Yeto Vellipoindi Manasu

It is about two individuals with different introspections towards love. It is about two people who were, are and will be in awe of each other. It is the story of Varun and Nitya, their journey of life, their love and their decisions. Varun is the boy next door. He is not a charmer but he is cute, he is not meticulous but he is instinctive. He is caring and loving. He is also arrogant and proud. Nitya is the beautiful girl who every other boy dream of. She is the focused girl, driven by passion and emotional at heart. 

The saga of their love is the crux of the movie. Their decision making during the course of their life, and the factors which make them lead to take those decisions were portrayed. A 8 year old boy chooses boys as his playmates over a girl, a teenage girl choosesbeing a student leader over her possessive love, a young man chooses his career and family responsibility over his girlfriend. How these choices have created the rift and how they made it to the end is the second half of the movie. The differences, dualities and the complexities in the thought process of a girl and a boy are clearly established. 

Nani did an amazing job in showing different emotions. He was natural. The only glitch was he wasn't suitable as a school going kid. Samantha is adorable and beautiful. She is believable as a teenager, as a college student and as a complete woman. The only other notable character in the movie is Krishnudu and he did his given limited job. All other characters are not even worth mentioning. 

The good things about this movie are, it is about two people and it is all about those two people. There are no diversions, there is no forced humor. It was all about how their decisions affected their lives and only their lives. Dialogues were lengthy and slow but natural, situations were believable and romance unbelievable. The bad things about this movie are, background music, no picturesque photography, apart from few scenes in Malapad, which is so evident in GVM's previous movies. 

Climax was the best part where Varun struggles to get over his inner conflict. Songs were not up to my imagination. Overall, this is one kind of movie which you can enjoy if you have seen this happen any time in your life.

A dejected...

I never knew love at first sight would exist until the moment I saw you. Your smile was enchanting and captivating. My whole day would fill with your thoughts and my evenings would be spent to gain your attention. I used to love when you laughed at the foolish things I did to make you smile. Once I got your attention my world changed into a completely different one. My parents grunted, my friends taunted, everyone felt that I was over reacting; they said I was not the first person to fall in love. But for me it was the first time.

I was in awe of every step you took, every move you make. I felt your presence was the most important in my life. You started recognizing all my efforts. It was the proudest moment of my life when you said I was one of the best things happened to you and how you feel blessed about the fact that I love you so much. At that moment, I knew how it felt to be on the top of the world.

Initially, I was the major part of your life. But as time grew, more people started coming into our life. May be we were complacent or we took each other for granted. My likes would entice you before; your choices would make me proud.  Then came the troubled times, I wanted to know things happening to you. You felt I was being possessive, I thought I was being protective as we don’t get to be together all the time. You didn’t want me to do certain things and I wanted you to change some of your habits. Still, love was intact. At least I thought.

I couldn’t help noticing the fact that you started to change. You stopped sharing, you started avoiding. The inevitable happened. You wanted to move on. Our choices, decisions, principles started to differ. Our beautiful world started to break down. Then there came this day when I was no more a part of your world.

If I see back and try to remember all the moments we spent together, you can see the inadvertent smile on my face.  If anyone asks me are there any regrets, my answer will be no regrets at all. I’d have shown the same love even if I knew the sequence of events because you were my first love at first sight.

-          A dejected …………………

P.S:  These are not the thoughts of a dejected boy or a girl who got deserted but these are the words of a Dad who loved his baby girl from the day she was born. I bet most of us would feel the loyalties shifting once the writer is revealed.

Thoughts of an Ardent Fan - one among us?

Thanks to my friend Phani for allowing me to post his article.

This article is an attempt to briefly describe “How does an Ardent Fan think?” 

In this post, I wouldn’t like to name any specific cine personality because I would like you to pay more attention on my views rather than my tastes.  My views are written in the form of questions in italics.

We usually start watching movies in cinema halls right from the age of two though we do not actually understand what is happening over there. In my case, I could understand that in all the movies, there is a powerful man who hits and bashes up the others when I was at the age of five. I just loved to enjoy seeing him bashing all others, no matter whether he is right or wrong. Since I cannot do that in my real life, I co-related myself with the “hitting man” and made him my Dream hero, sub-consciously. When I started understanding the dialogues, it was not only a visual treat but also a feast to my ears as I was enjoying my hero doing all the things which I dreamt of and he is receiving enormous applause in the form of dialogues, by other characters involved in the film. But I enjoyed all the lead roles equally, no matter who is playing it. But when I was doing my primary education, I came to know that “Favorite hero” is very much important to carry out my identity (just like my name, class and the place where I stay).

Now my favorite HERO/STAR came into the limelight. Since that I had to fulfill my identity, I developed my favorite hero. As I was able to compare one hero and another one, I have chosen the one who was entertaining and frequently in touch with my eyes (ie movies). And probably this is what that happens inside our brain when we say, “Nenu ABC ki puttinappati nunchi fan ni or ooha thesina appati nunchi fan ni”.

And since I have already developed my favorite hero, it made myself committed to that person to such an extent that I even started waiting eagerly for his next movie’s release, ignoring other all movies that did not have my hero. But the moment I entered teens, my concentration from the male lead started getting diverted towards the female lead for obvious reasons, and for more obvious reasons that the diversion did not last long.

When I started hearing the words like “Hits/Flops”, I have written a simple algorithm in my mind that anything and everything that is related to My hero is a HIT and everything else is a Flop. Because I considered the word “Flop” as an abuse and I literally couldn’t take it when that filthy tag (flop) is attached to anything that is related to my hero. And subsequently, I even realized that there are some people who work for the movie apart from my standard favorite hero and flexible favorite heroin, such as Director and Music Director.

But still I did not bother to pay attention on them, because I already made my lifelong commitment to my favorite hero and decided that I will watch movies just for him. As I got virtually engaged with my hero, I started liking his off-screen activities as well and made him my inspiration without knowing what he is actually up to in his personal life. In fact, I started liking my hero off-screen more than on-screen. May be because my hero delivers a splendid performance off-screen with readymade polished words (dialogues) to satisfy the pulse of fans. Anything that was talked by my hero in audio functions, public speeches made me more and more emotional. I even started weeping for his speeches. But I later realized that the main reason behind my tears was not positive emotions, but they were due to the Frustration that my hero had become a flop star. After all, I started LIVING FOR MY GOD !!!

