Lucky The Racer [Race Gurram] - Malayalam Movie Review - Allu Arjun, Shruti Haasan

Crew

 Directed by     Surender Reddy
Produced by     Nallamalapu Srinivas (Bujji)
Dr. Venkateswara Rao
Written by     Vakkantham Vamsi
Music by     S. Thaman
Cinematography     Manoj Paramahamsa
Editing by     Goutham Raju
Studio     Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Productions
Distributor E4 Entertainment
Release dates  April 25, 2014

 Cast

    Allu Arjun as Lakshman (Lucky)
    Shruti Hassan as Spandana
    Shaam as Ram
    Tanikella Bharani
    Saloni as Swetha
    Ravi Kishan as Maddhali Siva Reddy
    Prakash Raj as Bheem Prakash
    Pragathi as Spandana's mother
    Pavitra Lokesh as Ram & Lakshman's mother
    Bramhanandam as Kill Bill Pandey
    Ali as Dr. Bali
    M. S. Narayana
    Raghu Babu
    Jaya Prakash Reddy
    Kota Srinivasa Rao
    Mukesh Rishi as Peddi Reddy
    Srinivasa Reddy
    Posani Krishna Murali as Govardhan
    Sayaji Shinde
    Debi Dutta in Item song

Lakshman aka Lucky and Raam are brothers who are at each others throat from their School time. Lucky grows up to be a our normal Telugu movie hero, No job [His ambition is to go to US and work there], boy next door, partying, dancing, bashing up goons etc while Ram grows upto be your typical 2nd hero/ Hero's brother Good, well educated, sophisticated, plus he is a Police Officer too. & as usual the paths of Hero and villains cross, Hero fell head over heels for our heroine at the very first sight and the rest of the story is how Hero ends up with heroine, bash up villains, patch up with brother and fly to America.

 'LTR' is your typical Telugu non-brainer mass masala entertainer, with a story (if there is one) that is ages old. But still the film works to a larger extent thanks to the packaging and tons of Humor embedded into the script. Plus most of the cast also did impressive job, to keep us entertained through most of its run time.

The film may not have 'logic' in most of the scenes, action sequences may be over the top, will break into songs unnecessarily every often, so it may not be your cup of tea if you are not accustomed Telugu brand mass movies. The scripting is what covers many of is flaws and it movies at rapid pace. In the 2nd half  the pace lags a bit, but with the into Kill Bill Pandey the movie reaches the crescendo. For the 20 mins or so following that, you may not really get sense of whats happening, but its damn sure that you will be clapping, whistling, screaming and even rolling on the floor laughing. One of the outrageously entertaining sequences in the recent memory. In that small run time Brahmanandam walks away with the trophy. 

Its a typical Allu Arjun mass vehicle where he has done everything to cater his fan base, especially kids and teenagers [in Kerala]. Those who expects jaw dropping dance moves might be slightly disappointed. He was good in Action, comedy sequences too, as always. Jis Joy, the voice of Mallu Arjun did a neat job, but the 'Eeshwara' couldn't make the same impact as 'Devudaa'. The only thing striking about Shruti Hassan was her lips [Jobbed or Pumped like Anushka Sharma said?]. She has nothing much to do than the regular heroine of mass movies. Brahmanandam as I said before was a scream, brought down the entire house with his Kill Bill Pandey act. Ravi Kishan was able to bring some difference to the villain act. Shaam got a good role after a long time and he was convincing. Posani Krishna Murali rocked in the short role. Think Prakash Raj should stop doing such an unimportant roles (May be to fund his 'Duet Movies').

Direction was good, packaged the whole film without giving people much time to think. Scripting was efficient for a mass film. Dialogues were okay. Music was good, even though the Malayalam lyrics were laughable as always. Background score was superb, especially the Lucky theme and Kill Bill Pandey theme. Cinematography was okay, editing was perfect.

In all if you are a fan of Allu Arjun movies or like Telugu mass movies, you won't be disappointed with 'Lucky The Racer' aka Race Gurram.

Rating: 2.75/5

Verdict: Above Average

Box Office: Telugu version is already a Blockbuster and Allu's biggest hit ever. LTR has taken a superb opening across Kerala too, looks like will end up Allu's biggest hit in Kerala too.

'Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram' is an interesting watch - Malayalam Movie Review

 'Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram' - Malayalam Movie Review

Crew

 Directed by     Balaji Mohan
Produced by     S. Sashikanth
Varun Manian
Screenplay by     Balaji Mohan
Story by     Balaji Mohan
Starring     Dulquer Salman
Nazriya Nazim
Music by     Sean Roldan
Cinematography     Soundararajan
Editing by     Abhinav Sunder Nayak
Studio     Y NOT Studios
Radiance Media
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Dulquer Salman as Arvind
    Nazriya Nazim as Anjana
    Madhoo as Sreedevi
    Maniyanpilla Raju as Prabhakaran Thanchappuzha
    Arjunan as Sathish
    John Vijay as Boomesh
    Ramesh Thilak as Ramesh
    Vinu Chakravarthy as Thambidurai
    Chemban Vinod
    Dinesh Nair

 'Thenmala' is a hill range village situated in Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. Aravind- a sales rep, who likes to talk a lot, Anjana- a Junior Doctor, who prefers silence, Nulear Star Bhoomesh, his fans who are gathered in the village showing support against the protest organized by Drinkers Association, Prabhakaran- Health Minister, Madhoo- Writer cum house wife & Anjana's step mom, Thambidurai- a rich landlord are the major characters in SAH. Each of them have different kinds, ways and reasons for talking, One day a new kind of disease called 'Dumb Flue' spreads through out the Village which prevents people from talking. What changes happens to these characters when everything gets settled forms the rest of the story.

