Magadheera :: My Review

Magadheera is made with good technical values, flashback episode is itself worth to watch on the big screen. RCT is okay and Kajal is pretty. Keeravani has once again given his touch to both audio and BGM. The effort SSR put on this project is really appreciable.

Magadheera : Concept of Re-Birth!!!

Cast: Ram Charan Tej, Kajal Agarwal, Srihari, Dev Gill, Rao Ramesh, Sunil, Sarath Babu, Brahmanandam, Hema and Others.
Cinematography: Senthil Kumar.
Editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao.
Dialogues: M.Ratnam
Art: Ravinder
Music: MM Keeravaani.
Fights: Peter Heins, Ram-Laxman
Banner: V Vijayendra Prasad
Costumes/Styling: Rama Rajamouli
Presenter: Allu Ramalingaiah
Producer: Allu Aravind.
Banner: Geetha Arts.
Screenplay & Direction : Rajamouli.
Release Date: 31st July, 2009.

Story:It is in the year 1609; 'Kaala Bhairava' is the personal body guard for Udayghad princess 'Mitravrindha (brindha, not sure what that is exactly)' and traines the soldiers of the empire. The princess falls in love with Kaala Bhairava. Ranveer Billa, a bad relative of the king (Sarath Babu) wants to marry Mitra and take hold of the kingdom. On the other hand SherKhan (Sri Hari) who is on a battle spree wants to get hold of Udayghad. Ranveer betrays the king and kills him. In a fierce battle between 100 best soldiers of sherkhan and Kaala Bhairava, everyone including Mitra gets killed. Kaala Bhairava also kills Ranveer. After 400 years all the four characters including Kaala Bhairava, Mitra, Sher Khan and Ranveer takes re-birth. Harsha (Kaala Bhairava) lives on bike racing, Indu (Mitra) is a casual college going girl, Raghuveer (Ranaveer) is again a bad relative of Indu who enjoys Indu’s Property and wants to get married to Indu, Salmon (Sherkhan) is a fisher man. The rest of the story is how Harsha falls for Indu, how they get to know about their past lives and whether harsha wins his lady love in this birth.

Routine SSR Formula + Mind Blowing sets, graphics, Photography + A Hair Rising Chase and a fight inspired from 300 = Magadheera

Be it Chatrapathi, Vikramarkudu, Yamadonga or his latest hyped Magadheera SSR never missed his formula which I personally never liked, though it is working with the common audience. SSR never had a gripping screenplay, humor or comedy in his movies. Though Vikramarkudu has comedy, we all know how vulgar that looks like. SSR always had a vision, his execution is terrific. Contrary to all the successful directors world wide who have a very good/ successful hand in writing their screenplay, SSR might stand out as an individual who can make movies based on a scene or two and could make the movie successful. I always had a debate in my mind whether scenes for a movie or movie for few scenes. I always believed scenes for a movie pays off though SSR proved movie for scenes too work. Observe his work in his past movies or his recent hyped release, neither of the movies seemed to look he will write the scenes for the movie, they all seem like “Hmm I have 2-3 outstanding scenes, now I need to make a movie to show off these scenes”. I never liked his previous movies, though Sye and Simhadri were exceptional. But I liked few scenes from all his movies, Be it “Ika chaalu”, “Okka Adugu” in chatrapathi, few Yamalokam scenes in YamaDonga etc;

Coming to Magadheera, I could not resist praising Rajamouli’s Vision. Though inspired from various movies like 300, Gladiator SSR really executed the scenes at his best. Dheera Dheera song is exceptionally shot. I don’t think all the Udayghad empire we see in the movie is a set, but what ever it is Ravinder (art director) has done a splendid job. No words to praise senthil. Asusual he rocked. He captured Rajamoulis vision at his best thus making rajamouli’s job easier. Graphic work was too good in the movie. The Bhairava Kona location/set should have a special mention. That was terrific. The fight he shot at that location would definitely stand out as one of the bests in tollywood. Confrontation scene between sherkhan and Kaala Bhairava is very good, though RCT needs to improve his voice modulation and diction.

Performances:

Ram Charan Tej: If Rajamouli extracted the best from RCT, then it is all over for Mega Fans. RCT needs to improve a lot in all aspects. His voice modulation and diction is very poor for the character he portrayed. Forget about the much hyped dances, If Shaking the body like a spring or using rope work for dances are said to be the best dances, then better we go with 3D characters. He never had a charm/ grace in his face. Be it a simple step or much complicated one, Chiranjeevi always had a charm while he dances or fights. That is his charm which attracted kids, youth, Families and oldies and crowned him the Mega star. RCT definitely lacks a way behind in all these aspects. His expressions in the opening shot are pathetic. It looked like some 3D character is acting. Considering this his second movie, and he has plenty of time to reconsider, he should seriously improve his voice modulation, diction and expressions. Talk much less about his screen presence.

Kajal Agarwal: She is at her best. Be it modern dress or the princess attire, she rocked all the way.

Srihari: I never understood why srihari told “It doesn’t matter if I do movies or not after Magadheera”, his role is not that powerful one as hyped except for few roles. Forget about his fisherman character. Though his dialogue delivery is good the character is not worth speaking

Dev Gill : His performance sounds good though he lacked expressions.

Rao Ramesh : The much hyped Agohra scenes doesn’t seem interesting and they are a way behind Arundhati. Rao Ramesh is strictly okay but his dialogue delivery is very good.

Both Sunil and Brahmanandam are wasted. It would have not made any difference whether both of them are in the movie or not.

Positives

1. Confrontation scene between Sherkhan and Kaala Bhairava
2. Udayghad and Bhairava kona sets.
3. Chariot chase.
4. Kaala Bhairava killing 100 best soldiers of sherkhan.
5. Picturisation of the song “Dheera Dheera”

Negatives

1. First half of the movie is pretty weak
2. Bike race scene in the beginning, the way the hero gets to know about his past is too cinematic.
3. Much hyped Chiranjeevi’s entrance, though not a negative certainly could have been much better.
4. Climax

Story - Screenplay: The story of the movie is simple. Nothing much to talk about story. Even the screen play isn’t that interesting, but what makes this movie different- The Presentation. Few scenes in the flashback episode are mind blowing. Artistic, Graphical and photographical values are well above the standards of Telugu Cinema.

Music: Music is Strictly okay. Neither songs nor the background score is really interesting, though background score for few scenes is good, but on the whole a let down.

Photography : Excellent

Art : Excellent

Direction: SSR’s Vision and execution are terrific though he still lacked in screenplay department. He should also concentrate on the whole movie rather than concentrating on few scenes of the movie

Bottom Line: While the previous Re-birth movies like Janaki Ramudu were remembered for Love/romance, this movie will be remembered for its technical values. The concept of rebirth seemed more like an excuse for SSR to execute the 1609 Episode.The first half of the movie is pretty weak. Second half really made the difference with great artistic and photographical values. A must watch for Movie Lovers for its Technical Brilliance. I dont think the movie will have a repeated value. But lets not talk about running details and collections for Gods sake.



PS: Watching the “Anaganaga” song on screen is Fun.

My Rating: 3/5 (For its Technical Values)