Interview with Sonia-vinayakudu

Interview with Sonia

Date: November 20, 2008, Hyderabad

Sonia who gave a stupendous performance as Shravs in her debut blockbuster Happy Days has become the dream date of Telugu youth overnight. Her second film Vinayakudu is all set to hit the marquee on November 21 in the USA and on 22 in India. Here is an exclusive interview with Sonia - Why did you accept Vinayakudu film? I accepted the Vinayakudu film in March 2008. I liked the script. It is an urbane story with interesting style of characterizations. It has an off-beat storyline and gripping narrative style. How do you compare your Shrav's character in Happy Days with the one in Vinayakudu? In the Happy Days film, I did not have many dialogues. I had to convey through expressions. But my role in Vinayakudu is very different. I come across like a very talkative girl in this film. I did a college girl character in Happy Days and I am playing the role of a working woman in Vinayakudu. I am daddy's girl in Vinayakudu who is ambitious and pursue whatever she wants. How different is Sai Kiran Adivi compared to Sekhar Kammula? Sai Kiran inherited patience from Sekhar Kammula. Both of them have loads of patience and explain us what they want. I have lots of respect and awe for Sekhar Kammula and my relationship with Sekhar Kammula is more like that of student and teacher. Sai Kiran is like a friend to me and I have more freedom on the sets with him. What do you think is the strength of Vinayakudu? The story is the main strength of the film. There will not be any exaggerated drama. It will be a smooth and feel good film. I can't say anymore about it as I have not watched the film yet. You had a bespectacled nerd and a fat guy proposing to you in Happy Days and Vinayakudu respectively. What is your criterion in your real life if you get a similar proposal? I might sound like a cliche. But it's true. Physical features are secondary for me. Looks are momentary and fade away after a while. What stays for the whole life is the character. I am looking for a guy with good character as my life partner than a guy with good looks. You are doing Tamil version of Happy Days. Are there any changes? I am doing the same character of Shravs in Tamil too. I am the only actor from Telugu cast who is working in the Tamil aswell. I don't see any major differences between Telugu and Tamil version. How do you react to the fan following? I had a dream launch with Happy Days film. The kind of response I got was flattering. After doing Happy Days, I realized that I got some in-born talent in me. I am very happy when somebody recognize and praise me. A couple of my friends talked to you when you were partying in pubs. Don't you feel that people who approach you like that are invading your privacy? I am OK with people coming and talking to me. Since I acted in film, it is only natural for people to want to talk to me. I remember those days when I wanted to talk to Chiranjeevi when Aapadbhandavudu film was shot in our St. Ann's college. When somebody says hi to me I treat them well and reply them. But I don't like it when people call me Shravs from behind and expect me turn around and acknowledge them. In the last interview, you expressed you wish to start a flower shop? Yes. The plan is still on. I am looking at taking a local franchise of a big national level florist chain. What is your materialistic dream? I love to have an independent or a penthouse. I want to have lot of space in my house so that I can have plants and pets. I am a pet lover. I have puppy now and I also want to have a cat and rabbits. I don't want to live in a match-box kind of place. What about a car. You still wanna depend on cabs? I bought a decent second-hand car recently and I started driving. I am happy with it. My dream car is BMW convertible. But Hyderabad roads are not ready yet for my dream car, I guess. You roles in Happy Days and Vinayakudu are similar. Don't you think you will get branded? I don't know my potential as an actress yet. I don't like to be called as either commercial heroine or an off-beat heroine. I would love to do the role in films like Raincoat. I wanna do roles that inspire emotions in people. I want to do roles with sheer depth. Who is your role model? I like the way Genelia is handling her career. I would like to model my career like Tabu by balancing between art films and commercial films. I love Amitabh Bachchan the way he moulded his career spanning so many decades. Curly hair and spaghetti style is your brand now. Do you straighten your hair if the role demands it? Yes. My hair is curly by nature. There are some moments where I got it straightened for a brief time in the past. I don't mind straightened hair. Are you tensed about the release of Vinayakudu? I was tensed up yesterday night. Not any more. Just waiting to watch the premiere tonight.

