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Home > Telugu Movie Reviews > Godavari Manchi Chai Lanti Cinema APK | May 19, 2006 Rating: ***1/2 (***** Very Good, **** Good, *** Fair, ** Average, * Bad) Cast: Sumanth, Kamalini Mukherjee, Neetu Chandra, Kamal Kamaraju, Tanikella Bharani and Others. Action: Ram-Lakshman. Cinematography: Vijay C. Kumar. Editing: Marthand K. Venkatesh. Lyrics: Veturi. Music: KM Radhakrishnan. Story, Screenplay, Dialogues & Direction: Shekhar Kammula. Producer: GVG Raju. Banner: SSC Arts. Release Date: 19th May, 2006.  After 'Anand-Manchi Coffee Lanti Cinema,' the successful combination of classy trio Shekhar Kammula-KM Radhakrishnan-Kamalini Mukherjee team up again to give the audience another clean, light hearted entertainer. After a spate of violent movies immersed in bloodshed and double-meaning dialogues, this might come as a welcome change. But for the usual cinegoer who'd want a couple of fights and an item number, this movie doesn't fulfill the requirement-all the better! Sometimes you have to make movies for a niche crowd, not always stick to a formula to try and please the so-called masses that may enjoy this flick too.Plot Sita Mahalakshmi (Kamalini) wants to develop her existing but unsuccessful garment business while her parents are keen to get her married. Sriram (Sumanth) runs around party offices trying to get into a party to 'serve the people' even after doing his engineering. He therefore gets rejected as a potential groom for his uncle's daughter Raji and she gets a groom who is an IPS officer (as brash and arrogant as one gets). The wedding is at Bhadrachalam and he is forced to board 'Godavari' and sail to the venue along with the family. Sita agrees to a match after much coaxing but the boy rejects her. Shocked and disgusted, she wants to be left alone for a while, and ends up in 'Godavari' too, sailing across to Bhadrachalam to witness Sitarama Kalyanam. Sita and Sriram meet and she is constantly at loggerheads with him, while he is calm and aloof. In time, they become friends and she falls in love with him after a number of incidents including a treasure hunt and an episode with factionists. At this juncture, Raji decides she wants to marry Ram and plans to elope with him at the next stop of the boat and Sita is somehow forced to help them. Heartbreak and tears follow, and the rest of the story deals with how, but obviously, Sita and Ram unite. Story, Screenplay and Direction Shekhar Kammula is like an over-enthusiastic film school student provided with his first camera-his taking is so amateurish and the editing jerky. But he has nice story-lines although a wee bit slow for the regular moviegoer. He makes that up by extracting good performances from his actors, good music from his composer and a silly comedy track which nevertheless gives way to helpless giggles (involving a talking dog). It seems like he lives in our normal world, unlike other makers, whose world has murders taking place at the drop of a hat and women wearing skimpy outfits in orthodox villages. The movie has some soul, a little bit of substance is quite refreshing.  Performances Whoever has been taking acting lessons for Sumanth should now be congratulated-the actor has come a long way from the stuttering, stammering awkward boy one saw in 'Prema Katha.' Or should Kammula take the credit? Sumanth gets into the skin of the character and proves that his face is not always wooden. Kamalini's character is an extention from her earlier Kammula flick 'Anand,' with some changes, and she carries the role off well. Neetu Chandra as Raji is pretty, agreed, but that's no reason not to act and remain plastic-she needs Sumanth's acting teacher, and fast! Kamal as the arrogant IPS officer is mostly clueless since Kammula seemed to have turned all his attentions to make Sumanth and Kamalini perform their best. And they almost manage to do that.Songs And Dances There is so much one could do with settings like that-the river, the boat...but the cinematography is just average, and leaves much to be desired. Likewise, the songs picturization is not that exceptional, you'd be better off listening to such good songs. And the verdict is.. The people are important for Kammula. Whatever is happening to his characters is fate's play, that's how it looks. The characterizations are well etched out, and there are little moments in the movie which make it or break it, and in this case, make it. It's a simple love story and there's no complicated subplot here, although they tried to include a fight sequence but that too blended well into the story. Sumanth makes a second comeback after 'Satyam' and the actors get their chance to display their talent. Even with the amateurish taking, Godavari is watchable and Kammula is here to stay. |