair for Vijay because she looks a bit oversized compared to him :) ) Anant Nag and Bharathi perform well as they have done before. Ambareesh as Madakari Nayaka impresses in some scenes. Avinash as one of Nayaka's trusted men does his usual best. Mukhyamantri Chandru is loud as Jaya's uncle and Sumalatha as Nayaka's wife hardly speaks in the movie. Also seen in the movie is the thespian M P Shankar as one more trusted men of Nayaka. This definitely is Vijay Raghavendra's movie and will be a showcase of his acting prowess and his display of various emotions and also valor. No doubt he will be compared with Annavru in doing justice to historical themes. \n\n \nAnd very much the movie will also be compared with the other historical release of the year "Gandugali Kumararama". T S Nagabharana wins at his narration by getting out the best of everything from all his actors. Be it expressing the love in terms of "sampige" flower or depicting valor in the eyes of the actors, Nagabharana scores as the best. The film also has its light moments when Bharathi dreams about her household turning into a muslim household. This evokes lots of laughter and its not overboard. The sets are lavish - thanks to producer Madhu Bangarappa, the producer who has put in lot of money in making of the movie. The historic sets in the rampants of Chitradurga are very convincing and realistic to suit the Durga of those times. Nagini Bharana wins in the costume design category. The two other heros of the movie other than Vijay Raghavendra deserve a huge applaud. Firstly, the music and background score by Hamsalekha which are too much in tune with the time and mood of the movie. The songs are very situational and captivating which are very suitably put at the correct situations. The title song and biriyani song are a treat to watch and hear. Secondly, the photographer of the movie, H C Venu takes the viewers to the visual delight of the fort and ramparts of Chitradurga.

Vijaya Raghavendra has given the best performance of his lifetime with his nice looks, acting, dancing, fights and espicially the right body language at the right time. Umashankari is good as Noor and looks pretty. (but personally I feel she isnt the right pair for Vijay because she looks a bit oversized compared to him :) ) Anant Nag and Bharathi perform well as they have done before. Ambareesh as Madakari Nayaka impresses in some scenes. Avinash as one of Nayaka's trusted men does his usual best. Mukhyamantri Chandru is loud as Jaya's uncle and Sumalatha as Nayaka's wife hardly speaks in the movie. Also seen in the movie is the thespian M P Shankar as one more trusted men of Nayaka. This definitely is Vijay Raghavendra's movie and will be a showcase of his acting prowess and his display of various emotions and also valor. No doubt he will be compared with Annavru in doing justice to historical themes.

And very much the movie will also be compared with the other historical release of the year "Gandugali Kumararama". T S Nagabharana wins at his narration by getting out the best of everything from all his actors. Be it expressing the love in terms of "sampige" flower or depicting valor in the eyes of the actors, Nagabharana scores as the best. The film also has its light moments when Bharathi dreams about her household turning into a muslim household. This evokes lots of laughter and its not overboard. The sets are lavish - thanks to producer Madhu Bangarappa, the producer who has put in lot of money in making of the movie. The historic sets in the ramparts of Chitradurga are very convincing and realistic to suit the Durga of those times. Nagini Bharana wins in the costume design category. The two other heros of the movie other than Vijay Raghavendra deserve a huge applaud. Firstly, the music and background score by Hamsalekha which are too much in tune with the time and mood of the movie. The songs are very situational and captivating which are very suitably put at the correct situations. The title song and biriyani song are a treat to watch and hear. Secondly, the photographer of the movie, H C Venu takes the viewers to the visual delight of the fort and ramparts of Chitradurga.
\n \nTotally its a very good movie and might turn out to be the return of historical movies to the Kannada screen. Great work by T S Nagabharana and Hamsalekha who enlighten the movie with this skill and expertise.

Totally its a good movie and might turn out to be the return of historical movies to the Kannada screen. Great work by T S Nagabharana and Hamsalekha who enlighten the movie with their skill and expertise.

Shraddha @ Rangashankara

This play by the new troupe "Panchamukhi Natara Samuha" (staged at rangashankara on 17th October) deals with the feelings of devotion of four children who realize their father's love towards them late in life. This tells the story of a family where the father is initially described as a strict person who doesnt care much about showing love to his children. The children describe his various characters in their own way satirically. Towards the middle of the story, the children and the father start realizing their real feelings of affection and caretowards each other, but they dont express the same to each other. When the time comes for the children to leave for a far off town to earn a livelihood, they realize the real value of their father and his care towards them. On the other side, their father too is grieved by the fact that his children will be away from him and forces him to see them off at the railway station. Thats when his real emotions for his children are poured out in public. He embraces them filled with tears. The children while on the train feel sorry for their thoughts that their father is uncaring towards them after seeing his eyes filled with tears. All these they remember years later when they gather together for their father's 'Shraadhha'(the Hindu ritual of treating people to feasts in the name of the deceased). The play ends on a note that the real "Shraadhha" is performed when the beloved people remember the deceased with "Shraddha"(Faith) and not just by performing the rituals.The one hour play directed by Vinayak Joshi was a nice one to watch with some hilarious moments in the first half and some touching moments in the second. In the first half the four children express their anguish about their father being too uncaring and strict with lots of instances to prove that. These acts were brought out very nicely by the troupe with lots of anecdotes and comparisons with real-life situations. When the audience is still reeling under the light moments, the actual story wherein the real concern and care of their father towards them is brought in front of them in a unique way musically. Espicially in the last act where the setting is in a railway station where the father comes to see off his children, Vinayak Joshi featured well in emoting as the father. The music by Praveen was a splendid experience to listen! Hats off to him! Coming to the dialect used in the play, they have tried to put in North Karnataka dialect but at times they seem to forget this fact and talk in normal dialect, can talk about this as inconsistency which the troupe should concentrate upon. Thats the only negative thing I found in the play.
The play was executed technically well with the basic Set Design, good Sound Design and very good Lighting Design. I felt the lights spoke for themselves with the actor's mood.Keep up the good work "Panchamukhi Natara Samuha". My best wishes with you!!!
Rangashankara was the best place to watch the play. One of the speciality is that they dont have a microphone or a speaker to enhance the voice. Dialogues and music reach your ears as it is which gives u a very pleasant experience. The seating arrangement is also very good and at the same time comfortable for typical one hour play. The discipline that is followed inside the theatre is wonderful. Overall, it was a different experience