I came to know that my hero is not the only hero in industry, but there are many others too. So I started hating all others out of jealousy, or insecure feeling though they are having better success rate than my hero. 

(The term ‘Success rate’ can be manipulated according to my convenience. Let’s say if my hero has more number of hits, I call my hero a successful hero. But if the same hit is tasted by other hero, I term him as “Formula Hero” because I have got no other excuse to defend my hero).

But I never realized that I am surviving on other’s tastes, by calculating the number of hits and flops of any hero. I was so dumb to understand that Hit v/s Flop ratio just determines the number of people who have spent their money in watching the movie in a cinema hall, which practically should not affect my tastes. But since I was suffering from a disease called Ego, I locked up my brain my own dummy thoughts, and never did let any other hero enter into my brain without a “hatred” tag, because I was also suffering from a horrible cancer called INSECURITY, which we often try hard in not showing up directly in all the fields, not just the cinema. 

Finally I sold my brain to the majority and its likes, but interestingly this business did not have any profits. But still I enjoyed the god damn calculations and “good looking figures”. Beware, ‘Figures’ here has got nothing to do with girls. They are the sacred collections of the temple (movie), where my hero is my god. Luvvvv yaaa phurruvvuurrrrrrr. 

When I started recollecting the story behind my fanism, I liked my favorite hero when he entertained me with his movies. The liking gradually went on increasing as he continued to entertain me. But the moment I got myself stopped from being entertained by the same hero, why should I continue to hold the same positive impression which I had once? When my love towards my hero increased by the time he entertained me, why shouldn’t it decrease when he started torturing me with his movies?

Since this question was unanswerable to my imperfect logic, I threw this question away from my brain. Because I made myself so bendable that I even started fighting for the SHIT delivered by my hero by arguing that they are good quality products and desperately convince the so called critics/antis of my hero to wait for my hero’s next Fart. Because, the smell of my hero’s fart is relatively endurable when compared to my hero’s shit, and anything that is a bit endurable is of a great treat to my nostrils (eyes).

But one thing - The stinking smell differs from hero to hero. I find more comfortable and pleasure by moving with the Shit delivered by my hero, than the Fart (a better movie than the Shit) of another hero. The reason is I have got extra ordinarily flavored perfume bottle called FANATICISM which has the capacity to make even the shit smell as good as a perfume, but I cannot enjoy the fart because I do not carry my powerful perfume when I am watching other movie. Perhaps I was more sensible when I was at the age of Five (look at the first paragraph). Because I enjoyed all the movies equally, no matter whether they are good movies, bad, farts or shits. But I think it still can be considered better than liking a shit and a lot better than arguing for Shit and a way better than forcing others to taste and praise my hero’s shit.

If we all have the same love towards our respective lady loves, there would be hardly any Love failures and Divorces.

No love failures because are used to face the ‘rejections’ (by our heroes when they offer us a polished shit and we consume them).

No Divorces because we are accustomed with ‘adjustments’.

Alright!! We have talked so much about our likes and dislikes and the way we manipulate them. Let’s come to other’s tastes, likes and dislikes. This is really a very serious problem with me. I get provoked when someone doesn’t like my favorite hero’s movie. I develop hatred on him for criticizing my hero and hurt when my hero is disliked by some other person and I call him an ANTI, as if the word “ANTI” is an abuse. 

I lack the inch of minimum common sense of liking & disliking, and Loving & Hating – both the pairs are equal kinds of emotions in anywhere and they can be/should be respected/ignored equally depending on how much sense does that make to our sensible brain. 

If he doesn’t like the products of your hero, then why are struggling yourself by running after his ass to feed your actor’s Shit? 

Few good terms I often use/think when I see something against (?) my hero or anything where my hero is not praised. They are “Edupulu, crying, kadupu manta and Antis” (as mentioned earlier). I really lacked all my senses while using them because the one who is expressing his opinion is neither a rival of my hero, nor a producer/distributor of my rival hero’s film. Then what makes him cry? 

When I visit a restaurant, I order an Idly and my friend orders Upma. By this logic; I should start hating Upma or start hating my friend for ordering Upma and for not ordering Idly, or I should keep on eating the same Idly everyday even though I get bored of Idly. Love U Idly foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. But at least here, I find some logic in Idly because it is feeding me. But what is the Hero doing to you? NOTHING!!

Since I do not have an answer for this, I would skip this too. 

Coming to the most interesting, controversial and hated topic for all the fans --

It is interesting because I love to talk and point out other’s faults (?). 

It is controversial because I don’t like my faults to be highlighted along with other’s faults. 

It’s the most hated topic too, because I wear a mask that displays “I HATE CASTE FEELING”. But the reality is I hate someone who exploits my faults, and truth is basically it is not a fault of one individual. 

Let me get it cleared. My liking an actor or a director who belong to my caste, itself is crap (unless I believe that talent has got something to do with caste). Period. 

If I do not belong to that category of liking, it is extremely good. But I have the habit of calling others as “Kula gajji”, and manipulate those tags as per my requirements. When somebody is liking somebody who belongs to his/her caste; Meaning – he is choosing his caste people to have mutual admirations. But I count others castes, and find out their favorites and verify whether they belong to the same caste or not, and have some soft corner if my caste is someone where indulged. I do all the labor work in counting and accounting the castes and castists around me, and I still shout “I HATE CASTE FEELING”. If it’s confusing, then you will understand when you come across such souls. 

But yes. Although I do not have literal caste feeling (called as kula gajji), I possess something called “Vamsha Gajji”, where I don’t mind smelling the Shit of the “DOG OF MY GOD” and sometimes the “GOD OF DOG” accordingly. Just like the “Caste feeling”, even this “Clan feeling” is pretty much flexible.

Well well. This is not the end. I am also developing another kind of feeling called, “Regional feeling”. This is just the beginning and I have already started climbing the tree of success when I started Hating a Hero professionally and personally, not for his films, but for his political stand (for/against) on “My Region”. 

