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Samudram
- A review
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J
Pulla Rao
presents
Sri Balaji Art Creations
Samudram
Jeevi Rating: 4/5
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| Genre |
| Action |
| Jeevi
Rating |
| 4/5
(Four on a scale of five) |
| Cast |
| Jagapathi
Babu, Saakshi Sivanand, Tanikella Bharani, Sri Hari, Prakash
Raj, Sivaji Raja and Ravi Teja. |
| Credits |
Photography:
Bhupathi
Music: Sashi Preetam
Story, Screenplay & Direction: Krishna Vamsi |
| Theatrical
Release Date |
| 22nd
October 1999 |
| Story
Line |
| This
film is about an innocent person called Sagar, who is implicated
and framed for a murder done by somebody else. Being a normal
and common man, how Sagar would react and what will happen?
(Source: An Interview with Krishna Vamsi) |
| Review |
|
Sagar
(Jagapathi Babu) is a fun loving guy. His family consists
of a mother, a sister and cute kids in his gully. Enter the
bumping babe Rajya Laxmi! (Saakshi Sivanand). She bumps into
Sagar with a cycle first. Later on she graduates to a kinetic
Honda. Then to a Honda Car. As the bumping vehicle of Rajya
Laxmi gets promoted, the love between Sagar and Saakshi blossoms.
One fine day Rajya Laxmi rolls onto Sagar by calling him a
'Boppas Kai'. Then the family of Sagar meets the family of
Rajya Laxmi to fix up the match. Sagar's sister too gets engaged
to a guy.
There is a parallel story running along with the Sagar's love
story. Chepala Krishna (Tanikella Bharani) is a noted smuggler
in Vizag. Chepala Nani (Ravi Teja) is his younger brother.
Both of them rule the rowdy world in the steel city. Chepala
Krishna has an ambition of a life time. He wants to become
an MLA.
Krishnam Raju (Sivaji Raja) is the S.I. Of police for that
area. Enter the C.I. of police Sri Hari!! (Sri Hari) He is
the most dreaded and honest Police Officer. With the help
of Krishnam Raju he gets to know about all the criminals in
that area and Chepala Krishna tops the most wanted criminals
list.
When Chepala Krishna is about to file his nominations for
the post of an MLA, he gets arrested by Sri Hari. Sri Hari
makes sure that Chepala Krishna would not go to assembly by
booking him as a rowdy sheeter. Since Chepala Krishna has
a criminal case against him, he cannot contest in the elections.
One fine day a stranger tips off Sri Hari that Chepala Nani
is doing smuggling at a particular place. Sri Hari spots Nani
and starts chasing him with the help of Krishnam Raju. Sister
of Sagar marriage arrangements are going in a full swing.
Sagar goes to bazaar to buy something. As the chase gang (Nani,
Sri Hari and Krishnam Raju) enters a gully, Nani shoots Sri
Hari with a country revolver. From the back side Krishnam
Raju finishes Sri Hari with his police revolver. Sagar enters
the scene and try to rescue Sri Hari only to get caught and
implicated in the murder case of Sri Hari by Krishnam Raju.
Chepala Krishna takes all the precautions to make sure that
Sagar is sentenced for his life. All this story is shown as
a flash back in the first half as the dejected Sagar, sitting
in a cell, ponders about his good old days.
*Interval*
Nukaraju (Prakash Raj) is a humble constable, who is transferred
to the Chepala Krishna's area. He is an avid admirer of late
Sri Hari. Sagar's mother gets hospitalized when she resists
Chepala Nani who tried to rape the sister of Sagar. Nukaraju
is on the duty to accompany Sagar to the hospital to visit
Sagar's mom. There Sagar gives Nukaraju a slip and escapes
from the hospital.
We have three targets (Chepala Krishna, Chepala Nani and Krishnam
Raju) for Sagar. It's certain that Sagar, being a hero in
the film, would take revenge! If you want to know how Sagar
proves his innocence and gets exonerated from the implicated
case, you must watch this hard hitting exhilarating film on
a tinsel screen with DTS effect.
|
| Performance |
Actors:
Jagapathi Babu: Jagapathi is given a role that demands lot
of emoting. He has to show his vulnerability (that of a naive
citizen of India) and an unstoppable machoism (when he is set
to take revenge over the villains) for this role of Sagar. He
did 100% justice to his role.
