Will Telangana leaders and people follow the Egypt upheavel?

I know that the conditions leading to agitations in both the regions are quite different, but something tells me that the Telangana leaders and people will take inspiration from the type of chaos that we are witnessing in Egypt and follow a similar suit here in Hyderabad. Of course the law and order is much more capable and stronger in the state of Andhra Pradesh than Egypt and they might not allow the agitation to gain momentum, but again it is a do or die situation for KCR and his TRS party. If they can'r carry this movement forward, they will be blown to smithereens by the new Jagan party and the Congress men in the next elections. I am expecting a huge agitation in the capital city for the Telangana state unless the police subdue the movement with Iron fists.

Liverpool's amazing comeback, Manchester United's first loss and Chiranjeevi's merger

The headlines indicate just the prominent news that has made it to the headlines. These were the topics I was thinking about and racking my brain yesterday.

I have to start with the fascinating tale of Liverpool slowly but steadily crawling back into the top 4. It is still a very difficult proposition with a 6 points difference between the 4th placed Chelsea and 5th Placed Tottenham and both the teams have a game in hand. But the upcoming fixtures are surely going to bolster their confidence, Liverpool's next two matches are against Wigan Athletic and West Ham United, 18th and 20th placed teams in the table. Chelsea will be playing Fulham(12th) and Manchester United (1st) while Tottenham will be playing Blackpool(15th) and Sunderland (7th). There is a good possibility that both Chelasea and Tottenham will lose points in the coming 3 weeks while Liverpool is in the best position to accumulate all 6 points.

Manchester United is sitting pretty at the top, but their next three matches are going to decide if they can maintain this healthy lead or not. The defeat against Wolves has come at a wrong time, they will next play Manchester City, Wigan, Chelsea and Liverpool! The worst part, 3 out of the 4 fixtures are away matches! Manchester City, one of the contenders for the title have to step up and win their 2 of the 3 fixtures, they should also make sure they don't lose to Manchester United. Arsenal will be playing Wolves, Stoke City, Sunderland and West Brom. Fairly easy matches for them. Going by the fixtures, by the end of March I guess Arsenal will be at the top followed by ManU and Manchester . Going to be a very exciting 6 weeks

My next favorite topic is Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam merger with the Congress. From the reactions across the state it looks like it is a shameful proposition for the fans of Chiranjeevi and people who voted for him but in all practicality, Chiru is in a much better position today (after the merger) than before. I think politically it is a strong message sent to Y.S.Jagan from the high command but again Sonia and company are committing the same mistake again and again and again. They got a much lesser charismatic leader to compensate Jagan. It is a pity that they couldn't reconcile with the young leader who would have been a much better person to lead Congress in the next elections. Chiru has lost his credibility with this move, it is only going to strengthen the new party Jagan is going to start.

Tevez to quit Manchester City

Just when I thought Tevez was making some sensible comments, here comes a bomb. Manchester City management has claimed that Tevez has submitted a transfer application which they rejected. And today Tevez came out firing stating that the differences between him and some of the members in the management team has soared so badly that it is now beyond repair.

I personally feel that when a player wants to leave the club so badly, he should be allowed. And for gods sake don't compare him with Rooney who is heads and shoulders above Tevez. I am a fan of Tevez, but what he is doing is too much. He should remember that he was not even a consistent starter in the MANU team, that is how good he is when compared against the games greats. Now he got a chance in a club where he is the best and has every chance to be a legend for that club! But he is wasting it. An ignorant fool he, he is not even realizing it.

If he is a responsible captain, he should wait for a proper recruitment in his place before leaving. It is not good to leave the club in a no man's land and get out. He lost all the respect I had for him.

Manchester City should now aim for a good striker who can do the job for the team. Even with Tevez, they lacked the power in striking department and they should at least buy two good ones with the money they get by selling Tevez.

