Gagana - Kushboo Starrer - Kannada Movie (1999)

I was, and is a die hard fan of Kushboo for the only reason being her innocent face.  I liked her in only three movies in Kannada.

The first being Gagana, opposite the ever smart Ananthnag,

The second being Hrudayageethe, opposite the stylist    Vishnuvardhan

The third being Abhijit, a dabba movie starring Eternal Police of Kannada movies Devaraj

Directed by	Dhorairaj Bhagavan
Produced by	G.R. Krishnan
Starring	Anant Nag, Kushboo Sundar, Leelavathi
Music by	Rajan Nagendra,
Release date(s)	1989

In the movie, Gagana, she plays a naughty gal with a gal next door image, there is no reason, why anyone crave for more in her acting skills, and a innocent face.


She is playful, she will make Srinath (His name in the movie is "Srikanth" hahahahah) run around bringing plenty of problems to him and to her mother.


The first half of the movie is hillarious and also, you will tend to appreciate and drool over her innocent acting, and facial expressions


The second half turns bit serious, she acted maturely in the second half, giving stiff competion to ever reliable Ananth Nag.


I observed and appreciated following notes.

• The beautiful, the innocent acting by Kushboo through out the movie
• Silent, but effective and intense Ananth.
• The supportive role by Srinath, you will pity about him whenever Kushboo brings problems to him
• Effortless direction by Dorai-Bhagavan, One of the best movies by them

Be playful, be innocent that depicts characterisation of Kushboo in first half

Be determined and run towards the target with equal intensity shows her acting in the second half.

P.S: I have a hardcopies of photo album dedicated to her, courtesy my life time buddy (Satish Kumar JM), whose family was in to movies, he gave me memorable snaps from Ranadheera, Shanthi Kranthi, Taaligagi....which am preserving even after close to 15 years.  A big salute to him.

Rashomon (1950)

It is crime to write anything about this classic for the only reason that, even after 60+ years after it was released, still it throws more information each time than any other classic.  This writing a piece of information is like throwing some light on the ever glowing sun.  If we do, it will be a foolish act of me.  

When ever any topic on movies creeps up, people use to say, have you seen, Rashomon, everytime i used to stand like a new bride, turning face down, and making a drawing on the floor with the toes even wearing shoes.

So finally, i made up my mind to get a copy of it from my ever adorable friend cum guide.  His sincere advise to watch this classic was, close the room, put the ear plugs on, and don't let any moment of this movie slips out of your eyes nor ears.  After watching full length of the movie (1hrs. 24 Minutes), i realised how true his suggestion was.  A big salute to my adorable friend cum guide for giving a invaluable suggestion.

Am here will not write any of my regular review nor what i liked most and all. I salute the master craftsman Akira Kurosawa.  

1. A Simple tale, how effectively narrated.

2. The rainy shots had been handled, framed nicely.  If you watch with intensity, you will feel, you are drenching in the rain, and will be searching for the cover from the rain.

3. The actors never tried to act, instead you will realise they are the live characters though out the length of the movie.

4. The steady camera work in the forest sequences were simply makes your jaw drop.  use of technology sixty years back is absolutely mesmerises you.

5. The music constantly keeps you engaged in the movie, it will     not allow you to blink your eyes even once.

6. The human values it emotes nicely, how people interpretation,     perception can vary, you can witness in this movie which was made more than 50 years ago.  What a timeless wonder it is.

Am stopping hear with a big salute to the Ageless wonder Akira Kurosawa.

Super Movie by Upendra (2010)

The Movie is # G

Sheer entertainer..

The highlights

    Wonderful title card, After earlier movies of Ravi, this is the only movie where enough creativity had been given to the title card.  Please please please watch  the movie from the title card.

   Tight screenplay, people will not the leave the theatre during the entire stretch of the movie

   Brilliant dialogues by U….Upendra

    Technically super, as many reviews mentioned, in 2030 Bangalore is not shown with Metro, probably our corrupt politicians might have sold that as well, or due to poor quality work it might have collapsed

   The camera work by Ashok kashyap gets big round of applause

    Music by V Harikrishna shines in re-recording, bit disappoints in songs, when compared to Uppendra’s earlier movies (Tarle Nanmaga, Sssh, Om, A, Upendra, Swasthik), except kayi kayi Uppina kayi

    No unwanted scenes nor shots, which deviates from the mood of the movie

    As happened and happening in all his movies, climax holds the key, if you miss the climax, whole movie and its theme will not able to enter the brain.

    Actions sequences are well shot, the ability of Thriller manju had been aptly used, no strings, no graphics  and no crouching Tiger, Hideen Dragon nor matrix kind of fights.  It appeals to all

    This movie belongs to ice candy – Nayanatara, she is absolutely scene stealer, would like to watch the movie again for her brilliant portrayal of Indian woman, and also robust revenge taking gal.

Upendra walks away with the credit of directing a wonderful master craft, as he says in all movies, it is a two dimensional movie.  Only he can think and plot movies of this kind, a big salute to him and for his creative brain.

After watching the movie, It comes to my mind,  a volcano, when it erupts, it spits less, than what it holds.   

Padaiyappa (1999)

Padayappa

This is one of the movie, which made Rajni to expect more from his larger than life image by his fans.     A stunner from the director K S Ravikumar's table.

When the chips were down, this movie can elevate me a high on confidence.  A wonderful restrained performance from the icon of Indian cinema.    At the same time, he didn’t left even one stone unturned on his style, gimmicks dialogue delivery, but still he could able to pull the string of emotions from even non-rajni fans.  That is the high of this movie

And what I can say about Ramyakrishna, she breathed fire in this mega movie.  She matched scene to scene with the Diva of Indian crazy fans the style king Rajani.  The expression of  ego, possessiveness, anger, proud, style, dialogue delivery, robustness all put together in one package called the RAMYAKRISHNA.  It was never an easy task of standing tall against a tall giant.  But Ramyakrishna pulled that performance of her life like ony she can.

