New Delhi:
Ravibabu made his directorial entry into Tollywood through Allari. However, her earned name and fame with thriller movies like Anasuya and Amaravati. He also tried his hand at a youth-oriented film Nachavule. Once again he made an attempt at a love story in the backwaters of Kerala and a traditional martial art Kalari Payattu there. The audiences who got attracted to the film with the director's name Ravibabu and also with the trailers released in the television channels, were heavily
disappointed.Vikram (Vikram) is an innocent child to parents (Krishna Mohan and Ushasri) who quarrel over petty issues. Vikram's father, a bank employee gets transferred to Rajapalayam in Kerala. The village has a tradition of settling scores through traditional martial art Kalari Payattu. Krishnan Kutty (Bhanuchander), who is a master of the art himself, lets out his house to Vikram's family.
Hence, Vikram gets acquainted with Anjali (Sridivya), daughter of Veerabhadra (Rama Raju), in the village festival and loses his heart to her. Veerabhadra's second wife is very cruel towards Anjali and keeps harassing her into marriage with brother Rajan Pillai (George Vincent). But, Anjali too falls in love with Vikram. While Rajan is a fighter, Vikram is quite the opposite.
After the love affair is exposed, the village elders banish Vikram's family from the village. Then comes Krishnan Kutty, the house owner, who instils courage in Vikram and instigates him into Kalari Payatt, all with the noble intention of winning his love back. But what are Krishnan's intentions? What is his relationship with Anjali? Who wins in the end? This is what forms the climax.
Not really your normal hero, his character's innocence suits Vikram well. His dialogue modulation saved the day.
The beautiful Sridvya makes a good girl-next-door and is like a fresh wiff of air. A television actress, she has no trouble facing the camera and delivering her best.
After a long time, we got to see veteran artiste Bhanuchander play a major, meaty role on the big screen. His martial arts background helped him deliver nicely in those gruelling action sequences.
The new villain on the block, George Vincent with his sharp features gave a fairly okay performance. Annapurna was regular, Krishnamohan is also just okay, Ushasree is sensuously voluptuous but apt, M S Narayana was brief and others did their bit as required. Other artistes did justice to their roles within their limitations.
Paruchuri Brothers penning the dialogues chose to follow Ravibabu's style and mixed his mannerisms well. But the script played the spoilsport. Satyanand, who handled the script, was doing a good job in the first half until he somehow lost interest in a bang. The miserable second half has no engaging moments and the story moves painfully slowly.
Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh is very good in the first half but unfortunately the poor second half does not give him a chance to make the scenes jump.
The highlight of the film is the cinematography and the music. Both these departments tried their best to elevate the film to the a level unattainable otherwise. Another department which should be applauded is the Art Department, which did a neat job.
As far as the screenplay and direction, the director this time chose to use new techniques but failed miserably in his attempts. Most of the climax scenes remind the audiences of films like Tammudu, Jayam, Jai, and Chandni Chowk to China. Production values of Moving Images and Prakash Babu were quite trendy and apt.
Watch it for the breathtakingly beautiful locales of Kerala and to learn more about Kalari Payattu. As for the new martial technique, the film has nothing big to offer. Or, better yet, wait for the DVD.
disappointed.Vikram (Vikram) is an innocent child to parents (Krishna Mohan and Ushasri) who quarrel over petty issues. Vikram's father, a bank employee gets transferred to Rajapalayam in Kerala. The village has a tradition of settling scores through traditional martial art Kalari Payattu. Krishnan Kutty (Bhanuchander), who is a master of the art himself, lets out his house to Vikram's family.
Hence, Vikram gets acquainted with Anjali (Sridivya), daughter of Veerabhadra (Rama Raju), in the village festival and loses his heart to her. Veerabhadra's second wife is very cruel towards Anjali and keeps harassing her into marriage with brother Rajan Pillai (George Vincent). But, Anjali too falls in love with Vikram. While Rajan is a fighter, Vikram is quite the opposite.
After the love affair is exposed, the village elders banish Vikram's family from the village. Then comes Krishnan Kutty, the house owner, who instils courage in Vikram and instigates him into Kalari Payatt, all with the noble intention of winning his love back. But what are Krishnan's intentions? What is his relationship with Anjali? Who wins in the end? This is what forms the climax.
Not really your normal hero, his character's innocence suits Vikram well. His dialogue modulation saved the day.
The beautiful Sridvya makes a good girl-next-door and is like a fresh wiff of air. A television actress, she has no trouble facing the camera and delivering her best.
After a long time, we got to see veteran artiste Bhanuchander play a major, meaty role on the big screen. His martial arts background helped him deliver nicely in those gruelling action sequences.
The new villain on the block, George Vincent with his sharp features gave a fairly okay performance. Annapurna was regular, Krishnamohan is also just okay, Ushasree is sensuously voluptuous but apt, M S Narayana was brief and others did their bit as required. Other artistes did justice to their roles within their limitations.
Paruchuri Brothers penning the dialogues chose to follow Ravibabu's style and mixed his mannerisms well. But the script played the spoilsport. Satyanand, who handled the script, was doing a good job in the first half until he somehow lost interest in a bang. The miserable second half has no engaging moments and the story moves painfully slowly.
Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh is very good in the first half but unfortunately the poor second half does not give him a chance to make the scenes jump.
The highlight of the film is the cinematography and the music. Both these departments tried their best to elevate the film to the a level unattainable otherwise. Another department which should be applauded is the Art Department, which did a neat job.
As far as the screenplay and direction, the director this time chose to use new techniques but failed miserably in his attempts. Most of the climax scenes remind the audiences of films like Tammudu, Jayam, Jai, and Chandni Chowk to China. Production values of Moving Images and Prakash Babu were quite trendy and apt.
Watch it for the breathtakingly beautiful locales of Kerala and to learn more about Kalari Payattu. As for the new martial technique, the film has nothing big to offer. Or, better yet, wait for the DVD.
