TAMIL

Ennavalay
Disappointing fare
Ennavalay, the second release after Alai Payuthe has proved to be a disaster for Madhavan and the choice of the subject has been bad. The film has many similarities to the hit Puthu Vasantham and the revelation that the heroine is a divorcee comes as no surprise because we have seen it before. Rajkumar’s repetitive tunes for this musical romance is yet another drawback.

Inmates of an orphanage, Madhavan and his three friends (one is blind, other deaf and another speaks in a female voice) form the members of a music troupe, singing at marriages. They stay in a house where Sneha is the daughter of the landlord. They fall in love. And Madhavan learns that though she is a divorcee she is yet a virgin. But the heroine is not ready for him. She confesses her love to him and yet desires to marry to the deaf friend. But he reads her lips. When the landlord asks Madhavan to vacate the house, he denies saying that he is in love with Sneha. But Sneha’s wedding is fixed where Madhavan is the singer. At the wedding the bridegroom demands dowry. And there are clashes. Then it is a neighbour who decides to reveal the truth about Sneha’s love for Madhavan. Thus it is time for reunion.

Madhavan fails to infuse any life into the role and does not exude any charm or freshness in his way of acting. Sneha, the debutant, however, has given a good performance and shows promise. Charlie, as the blind man, gives a good account of himself and the role evokes sympathy. In the second half director Suresh fails to maintain the tempo and ends the film very tamely. Camera by Ashokrajan has nothing to offer.

Telugu

Deviputrudu
A film on supernatural powers
After Hollywood filmmakers, it is now the turn of Telugu producer MS Raju to make a film around doomsday prediction. Nevertheless, it is worth watching for its interesting theme and mind-blowing graphics since very rarely Telugu filmmakers attempt different genres. Venkatesh is good in both the roles and Soundarya is at her best while she is pregnant.

Director Kodi Ramakrishna loads the first half with entertainment and narrates the basic plot as a fairy tale to attract children. The transition of atheist archeologist to a theist after unearthing the sacred box from sea of Dwaraka is logical and graphics are used as an additional tool to convey the story and not for the sake of grandeur.

Venkatesh is a petty thief in Mumbai and one day he overhears that two rich people are arriving in Mumbai with a diamond necklace. Meanwhile Anjala Jhaveri arrives from USA and decides to leave for Dwaraka along with her grandfather in search of her sister Soundarya. Venkatesh, assuming Anjala and Narayana, as the rich people, acts as a cab driver and takes them to Dwaraka. His attempt to steal the booty goes in vain as Anjala unleashes the gun. But during their journey they fall in love with each other. A supernatural force leads Venkatesh to Dwaraka and he is chased by goons since he looks similar to an absconding archealogist. On the other hand Anjala and her grandpa are interrogated by the police to solve the mystery behind the missing couple Venkatesh and Soundarya. A little girl befriends young Venkatesh and she reveals the flashback-that she is the daughter of an archeologist Venkatesh and Soundarya.

Manisharma’s foot-tapping number Donga Donga is already a rage and it is worth dubbing in other languages for it is an universal theme.

Narasimhanaidu
Balakrishna-Simran-Preeti team up
The hat-trick combination of Balakrishna and director B Gopal lives up to its expectations and delivers an emotional drama Narasimhanaidu. It is an oft-repeated story revolving around factionalism but the novelty lies in Balakrishna discarding violence and seeking peace after the death of his wife (Simran). Its another lavish film from Gopal coupled with breath-taking action sequences and hummable numbers making it a typical Balakrishna film. Simran, after doing glamour roles, this time has performed nicely as the wife of a faction head and Balakrishna, as usual, strains his vocal chords, drawing applause many a time.

Preeti Jhanghania, daughter of an arrogant feudal lord (Mukesh Rishi) falls in love with classical dance master (Balakrishna) and joins his school not bothering that he has a son. Knowing the affair, her uncle (Jayaprakash Reddy) threatens Balakrishna to separate the two. But Balakrishna decides to leave the place. Meanwhile Mukesh Rishi fixes her marriage with a relative but she follows Balakrishna. After a scuffle she learns of his background. It is revealed in a flashback that he is respected for protecting the villagers and his father (K Vishwanath) brings him up as a warrior while educating his other three sons. Vishwanath lies to Simran and gets her married to Balakrishna. She understands him and later confronts his brothers for ridiculing him as a goon and Balakrishna sends her out despite knowing that she is pregnant. Balakrishna saves his brothers and their families from the attack of Mukesh Rishi and Simran sacrifices her life while trying to save their kid. On the insistence of his father, he decides to marry Preeti since the kid is close to her.

After a numerous killings the director could have rounded off the film with a message against facting feuds but he fails to do so since no character in the film is shown repenting for his inhuman acts obviously sending wrong signals.

Mrigaraju
Animals take centrestage
The novelty of Chiranjeevi’s much-awaited film Mrigaraju is that he combats a ferocious lion than usual bunch of villains. If audience takes a liking for it than it is bound to become a massive hit since director Gunasekar has padded it up with glossy songs and a logical wife-and-husband sentiment. It seems that director is trying to work on the image of the numero uno actor in the given parameters - if he made him to run before a fight in Chudalani Undi this time he introduces him ten minutes after the film begins. Both Chiranjeevi and Simran excel in this thriller.

When a lion drags an engineer to death at the site of the bridge construction in a dense forest, Simran who is also an engineer, takes up the assignment and begins the work. After a second attack on the tribal workers Nagababu (tribal-head) with the consent of Simran approaches Chiranjeevi, a forest guide, to hunt down the man-eater. Chiranjeevi agrees but he is most of the time at loggerheads with Simran. Chiranjeevi misses the tiger once and later lays a cage to catch it. Despite a good planning, the lion escapes killing Nagababu and Chiranjeevi finds the culprit (Surya) behind the mishap and Rami Reddy looses his hand after disclosing that Simran is Chiranjeevi’s separated wife. It is revealed in the flashback that Simran impressed with the good qualities of Chiranjeevi, a tribal man, decides to marry him when she happens to see her fiancee (Raja Ravindra) with another girl. When Chiranjeevi’s tribal parents (Prakash Raj and Kovai Sarala) question Vijayakumar (Simran’s father) for roasting their peacock it leads to Chiranjeevi walking out. Vijayakumar plays a trick and gets them divorced despite knowing that Simran is pregnant. Cut to present after few heated arguments she comes to know of the truth through his parents who sacrifice their lives to save her kid from the lion. Finally Chiranjeevi kills the lion after few tense moments between the kid and lion.
Unlike other directors, Gunasekar does excellent graphics by matching the real one and the created one making all episodes of lion quite thrilling. Except for Chiranjeevi’s song in his own voice and another number rest of the tunes sound repetitive.