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Story
The film opens with a series of events that leave an astounding
impact, shown in time intervals of decades about how one blood-seeking
family is trying to annihilate another peace-making influential
family in the land of Rayalaseema. In the process they show
a kid called Indra Sena Reddy occupying the big chair of the
peace making family at a tender age of 8 years.
Then
the scene shifts to Varanasi, where the newly appointed UP
governor Chenna Kesava Reddy (Prakash Raj) comes to visit
Varanasi along with his family, which includes a beautiful
daughter Pallavi (Sonali Bendre) who is studying at BHU (Banaras
Hindu University).
When
Pallavi takes holy dip in Ganges her pearl pendant floats
off and adorns the neck of a guy who is also taking holy dip.
According to the mother of Pallavi, if somebody leaves something
that is dear to them in the Ganges at Varanasi, his or her
wishes would come true. But Pallavi does not know that the
pendant reached a person called Shankar Narayan.
Shankar
Narayan (Chiranjeevi) works as a taxi driver to make his living.
He (removed also here) has a trusted lieutenant Valmiki (Tanikella
Bharani) and a loyal assistant Giri (Sivaji). Shankar Narayan
is very fond of his nephew and niece.
On
seeing Shankar Narayan when he visits BHU where his niece
Nandini is studying, Pallavi realizes that her pendant is
adorned on Shankar Narayan's neck. Nandini and Pallavi are
friends. Pallavi falls in love with Shankar Narayan, as she
believes that as a 'Shivudi Aagna' (Command of Lord
Shiva). She acts as a pilgrim and manages to reach Shankar
Narayan's house as guest. She stays there as an orphan. The
Governor is worried that his daughter is missing from University.
He contacts the local mafia people and summons them to search
her daughter. They report to him that she is staying in the
house of a taxi driver named Shankar Narayan and she is in
love with him. Then Governor uses his mafia links to abduct
the family members of Shankar Narayan and transports them
in a train. Shankar Narayan gets hold of a helicopter (owned
by a Muslim friend Khan - played by Punit Issar) and chases
the train to get back his family members.
The
irritated Governor lands up at the house of Shankar Narayan
with a fleet of cars carrying armed men. When he spots Shankar
Narayan, he is very much surprised. He salutes Shankar Narayan
and asks him about how and why is he in Varanasi. When Pallavi
says that she is in love with Shankar Narayan, the Governor
requests Shankar to marry Pallavi. But Shankar Narayan says
that he is a responsible guy and he will have to wait till
his niece Nandini is married. Then his loyal assistant Giri
informs that he is in love with Nandini and Nandini also likes
him.
Nandini's
marriage with Giri is fixed. When Giri is about to tie the
nuptial knot, a fleet of cars enter the compound with a group
of villains and a beautiful girl gets down from a Mercedes.
That beautiful lady comes to the podium and asks Giri to come
out by calling him as Veera Reddy. The black sheep Veera Reddy
under the guise of Giri comes out and joins the villain gang.
Then the lady tells the crowd that Shankar Narayan is Indra
Sena Reddy. And she challenges Shankar Narayan to come back
to Rayala Seema.
<interval>
When
asked by the crowds to tell the flashback, Valmiki starts
telling the flashback.
<begin
flashback>
Indra
Sena Reddy is the peace-loving youngster who performs Yagnam
for the rains in Rayalaseema. When he is about to complete
the last day of Yagnam, the just-release Veera Kesava
Reddy comes to the spot to foil Jala Yagnam. Indra
kills him. As soon as he dies the clouds start becoming darker
and it drizzles.
Veera
Kesava Reddy has got five sons and a daughter. The elder one
Veera Shankar Reddy (Mukesh Rushi) heads the five brothers.
When Indra Sena Reddy rescues Veera Shankar Reddy's son from
a road accident - Veera Shankar Reddy treats it as a humiliation
and kills his 6-year-old son. In the mean time, her sister
Sneha Latha Reddy (Arti Agrawal) arrives from states after
completing graduation. She falls in love with Indra for his
goodhearted deeds.
Indra
realizes that Rayalaseema needs a reservoir to store the water
from rains. But Veera Shankara Reddy and his brothers own
the place suitable for building reservoir.
Indra
convinces the collector Chenna Kesava Reddy (who later became
the Governor of UP) that he would make the settlement for
the land if he arranges a meet with Veera Shankara Reddy brothers.
