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Showing posts with label Manoj Manchu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manoj Manchu. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Mini-reviews: part 7 (Manoj Manchu edition)

Part 1 (Hindi/Tamil), Part 2 (Telugu), Part 3 (Prabhas), Ram, Part 4 (Telugu), Part 5 (NTR JR), Part 6 (Sumanth)

I *heart* Manoj Manchu.



The funny thing is my first intro to Manoj was Vedam. I always thought he was the cutie who had the most adorable dimples. Hower, since I absolutely am in love with Bunny, I overlooked Manoj during that time.

It was until Bindaas that I fell completely for Manoj.  Seriously. I love love love his character. I wanted to see more of him.

And I did. I got all the dvds I could, even one without subs but watched it anyways.

You know what's funny? Every time I put on a Manoj Manchu dvd on, my daughter always says, "that guy is cute." Not realizing that it's the same guy! He has different looks in his films.
And he has a nice body!

Order of Manoj films I watched first to last

Vedam (2009)



Since this mini-review is focused on Manoj. I decided to only talk about (more like copy/paste) his part from Vedam
If I talk about Bunny's part, I will go on forever :D

Copy/paste

Vedam is about three un-related people who happens to come together at one point for a significant cause.

Meet character #1 - Vivek



An aspiring rock star who has a chance to go to Hyderabad with his band and get his big break.

I haven't seen Manoj Manchu in anything prior but thought he did a good job. His dimples are so adorable.



Vivek and Lasya (Lekha Washington) have a love-hate relationship.



Could the dvd for Vedam hurry up and release?? I'm talking about the official Telugu dvd with English subs. I know there's a Malayalam dubbed version. But I only want the original version. No Hindi dubbed version either!

Bindaas (2010)



Copy/paste
Ajay (Manoj Manchu) is a free-spirited guy and doesn't take anything too seriously, just living a "bindaas" life. His family has estranged him from the tree due to a conflict that his deceased father had done in the past that caused another family to rival with each other. The feuding is so chaotic that each opposing families want to kill each other. In order to close the gap with the family, Ajay plans to unite both families together.



Manoj Manchu!!!! Why did I take soooo long to watch this film?? I absolutely looooved Manoj in the film. His character is soooo freaking adorable. Not only that, Manoj is also a cutie pie. His dimples are to-die-for! He gave his character his all and did an awesome job. I've said before I love fun, loving, carefree, unselfish guys and that's what his character is all about.

Sheena is mostly there for the songs but has a cute love interest with Manoj. She was seen in Bollywood with Teree Sang. The storyline is nothing new but it was great to see fresh faces and laughable comedy. Definitely worth a watch.

Nenu Meeku Telusa (2008)



Nenu Meeku Telusa is a slight case of Ghajini. Except this Ghajini doesn't go seek revenge at all.

Like Ghajini, Aditya (Manoj) suffers from anteograde amnesia but Aditya loses his memory every day. Every morning, he plays the tape recorder to listen to what he has recorded to tell him what to do throughout the day. He got this condition from a car accident where he loses his father. No one knows about this condition except for his uncle and doctor. He works at his uncle's company where his girlfriend Madhu (Riya Sen) also works. One day, his uncle got brutally murdered and Aditya is the primary suspect! Officer Anjali (Sneha Ullal) is assigned on the case.



Overall, Nenu Meeku Telusa is worth a watch. What brings the film down are two leading ladies who are absolutely gorgeous with ZERO acting ability :( IMO, Riya Sen is on my top 3 list of the most beautiful women in India while Sneha is an almost carbon copy of Aishwarya Rai. (Who are my top 2?? Bips and Aish)

Definitely a Manoj film all the way. He even shows off more of his dance skills and has a different look with the flat-ironed  hair and hot six-pack bod!

The funniest line is from Brahmi, "What the frock?"
The film has a mixture of love, comedy, and drama.

Jhummandi Naadam(2009)



Balu (Manoj Manchu) lives and breathes music. His idol is S. P. Balasubrahmanyam aka SPB and hopes one day to become a great singer like him. Back at his home village, Balu made a challenge that he will not return back until he become a great singer in Hyderabad.

Captain Rao (Mohan Babu) is Balu's old-fashioned neighbor hates the ideas of the younger generation. His best friend's daughter from the USA, Sravya (Tapsee), stays with him documentary on traditional Telugu music. Balu ends up being her local guide to her. They both fall in love and Captain Rao hates it.



