SYNCCINEMA

A naganaga Oo Athidi (AOA) – Drama Tension from the Old School It’s rare to see a  philosophical thriller,  with equal amounts of messaging and dramatically sucking aspects put forward in an apt  method  to suit the world of its story. This movie gets these elements right from it’s fore-bearer  Aa Karaala Rathri   (2018), which itself is a cinematic rendition of a Stage Drama going by the same name written in the ‘80s. The macrostructure to the minuscule lines is all old school. The movie starts with  Tanikella Bharani’s  voice stating “Spark inside the man has led to the Spark he discovered for Survival “. There are many such dialogues which are strongly mouthed by the  characters,  one of the best lines being – “  Khaamaniki Kallu Levu, Aasa Ku Chaavu Ledu “,  which means “ Perv is blind, Greed is immortal”. These set of lines perfectly describe the motive of a family of 3 –  Malli  ( Payal Rajput ),  Annapurna   ( Veena Sundar ) and  Subbaiah  ( Ananda Chakrapani ), who live a lif

WW ’84 – The Superhero’s emotion-heavy moments are overcast by a childlike plot. WW ’84, if released in ’84, would’ve at least garnered a better reception for its fantasy-filled plot and simplistic imagination of comic to film. But, thanks to its stiff competitor Marvel Studios and also the shouldered overweight of DCEU's Dark Knight Trilogy, a Superhero movie isn’t any more a child’s play or a children’s park for only the 8-12-year-olds to enjoy. DCEU  had upon it this poor understanding of how to  create  human-like complexity in a Saviour and the mistakes it did is a list starting from  Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad to Justice League . The one’s where it proved it’s understanding is  Wonder Woman,  to some extent  Aquaman  and the best of them all being   Joker .  Wonder Woman worked excellently with it’s brewing war sub-plot below the all Amazonian Spinoff theme for  Diana.  But, WW’84 has a dumb and lack-lustre sub-plot of  human greed  ( which is complex, yes) conceived f

S olo Brathuke So Better ( SBSB ) - The Romance×Comedy×Drama formula has its elements outdated with only comedy being a saving grace. Sai Dharam Tej’s (SDT) desperate craving for success was fulfilled last year with  Chithralahari  and  Prathi RojuPandage . While the latter is much better in terms of entertaining the  family  audience, it still was backed by momentary ideas of doing so. This year with  SBSB , SDT feels his movie is special and we too do so. But there is a slight difference in both. SBSB  takes inspirations from many plots and tries to follow the current trends of getting a Hit, but what ends up happening is mixed bag of rotten fruits. Starting with a Youth leader- esque  pilot, along with some faked  deep  narration ( that’s inspiration there ) by SDT, which won't even continue for the rest the film ( that’s inspiration there too ), it moves on to an  attempted  buddy comedy- esque  zone and some nah-inspiring slokas ( that’s an inspiration again! ) and finally s

M iddle Class Melodies – Comedy and Drama are cooked up in delicious proportions which work for all. A new style of film-making and subject has incepted into the South Indian Films – maybe thanks to   Lijo Jose Pellisery . The Rustic Rumble with Exuberant actions of a Community of people is a genre on its own, (  Angamaly Diaries, Ee Ma Yau, Jallikattu, Palasa 1978, Falaknuma Das etc. ). Middle-Class Melodies  conversely   is less Rustic, suaver and desexualized ( in a good manner ) treatment of a subject on a similar note - Only to make it for a “ Family Watch”. ( though, at the climax there is a frenzy myriad of twists like in UMUR )   The Director  Vinoth Anantharaju’s  classily envisioned scenes are shot in a  Dil Raju  colour palette   ( though not produced by him ), with people swearing just occasionally and emotional sludges being replaced by free-flowing character-driven arcs. This is the biggest plus point, as the title itself suggests that it’s a story of/about us. We d

Maa Vintha Gadha Vinuma - The Gen Z Romantic Drama shoulders on a balance of relevance and satire. Siddharth Jonnalagadla, the writer, brings out interesting and quirky conversations from his writing style and treatment of this genre. In a recent interview, he said that he would always prefer to keep the dialogues surreal and life-like rather being very archetypical and filmy.  T hat works. It works beyond just the dialogue, but even to the narrative. So well, that a “Strange” tale which never irks us beyond a limit when put out as bullet points of timeline ends being much more than flat. Sidhu understands the mentality and status quo of the Smartphone-youth of being Impulsive, Quickly taking decisions, having a #YOLO tattooed at heart, and the most important of all is obsession in their life with Social media. He knows a screw up won’t take much time to have an i(r)conic response in the form of memes, tweets, youtube views, WhatsApp shares, tik-tok ( shit it’s banned ) reels and you k