In the meeting the brothers of Veera Shankara Reddy ask to
surrender all the land and houses to them and leave the Rayalaseema
in exchange to their land for reservoir. As the final wish,
Sneha Latha Reddy asks Indra to marry her. Indra accepts all
their demands and says that he would give property immediately,
then marry Sneha Latha Reddy and leave Rayala Seema only after
completing the reservoir project.
You
have to wait and see what exactly happens in the flashback
and what follows next on the giant screen with DTS effect
to get the maximum viewing pleasure.
Artists:
Chiranjeevi:
Chiranjeevi is known as the greatest dancer of Telugu cinema
and his dances have not been so exhilarating in his recent
releases. But with Indra, Chiranjeevi is back on the track
as the dancing sensation. His facial expressions and agile
body movements to accentuate the exciting tunes of Mani and
RP are amazing. Chiranjeevi is also known as the mass hero
of Telugu cinema. But, the mass angle was amiss in the latest
films. In Indra, Chiranjeevi dished out a visual treat with
ferocious fights and breathtaking stunts. Chiranjeevi is probably
one of those very few stars of Telugu cinema, who can excel
in any aspect of acting, be it stunts, dances, emoting or
comedy. He has entertained the audience with sensible and
clean comedy in Indra. We have not seen Chiranjeevi utter
ferocious dialogues and make the villain cringe in fear in
a way the frontbencher jumps with joy. Indra is one film where
he delivers powerful and reverberating dialogues with élan.
To comprehend Chiranjeevi's performance, one might be at loss
of words. He is simply the best and Indra once again echoes
that fact.
Sonali
Bendre: The lissome lass Sonali has the entire first half
to dazzle. She has two songs to shake legs with the Megastar.
She suited the role to tee and did her bit to perfection.
Arti
Agrawal: Aarti has a meaty role as a stubborn individual.
She is the perfect cast. She leaves her fans asking for more
as she has just two songs. Thankfully, her dubbing is not
done by Savitha, which gave some freshness and authenticity
to her role of 'Seema Ammai'.
Other
Cast: Brahmanandam, MS Narayana and Dharmavarapu Subramanyam
gave very good entertainment in the first half as the crooks
who cheat the pilgrims at Varanasi. Brahmanandam is simply
superb. SP Balu acted as singer SP Balu. Prakash Raj is redundant
with his action. Sunil performed well in his cameo role. Tanikella
Bharani is also given a good role.
Technical
Departments:
Story: The story of the film is based on a very good commercial
point that is time tested one. Bad man trying to sabotage
the good man and the good man retaliates with his kindness
and when betrayed uses bloodshed and finally delivers a message
that violence is bad and adheres to peace. But the only novel
point in this storyline is taking water problem in Rayalaseema
as the base point against the faction backdrop. Chinni Krishna
has delivered the goods well.
Screenplay
- Direction:This film is a B Gopal trademark film. He
knows the emotions of the masses and catches the pulse accordingly.
He is known for canning good action sequences and narrating
flashbacks in style. He proved himself as the undisputed king
at making mass films. The screenplay of the film is very tight
and there is never a dull moment. We observe that B Gopal
has been on back foot in the first halves of his earlier films,
though he has given fine finishing in the end. But in Indra,
he excelled in providing an extraordinary first half too.
Indra would be a perfect birthday gift to him.(He is born
on 24th of July).
Dialogues:
Paruchuri brothers did a fine job in dialogue department by
writing apt dialogues. They did not go overboard in ferocity
section of dialogues. The best dialogues of the film come
in the lead scene to climax where Chiranjeevi comes to the
house of villain and dare him. There are political oriented
dialogues as well for Chiru.
Choreography:
Lawrance has done a fantastic job along with Raju Sundaram
for this film.
Songs:
Mani Sharma and RP did wonderful job for songs. The background
music is also very impressive. Here is the song sequence in
the film
1. Bham
Bham Bhole: This lengthy song appears short on screen
as it engrosses us more into it. Chiranjeevi has done slow
classical steps choreographed by Lawrance. This song is
shot in Varanasi backdrop. The steps done by Chiranjeevi
with red dress are amazing. (Song rating 4.5/5)
2.