There are many, many reasons to watch Jhummandi Naadam.
One of them is Manoj Manchu. This is my absolute favorite film of his!!
The storyline! I love the main message - just because you are young and modern, doesn't mean that you forgot your traditional roots.
Music!!! Hello, SPB is my ultimate playback singer! I loooove his voice.
The clothing - I love the bright, colorful traditional outfits and even the modern outfits on Tapsee.
Let's not forget about the music and cinematography.
And watching Manoj act with his real life father, with both being rivals :D
So of course, definitely worth a watch!

Prayanam (2009)



Dhruv (Manoj Manchu) and his friends are off to the Malaysian airport. He bumps into Harika (Payal Ghosh) and falls completely head over heels for her. Telling his friend about his quick love story, he vows that he will make her fall for him in the 2 hours they are at the airport. The guys are going to Singapore and the girls are going to India.

What sets this film apart is that it 95% of the film is shot entirely in a Malaysian airport. The songs are played in the background, so there are no random person coming to dance, no item number, no elegant outfits or clothes changing in a song.



The story is really simple and beautiful, just love how it's shot.
I fell in love with Dhruv because he's silly and spontaneous. Manoj in cutesy, lovestruck characters are the ones I love the most :)
Payal is gorgeous and gave me the Priyanka Chopra vibe. I love how Harika played hard to get :D

Raju Bhai (2007)



Raju (Manoj Manchu) is a good guy at heart and ends up saving the don's son. In the process, he got offered a job to work for him because of his fighting abilities and strength. One day, Raju runs into Anjali (Sheela) who likes to help out others. They both hated each other because they like to annoy each other. Later that hatred turned to love. Once in love, she convinces Raju to change his lifestyle and he does. Both want to get married. Later, he got caught up in a police brawl and was beaten badly at a local brothel, which Anjali witnessed. She hates everything about him and wants him out of her life. Later, she learns the truth.


I saved this dvd last cause it didn't have subs :(
But because I like Manoj so much, I bought it.
It is a Telugu remake of the Tamil film, Chithiram Pesuthadi.

Because this is the Telugu remake, I'm interested in seeing the original Tamil vesrion.

I loved the film overall. This is what I am talking about when I say I love a little bit of traditon meets modern. The storyline didn't focus on forbidden love, more about misunderstandings and personality clashes with the two leads.
Manoj as a badass. What a sight! I love that he is that diverse. He did a really good job. I enjoyed his dancing a lot in the film. Sheela was outstanding as well and quickly climbing to one of my faves.



Did I mention how hot he looked?? Yes, seriously....And look at how hot he looks. Yum!

Sri (2005)



Sri (Manoj) falls in love at first sight with Sandhya (Tamannah). Trouble stirs up when the landlord’s men troubling Sandhya and her family. Only to find out that Sri’s father is connected to the landlord.



Because I couldn't find this film anywhere for sale on dvd, I was able to find an unsubbed version (boo!!!) online. I tried to watch it but the quality wasn't that great :(

From what I saw, it was just okay.

Besides Manoj for being the main reason why I wanted to watch this film, Tamannah was the other reason. She's on my top 3 favorite actresses in the South. It was great to see Tamannah's Telugu debut film.

Donga Dongadhi is the only film left I haven't seen of Manoj. If I happen to find it online without subs, I totally will watch it! It also stars one of my other fave actresses, Sadha!



Manoj is up there on my top fave hotties in Telugu cinema.

How do I define hottie?? Looks + personality + style + dancing + me buying their dvds blindly + wanting to watch *all* their films

No one can top Bunny....but Manoj is really close.
I am torn between Manoj and Nitin as my #2 because I fell in love with Nitin because of his dance steps but he cannot beat Manoj in the acting, style, and dimple department. So those two remain my #2. Then next comes Varun Sandesh.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Mini-reviews: part 4 (Telugu edition)

Here's more Telugu film mini-reviews, just a continuation of mini-reviews that I've been doing.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Ram



Bindaas (2010)

Ajay (Manoj Manchu) is a free-spirited guy and doesn't take anything too seriously, just living a "bindaas" life. His family has estranged him from the tree due to a conflict that his deceased father had done in the past that caused another family to rival with each other. The feuding is so chaotic that each opposing families want to kill each other. In order to close the gap with the family, Ajay plans to unite both families together.



Manoj Manchu!!!! Why did I take soooo long to watch this film?? I absolutely looooved Manoj in the film. His character is soooo freaking adorable. Not only that, Manoj is also a cutie pie. His dimples are to-die-for! He gave his character his all and did an awesome job. I've said before I love fun, loving, carefree, unselfish guys and that's what his character is all about.