I lost of count of how many times I watched this movie in the last 7 days. 

There are many highs in this movie, one such electrifying scene is attached below.  Literally four people lit the screen virtually on fire.

Dialogue writer: K S Ravikumar (Director as well),

Breathtaking background music by A R Rahaman,

The bombshell Ramyakrishna,  and

Finally the god of style Rajni.

When their off-springs go on an unwinding path, normally parents get wild, but in this scene,

·         Rajni conveys a strong message to his daughter, When you love, you will forget parents, when are in love, you forget yourself, but don’t forget love after the marriage.  What a wonderfull statement. 

·         Then against his family, he goes to Ramyakrishna’s house (A Virtual rival), just for the sake of his children, by throwing his name, fame to the back burners.

·         Even when Ramyakrishna, humiliates him, by not giving the due respect, he makes his own.

·         When all the people humiliates him, he goes out of the house, with a head down, but still his master mind processing the next steps to evolve out of the problem.

·         This conveys a strong message, if the intention is right, take a wise steps, and be calm & bold.  The right attitude bails us out from the well of issues.

The finale

“YOU NEED NOT BE A DIE HARD RAJNI FAN TO ENJOY THIS MOVIE”

Kamanabillu (1983)

Kamana Billu

This is one movie; don’t know how many times it had watched by me. When I ever I want to come out of the stiff challenges, I will play this movie only for few heart touching scenes. One for friendship values, another for sheer determination & will power to come out of the crisis with the potential.

The Movie was based on Ashwini’s Novel Mrugatrishna meaning Mirage, meaning running behind a desire which doesn’t exist. This movie was directed by Chi. Dattaraj, brother of greatest lyricist in Kannada Cini world Chi. Udayashankar.

The scene, where in Rajkumar was getting scolded by his father, played brilliantly by K S Ashwath for getting deviated from his responsibilities, by taking caring of his villagers instead of his own family. Rajkumar straightaway walks out of his house, and sits on top of a hillock which is fondly called by the villagers as Soori Gudda. Here the Rajkumar dives in to the character, when he expresses his inability to heed to the family requirement when it was mattered most, it trickles the heart beat by level one or two. The mannerisms, body languages, the expressive eyes, dialogue delivery stands apart.

This scene stands tall for two reasons,

· In this movie, mother character played by Shanthamma, who is living with the Rajkumar family as one of the family member even now, brilliantly convey the message to her son, how difficult her family situation is. And then his father narrates him what he is suppose to do.

This shows always parents wait for a chance to tell their miseries, when the chips were down, and also convey the message in a meaningful way to touch the heart, rather than hammering all the time, what their off-springs suppose to do.

· When Rajkumar is in blinds, how to bail his family out of the woods, there comes a character, played very well by the smart hero of the Indian cinema Ananth Nag, as his friend. Here he never tries to convince Rajkumar, instead he inspires him to venture in to a new arena, where he can excel.

This scene showcases friendship is all about unconditional love and affection. When someone is down with confidence, he needs only encouragement, inspiration to come out of the deep slumber.

Bhoothayana maga Ayyu (1974)

Boothayyana Maga Ayyu

This is a classic based on Gorur Ramaswamy Ayyangar’s Short Story. This was produced by four producers; one of them was Kannada stalwart Rajkumar’s younger Brother Varadaraj. He was a instrumental person in Rajkumar’s ascend to stardom, by carefully selecting stories, dialogues which helped him to have a permanent lease of the heart of kannadigas for a lifetime.

This is the first kannada cinema shot 100% in outdoor location, without using studios sets. About 95% of this film had been picturised in Kalasapura. 

This movie is a classic in its own respect. Starring the emerging hero Vishnu as Gulla, The taylor made artist for Village background character Lokesh in Sambayya alias Ayyu, The terrorizing M P Shankar as Boothayya, Balanna as modern day Shakuni, Laugh riot character “Pickle” Lokanath and so many.

The scene which moves your tears from the eye ball to cheeks are the one where Vishnu, working in Lokesh’s house to pay back the courtesy extended to him, finds his friends looting Lokesh’s farm yields, promptly fights with his friends, and chase them away. Vishnu’s friends scold him saying that, Lokesh humiliated you in front of the villagers, and he is responsible for Vishnu’s father suicide, but still you are helping him by protecting his property. Vishnu coolly says, am in his mercy now, till the debt taken by him is cleared am his son, once it is cleared am the son of my father.

This eventually proves, if a person is good to us, even whether he or she is bad or good, if that person has enough trust on you, never betray him or her. This can be tweaked to adopt in our professional life as follows.    

1. Work for your selves. This can lead you to the next milestone    
2. Work for your manager, this may yield a better monetary gains for a short time.
3. Work for the one who trust you, this will surely take your career to next stage, coz this not only helps your career graph, but also proves that you are invaluable and trustworthy confidence oozes in you.

Vishnu character in this movie follows the third option, which ultimately eliminates the rivalry between him and Lokesh, and both are happy at the end along with the villagers, which is a great message to be lived on.

Second one is one of the beautifully carved scene from the monolith rock of kannada cinenma. How can we make best of use of the resource in our hands. Four village dwellers returning to the village with a two rupees note in their hands, with empty stomach, and empty packet, decides to try their lynching hungry stomach, and enters an hotel. The rest of the story is a great epoch in the comedy arena. Watch it for yourself.

It shows, we should never get cornered by the problems, instead make sure problems should see the corner with grit and creativity.