Radhe
Govinda: This song is on Chiranjeevi and Sonali Bendre,
that is picturized on sets with five color themes (red,
blue, green, white and yellow) and cool steps by Chiranjeevi
and Sonali Bendre. There is one reference to jada
in this song. And Raju Sundaram made sure that he plays
around with that word and choreographed accordingly. During
that word in the song, Chiru runs his fingers down on Sonali's
bare back and is surprised by not seeing a jada.
(Song rating 4/5)
3.
Dayi
Dayi Damma: This song is picturized on Chiru and Sonali
in picturesque locales in Switzerland. The steps in which
Chiranjeevi mocks the Veena-play is instant hit with
the theater crowds. Lawrence strikes again with this song.
(Song rating 4.5/5)
4. Ghallu
Ghallu: This song suits the mood and pace of the film
and immerses audience into the theme of the film. A nice
situational song beautifully choreographed by Raju Sundaram.
This song has similarities to the rain song in Hindi film
Lagaan (Song rating 4.5/5)
5. Ayyo
Ayyo: Chiranjeevi and Arti Agrawal danced to this song
in gay abandon in Switzerland. This song is choreographed
again by Lawrence and there are amazing slow and fast steps
that show Chiru teasing Arti Agrawal. (Song rating 4.5/5)
6. Ammadu
Appachi: This song is pictured on sets erected by Ashok.
This song has total mass dances by Chiru and Arti. (Song
rating 4/5)
In
addition to the six songs, there is one bit song where Chiru
sings in classical style in front of SP Balu, when his niece
exhibits stage fear to start the song.
Photography:
The photography of VSR Swamy is just normal. He did not use
lighting properly in the film and you can see different light
shades for different shots of same scene. He should have taken
care of it. The picturization of train chase with helicopter
and canning of songs is pretty good.
Production:
Aswini Dutt stated in an
interview with idlebrain.com that Indra would become the
biggest hit produced by Vyjayanti Movies. He stuck to his
word and delivered a gem of a film. It's a perfect offing
from a production house that is in business for the past 25
years. Indra indeed is Aswini Dutt's way of celebrating his
existence and excellence in the industry.
Negative
points in the film:
1. Inconsistency
in Chiranjeevi's makeup.
2.
Hero kills the goons left, right and center and gives a
message at end that everybody in Rayalaseema should drop
violence and love peace.
3. Inconsistency in the light schemes.
Good
Scenes:
1. The
comedy episodes involving Brahmanandam and Co trying to
dupe the pilgrim AVS.
2. The comedy scene between Chiru and Sonali, where Chiru
tries to get hold of his pearl pendant from the sleeping
Sonali.
3. All scenes involving Khan and the scene in which Chiru
says 'Khuda hafeez' to Khan
4. Helicopter chasing the train and the scene in which Chiru
(with a great expression in his eyes) bashes the guy, who
slapped his niece.
5. The interval scene where Arti challenges Chiru.
6. The scene where Chiranjeevi comes back to villain's house
with the dead kid on his shoulders and then buries the kid
in the compound of villain and plants a Thulasi Mokka
on it.
7. The scene in which Chiranjeevi gives everything away
to villains for the sake of reservoir.
8. The lead scene to climax in which Chiranjeevi challenges
the villain in a ferocious style.
9. The scene in which Arti realises her mistake and goes
back to Chiranjeevi's place and the wives of villains supporting
that move.
10. The end scene in which Chiranjeevi is left with two
nagging girlfriends (Sonali and Arti) to chose one from
Analysis:
First half is a perfect blend of mass and class elements.
It's extraordinary. The interval scene gives the right finishing
touch to the first half. The second half has typical B Gopal
Kind of action sequences. But, at the same time the saint-like
attitude and revenge seeking vigor is judiciously mixed for
Indra Sena Reddy character. Second half of the film is excellent.
This film is an 18 reel film, which leaves you in theater
for about 2 hours and 50 minutes. But you would enjoy every
moment of it. Another best thing about this film is that Chiranjeevi
is shown as a 30+ guy, which adds some authenticity for the
hero characterization. You can go to this film with full expectations
and still you get what you want. This film is a super hit
for sure. But what needed to be seen is if this film becomes
industry's number one or not. Only future will tell!!
Other
Links:
Audio
function photos
Audio review
Juke Box
Photo Gallery
Wall Papers
Aswini
Dutt Interview
Mega Posters
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