The story may not be unique but the film do offer a good enough message. So special credits to Balaji Mohan for the daring attempt. Watched the film after reading many reviews about both SAH and Vaayai Moodi Pesavum, its Tamil version, which were extremely contrasting. So went to watch the film with a clean mind and was some what satisfied with the output. 

'Talking' can solve almost all problems, people sitting up with their egos bottled up and refusing to talk are the root cause for most issues is what the film is trying to tell us. The director uses candy floss romance, satire etc to deliver the message, which is where the film falters a bit. Sticking entirely to a satire format would have worked more I think. 

The film has a Tamil flavor too, too much detailing, hero with heart of Gold and delivering good old quotes and messages every now and then, separate comedy track etc could have been avoided. The news reading also gets irritating after a point, if it was meant to be funny , failed miserably. The ticker news too failed to raise laughs, apart from 1/2. 

Even though failed with Male lead, the way female lead character has been portrayed is pretty impressive. Kudos to Nazriya too. With out much dialogues, was able to draw out the character perfectly, esp Nazriya's intro scene and the scene after 'Talking' becomes prohibited. 

Its the 2nd half that people have harsh opinion about, where there are no conversation for major porion of the time. But I thought that too was beautifully handled. Reading all the reviews also kinda help me prepare for the 30-40 mins of 'no dialogues' and just actions [Subtitling could have helped those scenes I guess] 

Nazriya's initial conversation with Dulquer after this, Fans and Drunkard meeting [on 2 Occasions] etc were 2 of the noticeable scenes in that portion.

For Dulquer, it was a cake walk of a role. Nazriya for a change gets a completely contrasting character and she has done a great job, repeating her 'OSO' feat. Madhubala's much hyped comeback turned out to disappointing one and she was struggling with Malayalam too. Chemban Vinod rocked as the head of Drunkards while RJ Shaan disappointed in his big screen debut (?). Should have used somebody else for 'Satish's' role as like the character think he messed up. Maniyanpilla Raju, Vinu C etc were Okay.

Balaji Mohan did a great job of directing the movie, but his writing faltered.May be few lines got lost in translation too. There are many cliches which could have been avoided. Cinematography was good. Background score which was loud and at times disrupting dialogues in 1st half proved to be a blessing in 2nd half. BG had a great helping hand in making the 2nd half interesting (at least for me). Editing could have been better as the film lacks pace.

I liked the movie, reviews are out, so make up your own mind, but personally don't think it deserves the harsh criticism it has been receiving especially when the Tamil version have released with glowing reviews. It will be a nice watch if do like experiments.

Rating: 2.75/5

Verdict: Above Average

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Kerala Release Paper AD with Theater List

 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Kerala Release Paper AD with Theater List

Mr. Fraud - Theatrical Trailer - Mohanlal, Manjari Fadnis, Mia George, Pallavi

Mr. Fraud - Theatrical Trailer 

Teaser 1

Teaser 2

Song Teaser

Lucky The Racer ( Race Gurram) Kerala Release Paper aD with theater list

Thala 55 - Shooting Spot Stills - Ajith, Anushka, Gautham Menon

Kerala Vishu/April Box Office - Exclusive Report

Kerala Vishu/April Box Office - Exclusive Report

7 Days has passed in Mollywood's biggest season, Summer Vacations and its time to have a look into how the movies have been performing at the Box Office.


1. 7th Day

We have a surprise entry at No.1. The film opened to a superb response, especially in main cities, beyond all expectations. 7th Day leads the Vishu releases (as of now) despite the film not belonging to mass entertainer genre, which audience used to prefer on Holidays. The last 2 thrillers Prithvi did worked on long run and WOM and didn't have an opening to boas off. 7th Day took the best opening for a Prithvi starrer.

Gross: 5.15 crores in 8 days
Superb Opening, Marching towards Super Hit

2. Ring Master

Dileep's Mass sumer vacation entertainer aimed at Ladies and Kids didn't take a grand opening, but the status has remained even through out without major drop either.

Gross: 4.58 crores in 8 days
Good Opening, Marching towards a Hit

3. Gangster

After a terrific opening the film fell badly like a pack of cards at Box Office. The film was removed from most of its stations within 6/7 days.

Gross: 3.95 crores in 9 days
Great first day, fell after wards - Disaster

4. Pauly Technique

The film took an average opening, and with average WOM future doesn't look much good for Pauly and his Techniques.

Gross: 2.65 crores in 8 days
Above Average

5. Ohm Shanthi Oshaana & Drishyam 

Still Continuing their blistering run in selected main centers and in many B & C class centers.

Mega Hit & All Time Blockbuster

6. Maan Karate

The film got an almost free week as Summer releases were pushed to 1th due to elections. The film was bought for a meagre prize and collected many times that amount. Film performed beyond expectations and many theaters chose the film to continue for a 2nd and 3rd week.

Gross: about 85 lakhs in 15 days

Hit


1 By Two *ing Fahadh Faasil was released this pat Friday (April 19th) to an average opening and below average WOM. So looks like that won't make any difference to the tally. Last Friday of April will 3 releases
Dulquer-Nazriya's Samsaram Arogyahtinu Hanikaram, Indrajith's Masala republic and Allu Arjun's Lucky The Racer [Race Gurram]



PS: The figures are approximate values and may not necessarily be actuals