Harish Film views

Director: Sandeep Reddy Vanga The first thing that struck me deeply about AR (Arjun Reddy) is how the love between AR and Preethi develops. She is a fresher with innocence written all over her face, carrying a pair of eyes filled with a mix of fear and sadness. As a result, her gaze towards AR is filled with helplessness. She is helpless because AR, bitten by love bug at the first sight, surrounds her teenage world in every manner possible. In essence, she is his princess-prisoner. This Stockholm Syndrome-ish relationship isn't punctuated with morality, ethics or etiquette that which one sees in star-crossed love stories that occupy Indian screens. The status-quo of the relationship changes only after she believes he is the one and willing surrenders herself to him. Not just that, her gaze too changes from fear/helplessness to unadulterated love.  In this character driven film, from the plot perspective, there isn't anything new Sandeep has done that on...

Director: SS Rajamouli Walking out of Baahubali 2, my mind was filled with concepts relating to the art of communication. Most of them were surrounding the view that a movie becomes complete only in the minds of the audience. Yes, from the most submissive to the most dismissive audience member, everyone, in some form or the other, prods the movie in his or her own way to understand what the director is trying to convey through the silver screen. While watching Baahubali 2, I had more than one thought propping up in my mind; but not all were positive. Take for example the last shot of the film. The golden statue head of Bhallaladeva is thrown into the river on Mahendra Baahubali's command to demonstrate the consequence of acting against dharma. The head drifts and falls from the waterfall, tracing the path of Shivudu’s ascend in the part 1. Rajamouli, the director, clearly wants to convey that Bhallaladeva is falling from the same heights that Shivudu climbed and event...

Director: S S Rajamouli I have said it in the past, I am saying it now, and from how he goes about his career, I think I will be saying it again in the future as well – what audacity does SS Rajamouli have! It takes a master with raw passion towards the material to create ingenuous piece of art with such banal stories. Yes, you read it right – banal; for that is what Baahubali’s story too is if you go by Rajamouli’s stories – stories that have been told since our puranas came into existence. What then transforms this material into something extraordinary is the conviction with which it is narrated. People who have seen the film Kadhalika Neramilla’s horror story narration scene (or its counterpart in telugu/hindi) will agree with me that the way Nagesh/Mehmoob narrated the simple scene created the chill & humour and not the dialogues itself. Of all the praises I want to shower over Baahubali, the most deserving one is the laid back approach in the narration. The story...

Director: Trivikram Srinivas In every mass hero film’s opening shot, as the hero poses in his immaculate signature style, the camera zooms in to capture the gushing zeal of a no-nonsense hero accompanied by an earth shattering buildup of tempo; all for the thundering response it would get theatres all over. Eons have passed and yet we aren’t sure whether the response is for the signature pose or the mere appearance of the mass hero or the wonderful build-up to the fitting coda. But, when Allu Arjun (the mass-hero of Julayi) comes into the frame as suddenly as a dog crossing the street, we are left with none of the three factors to cheer for the mass-hero. However, the past master that he is, Trivikram (director) compensates for that by conjuring an enticing bank robbery as the next scene to show the acumen of our beloved hero. Julayi, its mass commercial formula notwithstanding, is the story about the clash of intellects. While the protagonist is an impatient youth, w...

When SS Rajamouli announced that he is going to make a revenge saga of a housefly and that too not on the lines of Bug’s life, I was appalled to say the least. Now how can a tiny insect attempt to kill a man? Even if he had chosen the blood sucking mosquito as his protagonist there could be some plausibility to the idea. But this is from the director who convinced everyone south of vindhyas of a warrior who could fight and win over 100 soldiers at a time. SS Rajamouli the director with the Midas touch sure must have known what he was doing. The end result is a buzzy little creature called Eega (House-fly) that could give bumblebee a run for its honey at being audaciously capable of doing the impossible. In its screen time of 2 ¼ hours, Eega not just defies almost all laws of nature, but also breaks tons of clichés associated with a masala film while proudly being one. For one, though the title role of Eega is the star of the film, the film relies primarily on its antagonist’s ...

With a triangular love story (not again!) at hand, Aarya-2 could have been easily classified as a run of the mill movie. But what sets it apart is the way Sukumar captures the star presence and showcases it with his witty narration. In one particular scene, Aarya (Allu Arjun) has just sweet-talked a villainous fiancé of Geetha (Kajal Agarwal) into helping them and as the four elope in a car, Geetha sneezes; immediately three hands with kerchief emerge evoking laughter in an unexpected way over the turn of events.  For starters, Aarya-2 is not another episode in Aarya, Ajay and Geetha’s life. It’s about people like Aarya, Ajay and Geetha who go through the same things like in Aarya the film. While Aarya now is a calculative selfless person (oh yes, those two traits can exist together!), Geetha and Ajay essay the same role of innocent girl torn between two guys and brainless loser respectively. With such contrasting traits, its Aarya, whose unconventional “striking like a thunderbo...