PS: I have used the word “I” in almost all the cases. Read it in a direct speech and see whether you can connect with the article or not. 

Sorry for repeating the words, which might have annoyed you. But considering the present situation of Telugu cinema, the maximum we can expect from a Star is nothing but a “Relatively good smelling Fart”, unless you carry a perfume bottle of Fanism/Fanaticsm in your brain along with you to the cinema hall, as I mentioned earlier. 

All kinds of opinions are appreciated :)

Thanks.

A common man's conundrum

Two friends sitting in a road side hotel are waiting for a person. One of them is Vivek, a student who is doing his Masters from USA and came to India for a one month vacation. The other guy, Sandy, is still looking for a job in India. They were waiting for a person who apparently can be a tiny cause for the big change in Sandy’s life.  After a 15 minute wait, the person arrives. He sits in front of them and Sandy orders Tea. The person, in a simple white shirt and a jeans pant takes out some papers and says “Rs. 500!!”  Sandy starts thinking, Sandy says “Is there any other way out?” The person nods his head in disagreement. Then Vivek speaks “Give us a minute” and takes Sandy out.

Sandy says “I think we should report this.” Vivek takes his I-phone out and dials a number. He speaks for couple of minutes and then goes back to the table they were sitting before with Sandy. He hands the phone over to the person. They hear the person saying “yes sir”. The person then hangs up the phone, gives it back to Vivek and with a grudging smile hands those papers to Sandy showing him the place where he needs to sign. Sandy takes a pen and signs his Passport enquiry form thanking Vivek and his minister Uncle.

Sandy hears his phone ringing and picks it up. It says Vijay calling. He answers the call and says “We are about to start.” Vivek hears Vijay saying “Rush up guys, the bus is about to leave in 15 minutes”. Sandy says “We will be there in 10 minutes.” They get on Sandy’s bike and start.

Its mid afternoon and Santosh is getting frustrated with the heat. His job demands him to stay in the sun for the whole day. He sees two people coming on a motor bike and the guy driving is talking in his cell phone and they seemed to be in rush. Santosh stops them. Sandy pulls his bike aside. Santosh says that talking on cell phone while driving is against law. Sandy starts thinking. Santosh orders them to attend the mobile court and pay the fine. Sandy offers Rs. 50 and requests to let them off as they are in rush and they cannot afford to miss a bus. Santosh, the traffic constable, agrees and leaves them with a strong warning.

Sandy asks Vivek, “Do you think you could’ve done the same in USA?” Vivek replies “Dude, that’s USA, you don’t want to break the law and fall in trouble. I would have stopped you right away if you even try to call someone.”

Sandy sees Vijay calling again, but he doesn’t pick his phone as he can see the crowd and sense that they have reached the place. Vijay comes running towards them and says “The buses are almost full and the lines are too big. You guys took a lot of time.” Sandy for a moment thinks of explaining the traffic incident but then decides not to. Sandy asks “So, what do you think we should do. We can’t back out now.” Vijay says there is a way out and takes them to the buses where a big line of people were waiting to get into the bus.

Vijay points towards few people in the line and says,” Do you see those people, they offer help. They stand in the lines for the whole day but they don’t get into the bus. They are here for people like us who cannot stand in the line. You give them Rs. 100 and you get the place in the queue. I have already paid them. We can be in the bus in couple of minutes.” They all give a sigh of relief.

Finally, they are in the bus. They are going to be part of one of the greatest achievements of the history. They are going to live up a dream. Vivek feels his one month vacation is going to have more than it’s worth. Sandy thinks this can change the fate of many jobless people like him. They reach their destination point. They get down the bus and walk along with the thousands of people under a big banner.

The banner says “SUPPORT ANNA HAZARE. STOP CORRUPTION”

From commited to married

This was written in December 2010 before I left for my wedding.

Sitting at the Los Angeles airport, I recollect the previous 3 months, the time after I got committed to Madhuri. In these four months I planned to do a lot of things, succeeded in doing some and failed in completing other tasks.  The day I was coming back to US after my short successful trip to India, I had set myself some short term goals. Few of those were making Madhuri comfortable with my life style and vice versa, making wedding arrangements, create a completely personalized wedding invitation and a wedding website , and ofcourse shopping and shopping.

I and Madhuri got engaged in a very short span of time. We haven’t got much time to interact with each other. The sole reason of me being adamant in having my wedding after at least 3months of my engagement was to give ourselves some time to get to know each other. If I check myself at this point after 3 months, I feel I’ve achieved what I wanted. I got to know more than a few things about her in this period.  I never wanted a girl who always says “Yes” to whatever I say.  She was supporting, motivating and also correcting me whenever she felt doing so.  *Touchwood*.

In these 3 months, we both had our Birthdays. First Birthdays are always special. Since her Birthday was on 3^rd and mine on 13^th, I got a chance to unleash my creativity first. In one of our conversations, I got to know that one of her most prized gifts was a DVD of Athadu movie by her friends. If a DVD can make her feel so happy then how about a more personalized gift? Idea flashes. Thanks to my friends I was able to get an autograph from her favorite hero. Well, that wasn’t enough. I thought this would be the best occasion for me to introduce all my friends to her. Instead of pictures I’ve chosen videos. I asked all my friends and cousins to record a video wishing her. By evening my email was flooding with the videos coming from all the directions of USA. All I had to do was to compile them and make one video. I was glad to have friends and cousins who are ready to help me any time of the day. Love you all.

Then it was 13^th, my Birthday. Two days prior to my Birthday I started getting gifts. Initially, a T-shirt and a Watch, the next day a cake and on the actual day a nice picture of both of us on a beautiful glass frame. The fact that Madhuri made the arrangements of me receiving the gift one each day thrilled me. Well, thanks to her Aunt and cousins for making my day special.