Sheena is mostly there for the songs but has a cute love interest with Manoj. She was seen in Bollywood with Teree Sang. The storyline is nothing new but it was great to see fresh faces and laughable comedy. Definitely worth a watch.



Kasko (2009)

Vamsi (Vaibhav) goes to Hyderabad and ends up meeting Mahesh Babu (Brahmanandam). He then goes by the name Pawan Kalyan who joins with Mahesh to end rowdism. But he really came to search for his lost love Krisna (Shweta Prasad) who has been abducted by rowdies.



I mainly watch this film for Shweta Prasad who I found adorable cute in Kotha Bangaru Lokam but just like Kalavar King, I was disappointed :(  Unfortunately Kasko is one of the most boringest movies I've seen in a long time. The storyline dragged and dragged. Not only that, I hated Shweta's annoying character. I did not understand why Vamsi would fall for Krisna at all! Vaibhav was a cutie and danced well and I wouldn't mind watching more of him in the future.



Kick (2009)

Kalyan (Ravi Teja) is no ordinary guy. He likes to spice up his life with getting a "kick" out of life by adding the extra oomph or adding a cherry on top. Otherwise, it'll just be another boring life. Naina (Ileana D'Cruz) hates Kalyan and he only falls for her to add a "kick" to the story. Eventually, she ends up falling for him but leaves him only finding out about him lying to her about having a job. She ends up living in Malaysia where she meets a tough cop, Kalyan Krishna (Shaam) who is seeking an anonymous thief from India and now in Malaysia.



The length could have been reduced a bit and let go some of the comedy tracks but overall, Kick is absolutely fun! I enjoyed it a lot. Storyline added a "kick" and that's what made it worth watching. I absolutely love Ileana D'Cruz and see her acting growth as an actress. This is my first Ravi Teja film and he's hilarious in his role. There's rumors about a Kick remake from Bollywood starring Salman with Deepika or Sonakshi.



King (2008)

King (Nagarjuna) is a badass ruler and everyone is scared of him...until one day he goes missing. Is he dead?
Enters Seenu (Nagarjuna) who is rowdie and works for the fearful Gyaneshwar (Srihari). Seenu falls for Sravani (Trisha Krishnan) but steals the identity of Sharath (Sunil) to woo her. Seenu, now Sharath, and Sravani are in love.
Seenu looks like the missing King and gets abducted. He is paid to play King to unite and bring the King family together.



Worth a watch. King takes you for a fun ride but I had to re-wind a few times because I got confused with all the different characters Nagarjuna played. Made me re-think who really is dead, the King or Seenu? Or none? Whew! The twist exploded in my brain :D

One of the best parts were the performances. Nagarjuna is definitely the king. Trisha looked really good and is really good in comedy. Mamta had the supporting role but did a great job and wowed me. The songs are great, especially the title song. However, the film is more known for the song, "Nuvvu Ready" because of the many guest appearances by actresses, including Trisha and Mamta -- Anuksha Shetty, Charmy, Genelia D'Souz, Priyamani, Sneha Ullal, Kamna Jethmalani.



Kurradu (2009)

All Varun (Varun Sandesh) ever wanted was a bike. He dreams of it day and night. His father works hard and doesn't have extra cash to give him to spend on something useless. After many bitter disagreements, the sad father finally gives in. With the brand-new bike, Varun tries to be responsible and get a job to help his dad with the bills. He is in love with Hema (Neha Sharma) for two years. With the new bike, he could take her to her destination instead of her taking the bus. Unfortunately, Varun ends up getting dragged and involve with some rowdies and his bike gets stolen.



Kurrudu is a remake of the Tamil film, Polladhavan, which is inspired from the Italian movie,  Bicycle Thieves.

Since I absolutely adore Varun, I wanted to see more of his films. I was stoked to find out the heroine is none other than Neha Sharma because I think she's a hottie in Chirutha.

Varun's role is much different from his other two films, Happy Days & Kotha Bangaru Lokam, which he plays a college student. This time, he shows off his baddass and beats up rowdies. Neha is the bashful, sweet love interest and still looks gorgeous and sexy, covered up.

Worth a watch but the beginning is really slow.
The film is more about being at the wrong place at the wrong time with misunderstandings and backstabbing. The love story takes a backstep, along with the family values, which were shown in the beginning half.
If you are used to Varun playing the loverboy, stay away because you will be disappointed!