May be Torres, this is the right time to get him. He is a glorious striker and just out of form, with the kind of mid fielders City has they should get him. He will be a great asset for the team.

A suit that costs 50 lakhs

The united kingdom based premiere fabric maker Dormeuil launched suits that cost Rs.50 lakhs and above!! I wonder if it is a marketing gimmick, otherwise I would be surprised if some one spends that kind of amount on a suit how much ever rich one might be. This is ridiculous pricing.

PS : Dormeuil has a record of making the most expensive suit!

Music of Manasara rocks

Songs of Manasara received positive response from all over Andhra Pradesh. The music is in the same lines of Nachavule, which was directed by Ravibabu and was released a couple of years back. For all the people who liked Nachavule, Manasara is a must in their music collection. Superb melody.

With positive vibe in the music department, we have to wait and watch if Ravibabu can hit the bullseye with this movies. Love stories are not his forte and have been major disasters in the past. Soggadu with Tarun, NAchavule with Tanish have all been flops. He moved back to suspense thrillers and created a brand image for himself. Only time will tell if Manasara will be a hit.

The chronicles of Narnia - The voyage of the dawn treader

Watched the movie yesterday night and felt it was ok. Definitely the 2nd part is the best so far. For the beginners, The chronicles of Narnia (book) is divided into seven parts, the voyage of the dawn treader is the third part both in the book and movie series. In this part, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their priggish cousin, Eustace Scrubb, to Narnia. Once there, they join Caspian's voyage on the ship Dawn Treader to find the seven lords who were banished when Miraz took over the throne. This perilous journey brings them face to face with many wonders and dangers as they sail toward Aslan's country at the end of the world.

The reasons I think why the movie is not good is

1) All the problems encountered by the the prince Caspian and his team are easily solved. There is no strong conflicting point!

2) Eustace Scrubb was funny but his accent is too difficult to follow for the Indians! What this means is all the funny scenes are not enjoyed by the audience. I wonder if the Americans can understand him.

3) Not many spectacular special effects as in part 2. Apart from the last scene where all of them reach Aslan's land, nothing much to rave about the special effects.

And many other points, but the above three I thought could have been done better. We should also not forget that this is only the 3rd part out of the 7 parts and could just be laying the platform for the spectacular finish of the movie series. I remember not liking LOR first part but then went on to like the entire series immensely.

Rating for the movie

-----------------------------

Actors (Top 6 in terms of the role length)

-----------------------------------------------------------

1) Ben Barnes - 6/10

He was the heart and soul of the second part and just couldn't continue his magic in this part. He looked pretty ordinary and no emotional or challenging scenes for him in this part

2) Skandar Keynes - 6/10

An ordinary performance from him too.

3) Georgie Henley - 6/10

4) Will Poulter - 7/10

Among several ordinary performances his was the only saving grace. A beautifully written character and at the end you would feel nice about him. Was funny and kept the audience engaging in spite of an insipid story line. Could have been awarded higher rating if not for his very very strong accent.

5) Gary Sweet - 7/10

Did his part well, though it was a short character.

6) Terry Norris - 7/10

Did his part well, it was a role which lasted for 5 minutes. Just shows that apart from the top 4, nothing much for others to do. Animated characters can't be rated for acting, otherwise there are couple of them who were present in the entire movie along with the top 4.

Dialogues - 7/10

Music+Background score - 3/10

Cinematography - 7/10

Editing - 5/10

Screenplay - 5/10

Direction - 6/10

Production values - 7/10

Choreography - 0/10

Entertainment Value - 6/10

Average rating considering all the departments

57%

NOTE : 10-20% (skip the movie)

21-40% (May watch if you are a fan)

41-60% (Watch it on DVD)

61-80% (Go to the theaters at your leisure)

81-100% (Must watch)