After the Birthday bashes, it was the time for some serious commitment on the wedding plans. I always wanted to have my wedding invitation special. Owing to the wide circle of my friends all over India I wanted my invitation to be in different languages. If I have to include different languages then instead of arranging them randomly I thought of arranging in them in the place of their respective states in India map. Then it was the time to decide the line. I found it tough to zero down on one line since many lines were popping out in my brain. Finally I’ve decided on having “We welcome you on our wedding” as the line. Thanks to Bhavna (Kashmiri), Randip (Punjabi), Hiral (Gujrathi), Shreyasi (Bengali), Swapnil ( Marathi), Sandhya (Kannada), Abhi and his roomie(Malayalam), Vidya ( Tamil) and an  lecturer whose name I don’t know for Sanskrit, I was able to compile all these languages into one card. Then thanks to Pallavi Roy, who gave me some beautiful lines from her wedding card and let me use them in my card. Finally, thanks to Charitha in creating a beautiful background for the picture I wanted to have in my card.

Once the wedding card was done, the next task I wanted to accomplish was to create a wedding site. I didn’t want to use the wedding templates which many of the wedding websites offer. I wanted my website to have my own mark on it.  Being a guy with a non IT background, it was indeed a big ask for me to create a whole website. After some research I decided to do my website using Word press. Thanks to Sunil for suggesting me the places where I can buy domain names and web space. The name for my website struck me instantly. It will obviously be a combination of both of our names but not in a regular way. Deeplymad was the name which came into my thought. But, unfortunately, it was taken I had to settle with Deeplymadz which was equally good for me. The process of creating the website took me more than a month. The reasons being me a rookie, not much information available online and top of it my lazyness. Eventually, with the help of Abhi, Phani and some anonymous websites, I finished my creation. The link for the website is www.deeplymadz.com

These were the things which I have achieved successfully in these 3 months. The unfinished tasks were getting rid of my lazyness , putting up some weight and trying to save money by keeping a tab on my spending. 

Post marriage confessions

March 25 2011. Its been exactly 100 days since I got married. Did my life change? Well, I'd say yes. If I say no then I'd be cheating myself. Since change is the only constant thing in this world I'd not regret this change. To put it in a more positive way I can say I have adapted myself to the variations brought into my life after wedding. Before I jump onto the list of changes and amendments I made to myself let me confess that this is my first post after 4 months.

The first notable change I made in my life is start practicing the word "We" instead of "I". Any update I had to give while at home it had to be We. We finished dinner, we are watching a movie, we are planning to go out. It was initially tough but later on got used to it now. Don't ask me why the word We is not seen in this blog. This blog and this post is about changes in me not us.

The next thing was about sharing. Sharing has become an important part of my life after wedding. The things which I used to feel so trivial to talk about have also become  points to share. I have learnt in these 100 days that the more you share the more you will make your partner happy. Initially I wasn't successful but as days went by I  adjusted myself.

Food was never my priority and cooking was my least favorite work. Thanks to marriage, I don't have to cook anymore and I eat freshly made food everyday unlike old days when I used to cook and store food for couple of days.

The most important change I found in myself was spending less time online. I used to be online all the time when I'm at home. I'd attribute this change as being more responsible. Responsible for the person who has come all the way from India to USA with just one thought in mind that I will be there for her all the time. So, I had to cut down my times being online.The other changes which need to be mentioned are knowing about hospitals as Madhuri got sick in the first week of her arrival, where to buy stuff for home not room, and interior decoration and finally I've started to maintain accounts.

These 100 days were more of a adjusting period where I was trying to understand her and making her understand me. There were differences as they ought to be, since we were two different persons. With two persons living together, sharing everything there needs to be some compromises made and as I always say happily compromised is the highest achievement possible. Achieve it and you will be ever happy.

Raktha Charithra-I ~ A Real "story"

Ram Gopal Varma, the man with the penchant for controversies comes out with a movie which is the fictional interpretation of facts. This movie depicts the story of people who can go to extremes for achieving what they think is good for them, no matter how bad is it for the others. The plot revolves around two families set against each other by another family. Since, this was supposed to be the story which has actually happened, it would not be reasonable to talk about justifications of the story and the plot.

RGV needs to be mentioned first before anyone else. The best was extracted out of all the performers. A true director who held his ship, marshaled his troupes and eventually got the victory. The story line was shrunk into a span of 2 years, which actually happened for a period of 2 decades. He claimed it as one of the most violent movies with lots of bloodshed and he lives up to the standards he set. His directorial brilliance was seen specially in the scene which shows, infact doesn't show, the "Pedda Sir". Pratap Ravi's introduction, Shivaji Rao's characterization, Bokka Reddy's barbarism needs a special mention. Since, the story could not be modified it was all on the director to visualize and recreate the scenes which actually have happened. RGV was instrumental in showcasing the mentalities of the characters. 

Technically, most of the shots were close up shots probably to capture the emotions. Killings were shown in a superb way, shots were edited so precisely such that the weapon was shown until it touches the body. BGM elevated the mood of the movie. All credits to RGV for making this happen. 


The flaws, infact not really, but the areas which I thought could have dealt with more precision were detailing how the plots were sketched out in the murders, the points which led to the misconceptions between the two parties should have been in more detail. As the movie was boasting of excessive bloodshed, execution was more concentrated. But, owing to the time line and attributing the story line to the real life these can be ignored. The biggest set back was the voice over given by RGV which was annoying at times and irritating most of the times. RGV always lets the audience to judge the scene but in this movie he was actually trying to explain the scene to the audience which I felt as quite unusual.

Vivek Oberai was terrific. He involved himself in the character of Pratap Ravi and delivered his best performance till date. Company showed him as a rookie and RC-I showed him as the best professional in business. Radhika Apte never looked like she doesn’t belong to a rural background. Shatrughan SInha brought the glamour, style and mannerisms which were needed for the role he played. Kota, Tanikella Bharani, and Shubhalekha Sudhakar are the only Telugu actors in the movie. All three proved that they were the best choices. Abhimanyu Singh, spilled venom from his eyes and actions. The best performance amongst all the others if the comparisions have to be drawn.

The icing on the cake was the climax of the movie. The climax starts with the trailer of RC-II making the audience think that the best is yet to come.


A must watch movie for the people who don’t know the story and for the people who know the story, to know how their imagination has been visualized.

Khaleja ~ A Classical mass movie

God lives in peoples belief. The belief can be a idol, an unseen power or even a normal human being. Its all about what you believe. This belief also generates when one gets to know the qualities that makes a human being, a God. Serving humanity is being god like. The concept of Khaleja movie revolves around this plot of how a Taxi driver turns into the Saviour for a whole village.

