Movie Review - Magadheera (Telugu/Indian)
Oh what a film! The indefinite wait for this movie ends with a not-so-good experience. Having missed the first screening of this movie in San Diego, I was utterly depressed. Having learnt that its being screened again on public demand, I was utterly zealous. Having watched it, I'm utterly speechless wondering "Is this all?"
IMO, here are ...
The good - A pretty looking actress draped in amazing costumes
The bad - The much talked about special effects
The ugly - All the bloodshed
First of all, "Magadheera" isn't much of an entertainer. Its about some unfulfilled wishes that cause re-birth of the lead characters after 400 years. I can't find anything good about the film excepting for the heroine that I already quoted. The other thing I liked is the horse-riding part. Never seen a Telugu actor ride a horse without a dupe. What else? Hmm. May be the setting of the Udayghad fort in 1609 is praise-worthy. As per Tollywood reports, the movie was made on a whopping 40 crore budget. The most expensive Telugu movie ever made is what they all say. Could somebody tell me where did all the money go? Excepting for the huge Fort entrance set, I didn't find anything else that looked pricey. SRK's Devdas was made with some 40 crores back in 2002 and the extravagance is reflected in every scene.
Now the never-ending list of "not-good"s.
IMO, here are ...
The good - A pretty looking actress draped in amazing costumes
The bad - The much talked about special effects
The ugly - All the bloodshed
First of all, "Magadheera" isn't much of an entertainer. Its about some unfulfilled wishes that cause re-birth of the lead characters after 400 years. I can't find anything good about the film excepting for the heroine that I already quoted. The other thing I liked is the horse-riding part. Never seen a Telugu actor ride a horse without a dupe. What else? Hmm. May be the setting of the Udayghad fort in 1609 is praise-worthy. As per Tollywood reports, the movie was made on a whopping 40 crore budget. The most expensive Telugu movie ever made is what they all say. Could somebody tell me where did all the money go? Excepting for the huge Fort entrance set, I didn't find anything else that looked pricey. SRK's Devdas was made with some 40 crores back in 2002 and the extravagance is reflected in every scene.
Now the never-ending list of "not-good"s.
- The opening scene where they show the mountains. It looked like the "Paramount" pictures logo. I asked my husband if this is an animation movie. It looked so damn unnatural. Talking about graphics work, we've seen several other Telugu movies that have shown us some spectacular visuals.
- "Bangaru kodi petta" remix. No match to the original. Charan, IMO, lacks the charisma that Chiranjeevi had. It was a great relief to see him at the end of the song. And Mumait Khan, what an item girl! "Disco" Shanti is far better looking that MK. And the sound of the Rooster (kakadoodledooo) inbetween the lyrics was stupid. A big fan of the original song, that I am, I couldn't simply digest the horribly made remix.
- There isn't much of a comedy track in the movie. There are a few scenes that make you laugh in the 1st half. 2nd half is totally sans humour. Bramhanandam was misused. Such a talented comedian wasn't given a good comical script.
- The fight in front of the Kalabhairava figure in 1609. Tooooo much of violence. Srihari supposedly came to conquer the kingdom, what's he doing there counting 1 through 100? He claims to be the ultimate conqueror. He then should do his job by following the simple rule: "he came, he saw, he conquered". Whatever, the horrific part was the fight. Almost 20% of the theatre was filled with kids aged 5+, and I really wonder what was going on in their minds when they saw the hero slaying the other warriors like some ..., I don't know what...
- Songs are okay-okay. None that hold on to you even after leaving the hall. The last mass song with Kim Sharma would have been better if a better item girl was chosen. Come on, Kim isn't that great/popular an actress after all .Look at what Rajamouli has done to the movie "Simhadri" by bringing Ramya Krishna to dance with Jr. NTR. Now, that is what I call a rememeber-able item number. May be he wanted to re-create the magic of "Musugu veyaddu" from Khadgam, but he failed big time.
- In the final fight before Kalabhairava, Srihari travels all the way from Srikakulam to Rajasthan just to let go of his jeep to crash a helicopter in mid-air. Whoaa! Since he was a part of the scene 400 years ago, they had to somehow fit him in the present scene too.
- The end credits. Hasn't that been copied from Om Shanti Om? I give OSO better marks than this one with respect to the end credits.
- And finally, the Hero. He needs to improve on several fronts. First of all, he doesn't carry the "hero" look. I don't want to comment much about him, so as to be on the safe-side. :)
The running time of "Magadheera" is 3 hours. After about 2 hours, I got bored and was thinking about "bangaru kodi petta" song and it appeared as though some 4-5 hours have passed since I watched it.
I didn't want to blog movie reviews here. But since there's no other outlet for my thoughts about this movie, I'm scribbling them down here. On a hot Sunday afternoon, in a theatre far far away, I beg my husband (who isn't interested in watching Telugu movies) to accompany me to the movie, only to end up cursing myself why did I have to do all this. Some 5 years down the line, when I'm in some other part of the world, I'll relook at this post to re-live this moment.
I didn't want to blog movie reviews here. But since there's no other outlet for my thoughts about this movie, I'm scribbling them down here. On a hot Sunday afternoon, in a theatre far far away, I beg my husband (who isn't interested in watching Telugu movies) to accompany me to the movie, only to end up cursing myself why did I have to do all this. Some 5 years down the line, when I'm in some other part of the world, I'll relook at this post to re-live this moment.
Shanthiprasadh posted on September 22, 2009 at 8:54 PM
hmm..time to ponder !!
I was equally zealous and ecstatic about the movie ...the hype it created, the budget it boasted... everything was begging me to go to the movie and watch it. Unfortunately, it didn't release in Orissa. And unfortunately, I had to watch in Andhra, mana vizag lo...
Such a waste of time. We were dismayed with the actor's performance, that illogical scene of Srihari's reappearance from SKLM etc etc...
Especially..ram charan needs to improve his Telugu diction and should take serious acting classes. The set was elaborate but yeah, the last fight was a direct take from 300 (hollywood movie)...
Now that even andhrites are becoming tech-savvy and have more outlook towards foreign films, rajamouli should have been more careful about the originality of the movie !!
Phew, btw...i wanted to blog about the same movie too...as an outlet for my frustration.Thanks for letting me do this.
Well, all said, maybe its just worth the ticket of Rs.50 ( to match up with the 40 Crores budget)...whatsayy ?
Manjusha posted on September 23, 2009 at 8:18 AM
@ Shanthi,
Good to find a friend who shares a similar opinion on Magadheera. When I told my other friends that the movie was crap, they were like, all praise about it, some of them having watched multiple times. IMO, its not even worth the ticket - 10$, I would have got awesome Thai food for that amount :)
Your comment actually acts like a PostScript to my post. Thank you.. :)
Shanthiprasadh posted on September 23, 2009 at 9:47 AM
u are most welcome, my fella blogger. I faced similar wrath from the MegaStar's fans, who watched the movie more than two times. such a waste of time and money..but its their choice...and no one forced us to watch it again !! So be it...
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