Sacking of Chris Hughton and Tevez's sensible comments

Two news which I thought were interesting for the day were the sacking of Chris Hughton and finally some sensible remarks from Carlos Tevez about his manager! The sacking of Chris Hughton was a real surprise especially after the manager has put his heart and soul into the team (Newcastle United) to bring it back into the premiere league by winning the championship. In my opinion he was doing reasonably well in the premiere league too. Before jumping into any conclusion about the owners of the New castle united, there could be some differences in the salary that the manager might be asking for. It could be Hughton's choice too, to move out of New Castle United. In any case, it will be a major disappointment for the team in the coming weeks. It will take some time for them to cope up with the new manager. The team was playing like a unit under Hughton, only time will tell if the New Castle United management has made a right decision or not.

As far as Tevez is concerned, after his disgusting behavior in the match against Bolton Wanderers when he was substituted, he came up with some sensible words that there is no rift between the manger and himself. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=849673&sec=england&cc=4716 . It looks more like a forcced interview with what is to be said written by the Manchester city bosses!

Aarya-2 DVD review

Finally watched Aarya-2 yesterday on the DVD. I thought the storyline was damn good and only if there was some clarity in Allu Arjun's character, the movie would have been a super hit. Too much emphasis was made on Arjun's psycho character and in the process the director has missed out on some points. For example, the phone breaking scene after Kajal (Geetha) records Allu Arjun's drinking habits (in the bathroom). Come on, even though the phone was broken, the memory card would be intact and the video could have been recovered. This is just one example of not so well thought of scenes. The entire movie was full off inconsistencies with a brilliant scene followed by a mediocre one!! However, it is definitely worth watching once.

Rating

-------

Actors (top 6 in terms of role strength)

1) Allu Arjun - 10/10

One word, Mr.Perfect. He was terrific in the role of a psycho and really did a superb job as Aarya.

2) Kajal Agarwal - 6/10

She some how is not able to create the magic of Magadheera again. She was just mediocre in terms of looks and nothing much to act. She is just plain average

3) Navdeep - 7/10

He was adequate. He has nothing much to do in the movie except to worry about Aarya. He is a tremendous actor and is wasted in this movie. A strong characterization would have elevated the role of Aarya even better.

4) Brahmanandam - 6/10

5) Mukesh Rishi - 8/10

6) Ajay - 9/10

Dialogues - 8/10

Music+Background score - 8/10

Cinematography - 8/10

Editing - 8/10

Screenplay - 8/10

Direction - 6/10

Production Values - 8/10

Choreography - 8/10

Entertainment Value - 7/10

Average rating considering all the departments

------------------------------------------------

77%

0-40% - Skip the movie

41-70% - Watch it when you are free

71-90% - Rent it immediately

91-100% - Buy the DVD

Memoirs of a Geisha - DVD review

Watched Memoirs of a Geisha yesterday and it is one of the most engrossing films I have seen for a long time now. I am in love with the movie.

Plotline : In 1929 an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo from a fishing village is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto's Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy of Hatsumomo, until she is rescued by and taken under the wing of Hatsumomo's bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha's mentorship, Chiyo climbs several steps to become a Geisha (Sayuri) and dominates her field like nobody else. There is also a parallel story running where Chiyo falls in love with the Chairman as a child and pursues her dream to be a danna to the chairman. In the mean time the world war erupts and the Geisha world is collapsed even before Chiyo realizes her love. They meet again, but will Choyi realize her dream? This has to be watched on the DVD.