The story of the movie involves a village which has been effected by continuous deaths because of unknown reasons. A soothsayer in the village feels that there exists one person who can save them from their distress. They term him as their God. How they find him, how he saves them, what is the actual reason for the death, Is it a curse which can be changed only by God, or is it a intentional Holocaust which can be stopped by any human forms the rest of the story.

Mahesh, plays the role of a Taxi driver, who becomes the most wanted person for a village. He has been a complete revelation. He adopted a completely different slang from the rest of his movies and executed it to the perfection. If looks can kill, he will be the most wanted killer in Tollywood. His action was energetic, dialogue delivery much different from the subtle roles he did. Comedy timing and fights amazingly done.

Anushka is passable. Her character has no ample scope for performance and she does well in the limited time she has. Her costume designer needs a makeover. Sunil, Ali, Brahmanandam etc., makes you laugh. Prakash Raj , though, has a small role does a class act apart from the climax.


Trivikram needs to be appreciated for the story line he chose. He poses questions, answers them and again raises concerns over his answers. This movie has the basic concept of "Aham Brahmasmi" which was earlier taken in the movie "Satyame Shivam". If Satyame Shivam was a complete class movie, Khaleja is a classical mass movie. Satyame Shivam deals with the capitalism and Khaleja deals with the negative aspects of the industrialization. Both the films show how a god can be seen in humanity. Trivikram took utmost care in penning the dialogues. He connected every scene in the movie and made sure that most of the scenes make sense and have their importance in the final build up of the story. His dialogues suited well to the character of a taxi driver. Dances were good and costumes for Mahesh need a special mention.

The negative aspects of the movie being excessive display of bloodshed, too much violence, and a story line which may not necessarily be received by most of the audience. It might be confusing to people who think in the lines of the people in village, but include rationality, which wasn’t shown in the village people.

Komaram Puli ~ A satirical approach

Komaram Puli roars. He roars after a long time. This roar has not only the power but also makes everyone remind their own duties and responsibilities. The duties which are ignored and the responsibilities which are never taken up. This movie emphasizes the fact of being born as a human and the responsibility a person has to live with.

SJ Suriya showed his brilliant skills in almost every scene of the movie. He tried hard not to disappoint any section as this movie was meant to reach everyone and he almost got success. The way he has organised the movie giving scope for all the cast to prove their acting prowess is highly incredible. He made sure that not even a single comedy actor goes away in vain. 

Story line typically gives the example of what is not there in the present society. A honest cop who uses his wit, vocabulary, oral skills to impress all the officials. He can detect lies by looking at peoples eyes, but then, he also has some exceptions for that. His mother wants him to be a cop for the society but not for the personal vengeance which shows the way movie goes. The story of a cop who wants to instigate fear among all the criminals of the world by nabbing one of the top criminal and the way he deals with it is the basic plot of the movie.

The growth of technology and its help in finding out the criminals around the world has been showcased in detail and eventually human wins the race with the technology. Camera work was excellent, as the audience can actually see the ripples going through the actors performance in the scenes. Design of the sets have to appreciated. Puli teams office, Al Saleem's home which actually leaves people wondering which place it is.


Pawan Kalyan rocked the show. He showed that he not only can deliver one liners but also lengthy dialogues effectively if given a chance and he has proved more than once in this movie. For the first time ever some one in a movie actually calls him a Power Star. Never seen before action sequences, superbly co-ordinated fights ala knife held at a perfect angle to obstruct the bullet coming from the gun. He show how tough guy he can be in terms of romance. The resistance he shows to the oomph of heroine cannot go unnoticed. Its an out and out Pawan Kalyan movie which shows all his shades.

Nikisha shows what she is best at. Sharanya managed to look young and delivered well. Nazar wasn’t left behind as it always used to be. He sticks with the hero most of the time. Charan Raj character sets an example of how other characters can be elevated.

Finally, Manoj Bajpai, the villian. The strength of the villian comes from the weakness of hero. Since, the hero doesn’t have any weakness, the villian had to create his own strength which he did succesfully. If you miss heros words, no worries, villian will utter them again for you but with less intensity and power.

Finally, I felt this movie as a landmark of all Pawan Kalyan movies. This can never be and will never be forgetten movie of Pawan Kalyan.

The start of a new journey

I asked "Madhu, Will you marry me?". She said, "Yes, I will". 

Scene 1: It was the month of December. One fine day, I get a phone call from my parents. The time was on for the search of my life partner. An arranged marriage. They sent me the picture of a girl whom they thought would be a correct match for me. I opened my email, had a glance at the picture and thought "Well, interesting. Let me talk to her once." I spoke to my parents and asked them to let me know the time I can speak to her. 

Scene 2: A honorary function arranged in the honor of Shri Shivananda Murthy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadguru_Sivananda_Murty) at Warangal. My parents get the invitation from her parents. They felt it as the best time for me to speak to her. Then it happens, The first phone call. I don't remember the exact words what we spoke. But, it was more of a cordial talk for less than 5 minutes. We both agreed on to have a chat on webcam later with the permission of parents.

Scene 3: Webcam chat. Thanks to Yahoo we get to see each other first time apart from the pictures. Again a cordial talk  but this time for a longer time. I came to know about a few things more. The things which I liked instantly about her were she was a movie buff like me, respects her parents and gives importance to family values. There were a couple of things which I didn't like. 

The conclusion after my chat was I was interested in meeting this girl. But, I cannot take any decision before I meet her personally.

Then things come to a halt. I get busy with some other stuff and the proposal falls back in the priority lists.

After 8 months, in the month of August, I finally get a chance to visit India. http://deepak-preciousthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/08/itinerary-of-stopover-journey.html  

Scene 4: August 14: Her Home. The official Pelli Chupulu. 

This was the first day I saw her personally. "Live" in the media language. It was the Pelli Chupulu. The time when the girl and guy gets a chance to meet each other. We see each other, then we were allowed to spend some time talking to each other. I was hesitant to speak first. The conversation started with the memories of our first chat. It was almost 8 months since we had our last chat. But, it didn't seem to be. The conversation hit the right notes and it went on. The elders were expecting our talk to go for 15 minutes. But 15 minutes passed, 30 mins gone. If I remember right it was almost 45 minutes. We spoke about a lot of things. The things which I wasn't sure of after my chat, faded away in this 45 minute talk. 

