"ULLASAMGA UTSAHAMGA" Movie Review
Yasho Sagar and Sneha Ullal debut in Ullasamga Uthsahanga, directed by Karunakaran. After his last hit Toli Prema, this is the director coming back to form.
Plot Dhanalaxmi and Balaji are childhood sweethearts, but they are separated. Dhana's parents are no more and her guardian is her step-mother who tries to force her into a marriage. She runs away to Hyderabad where she stays with her friend, and Arvind falls in love with her on first sight. After trying to woo her and failing to do so, she tells him her intentions-to find Balaji and marry him. Arvind's heart is broken, but will he help her or woo her away from his competitor-forms the rest of the plot.Story, Screenplay and Direction The movie is entertaining throughout, and the moment it drags or diverts, it perks up two fold again. It's witty, with gags that stay with you even after the movie ends. Small incidents, brief cameos are written so well that they make a difference to the movie. Dharmavarapu and his quarrelsome spouse, the ‘Saroja' incident, LB Sriram who appears like a flat stock character but has an interesting albeit predictable twist in the end-these little things add to the effect.
The Toli Prema effect lingers, but why is that bad? A bunch of friends, the main lead being the black sheep of the family, his silly but funny entry, the damsel in distress and what more, the damsel not falling for our hero till the nth moment-does that remind you of the earlier blockbuster? Karunakaran might have diverted from his super hit in his later movies including Happy, but here he is adamant. He does what he is good at, which is a sweet, wholesome romance.
The track where Arvind thinks Dhana has amnesia so he tries to introduce himself to her and impress her every single day is cute. The way it slips into clichés to immediately get back to tongue-in-cheek humor is its USP.
Performances The debutante lead pair is also good without giving a great debut. They show promise, but obviously need to work on their acting skills and as far as Yasho goes, he needs to be groomed too. Still it's a debut that is both confident and lucky, extremely lucky because the movie is good. He's sure to be noticed, and he needs to follow up on this to stay there. Yasho Sagar clearly has things going for him. Sneha's slight resemblance to Ashwarya Rai notwithstanding, she is a pretty girl with acting skills as good or otherwise of any other Mumbai imports. The rest of the cast, from Chandramohan as his father, the rest of his family, her step mother, her friend, cameos and guest appearances have all contributed to the movie.Song and Dance The music is good but not great with a copied (from two different international tracks) soundtrack. Still it's hummable.
Last Word Bang on the spot after Toli Prema, this is Karunakaran's next best flick. It cannot be actually compared to his other movie, but after some unexciting ventures, this is where he scores with the audiences again. It's a love story, it's nicely written and his taking makes for an interesting watch.
End Credits :
Starring : Yasho Sagar, Sneha Ullal, Chandramohan, Sudha, Satya Krishnan, Brahmanandam, Venumadhav, Suman Shetty, Suneel and Others.
Action: Vijay.
Dialogues: Chintapalli Ramana.
Cinematography: I. Andrew.
Editing: Marthand K. Venkatesh.
Lyrics: Ananth Sriram.
Music: GV Prakash.
Story, Screenplay & Direction : A. Karunakaran
Producer(s): BP Somu-GS Ranganath.
Banner: Amruth Amarnath Arts.
Release Date: 25th July, 2008.
Labels: brahmanandam, chandramohan, Satya Krishnan, Sneha Ullal, sudha, Suman Shetty, suneel, tollywood, venumadhav, Yasho Sagar
Plot Hari and Ram are conjoined twins at the head and after they are separated with an operation, Ram's brain is affected. He can't make out between 'right' and 'wrong' and tries to kill Hari when his father tells him Hari is cleverer. His father threatens to throw him into an asylum, so his mother takes Ram and escapes. Hari grows up with his uncle's family, who is a commissioner. Hari is a cop, and Ram still carries a hatred for everyone smarter than him. Two gruesome murders-one of a journalist who won a best journalist award and one of an award-winning doctor gets Hari and his uncle suspicious about Ram's hand in it after a cab driver proclaims that Hari himself did it. A health scam, a CBI undercover cop and a flashback constitute the twists and turns heading to an action-packed climax.
Performances Kalyan Ram is okay as Hari, and picks up in the second half. As Ram, he oscillates between okay and hamming. He needs to work on his voice and dialogue-like Nitin, he's also too fast. Priyamani has a role that has a too-clever air about it, asking the audiences to digest anything so her constant transformations come as a downer in a performance which would otherwise have been tolerable. Chandramohan and Seetha as the twins' parents do their estranged couple bit well. Chalapathi Rao as their uncle and Raghu Babu as ACP Hari's assistant are believable, the latter providing comic relief along with Brahmanandam as a cab driver. Ali and Venu Madhav do their routine parts. Sindhu Tolani is a convincing news reporter, second time in a row.
Plot Viji is living his life when his family and a thousand other families are affected by a land grabbing that takes place. The culprit is MLA Devaraj and it's a huge scam-but the problem is that he is getting away with it. Determined not to let that happen, Viji wants everyone to unite against this anti-social element. People are too scared, but Viji and his gang are made to take action. The rest of the story is about how they bring the bad guy to justice.
Performances Nitin really needs to slow down on his dialogue delivery. His six packs are in place, and he has even worked on his dance. But he was much better as an actor in his earlier movies, and somehow seems to be neglecting this main aspect with each successive movie. Mamta Mohandas's role itself is badly written, in bits and pieces. She is an able singer, but as a female lead, she needs to hone those skills. Shashank as a shop owner and Duvvasi Mohan with his witty Telangana punches are okay; suddenly their group of 4 becomes 5 post-break and the new member is given no introduction whatsoever. Tanikella Bharani and the rest of seasoned performers are not as effortless in their performance as usual-they seem artificial, and the direction department has to take the discredit mainly.
Plot A house full of people, but they don’t know of each other’s presence. Mysterious things keep happening to individuals, who believe themselves to be alone. A man is standing concealed behind curtains eerily and the phone keeps ringing, but before anyone picks it up, it is cut. A burglar gets into the house, and the inhabitants face each other and the adversities they never imagined would occur in their lives.
Performances There are very few characters. Tulip and Venkat have little in terms of dialogue in the first half, and express well enough. The moment they need to speak post-break, the quality of their performance deteriorates. Ali and Ashish Vidyardhi are the pros here. Ashish Vidyardhi’s wife is okay. Lever’s cameo is a good gimmick.