Rating for the movie

----------------------

Actors (Top 6 in terms of role strength)

1) Ziyi Zhang - 10/10

She was stunning and beautiful. Suited for the role to the Tee. Very very impressive

2) Ken Watanabe - 9/10

3) Gong Li - 9/10

4) Michelle Yeoh - 8/10

5) Youki Kudoh - 6/10

6) Suzuka Ohgo - 10/10

Dialogues - 8/10

Music+Background score - 10/10

Cinematography - 9/10

Editing - 9/10

Screenplay - 10/10

Direction - 9/10

Production values - 10/10

Choreography - 6/10

Entertainment Value - 3/10

Average rating considering all the departments

------------------------------------------------

84%

Note : 0-40% (Skip the movie)

41-70% - Watch it when you are free

71-90% - Rent it immediately

91-100% - Buy the DVD

Katha Review

Watched Katha and thought of reviewing it. As you must be knowing by now, Genelia and Arun are the lead pairs in the movie and is produced by Gunnam Gangaraju who is known for offbeat movies. In the past he has produced movies like Little soldiers, Aithe, Anukokunda oka roju, Amma Cheppindi etc. He is a brand for multiplex audience and the movie Katha generated enough excitement because of this reason. However the marketing of the movie is not done well and it reflected in the initial collections and poor release of the movie.

The movie is about Chitra who is the only witness to a murder realizing if the murder actually happened or is it just her hallucination. Chitra has a complicated past, because of which she suffers with a mental problem. Now it is upto Chitra to decide if her mental problem is catching up with her again. Krishna is an aspiring director who helps Chitra in solving her problem.

Rating for the movie

---------------------

Actors (Top6 in terms of performance)

1) Genelia - 7/10

The movie is about her and she carried off her role well. She still requires some improvement in enacting emotional scenes and dances. Apart from these two departments she suited the role very well. Her cute looks cover up for the lapses in those departments.

2) Arun Adit - 6/10

It is his first film and he did ok. He is too thin to be a hero! Looks are good but he has to improve a good deal in acting. He is definitely not bad but not very convincing either in all the scenes. He is promising though. Some fine tuning (especially in terms of physique) is required and he should be a good actor.

3) Prakash Raj - 7/10

His role is etched poorly, he is the police officer who investigates the murder that Chitra witnessed. He was not convincing because of the poor characterization

4) Shafi - 8/10

He did the role of constable who will be with Prakash Raj investigating the murder case. He keeps a grudge on Genelia for defaming the police department, he believes it is just her hallucination and there has been no murder at all. Given his scope he has done well.

5)Raghubabu - 6/10

He acted as the executive producer of the movie which Krishna is directing. In few scenes he evoked laughter.

6) Tulasi - 3/10

Not much role for her except for the telephonic conversions. She acted as the mother of Hero. She looked fat and ugly.

Dialogues - 6/10

Music + Background score - 6/10

Cinematography - 6/10

Editing - 5/10

Screenplay - 7/10

Direction - 6/10

Production values - 5/10

Choreography - 5/10

Entertainment value - 7/10

Average rating considering all the departments

------------------------------------------------

60%

NOTE : 10-20% (skip the movie)

21-40% (May watch if you are a fan)

41-60% (Watch it on DVD)

61-80% (Go to the theaters at your leisure)

81-100% (Must watch)

Yes Man

I guess this is my first DVD review, which I have been thinking of doing for a long time now. Watched Yes Man starring Jim Carrey and it was an ok movie. The movie is about how a person who is just living his life for the sake of it changes his attitude and enjoys everybit of it after going through the "YES" course. Jim Carrey was pretty good as usual. Below are my ratings: -

Rating for the movie

---------------------

Actors (Top 6 in terms of role strength)

1) Jim Carrey - 9/10

Terrific as usual. He is an asset and without him the movie wouldn't have been the same. He seems to have mastered the roles of being some one which he is not comfortable with and then changes his life all of a sudden because of some god or philosophy or wish :) . He is nice and it reflects in his ratings.

2)Bradley Cooper - 9/10

He is equally good and it is not easy not to get overwhelmed by an actor like Jim Carrey. He acted as Jim Carrey's best friend in this movie who is desperate to bring back his best friend into full life (as he used to be). Terrific performance from an young and upcoming actor.