Scene 5: My Home: 

I was still in a confusion. It was going to be the decision of my life and I didn't want to take it in a hurry. I asked my parents whether they were completely convinced with the girl and her family. They said they were more than happy to have her in the family. I was still searching for any negatives. The fact that I was searching for the negative itself meant that there were a lot of positives. 

Next day, it was my friend Sunil's Engagement in Hyderabad. I attended that and was still thinking about the decision which I had to make.

The day after, I call my parents and said that I need to talk to her again before I make any decision. They gave me her number. I called her and asked her out. I thought she wont agree but I was happy to hear that she also wanted to have a talk. We fix a time to meet and the place.

Scene 6: Shilparamam. Aug 16.

We met at her hostel. We started looking for some place to sit. Then we decided to go to Shilparamam. So, the location was set. I started talking. I spoke to her on all the things which I felt she should know about. Exchanged our views about things which we have in common, any differences we had. All this time I was searching for any things which I can think of as completely against to my views. Fortunately, the things I found were very trivial.

The time went by quickly, 2 hours and then I was completely convinced. She will be my choice. No more second thoughts about it. The final minutes of our conversation.

Me: After all this talk, I want to ask you an important question. My decision depends on your answer.

She (confused): What is that?

Me (With a red rose, kneeling down): Madhu, will you marry me?

She (after a pause): Yes!! I will.

Her name is Lalitha Madhuri and I call her Madhu. My life partner.

(Prelogue: Jump back to the time before scene 6: I was almost sure of  making Madhu as my partner. I felt I would be the first person to let her know rather than the usual way of her parents conveying the message. I want to make my decision day memorable. I wanted to propose her. So, before I go to meet her, I wanted to buy a red rose and then give her the rose and propose. Thanks to Pavan, who helped me in this whole episode.)

There I stand committed to Madhu. 

Then the Engagement happened on Aug 21, had to leave India and fly back on Aug 23. More about after Engagement stories later..

Adios.

Itinerary of a Stopover Journey

I'm flying to India tomorrow. Nothing new in it, as I go home almost every year. I  feel India trips are always short and exciting no matter how long is my stay in India. Its always a pleasure to be at home, eating food without cooking, sleeping with no alarm to wake you up and having all the time to spend on your own. I always prefer to go home in the month of August as it gives me a chance to enjoy the monsoons and thus the rains in India. The smell of the soil when it rains is one of the things which never ceases to amuse me. Nature at its best. Crowded roads, honking vehicles, roadside food makes me nostalgic. Good old days.

This time its something different. This will be the shortest ever trip I made to India till date. This will be a different trip from my previous ones. The main purpose of all my India trips was pleasure and relaxation, but this time some serious business is on the cards.

Well, this trip is a stopover for my life journey. If everything goes as per the plan my sojourn will change my status. Am I excited or nervous. Excitement, nicely packed in a box of nervousness is the best way I could describe my situation. I'm enjoying it though.

To break the ice, I will be meeting my partner for life in this stopover. I've been asked this question of how do you want your girl to be many number of times. My answer was always "She should be smart enough to keep herself entertained and not depend on others for her time." In much simpler words she should be individualistic. I always believe in the quote "Nobody is perfect". I don't expect my partner to be perfect as I'm not perfect either. Only birds of same feather can flock together huh!!! But attempts should be made to make each other perfect to each other as the time goes.

One of my favorite quotes on marriage says "Marriage is not only about sharing the similarities but also respecting the differences". I don't think there will be any two persons in the World who completely think alike. The similarities may vary depending on the individuals but never can be two persons thinking same at all times. So, it would be foolish to expect someone who thinks in the same lines as me always. The differences should be respected and understood.

My itinerary for this stopover journey of my life consists of meeting new people, one of whom might be one of the most seen faces for the next part of my life, attending my roomies engagement, catching hold of new friends whom I've been talking for more than months but never met personally and above all spending time with my family after an year. Huff, lots of things and the time I have is 15 days. Well, that life. Take it as it comes.

Got to pack some more stuff. Jeezzz, these airline rules. India, here I come, with bag full of gifts, chocolates and heart full of expectations which can never make me disappoint. After-all, my expectations can never disappoint me. Thats the way I expect things to go.

My lines

Change is the only consistent thing in this world and if you are not flexible enough to change yourself for what you feel is good then that shows your incapability for adaptation.


Successfully achieving a failure will get you success, since you will be busy in searching for a successful failure and success often comes to those who are busy in not thinking about success.


When Uniqueness becomes common, a common man becomes unique.


Habits, irrespective of good or bad, are killers of laziness. Laziness rocks and personified.


Boredom is the virtue of Non-creative people.


A person who cannot control his emotions cannot be matured enough in taking decisions which are not supposed to be altered emotionally but can be modified intellectually, and if the intellectuals cannot win over emotions, then the person cannot be considered matured.


Self Respect is respecting self, irrespective of what others respect.


Never like anything to such an extent that you start hating anything about it.


A perfect balance between optimism and reality can lead to a full fledged happy life.


Ashashwathamina vaati meeda shashwathamina prema penchukunte, shashwathanga ashashwatham gurinchina aalochanalu matu maayam avutaai.

The Vegas trip..an year before

I wanted to refresh my memories and make this post as an archive of one of my Vegas trips. I said one of my  trips because I've been to Vegas 3 times and this was undoubtedly best of all. The trip was amazing and very well planned and executed. I wished that this would be another of the reunions but unfortunately 3 of my frnds couldn't make a cut for some obvious reasons, and so we 4, me, Kishore,Vamsi and Shivram decided to have masti.

Shivram was our host. Fortunately he lives in Vegas and unfortunately he is still a student. So, this guy was the begining and end point of our trip. He came from vegas to my place which is about 3 and a half hours away and then we both went to Los Angeles Airport to pick kishore from Dallas. Everything went well, and we started our trip. By the time we reached Vegas it was early morning 5. Luckily all of us shared the wheel and nobody was tired..

