Fakira (1976)

I very much enjoyed this movie while I was watching it. It was fun and entertaining and I accepted what it had to offer without stopping to examine it too closely. The action starts soon and the craziness keeps going right to the very end. Sadly, once I'd finished the movie and started thinking back about some of it, I found it less satisfying.

For one thing, the romance has some creepy vibes to it. The age difference is enough that Shashi's cute romantic lines sometimes come across as a bit disturbing. Most of their scenes together are either song sequences or involve Shabana's character groveling at Shashi's feet. Also, the whole basis of their relationship is deceit, which I didn't feel was adequately worked through once things were revealed.

I feel like the other relationships were hardly given any attention either. I suppose masala films aren't known for realistic and deep relationships, but there was a lot of potential for more development here that just was not taken. Actually, in general, the characterizations seemed to be vague and ill defined.

Still, as far as action and fun and farce are concerned, it's a good choice. There were several very funny gags, (I especially liked the bomber pigeons), so if you're looking for a fun timepass (as Filmi Geek calls it), this is your movie.

Godavari (2006)

Anand wasn't exactly my cup of tea, (or coffee), and if I'd realized that this movie was by the same director I probably would have been less excited to watch it. Still, as it turned out, I rather enjoyed it. I also hadn't realized that this was the movie with the fabled animated talking dog, which I thought was rather pointless but wasn't bothered by.

My only beef with this movie was that although Sriram's self-absorbed cousin, Raji, isn't the most amazing person in the world, I didn't think she came close to deserving her fiance Ravi, who really is totally contemptible. I kept thinking, "Get out while you still can, girl!" So [*Spoiler!*] when she told Sriram that she wanted to elope with him, I thought that although that would of course be very sad for Seetha at first (who had a big crush on Sriram), in the end it would avoid much bigger heartaches. And I believe in maximizing total happiness. So I had mixed feelings about that not working out.

Still, on the whole, I thought it was a cute little romance. The pacing was slow, but it didn't drag too much. The characters were fun, and the ending was reasonably good.

Yamagola Malli Modalaindi (2007)

Indian religious films, I've been told, are always crazy, and this one was no exception. Luckily, I like crazy, so that suited me just fine. I really liked Srikanth and Vena when they were playing the parts of the gods Yama Jr. and Chitragupta Jr. (Yama is the god of hell and Chitragupta is his assistant.)


They were so wonderfully hammy. All the posturing and the crazy get-up suited them perfectly. I especially loved Srikanth's propensity to pull out the mustache twirling at every opportunity.


They come to earth to bring a soul into the next world and of course get caught up in all sorts of drama. One of my favorite episodes is when they go to a nightclub,


and decide to join in 70s style.


Which, in my opinion, was an excellent idea.



My other favorite episode happens when the heroine's aunt and uncle are out for a drive at night and a rascal tries to take off her aunt's sari. Yama Jr. decides to pull a Krishna, and the aunt is extremely pleased with the bundle of saris she gets out of it.


All of this happens in the first hour of the film. The next two hours of the film are much less entertaining, as there is a great dearth of Srikanth and Venu dressed up in god clothes posing. Srikanth occasionally still strokes his mustache, and they still ham it up a little, but it's just not the same. And the little romances do not make up for it.


The best part of the second half, sadly enough, is part of the comic subplot. This one is actually quite funny, though. The police had seen the last bit of the sari episode, decide that this rascal is a golden goose, and bring him to the inspector's house to pull the sari of the inspector's wife. Not such a bright idea.


It may have its faults, but I was entertained and found the ending reasonably emotionally satisfying. And that's all I ask for.

Vaaranam Aayiram (2008)

Surya (Surya Sivakumar) loves his father, Krishnan, (also Surya Sivakumar) very much. He is his hero, and when Surya meets and falls in love with a beautiful girl on a train named Meghna (Sameera Reddy), he loves her with as much devotion and persistence as his father wooed his mother with. He follows her to the U.S. where she had gone for grad school, and she falls in love with him too. Their happiness is suddenly shattered, and dark days begin for Surya. His father and a stranger help Surya, but it takes him a long time to recover.

The song here is the flashback shown as Surya's mother tells him of the days when Krishnan was courting her. All the songs are very lovely.

It's kind of a strange story--sweet, bitter, and bittersweet--reminiscences of a son about his life and his father.