3)Zooey Deschanel - 8/10

Acted as the love interest of Jim Carrey. Looked beautiful and carried her role with elan

4) John Michael Higgins - 7/10

5) Rhys Darby - 8/10

6) Danny Masterson - 6/10

Dialogues - 7/10

Music+Background score - 6/10

Cinematography - 6/10

Editing - 7/10

Screenplay - 8/10

Direction - 7/10

Production Values - 7/10

Choreography - 0/10

Entertainment value - 7/10

Average Rating considering all the departments

-------------------------------------------------

68%

Note : 0-40% (Skip the movie)

41-70% - Watch it when you are free

71-90% - Rent it immediately

91-100% - Buy the DVD

Hail the people of Andhra Pradesh

What a response from the leaders of Andhra Pradesh who has put party aside to stand with the people. Sonia Gandhi should know that dictatorship will not be tolerated. She can't take decisions without considering the sentiments of people! Just because a political leader is fasting or some few students protest a state can't be separated without considering people. Shame Shame Sonia

Amaravathi review

Watched Amaravathi yesterday and I felt it was just an average movie. By now, most of you must have read the plot of the movie. I will not get into the details but will discuss where Ravibabu could have done better. First half of the movie is repetitive with the director showing again and again how the babies are stolen from the womb. He tried using loud noises to scare away audiences but after a while it didn't go well with me.

No.2, though I liked the concept of special task force with different clothing and vehicles (a much required addition to India in real world), I didn't find the logic in not involving regular police. Right from the first scene it is only special task force which we see in action!

No.3, casting is horrible. None of them were impressive except the old lady (I guess she is Rajyalakshmi)! I wonder why Sneha and Bhumika agreed to act in this movie. They have no roles whatsoever and are in the movie only for the publicity element. The worst part is the casting of Tarakaratna in the role of psycho. The character is eccentric in nature but Tarakaratna failed to impress in that role. He hasn't enough homework on how eccentric people behave. Poor performance. Anyways, below is my rating.

Rating for the movie

----------------------

Actors (Top 6 in terms of role strength)

1) Ravibabu - 6/10

2) Tarakaratna - 3/10

3) Sindhura Gadde - 6/10

4) Sneha - 8/10

5) Bhumika - 5/10

6) Top police officer - 2/10

Dialogues - 6/10

Music+Background Music - 8/10

Cinematography - 7/10

Editing - 8/10

Screenplay - 5/10

Direction - 5/10

Production values - 7/10

Choreography - 0/10

Entertainment value - 7/10

Average rating considering all the departments

-------------------------------------------------

55.33%

NOTE : 10-20% (skip the movie)

21-40% (May watch if you are a fan)

41-60% (Watch it on DVD)

61-80% (Go to the theaters at your leisure)

81-100% (Must watch)

A classic beauty - Radhika Apte

Just came to know that Radhika Apte is selected to act in RGV's Raktha Charitra to act as Paritala Suneeta. Man, what a classic beauty she is!!! She can look gorgeous in both western outfits as well as Indian traditional dresses. She can be a gift to Indian film industry as she can act very well too. A real future star in making. Hopefully she will occupy the No.1 spot which is vacant ever since Madhuri Dixit left the film industry

Bendu Appa Rao is an average affair

Bendu Appa Rao is a plain average movie. It definitely is not what the reviews suggest. The comedy is below par for me. The only saving grace is the mystery behind the 15 lakhs which Bendu Appa Rao gets from a dying man. The comdey is very insipid and old fashioned. EVV should come out of Jandhyala style comedies which are outdated now and the 90s style of songs picturization. Time has changed and EVV seems to have been stuck in 90s when he churned out hits after hits. Kamna is ok while Meghna Raj is awful. Ahuti Prasad is probably the best of the lot when it comes to making you laugh. The rest of them are ok.