Saakshi Sivanand: She is used as glamour doll in this
film. She did add glitter and gloss to the love part of this
film.
Tanikella Bharani: This is a role that is never done
before by any other artist so far. All the expressions by him
do have a hard hitting impact over the audience whatever the
form he choose to express, either by blabbering or by mutely
emoting.
Sri Hari: Sri Hari seems to be going strength to strength
from film to film. After watching him in this role, one cannot
imagine any other actor doing the same role with the same impact.
His dialogue delivery and the voice modulation is simply superb.
Prakash Raj: Prakash Raj, best known for evil minded
roles, is given a role of a humble and innocent constable. He
did his act with such a precision that the viewers have two
feelings at a time watching him doing a few scenes. At one end
we would be laughing at his innocence and at the other end we
would be crying for his kindheartedness. Its not an easy task
to evoke two contradictory emotions in the hearts of viewers
at the same time by doing a synchronizing act between the rapid
dialogue delivery and the dynamic change of facial expressions.
Sivaji Raja: Sivaji Raja dons a role, which he would
have never done otherwise. He did a role of a materialistic
SI of police. We have a preconceived image of a cine evil cop,
who never fears to do evil acts. But this role is something
different. When Sivaji raja shoots Sri Hari, he shivers like
a leaf with fear.
Ravi Teja: This time, Ravi Teja dons the role of villain
for a change. But this character has some softness attached
to it. His dialogue delivery is very spontaneous and is a treat
our ears.
Direction and Screenplay: Each and every shot in this
film is meticulously executed. All the scenes leave an impact
on the viewers. Shot making is very good. But story telling
seems to have gone a little out of hand in the second half.
Screenplay is excellent. But the editing in the second half
has a few shortcomings. As a symbolism 'samudram' is shown lot
of times in between scenes. Even though the 'samudram' is shown
in-between various scenes in this film, each time the same samudram
reflect the moods and the emotions of of those particular scenes.
Characterization is done with utmost care.
Photography: S K Bhupathi, the regular camera man for
Krishna Vamsi, did some spectacular work for this film. Camera
movement in this film is very different from the regular stuff.
Music: Sashi Preetam paired up with Krishna Vamsi after
Gulabi. Very good songs coupled with excellent DTs re-recording
enriches the quality of this film.
Songs: Songs are too good to watch on the silver screen.
The exotic 'Laila O', the extraordinary 'Sonie Sonie', the euphoric
'Hoop Hoop', the exuberant 'Muddula Muthyame' and the ebullient
'Deo Deo' ..... all these songs have a right blend of music,
choreography, photography, lyrics and the creativity of the
director. A performance worth mentioning is that of sensuous
Raasi in 'Muddula Muthyame'.
Producer: Producers seems to have given a free hand to
Krishna Vamsi in this film making. This film looks real glossy
with rich technical values. A brave rewarding effort by the
producers, indeed.
|
| Analysis |
| First
half of the film is excellent and would appeal to all the sections
of people. Second half is not as good as the first half. Though
this film looks very real, there are a few glitches in the second
half which we do not expect from a director of krishna Vamsi
caliber. When Sagar escapes from the police custody, he would
be traveling in Tata safari with gay abandon. There would be
no police to catch him. The obnoxious villain Chepala Krisha
would be fearing about Sagar (who is supposed to be a guy-next-door
sort of character) and seeking solace in a hideout. There is
no suspense in the film reserved for the climax. The concept
of an implicated hero escaping from the custody and taking revenge
on the villain is an oft repeated theme in telugu films (Gang
Leader to name one). Telugu viewers got used to nail biting
climax (with lot of suspense) these days. In this film the climax
is revealed much before the end of the film when Sagar escapes
from the custody. One highlight of this film is the climax that
is set on the backdrop of a Vizag jatara (a la Calcutta's Durgapooja
in Choodalani Undi, Mumbai's Ganesh Immersion in Satya). One
more positive aspect of this film is that there is only one
person dies in the entire film (Sri Hari, that is). A best recommended
film for those all movie buffs who want to experience the nuances
of shot making. We have to wait and see how the telugu viewers
script the box office future of this hard hitting sensible film. |
| Tailpiece |
| As
we come out of the theater after watching 'Samudram', we have
a daunting question unanswered in our mind. Why did saakshi
calls Jagapathi 'Boppas Kai'? |
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>End
of Samudram Review
|
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