I finally got the chance to watch the much talked movie, "Indra" and so thought why not compare this movie with other seema movies done by same director i.e. Samara Simha Reddy (SSR) and Narsimha Naidu (NN).

Though there is superficial resemblance between these movies they have their differences in the way they are presented, so here is my personal view on them. I tried to comment mostly on style rather than on substance.

Opening scenes until titles:

All the three start with a boy who has a key role to play later.

Opening of SSR starts on a low key with little bit melodramatic scenes and we get the feeling of intrigue and which forms the basis for good suspense later. The next scene after titles is a jump cut of time and the place remains almost same.

NN starts on a violent note and goes into low key and comes up with a bang. After titles there is a jump cut of both time and place.

Even though Indra too starts on a violent note, it has a unique documentary style for first few minutes. It although resembles NN style later with boy showing initiative when everyone being afraid and titles appearing on the boy with a bang. Here too after titles, there is a jump cut of both time and place.

Songs:

Songs in SSR and NN are not so situational as compared to rain song in Indra. I choose first song to analyze, as all the 3 movies have a different feel to it.

First song of SSR is a funky one and it comes out of nowhere although it has style to it. Heroine dreams this song. Dances are of attitude nature for most of the songs.

NN's song is a soft one and the situation resembles that of SSR with heroine dreaming the song. For most of the songs, dances are more of Govinda style humorous dances.

Indra's song is inserted very subtly and is a solo song with folk style attached to it. This song has a better opening sequence from the preluding scene than SSR and NN. Dances in Indra are more of attitude nature and please the viewers.

Lighter Vein in first half.

I choose this one as I have some complaints on this topic. Both SSR and Indra insult our intelligence with their jokes in first half. Footage is just being wasted for unintelligent things.

In SSR we have a scheme called silver (or gold) coins in idli's, which looks silly.

NN doesn't have much lighter vein separate track like SSR or Indra unless we consider the classical dances of the hero as comic.

In Indra the track where people try to swindle travelers is just absurd and silly (who will believe if we dip gold in Ganga we will get twice the gold?).

Screenplay of first Half:

This is a section where I found SSR and NN more interesting than Indra.

Even though SSR and Indra resemble in first half, SSR has some very fine screenplay to it. We have lighter vein continuing in first half with intermediate scenes where high drama takes place in them, like goons looking for the hero, heroine being called from London, commissioner respecting the hero on seeing hero etc. These scenes are inserted such that they keep coming at regular intervals throughout first half and add suspense to the plot.

NN screenplay is different than SSR and Indra and it picks up in later part of first half. Here hero is aggressive unlike SSR and Indra, where hero is shown as submissive (for ex. he gives stern warning to people when they try to make fun of him, when they ask to teach dance in their house). Though we have the suspense part like in SSR, it's not as effective as SSR, as people can guess it.

In Indra too we have high drama scenes but they tend to come at later part of first half of the movie unlike intermediate as in SSR. So the first half appears like any other Chiru movie. It has some high drama scenes like governor respecting the hero on seeing him, dialogue with the Muslim leader etc and also has a chase scene similar to NN. Suspense part is not as effective as SSR as it's easy to guess.

Screenplay of second half:

For SSR, flashback scenes form major portion of second half and are picturized well and nothing much to offer apart from flash back scenes.

Even though NN too has flashback scenes, family drama forms the major part of it intercepted by some high drama action scenes like hero doing worship and massacring the enemy half naked etc. This style of family drama intercepted with high action scenes gives better effect rather than a continuous high drama scene.

Indra also has flashback scenes and occupies major portion like SSR but this one has a packed screenplay with high drama scenes and gives little respite unlike NN. Whenever hero is shown he is accompanied by heavy background music to show hero powerful, actually it was not so required for every scene (like when he is getting down the stairs, this is shown twice). The movie has a benevolent purpose unlike personal revenge in NN and SSR.

Climax:

In SSR drama forms the major part of climax along with a duel and ends on a preaching note by a narrator. It gives a consummate effect.

NN too follows SSR style, drama with a duel, but this doesn't give a consummate effect as people expect a more heavy fight.

Indra too has drama and a group fight and it also involves preaching by the hero but ends on a lighter note. It too gives a consummate effect but rather a déjà vu experience.

Note: This article is written by Amar with Inputs from Ilarumk.

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