Rating for the movie

---------------------

Actors (Top 6 in terms of role length)

1) Allari Naresh - 8/10

2) Kamna Jetmalani - 5/10

3) Meghana Raj - 2/10

4) Ahuti Prasad - 8/10

5) Raghu Babu - 7/10

6)Suman Shetty - 7/10

Dialogues - 3/10

Music - 5/10

Cinematography - 5/10

Editing - 6/10

Screenplay - 6/10

Direction - 5/10

Production values - 6/10

Choreography - 7/10

Entertainment value - 5/10

Average rating considering all the departments

------------------------------------------------

57%

NOTE : 10-20% (Skip the movie)

21-40% (May watch if you are a fan)

41-60% (Watch it on DVD)

61-80% (Go to the theaters at your leisure)

81-100% (Must watch)

Mahatma songs

Go for it. Really nice composition from Vijay Antony for whom Mahathma is the first movie in telugu. He is a very popular music director in Tamil. For me Em Jarugutondi and Neelapoori are the best in terms of melody. They are very nice. Ofcourse they are in traditional telugu style and not the modern melodies. Jajjanakka is very good mass song which is already very popular in radios. There are two motivational songs in the form of Indiramma and Tala Ethi.

Overall a nice music buy for hardcore telugu movie lovers. Others might find it a bit disappointing though

TV9 encashing on public relief too??

It can't get more shameful than this. The way TV9 is blatantly publicizing their relief efforts is loathsome. Yes, it is good to see them coming forward to help the flood victims but they should also realize that they are doing only the job of being a coordinator and nothing much. Even though it is their duty to do that, we should appreciate that effort as not many news channels have come forward with such a plea. But, after watching them beating their own drums it looks like they have done it to publicize their channel more than offering help.

TV9, instead please dedicate that time for some news rather than interviewing people who came to donate stuff at your office. Shame Shame TV9

Comment on "What if Jr NTR was drunk"

Please go through the article published on greatandhra.com

http://www.greatandhra.com/ganews/viewnews.php?id=15079&cat=15&scat=16

I don't know who wrote that article but it is such a shame to read something like: -

So what if he has the habit of consuming a peg or two? Was it a crime? Are all these people who trying to cash on this news not boozers? He is a young actor and he might have had this habit of partying? For that matter, can’t we find all these young actors going to pubs, boozing and dancing? If he was drunk at the time of driving, he paid the penalty for it in the form of accident. He was the one who suffered for drunken driving. In what way, does it affect others?” they question.

I am not against him drinking or partying but it is silly and stupid to say that he paid the penalty for drunken driving and so should be left free even if proven guilty (which in any case will not happen). Lucky that he rammed into a tree but what if he killed the people? What if he was involved in an accident with other vehicles? What if there was any loss of life? Drunken driving is a crime and nobody in their right senses should argue against it. Inspite of traffic police repeatedly mentioning liquor consumption as a single most reason for the majority of accidents, the stupid fellow on greatandhra.com justifies NTRs drunken driving (if at all he was drunk that day) and comes up with a useless argument!!!

Sooo nice to hear Chitra sing again

Just heard the title song of Kalavaramaye Madilo and it was sooo good to hear Chitra again who is not singing much in telugu these days. The song is also composed very well and I strongly recommend everyone to lisen to it.

Google Chrome OS explained - but is it ahead of its time?

Check out this link http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html . Google has taken pain to explain us what their new opereating system is all about. Sounds interesting, as I read I understood that the OS is going to work on internet and we should be connected all the time incase they don't give the offline option. Even if they do we need internet to upload the files and save it online. I just have a feeling that it might be a bit ahead of its time as apart from USA rest of the world is still struggling for good internet connection. Expecially, in poorer countries using a computer is going to be much more expensive as they need to buy an internet connection if they have to use chrome OS. Microsoft might score over chrome in this aspect.

The verdict of the tussle between Microsoft and Google will only come out next year when google is planning to release its OS in full scale compaticle with laptops and desktops also. Microsoft has time to analysze what chrome is all about in the mean time when it is released on netbooks. Let us see how it goes