About a fortnight back a sense of gloom & frustration swept across Wankhede as the Kiwis clean swept the series with consummate ease. However, there was no dearth in Diwali celebrations in the theatres with big banner releases in many states. Two such releases happened to be Venky Atluri's "Lucky Bhaskar" & Rajkumar Periasamy's "Amaran" & both of them turned out to be an enjoyable experience. So what were those movies about & what made it endearing???
Lucky Baskhar: "Telugu movies continues to be lucky for DQ!!!"
After the debacle of "King of Kotha", there has been hardly any releases from Dulquer except for a cameo in "Kalki 2898 AD". Anyway he is back with his next big release in the company of Venky Atluri who had penned the script as well with the focus being the life of a middle class man employed in the banking sector. Baskhar (DQ) was a bank cashier who did his work honestly & earnestly making him a much sought after person both among his colleagues & customers. However, he struggled to make ends meet & took loans to sustain the needs of his family. But his financial situation failed to improve & he opted for means that resulted in quick bucks. This was just the beginning as he started to take bigger risks & the question was whether he would be able to prevent himself from getting burned by his greed.
In terms of the theme, Venky has taken a leaf out of impressive web series like "Scam 1992" & movies like "The Big Bull" and developed it. He has crafted it well with the technical aspects also executed quite well. It is the type of story where we root for the protagonist who is the underdog despite being aware that he also possesses ample shades of grey. In the first half, the focus shows the struggles of the middle class man & later on, it is about his urge to make a change to the financial health of his life even at the cost of losing his morals. The audience is kept engaged with the proceedings even as Venky doesnt try to confuse us with difficult banking jagrons. The art team has done a fantastic job in recreating the period while GV Prakash comes up with impressive BGM. Similarly, Naveen Nooli's editing was fine while Nimish Ravi's cinematography also deserves praise.
DQ is the heart & soul of the movie and he has done an excellent job as the protagonist. It was a character that required to be both charming & yet shrewd enough to pull the strings and he was an apt choice for that. Meenakshi Chaudhary has done her part aptly and provided ample support to DQ's character along with the rest of the cast.
Verdict: It's been quite a while since we have a movie that doesnt have bloodshed & that itself was a huge relief. In all probability, it should work at the box office & continue DQ's purple patch in Tollywood. The movie as such was fine & is worth a watch!!!
Rating: 3/5
Amaran: "Among some of the best biographies to date!!!"
Even before going into the details, I would confidently say that this is undoubtedly one of the best movies of the year & among the best to have released when it came to biographies. Based on Shiv Aroor & Rahul Singh's 'India's Most Fearless: True Stories of Modern Military', it is the biography of Major Mukund Varadarajan & is helmed by Rajkumar Periasamy who had worked on the screenplay along with Stefan Ritcher.
The movie takes us through Major Mukund's (Siva Karthikeyan) through the last decade of personal & professional career which begins with his college life where he meets Indhu (Sai Pallavi) & also takes the decision to join the Armed Forces. As Indhu was from a different faith & religion, there were some objections from their families early on, but in due time they warmed up to their relation. At the same time, Mukund steadily made a name for himself in the forces for his selfless nature & valour.
At first, it would sound like the standard template of most biographies but what made it unique was the manner in which Rajkumar had picturised Mukund's professional life by keeping it grounded rather than portraying chest thumping jingoism or painting with evident political undertones. The warmth of the relationship between Mukund and Indhu could be felt and the main reason for that was the performances. The technical aspects were neatly done especially the action choreography by Stephen Richter & CH Sai's visuals.
As mentioned above, the main strongpoint of this movie were the performances and all of them have done justice to their roles. Sai Pallavi is undoubtedly one of the finest artists that we have in the country & her performance as Indhu was a testament of her caliber. In all likelihood, she will be a strong contender for the best performer even in the Nationals (though her diction was quite problematic especially when you are showing her as a Malayali). SK has been going from strength to strength with his choice of movies and performances and over here, he has truly impressed with his act. The rest of the cast such as Geetha (as Mukund's mom), Bhuvan Arora (as Vikram) Rahul Bose, Shyamaprasad etc have done their parts well.
Verdict: Certainly an engaging biopic that gets elevated primarily coz of the performances. Do check it out!!!
Rating: 3.5/5