Vegas was calling.....5am..July 3 2009

We went right away into Bellagio and started gambling, of course only Kishore, as I dont gamble and neither does Shivram. We were juss enjoying the free drinks, the cokes and the coladas. Kishore was having his share of luck at a table "Casino wars", and then a guy showed up he threw $1500 and started playing. We were surprised at the reluctant throw, but in Vegas it was normal, and to our surprise within a span of 30 mins he went back with $4,500, a win of $3000 in 30 mins, as the saying goes, lady luck always smiles at the rich guys. After 2 hours at almost 7am we started to home to take a short nap and get ready for the whole day and the big thing Vamsi was coming got to pick him up.

Vegas Airport. Around 11 am


We started to the Airport, Vamsi was on time. It was a great feeling to see him after more than a year. He was all changed in his looks. He had long hair,  which he used to have when we were in our college. He was all excited about being in Vegas. Welcome to Vegas dude.

Vamsi was all so pumped up that he didn't even bother to go to home to freshen up. We just hit the casino, since it was Vamsi's first time at gambling, we thought beginners luck would favor him. But unfortunately, nope. It was lunch time and everyone was hungry. Time to eat. Shivram, being a picky at food and a local, suggested his favorite restaurant, The Thai Cuisine. We all had a good lunch with laughs floating around. I cant forget the "Fortune Cookie" incident. I hope everyone remembers it. I wish I could share it, but then I'd be killed for doing that. Later, being tired and with stomachs full, everyone wanted a nap. One more reason being that night we were about to hit the rocking dance floor of MGM Grand, the Studio 54.

Shivaram's Apartment. Around 8 pm

                                    

We really had a great time at Studio 54. The dance floor was amazing and the icing on the cake was the Punjabi number which was played when we were about to leave the floor. After Studio 54 it was the time to gamble again. Kishore was the expert and he shared his expertise with all of us. Being ardent followers and good disciples we also followed him in losing money. By the time we reached home it was late night and time to sleep as the next day was the big day. The 4th of July, and the day of fire work works.

Next day we started late. Last nights tiredness was showing on everyone. We decided to have lunch at Indian restaurant. Had a nice lunch at Gandhi Indian cuisine, and started off for another exciting day at Vegas.

Gandhi Indian Cuisine, Vegas. July 4th 2009. Around Noon time.

I wanted to have Kishore pen down a few thoughts about the trip. He agreed to be my guest blogger. The proceedings of the day would be in his words now.

Vegas streets, July 4th 2009, After Lunch time.

"All these Khaboom around the town reminds me of our trip to Vegas on July 4^th weekend of 09. I have been to Vegas 2 other times before that but this time it was unusual. Generally it’s an apt example for “always alive city” but I remember pretty well that we were talking about it being hit by recession so there were not much crowd. It was not even a long weekend when I visited it for the first time but I was so impressed with the city which never slept literally. I took a picture of it at 3 am and it was filled with a lot of traffic on a Saturday night. I said man it is amazing I want to visit this place every year and at least once in a year and so far I did successfully for 3 consecutive years since 07.

It was late in the evening on the 4^th we were just wandering on the strip all day long as usual with no plan then we ended up walking all the way to one end of strip to Wynn and then on our way back we were so tired that I had to say OK lets just get the car out and leave home I cant walk anymore and take this anymore [which I am known for ;)] because I was so hungry. We did not even want to wait till the fireworks at Venetian and got our car out to get in to the traffic which was moving at a snail pace about hardly 5 mph. By the time we started to worry about the traffic the fireworks started right then and it was splendid sight with an excellent view from our car with our AC on rather than burning ourselves out in the humid Vegas weather.

Then after all that fireworks traffic finally started moving surely but slowly so slow that we could get down at Bellagio to catch the musical fountains in action and then get back in to the car too. Haha we enjoyed a lot at riding luxury J then we ended up ordering pizza and glutton ourselves that night….We even got to go to studio 54 in MGM and overall I really had a lot of fun in that trip. I guess my friends Deepak, Shivaram n Vamsi, who were my accomplices for the trip would surely agree with me J

On that note I want to tell them I miss them and its been that good one year I met them all. Hope to see you soon guys."

So, that was Kishore. It was indeed a great experience with the fire works. As all good times have to come to an end, so was our long day coming to an end. Tired, exciting, and refreshing at the same time.

 The next day was the time to go back to LA, my place. On the way, we planned to meet another friend, Srinivas and Kiranmayee, the newly wed. The drive was again a long drive, but not tiring as everyone shared the wheel. Luckily, traffic wasn't busy. We reached Beaumont, Srinu's city, on time. Had a nice home made lunch and started off to my place, which was the last pit stop in this trip.

Srinivas's Apartment, Beaumont, July 5th 2009, Lunch time.

       

We all spent the night at my place, then in the morning, visited my workplace, as I had to go back to work and say good bye to one of the wonderful trips I ever had. 

                                                      

My workplace, July 6th, 2009, 8am.

                                                               

It was a trip which I can never forget. The thoughts and memories are still fresh in my mind, though its been a year. In this year lot of things happened, but the best one being Kishore getting married. I wish we have trips like this every year with the additional members joining every year. Well, after dropping me at work, Shivram and Vamsi visited Universal Studios. Since, I'm not with them I cant really pen anything. I'd request both Shivaram and Vamsi to be my guest blogger and put their thoughts. Lets hope for the best.

Looking forward to many more of these trips and many more long posts. Adios.

[P.S: Whoever reading this post, and knowing about Vegas would be wondering about somethings which I never mentioned. But, as you know, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Cheers]

Emotions and Intellectuals

"A person who cannot control his emotions cannot be matured enough in taking decisions, which are not supposed to be altered emotionally but can be modified intellectually, and if the intellectuals cannot win over emotions, then the person cannot be considered matured."


I personally feel that a person can never take a right decision if he acts emotionally. Decisions should be made by thought rather than feel. Emotions portray the condition or the present status of a person. These emotions can be either positive or negative depending on the situation. Both positive and negative emotions in surplus can shift a person's way of giving verdict in any given situation. 