Prasthanam (2010)

Mitra (Sharwanand) and his sister (Surekha Vani) lost their father at a young age. His mother is forced to marry another man (Saikumar). He takes the responsibility of raising them two and ends up having Chinna (Sandip) with their mother. Since childhood, his sister hates the fact that her mother remarried. On top of that, she hates Chinna because he is the product of the marriage. Mitra loves Chinna and is a loyal son in his step father's political field. Chinna always felt alone, unloved, and unappreciated compared with Mitra. Therefore, he becomes angry and careless about life becoming jealous of Mitra.



Dolce did a wonderful full review on the film, along with comparing it with the Cain and Abel theme.

One of the best political films ever! From beginning to end, to the performances, to the screenplay, everything was just perfect. The songs just released some tension that was stirred up and added a nice feel. Each character had enough volume for you to understand each one.

I adored Sharwanand since Gamyam and was excited to see Prasthanam. He stepped it up several notches with his acting and choice of film. Ruby Parihar is cute and really had nothing to do but be in the songs and a love interest.

The film is a bit long, falling right under 3 hours but you don't really feel it because you get really into the characters and want to see what is going on.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Vedam - Allu Arjun in an awesome multistar film!



On Saturday, I went to watch the first show of Vedam . I couldn’t miss a chance to watch Allu Arjun on the big screen. Therefore, I verified the show times because I was upset with missing out watching Varudu during opening weekend. On top of that, I went solo. I don’t care. I just haaad to watch it :D

Some people have been questioning me why would I go watch another Telugu film with *out* English subs. Well, I used to go watch Hindi films with *out* subs too. No difference here. It wasn’t until a few years ago that every Hindi film that released had English subs. My first Bollywood film in the theater was Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya. The experience was phenomenal because I could finally say that I was able to watch it in the big screen during opening week! My Hmong friends and I used to try to watch them when we got the chance. However, only certain stars’ films – Shahrukh, Kajol, Salman – were available on the big screen and there were no English subs too. That never stopped us for watching! If my friends couldn’t go, I’ll go without them! :D



That same feeling I had with Hindi films is what I feel with Telugu films right now. I had my chance to watch Desamuduru on the big screen, but during that time, I was still new to Telugu films and decided not to watch in the theater with *out* English subs. Fast forward, three years, later. I don’t care. I’ll watch Bunny in anything. I do not want to wait a year later for the dvd. I want to watch it. Right. Now.

Even though Vedam doesn’t have subs, I am just grateful to have it offered in my town. Especially Telugu and Tamil films, and sometimes even Kannada and Malayalam films. Some of my online friends can not even watch Hindi films in the theater yet.


My local theater

First of all, Vedam has been compared with the Oscar-winning Hollywood movie, Crash. Vedam is *not* a remake by any means. The storyline is just similar with several unrelated people coming together. It could be said the same with the other Hollywood movie, Babel. Even Bollywood has done it with Salaam-E-Ishq and Life in a Metro. So why the need to point-out Vedam like that? Let’s not forget it has been done before with Ayutha Ezhuthu (Tamil) / Yuva (Hindi) too.

Since I really liked Gamyam, I was looking forward to Vedam (besides Bunny being the other main reason).



Watching Vedam without subs was no big deal. It really is not that hard to follow at all. While I did get the gist of the movie, I may have missed a couple of comedic parts. There were a lot of laughter from the audience, especially during Bunny’s scenes.

Over the past few months, since my post about why I love South Indian films, I talked about Telugu films still having the masala factor that made me fall for Indian films, in general. Some Telugu speaking people argued with me that Telugu films need to step it up because other film industries have. To me, Vedam is a perfect example of stepping it up and still having all the masala flavor – drama, action, comedy, love. It’s all there!



So all this talk and still nothing more on Vedam?
Well, here goes :D

PS - I made caps from the many trailers off YouTube. 
Sorry for the bad quality



Vedam is the story of five random people who come together at one point and meet in a significant place.

Meet character #1 - Vivek



An aspiring rock star who has a chance to go to Hyderabad with his band and get his big break.

I haven't seen Manoj Manchu in anything prior but thought he did a good job. His dimples are so adorable.



Vivek and Lasya (Lekha Washington) have a love-hate relationship.



Meet character #2 - Ramulu



Poor elder man who has a lot of debt to pay and forced to leave his village in Sirisilla to go to Hyderabad.

Nagayya was perfect. I read that this his debut film? What? He just sleepwalked through his performance.



Ramulu and his daughter-in-law, Padma (Saranya), try to find a way to get extra money.



