|
 Swati excels in histrionics, chivalry
The Telugu audiences who watched films like “Sankarabharanam, Sagara Sangamam, Shruti Layalu” few years ago had got an opportunity to watch one such movie, though not at such a great level but as far as the theme of the film is concerned, ‘Kalavaramaye Madilo’ had a similar storyline. It is the story of a singer, who had a life ambition to give an audition to the music maestro and Oscar awardee AR Rahman. How she achieved this goal is the crux of the movie. After a long time, the Telugu film industry witnessed a good subject with family subject and lots of emotions.
Shreya (Swati) works in an auditing company. Her mother (Delhi Rajeswari) is a bank employee who wants her daughter to complete her CA course. However, Shriya had a passion towards singing and she makes use of her sweet voice to earn money in a part-time job of singing in a restaurant. However, she did not learn music and her only qualification is her sweet voice. Srinu (Kamal Kamaraju), who completed his degree in music, compliments her saying he visit the restaurant only to listen to her voice. One day, a music teacher Rao (Vikram Gokhale) visits the restaurant for a contract from an event manager for his concert and listens to the song by Shreya and chides for her least music sense. This irks Shreya, and at the instance of Srinu, she decides to learn music as she doesn’t know basic in music and because she had a life ambition to given an audition to AR Rahman. Though refuses in the beginning, Rao accepts Shreya as his student and teaches music. At this juncture, Shreya comes to know that Rao was suffering from throat cancer. To her surprise, Shreya learns that Rao is none but her father. On her return Shreya develops hatred towards her mother for deserting a gentleman like Rao. But Srinu convinces her saying, what all her mother did is for the sake of Shreya. Did Srinu and Shreya remain friends or love blossomed between them? What Shreya did to unite her parents? Was she able to fulfil her dream to give an audition to Rahman? Did Srinu propose to Shreya? Answers to all these questions form part of the second half and climax. PERFORMANCE: The entire film was woven around the heroine. Swati, who shot into fame after her recent release ‘Ashta Chemma’, did a marvellous job in the film. As all the expectations on the film depended on her performance and knowing fully well that the attention of all the audiences would be on her, she was very cautious in her performance. The entire first half was devoted to her chivalrous performance. Her body language, histrionics, instant dialogue delivery and chivalry dominated the screen. In the second half, she was forced to use lots of glycerine as there were lot of pathos in the film. She emoted well even in such scenes and was able to convince the audiences that she is a good actress and performer. A little more precautions should have taken by the director in choosing costumes to her, as saree did not suit her much, especially during the song sequences. Kamal Kamaraju, though played the male lead, had not much role to play but to promote the heroine and cheer her up when she was in a depressed mood. He developed his physique well and appeared macho in one of the songs, with half-naked body. However, he still needs to improve his body language and dialogue modulation. But he appeared okay in the role. Vikram Gokhale, who made his debut in Telugu films, failed to live up to the mark. In fact, the director chose to underplay his character in order to heighten the image of the heroine. Tanikella Bharani and Sudeepa got meaty roles in the flick. Delhi Rajeswari and Pragati did justice to their respective roles.  TECHNICAL:
Dialogues by Lakshmi Bhupal are okay and good in parts. Camera work by Rajendra Kesani was average. Music by Sharat Vasudevan is quite melodious. As the film is basically a music-based movie, he chose to give more preference to the voice clarity and all the songs were tuned with fewer drumbeats. Lyricist Vanamali should be complimented for penning good situational songs all through the film. When it comes to screenplay and direction, Satish Kasetti, who earlier directed an award-winning film ‘Hope’ struggled hard to maintain grip on the entire subject. Especially, the film which lacked any kind of mass elements and item numbers, his grip on screenplay made the audiences sit tight to their seats and the audiences did not move an inch even during the song sequences. The production values of Mohan Media Creations are okay. ANALYSIS: These days many films are hitting the screen but none of the subjects are coming from the inner thoughts of story-writers. ‘Kalavaramaye Madilo…’ proved that the director brought out the story which came from his original thought hence it had better impact on the minds of audiences. The movie is so silent but touched everyone’s heart in the theatre. Despite the fact that the film has no mass elements, no lavish sets, no item numbers and no exposure of glamour, the gripping subject with lots of emotions stuffed in it won the hearts of audiences. At the same time, the film has a love story on the sidelines. The audiences really feel relieved of watching a good film after the completion of the movie. Cast:: Kamal Kamaraju, Swati, Sudeepa, Vikram Gokhale, Tanikella Bharani, MR Chowdary, Venu, Delhi Rajeswari, Pragati, Karthik and others Credits: Dialogues – Lakshmi Bhupal, Lyrics – Vanamali, Music – Sarat Vasudevan, Camera – Rajendra Kesani, Producer – Mohan Vadlapatla, Story, screenplay and direction – Satish Kasetti Banner: Mohan Media Creations Released on: July 17, 2009 |