S oorarai Pottru / A kaasam Nee Haddura – Mounts up sky high respect and has a special place in the heart by unveiling one touching sequence after another. Sudha Kongara is one of the directors who has a very potent and strong voice for her stories and characters. “The Troops of Rebellion” could just be the title for it if she ever makes crossovers for those characters. She sets apart from her tone of dealing with the same story, same conflict and same closure with a sassy as well as spicy interaction among her characters. This film is no different, but, a more matured Writing ( Script and Screen ), Directing. The cohesive nature of the crafts, mainly – fantastic cinematography by Niketh Bommi, subtle music by G.V.Prakash and balanced edit by Sathish Suriya indicate the all-round distinction, ultimately contributing to the big picture.   We for sure have the rebels here, not just 2 ( like in  Irudhi Sutturu /Guru ) or 3, but around 6 to 7 who let themselves in and out of the plot. Th

M iss India - From Setting and Music to Characters and Conflicts, the movie amuses in resurfacing the Tolly tropes we have gone past last decade. There’s a scene in the midway before the interval when Manasa Samyukhta ( Keerthy Suresh ) attends an interview for a job she doesn’t wish to do. Luckily, she stumbles upon her new confidant as her Interviewer and the rest could never go wrong for her in getting the job. Even the Interviewer says so, that he knows personally how talented and overqualified she is, so it would be a waste of time to even interview her. But, Samyukhta, firstly accepting the statements given, still insists on having a “Select to Suit” basis for her job by taking her only if she performs satisfactorily. Fair Enough right? What’s   Electrifying!  as the interviewer would say eventually for the standing answer she gives on a rhetoric question “ You have seen 3 men along with you sitting outside for this job. What makes you feel superior or rather indifferent as a w

P utham Pudhu Kaalai - While all the 5 stories make us feel warm and relevant, it's undoubtedly Karthik Subbaraj's Miracle which leaves a lasting impression and a happily bid goodbye. The year 2020 has been getting crazier, stranger and unforeseen day by day. Who would’ve thought Tamil Cinema’s finest Auteur’s, known for their rising and/or unique voices are roped in to make a 25min shorts which culminate into an   Anthology . The review will comment on each short film as a sole and at the end, overall. Ilamai Idho Idho - Directed by Sudha Kongara The long-lasting impression of Love beyond every strata and stigma, where, as   Madhavan  ( in the most meta-state presence) narrates, that it’s more of how it makes each feel that’s important than anything. There are a playful joy and cheerfulness in the fantasy or the idea of Sudha Kongara's most  class over crass  story ever, in shifting back and forth from an Objective and more externalised point of view of an Old Couple

N ishabdham – The muted condemnation of Sakshi  transcends into the Cinematic Intellect ofthe filmmakers. In the opening scene of  Nishabdham , you get a couple having their sweetest times in their  old mansion® dancing  to the music on a gramophone, Enter: a screen card saying 1972, which though isn’t needed as the scene is shot in richness of cliché with a dulled browns and blacks. Enter: a series of POV shots, door squeaks, light bulb flickers, husky whispers – which I think is the voice of  Ghost© and  the couple goes haywire. The husband is made to play hide ’n seek with the Ghost(s) - another clichéd game   in a dark basement. Enter: A collection of .mp3 extension files of jump scares, cheap thrill sound effects and a frightening enough setting to make me stop and go for a pee. Enter: A shrill note of ghost voices with increasing sound levels and then !! a  blackout.  We get the titles Nishabdham – aptly given as these jump cut abrupt Blackouts with no sound is the silence that

  V – Entertaining and Innovative in the space of familiarity. In an Interview of Mohan Krishna Indraganti, the Writer and Director said that the core story of V was shaped out way back in 2006. In 2018, post-Sammohanam, Dil Raju (Producer) longed for a script like V as the markets for such genre had just opened (  Ratsasan  etc.). So V is a culmination of your Garden-side Psycho-police mind games with the action entertaining elements and release might be the case of right ( I’d love to call it manageable) concept at the wrong time. The endless list of external travesties like # Nani25 , # NanivsSudheer , #Sept5release ( which is the date of #Nani1 release –  Ashta Chamma )  and many more made the movie look more stale. One more important factor is the influence of current Psycho Killer genre in a yester decade  script. The audience has become smart, mature and very much exposed to all the brilliant content outside of  Tollywood  and a movie this cheesy in presentation wit