The journey of the Tollywood Train this year was nothing different from that of all the previous years, with out of the so many stages from start to finish, only a handful of stations managing to stop the train.
The facilities and outlook at these stations decided the time for which the train halted there. Bringing the language back to filmdom, what I meant to say was the as always, this year too, the 1% hit ratio continues; for only around 10 movies succeeded (some of them managed to) out of a whopping 150 films that have hit the screens. Yes, that’s right, 150 is the number. How many of knew this? Being a movie maniac, I, myself, didn’t know close to half of them, if and when did they come and go. About 50-60 of them are recognizable by name or cast and I have listed them out here.
The year opened up on a dull note. Jagapati Babu’s Maa Naanna Chiranjeevi knocked the door on the very first day (1-Jan-2010) was immediately knocked out. But, doesn’t the legacy say that it’s the festival season of Sankranthi which marks the beginning of the Tollywood year with big flicks from big banners and big stars. The season this year witnessed 4 movies, 2 top stars, and 2 multi starrers – one big, one small. Only one of them, NTR’s Adurs stood out and while Venkatesh-Srinu Vytla combo Namo Venkatesa was a disappointment, the Ravi Teja-Allari Naresh starrer Shambo Shiva Shambo though good enough did not sustain the audience. The coming days saw that what father couldn’t do, the son did it. Nagarjuna’s Kedi failed miserably, but Naga Chaitanya’s Ye Maya Chesave received a good response thanks to a classy love story by director Gowtham Menon. Another moment to ‘underline’ around the same time was the dawn of the next scion from the Rama Naidu family - RaNa Daggubati (son of star producer Suresh Babu) who debuted in Sekhar Kammula’s well made and well handled political film, Leader. While the film managed to sail well, the young star made his presence felt and marked the dot as an actor to look out for.
After a series of blink-and-you-miss-it duds, came two more of the same category, the only difference being the hype because of the associated big names - Dil Raju’s Maro Charitra with Varun Sandesh, a remake of the yester-decade Kamal Hassan classic; and director Gunasekhar’s Varudu starring Allu Arjun. Next in line was the critically acclaimed intense political drama, Prasthanam, director Deva Katta’s next after he began with Vennela years ago. But, before the word of mouth could slowly spread, the movie slipped out of theatres, albeit forcefully. While Prabhas experienced a mixed response with Karunakaran’s Darling, it is Nandamuri Balakrishna who roared with Simha, this year’s one and only blockbuster. Directed by Boyapati Sreenu and co-starring Nayanatara and Sneha Ullal, this action packed flick portrayed Balakrishna in a dual role and this success brought bitter experiences to Dil Raju (yet again) and Puri Jagannath; for Rama Rama Krishna Krishna starring Ram and Golimaar starring Gopichand were pushed down the drain.
Done with 50% of the journey, the month of June began with the much talked about multi starrer, Vedam, in which director Krish, after the super success of Gamyam last year, brought together on screen Allu Arjun, Manoj Manchu, Anushka and Manoj Bajpai in a thought provoking social story. The film got critical acclaim but succeeded only at the multiplexes. The next couple of months saw a very few films thanks to the delay in the release of the heavily hyped Power Star Pawan Kalyan’s Puli, the disaster of which compensated the previous success of S S Rajamouli’s simple entertainer Maryada Ramanna with comedian Sunil in the lead and the comic caper Don Seenu starring Ravi Teja. Senior director K Viswanath disappointed with his yester-treatment of Subhapradham starring Allari Naresh.
The last quarter heated up the environment with many a big film fighting for time space leaving the audience and movie lovers with at least a movie every week; the last month was even cluttered with 2-3 releases every week (Refer to my post CALENDAR CLIMAX). Super Star’s Rajnikanth’s Robo co-starring Aishwarya Rai and directed by Shankar marked a good beginning of the quarter and the film turned out to be a sensation. Yet, at the end of a day this is a borrowed success, being a dubbed movie. Continuing that streak is NTR who struck the right chord with the action packed family entertainer Brindavanam directed by Vamsi Paidipalli of Munna fame. And, in the minuscule gap between these two triumphant outcomes is another super star, Mahesh Babu who made a comeback of sorts after 3 years with Trivikram’s Khaleja co-starring Anushka. But the audience gave a thumbs-down to our ‘thumbs-up’ star. While Siddharth’s Baava and Ram Charan Tej’s Orange are among the many which sank, Ram Gopal Varma’s controversial 2-part take on the like of Paritala Ravi, Raktha Charitra garnered mixed response.
Now, to decide the spate of the December biggies – director P Vasu’s sequel to his hit Chandramukhi, Nagavalli starring Venkatesh, Anushka and many other actresses; director Veeru Potla’s mass masala entertainer, Ragada starring Nagarjuna, Anushka and Priyamani; and Ravi Teja’s Mirapakayi – we would have to encroach into 2011; so 2010 can be said to have belonged to NTR Jr. His movies marked the opening hit and the closing hit of the year - Adurs and Brindavanam.
Finally, a countdown to curtain down:
* Allari Naresh, who has carved out a niche space for himself, attempted a hook shot sixer, but had to settle for a single.
* Similar is the case with the No.1 actress Anushka who had 5 releases, all in the second half of the year. The first three have bombed and result of the last two is awaited.
* The directors who hogged the lime light are Boyapati Srinu, V V Vinayak, Vamsi Paidipalli and S S Rajamouli
* Ye Maaya Chesave, Orange and Maryada Ramanna can be said as the year’s classy musical love stories.
* Two movies which competed in a Maska-Chaska kinda manner are Varudu and Komaram Puli. For both, the ‘Pre’ was hip hip hooray, but the ‘Post-’ turned out to be Tay Tay Fisssh.
Signing off with the mention of one movie which was seen nowhere in my words above, but definitely does deserve to - Sneha Geetham directed by Madhura Sreedhar. An impressive and inspirational youthful movie, in my opinion a worth watching experience for all youngsters and parents, but small films by a new director and debuting cast get a very little space. Reaching out to the entire audience is Tough!





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maryada ramanna class kadu mass kaadu brainless movie



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