The line which separates the ordinary cult from the extra ordinary lot starts from the way they think rather than the way they feel. If the feelings determine the sensitivity levels of a person, than the thoughts portray the intellectuality levels. Intelligent people are considered to be intelligent because they make their decisions with a minimum of emotional quotient.


Emotions, differ from person to person, place to place, race to race. When there is no standard for the level of emotion how can one be considered as emotionless. A person born and brought up in USA may not feel the same kind of emotion to a situation as a person in India. Does that mean that one of them is more emotional and the other less or vice versa.


I feel a person becomes emotional when he sees something happening which he doesn't wish to happen. It can be either a positive emotion or a negative emotion. It takes the person to another level from normal state. Then his mind starts reflecting the scenario he is in rather than what he actually is.The influence of the conditions he is in and the decisions taken based on that condition reflects how emotional the person is. An intellectual person may not be completely emotionless. But maintaining a perfect balance between the brain and the heart is the first step for getting away from the emotional zone.


I remember one quote on my orkut profile page, which appeared as a daily fortune. It goes like this " Life is a comedy for those who think and tragedy for those who feel". It states that the life will be like a comedy for the people who take decisions by thinking and a tragedy for the people who takes decisions by feel. 

Copy or Inspiration

Movies are considered to be the hub of creativity. The objective of the movie makers is to present the audience with their novel ideas and create a frame by frame motion of their thoughts on the celluloid. But, what if the main objective is lost and the purpose becomes only to make business by giving the best, which was already proved somewhere else. Unfortunately, this copying is happening in the name of inspiration.

Inspiration, the most common word being used by all the copy masters of the movie world. Lifting from either old hit movies or any foreign movies has been a regular habit of the movie makers. It is good to serve the regional audience with the international standards but how ethical is it to take the credit of some others work. Who is to be blamed for this? The music directors, who actually lift the songs or the directors who approve those tunes in their movies.

Before the release of a new movie, the entire crew pleads the audience not to encourage piracy. But unfortunately, they themselves are acting pirates by lifting tunes. Piracy, no doubt should be strictly monitored, but then how about being stringent on the copy issue. The copyrights act commission should be more vigilant on this issue and make sure that the audience are getting what they are entitled to. They should make sure that there is a minimum of copying and if at all copied the original creator should duly get his credit. This move can encourage the new talent to come up with novel ideas as the people who depend on others for their growth would be stripped off their luxury.

Finally, if the piracy has to be stopped why shouldn't it start at the doorstep of the cinema rather than when it is out on the streets. Directors and Music directors should move in a way forward to meet the actual objective of making a movie i.e., unleashing the creativity. We, spectators, demand a movie or music which can showcase the talent and creativity not the copying ability.

This is my second article in print.

http://www.teluguflavours.com/politics/blogdesc.php?id=199&cat=myview&n=Copy%20or%20Inspiration

My first article in print media

I came home after a tiring day of my work routine. Freshened up. Opened my favorite thing, my lappy, visited the regular websites I check. Gmail, Orkut, Idlebrain...whoa...I saw my name in the review section. Today, 21 June 2010, I got one of the rare surprises anyone can get. It is not a surprise per se, but I was surprised. My review on the movie "Vedam" was published in one of the telugu film websites "Idlebrain".

I've sent my review few days back to Idlebrain and I completely forgot about that. I thought it was not going to be published since the director of the movie Krish had already posted his Postmortem on the movie. But, much to my glee it was published, though along with many others. It was nice to see my writing in a public website getting approved. The whole thing behind this happiness is not about getting my review published but achieving what I wanted.

The other thing about my review is the common point I found in my review and in Krish's Postmortem. I somehow felt that the 5 characters in the movie were related to the 5 elements of nature. Then, a couple of days later Krish confirmed this thought of mine, when he posted his postmortem in the same website. The difference being the assigning of the characters. But, still that analysis of mine being proved correct made me feel ecstatic.

Usually, surprises are given by others, but, this surprise was given by no one but still it was a surprise. My roomie told me that one of his friends, who happens to know me, called him and told him about this review. Good that some one knew before I told. Well, this is my first article in press. I hope in future more will be published.

The following is the link for my review.

http://www.idlebrain.com/community/mymovie/vedam-deepak.html

Vedam ~ A Journey of Emotions.

A new trend in the conventional stream of Telugu movies. A new dimension added to the very orthodox film making style in tollywood. A new ray of hope has started to lighten up in the minds of the audience who have made up their minds with what a telugu movie can give to them. The reason for all these is one movie "Vedam". An honest and sincere attempt by the director "Krish".

This movie has five stories amalgamated into one story. Five stories of five characters, where every character is a protagonist in its own way. The five characters in this movie represents the five elements of the nature.

Vivek (Manoj Manchu) - The Rock star. Aiming for "The sky". He wants to meet the highest standards but in his own way, not in the tradition followed by his family.

Saroja (Anushka) - The Prostitute. "The fire" within. She has the fire, can attract anyone and wants to lead her own life in her own way, not under the remote control of anyone.

Ramulu (Nagayya) - The poor man. He has the patience of "The earth". Still and calm. He wants to give his grandkid the education which he and his family was deprived off. In that process he bears all the "pains" with patience.

Raheem Khureshi (Manoj Bajpai) - The non terrorist Muslim branded as terrorist. As calm and as serene as "The water". But when situation arises he can erupt as a flood or even a tsunami.

Cable Raju (Allu Arjun) - The floater. His attitude is as flexible and as inconsistent as "The air". He wants to become rich in a easy way but cannot shed off his real attitude when the clock strikes.

The life style of all these five characters, how they deal with the situations they face, how they want to overcome their difficulties was dealt in a near perfect way in Vedam. Kudos to the director for handling them very well.

The performances were equally good by all the artistes. Allu Arjun, Manoj Manchu, Manoj Bajpai, Anushka and the old man Ramulu have to be commended for their impeccable performances.

The only glitches in the movie being the handling of the screenplay in some parts of the movie. This type of movie needs a perfect screenplay to bring all the characters in one line at a point of time in the story. Here, in Vedam it somehow appears that the characters Saroja and Vivek have been forced to join with the rest of the crew. But keeping in view of the time line of the movie this can be overlooked.

Nevertheless, an honest and sincere attempt which needs to be appreciated.