Meet character #3 - Saroja



A prostitute from Amalapuram who wants to go to Hyderabad to pursue her own brothel business.

After watching Anuksha Shetty's powerful performance in Arundhati, I wanted to see more of her. She definitely has that amazing screen presence.



Her bff, Karpooram (Nikki),  accompaines Saroja.



Meet character #4 - Raheemulla Khureshi



A muslim who is discriminated and wants to leave Hyderabad and live in Dubai.

Manoj Bajpai is one of the most underrated actors in India. I've been a fan of his since Satya. He is such a natural and I am never disappointed with him.



Raheem & his wife (Seiya Gautham) try to escape their difficult times but their past start to haunt them again.



Meet character #5 - Cable Raju



The playful, cunning cable guy from the slums of Hyderabad.



Cable Raju lies to his wealthy girlfriend Pooja (Deeksha Seth) that he is rich and wants to impress her with the money that he does not have.



One of Bunny's best performance. I raved about his performance in Aarya 2, which knocked me off of my seats. However, his performance as Cable Raju took a different route.

In Vedam, Bunny made me laugh and cry. My heart sank on this scene when his conscious got the best of him.



What I also love about Cable Raju is the comedic scenes. I loved the funny fight scenes, which is comparable, to me, with Jackie Chan's style of comical martial arts. Bunny pulled it off very well. He is already the best dancer in India (to me) so adding in the flip-action fight scenes were not hard for him to pull off. [I can *not* wait for Badhirinaadh since he is in Vietnam right now training for martial arts]

I honestly thought Bunny was going to be paired up with Anuksha but instead he was paired with former Miss India beauty queen, Deeksha Seth, instead :( She is a cute girl and reminded me so much of Katrina Kaif. However, after seeing her character Pooja, I'm glad Anuksha took a more challenging role as Saroja instead. Bunny still has not repeated any of his heroines till date (here's in hope to be one of the leading heroines in the future, heck, I'll just be happy in the background)



Each character struggled with something missing in their lives and had to "find themselves" and wanted to change what has happened in his/her lives so far.

I love how each of the characters were introduced. Instead of opening credits, a single frame was frozen with introduction to each of the characters. Interesting to introduce Allu Arjun last, since he Manoj, & Anuksha were in most of the promos. In addition, Manoj was introduced first, as a guest star. To me, he was more than that and had enough screen time to surpass as a guest star.



When first hearing the soundtrack, I did like it but thought a few of the songs were misplaced in the soundtrack. After watching the film, everything flowed together.

Even though most of the songs (or is it all? trying to do it from memory) were used, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the songs were used.

Song #1 - "Now or Never"
Vivek's intro



Song #2 - "Yemi Telisi Nanu Mohisthivi"
Saroja's intro



Song #3 - "Prapancham Naaventosthunte"
Cable Raju transforming from dud to stud at girlfriend's party
(To be honest, if Bunny didn't bust-a-move, I would've been upset :D)



Song #4 - "Yegiripothe Yentha Baguntundhi"
Saroja and her big escape plan



Song #5 - "Vedam"
Vivek changes the mood from lonely to fun



Song #6 - "Roopai"
Cable Raju needs some money



I found this from the Vedam music launch really interesting and had to post here.

No involvement of dad in Vedam selection – Allu Arjun
Allu Arjun said, “A new banner is being launched with Vedam movie. People questioned my logic in working for this movie. They opined that Vedam might not be the right movie for me as I had several commercial hits. I know that I will become a better actor if I work for Vedam movie. I am touched by the story and I am very emotional about the movie. My father is involved in movie selection of all my movies. Vedam is the first movie in which I didn’t involve my dad. I had shown the movie after the shoot is complete. He said that I got many hits and I will continue to get more hits. But I might not get great movies like Vedam often in my career. I will get a good name as actor with Vedam. I am happy to do the Rupai song that is also penned by Keeravani



Lastly, with the red plaid shirt, I was hoping that Bunny wouldn't wear it throughout the film like he did with that brown plaid shirt in Parugu. Instead of wearing it 80% throughout the film, it's 60% this time. However, this time, he often took off the red plaid buttoned up shirt and swung it on his side showing off the black t-shirt underneath :) Instead of Bunny getting kidnapped in this film, he is off on a mission to find some money in a day/night course



 Yes, Vedam is definitely worth it. Imagine if I love it that much, how eager I am for the dvd to come out with English subs :)

ETA (06/15/2010)- Interesting article from Idlebrain about Krish's inspiration for Vedam. Spoilers!