ANNAVARAM CREDITS:
RELEASE DATE: 29 DEC,2006
GENRE: Sentimental/Action/Drama
CAST:
Pawan Kalyan, Asin, Sandhya, Siva Balaji, Venu Madhav, Naga Babu, Brahmanandam, Brahmaji, Sunil, Ali, Raghu Babu, Ranganath, Dharmavarapu, L.B. Sreeram, Suman Setty, Narsing Yadav, Lakshmipati, Hema, Surekha Vani, Telangana Sakuntala Etc.,
CREW:
DIALOGUES: Abburi Ravi
MUSIC: Ramana Gogula
BACKGROUND SCORE: Dina
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Sethu Sriram
ART: Anand Sai
EDITING: Goutam Raju
STUNTS: Vijayan
STORY: Perarasu
PAWAN KALYAN COSTUMES DESIGN: Renu Desai
PRODUCERS: N.V. Prasad & Paras Jain
BANNER: Mega Super Good Films
DIRECTION/SCREENPLAY: Bheemaneni Srinivasa Rao
EXPECTATIONS:
Remake specialist Bheemaneni Srinivasa Rao teaming up with Pawan Kalyan to make a mass flick and to top that, with village background seems interesting. But genuinely speaking I didn’t like the Tamil version TIRUPACHICHI… So I had my fingers crossed. Read on…
STORY:
The story is about a village guy Annavaram(Pawan Kalyan) who makes country weapons (knives and sickles) for a living. He loves his sister Varam(Sandhya) so much that he wants her to settle down marrying a city guy who can provide her with all the material comforts that are not inherently available in village. Narsimha(Venu Madhav) is his best pal. Annavaram arranges Varam’s marriage with a city guy(Siva Balaji). Varam and her husband settle in the city as her husband maintains a college canteen. Asin is their neighbour. Some hooligans harass the couple in the city which Annavaram comes to know after his best pal Narsimha dies because of some hooligans. The rest of the movie is all about how he eradicates the rowdies from the city so that his sister’s son can take birth in a peaceful city.
PERFORMANCES:
Pawan Kalyan as Annavaram lends a genuine sense of emotion to the character. He maintains a subtlety that is highly impossible in this brainless sentimental action drama. But on the flip side, after a long time he unnecessarily TRIES to dance a lot. Sandhya, a gutsy and natural actress is wasted in this spineless role. She just has to wear Pawan’s shirt a few times… that’s it.
The fact that Asin is a heroine in the movie is reminded to us a few times when the lead couple start dancing around aimlessly in the songs to give the audience much needed break to breathe fresh air or smoke. But the fact that she has the worst character that she played so far is evident when she blabbers in pure Telangana accent which even Telangana Sakuntala might not pull off…
Venu Madhav, Raghu Babu, M.S. Narayana, Dharmavarapu and Brahmaji are seasoned artists and they pull off the characters with ease.
Nagendra Babu has a couple of scenes which are really hilarious and he pulls them off with much aplomb.
Ashish Vidyarthi’s character as Tapas Balu is more of a comedian than villain. Not even a single time in the whole movie we get to see the villain that he is supposed to be… The entire fault lies with the script and the director who failed to etch out the character well.
OTHER DEPARTMENTS:
Dialogues by Abburi Ravi touched the lowest trough when Asin came in to the picture and the “Bond-James Bond” kind of dialogues by the hero, the villains (Raju-Pothu Raju by the hero, Balu-Tapas Balu by the villain) is a cheap attempt which could have been right in a comedy movie.
Art director Sai neither impresses nor disappoints. So nothing much to write on this.
Cinematography by Sethu Sreeram is the reason why Tollywood movies are failing to make a headway… First he has to learn to hold the camera still in many scenes.
Background score by Dina is below average to say the least.
Music by Ramana Gogula is mediocre but not as worst as the movie itself is… Many people would like the sister sentimental song but I didn’t mind to listen to the songs Mehbooba and the one in which Pawan dresses as a cowboy.
DIRECTION/SCREENPLAY:
Please someone lock up this director before some other well performing actors blindly sign him up and ruin their careers. To say that direction and screenplay are worst would be a huge understatement. In an ironical way this movie gives a double dose for the same buck. The first half is sentimental bakwas which never moves any heart in the theater. The second half is an action adventure which never makes the blood race through the veins… The director must be having his brain down his pants well below his knees… to make a hero character that goes on a killing spree which is not only unreal but also unpardonable. Bheemaneni is also proved to be a screenplay writer who doesn’t know how to etch out the characters well… leave alone the scenes.
HIGHLIGHTS:
The scene where Pawan enters the villain’s den posed as a sales man.
The funeral scene of Venu Madhav is well shot to elevate the emotional levels that were missing from the whole movie. In fact the scene is one of the most naturally shot funeral episodes out of the innumerable ones on our Indian screens.
BLUNDERS:
Firstly, the script.
Secondly Asin’s tryst with Telangana accent.
Thirdly, making two movies in a single movie i.e., First half being completely devoid of the second half.
Fourth, The introduction scene of Pawan kalyan where he comes with a long sickle and fights off a lengthy line of hugely built men (Come on guys, Size does matter…) in the water with ease and that too under a minute.
Fifth, Trying to play an old trick hiring Ramana Gogula for Pawan Kalyan whose music has gone bankrupt long ago.
Sixth, dialogues by Abburi Ravi many a time brings a loud laughter not in the comedy scenes but in the emotional scenes. Especially, when the prime characters utter James Bondish dialogues, our Telugu film standards seem to touch rock bottom. Pawan Kalyan looks ridiculous in the scenes where he adds a lemon to his weapon and utters the dialogue of VADHA.
Seventh, showing Sandhya’s womb using graphics when Pawan tries to talk to his yet to be born nephew over telephone. Our Telugu film directors never learn to use techniques at right places and more over this is not a SCI-FI movie.
The list is endless but lastly, to think that Telugu audience are fools and taking them for granted…
KALCHA’s ADVICE: My advice to everyone would be… to not only give Annavaram a miss, but also advice your friends and family to avoid this torture called Annavaram. I am here to take the punishment…
To know my prediction on ANNAVARAM’s Box-Office fate, read this POST.
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