Satyameva Jayathe

Jeevi rating: 2/5 Punchline: cop story Genre: Drama Type: Remake (Khakhee) Banner: Sivani Sivatmika Movies Cast: Rajasekhar, Sivaji, Atul Kulakarni, Milind Soman, Sai Kiran, Siva Reddy, Neetu Chandra, Sanjana, Sheryl Pinto, Sayaji Shinde, Ahuti Prasad, Brahmanandam, M Satyanarayana Reddy etc Music: Chinna Editing: Nandamuri Hari Stunts: Horseman Babu Story - screenplay - dialogues: Rajasekhar Direction: Jeevaitha Producer: Sivani & Sivatmika Release date: 13 February 2009

Review

Story Satya (Rajasekhar) is an honest cop who is entitled with the job of bringing a terrorist-suspect Dr. Ansari (Atul Kulakarni) from Vizag to Hyderabad. A terrorist (Milind Soman) has a personal score to settle with Satya and his job is to help Dr. Ansari escape from Satya's custody. The rest of the story is all about how Satya does his job successfully. Artists Performance Rajasekhar is adequate as an angry cop. Atul Kulakarni is excellent. Sivaji is ok as the playful cop. Siva Reddy is decent as a constable. Sheryl Pinto is average. Neetu Chandra is wasted in this film. An actress of her caliber shouldn't have done such an insignificant role. The Telangana dialect did not suit the character. Sanjana is adequate as the wife of hero in the flashback episode. Sayaji Shinde and Ahuti Prasad are fair. Politician M Satyanarayana Reddy acted as CM in this film and he entertains. Technical departments Story - screenplay - direction: This film is a remake of Hindi flick Khakhi. Rajasekhar made some amendments in the beginning of the film. The rest of the story, screenplay and direction follow the pattern of Khakhi film. Jeevitha Rajasekhar who has shown some promise as a director with Seshu film fails to get it right with this film. Direction of the film is not up to the mark. We don't except her to do a few vulgar scenes (involving Sivaji and Sheryl) in her direction. Visuals of some of the scenes (railway transport) and a song (Aisa Jadoo Kiyare featuring Lara Dutta) are taken from Khaki film. There is also a scene targeting Chiranjeevi for using Mother Teresa image. Other departments: inematography of the film is mediocre. There is no consistence in the lighting work. Music is not up to the mark and most of the tunes are lifted ones. Dialogues are alright. Analysis: Satyameva Jayathe film is a remake of Hindi flick Khakhi. And no proper attention is paid while doing the script work and shooting the film. Hence you see glaring inconstancy throughout the film. Khaki was basically a nice made film and it was targeted to A class audiences. Satyameva Jayathe is a dumb-down version of Khakhi which mostly caters to B and C crowds.

slumdog millonaire 2008

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Cast: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan, Saurabh Shukla, Freida Pinto, Ankur Vikal Director: Danny Boyle (Loveleen Tandan (co-director: India)) Music: AR Rehman Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle Editing: Chris Dickens Rating: Enetertainment Quotient: 70% Genre: Crime/Romance Runtime: 120 min MPAA rating: R Synopsis: Jamal (Dev Patel) is an orphan from the slums of Mumbai. He gets to attend the game show ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ when he is 18. Surprisingly he starts giving the right answers till he gets into the final round. And all these questions have relevance to certain incidents happened in his life. The game show host and cops suspect that Jamal cheated in the show. The rest of the story is all about how he proves his innocence and wins his lady love that’s been playing hide and seek with him since his childhood. Actors: The kids who did the roles of Salim, Jamal and Latika are adorable. They are the best in the film than the main leads. Among the notable Indian actors, Saurabh Shukla is the best. Ankur Vikal is excellent. Anil Kapoor is pretty natural as a wicked and biased host of the game show. After some point of time, we start hating him. Dev Patel is adequate. Irfan Khan played similar kind of roles earlier. Hence it is a cake walk for him. Story – screenplay – direction: The story of this film is adapted from a book Q & A written by an Indian author Vikas Swaroop. It is an interesting story that has two parallel plots interwoven into a game show. Direction of the film is brilliant. The screenplay is extraordinary. This film combines both arts and commerce. It has a highly realistic treatment to it with an undercurrent box office winning formula. The following scenes are worth mentioning: 1. The cop chasing the kids in slums 2. Young Jamal jumping into shit pond to get an autograph of Amitabh. 3. Young Salim asking his boss for 50 rupees when his boss asks him to be professional. 4. Jamal acting as tour guide in Taj Mahal 5. Darshan to Ghanashyam scene 6. Jamal’s conversation with the blind in which he comes to know about the photo on 100 dollar bill. 7. Salim taking the life of the guy who bothered him. 8. Jamal trying to steal chapati on a moving train 9. Jamal not choosing B as an answer for the penultimate question Commercial screenplay payoffs in the film (typical Indian): 1. Spaced flashback narration: It has three threads of game show, police interrogation and flashback simultaneously run. 2. Love story: Jamal loves Latika unconditionally. She goes missing from him. And he finds her. She changes hands and is used by many men. But he stills love her. And all ends well in the end. 3. Salim character: Salim is the elder brother of Jamal. He is protective of his brother, at the same time egoistic. He behaves selfish at times and finally becomes an admirable person. 4. Three Musketeers Thread: The beginning of the movie has a teacher telling the students about ‘Three Musketeers’. Jamal considers his brother, himself and Latika to be three musketeers. The final question in the game show is about the name of the third musketeer. It was a beautifully written thread. 5. Mental recall: Jamal is recognized by the blind boy, Latita and Salim at different points of life journey. 6. Biased host of the game show: The host of the game show is a biased man. He does not want Jamal to win. He goes to the extent of apprehending Jamal to the cops. Hence the last two questions in the game show give huge commercial pay off when Jamal nails the host with the right answers though he does not know if it’s right. 7. Spirit of human triumph: Triumph is important than winning money. Hence he never backs out in the middle for money. Jamal risks it till the last round as it is all about the spirit of human triumph. Some of the unconvincing points: 1. Three Musketeers lesson in a school attended by slum boys. 2. Jamal not knowing about Gandhi’s photo on Indian note. The debate of India being shown as a pathetic country in this film: When somebody is doing a film on a slum boy, it is bound to show the hard reality in slum areas. That does not mean that India has been projected in the wrong way. When somebody watched ‘City of God’ (reviiew here) which shows the bad side of Brazil country, one expects it to be a poor country with little scope for improvement. But actually Brazil is one of the fastest growing economies in the world along with Russia, India and China (BRIC countries). India is not for the people who judge it by watching fictional movies. Hence, let’s not bother about it. Other technical departments: Background score by AR Rehman is peppy and energetic (especially the beat scored by kids chasing scenes in the initial part of the movie). Cinematography is excellent. Editing is superb with no dull moment. This film shows Mumbai slums in a magnificent way. Analysis: Slumdog Millionaire is an Indian film at heart with Indian emotions catering to Indian sensibilities. This film balances arts with commerce. It is also the best example of presenting a story in a realistic way without missing the formula. The best part in this film is the screenplay and most of the credit for this screenplay should go to the Indian writer Vikas Swaroop who wrote ‘Q & A’ book. Direction of the film is world class and narration balances the sensible humor and subtle tragedy. On a whole Slumdog Millionaire is a must see film and will put India on the world cinema map like Gandhi (1982) film.

Telugu film Photo Gallery Drona - Nitin & Priayamani

Telugu film Photo Gallery Drona - Nitin & Priayamani