Watch Iniya for Balaji

Balaji returns with a refined performance in the Kannada movie Iniya, an average presentation from a promising director like Mahesh whose first film, Mussanje Maathu was a finely knitted sentimental yarn backed by good performances from Sudeep and Ramya, and a scintillating music.

As for Iniya, the movie is handicapped by a faulty characterisation. Even the music does not match the brilliance of Mussanje Maathu. Iniya suffers mainly because of a weak script by Mahesh who has forced some sequences to give a sentimental angle to the film. The so called mother's sentiment falls flat as many sequences fail to strike a chord with the audience. Mahesh has tried to include some unrelated comedy sequences and fights too which do not gel with the story line. To make things worse, the film drags, testing your patience several times.

Mahesh should also be taken to task for propogating a regressive idea through this film which is totally anti-feministic. The male chuvanistic angle is given a platform through this film. There are lot of punch dialogues which question the integrity and commitment of a woman towards love and at the same time hailing the view point of a male who stands by his love.

The characterisation of the heroine suffers mainly because she has been presented as a woman who changes tracks through her whims and fancies. Even the portrayal of many woman characters in the film as gullible and submissive is questionable.

The story is about Balu, who belongs to a joint family headed by a patriarch. Janaki who is friend of Balu's cousin arrives in the house at the time of her friend's marriage. After some initial misunderstandings, Balu and Janaki start loving each other. Balu saves Janaki from a gang of rowdies during his visit to the city. On the day of marriage Balu is arrested because he had attacked a big business man's son. Once Balu is implicated in the crime, his mother is thrown out of the house by her scheming relatives. Whether Balu saves his love after his release forms the rest of the story.

To be fair to Mahesh there are some sequences in the film which create some interest. Especially the sequence after the death of Balu's mother and some comedy oriented sequences in the first half.

Balaji has really carried the film on his shoulders with a good performance. He comes out well in the action sequences. It is a pity that Pooja Gandhi was offered such a role with grey shades. Her characterisation too is weak. Sanketh Kashi is good in one sequence while nothing special can be said about the rest of the cast. Even seasoned performers like Oorvashi and Jai Jagadish have been wasted in the film.

Music by Sreedhar is above average. Compositions like Yaarannu, Mudhdhaadha I Naguvige shine. Sundaranatha Suvarna's camera work is good too.

Overall Iniya is worth a watch Balaji.

Two Kannada biggies heading for a showdown

August seems to be a funny month as far as the release of Kannada films are concerned. The first and third week saw no release while the second week had one release -- the much awaited Raaj, the Showman starring Puneet Raj Kumar and Priyanka Kothari. But in the last week, two big films are competing with each other.

Cheluvina Chilipili by S Narayan is the remake of the Telugu film Koththa Bangaru Lokam produced by Dil Raju.

Cheluvina Chilipili starring Narayan's son Pankaaj and debutant actress Roopika is being released amidst big hype not normally associated with his films. Narayan has ensured huge publicity drive by putting up vinyl hoardings all over the major cities.

For Pankaaj this is the second film after his debut Chaithradha Chandrama opposite the sensational Amoolya.

"Pankaaj has improved a lot. He looks better and has done well in songs and emotional sequences," said Narayan, director and father.

He is also delighted to introduce 17-year-old Roopika, a child artist earlier, as the leading lady. "She is such a fast learner that I consider her as the most promising young actress of today. She is perhaps the only actress who I have not criticised on the sets," remarked Narayan.

Incidentally, the audio of the film has become a hit thanks to the music by Mickey J Meyers. Some of the tunes of the original film have been used in the Kannada film, which Narayan is not apologetic about. And for the first time in his film, he has shot two songs -- one abroad and another in Rajahmundry.

Sudeep to direct Bollywood film

Sudeep is all set to work in his third Bollywood movie. This time, he will be directing a movie, a remake of his yet to be released 'Just Maath Maathalli'.
Sources say, he has already narrated the story to Shahid Kapur and Riteish Deshmukh and that both the actors were thrilled to be part of the project. The rest of the team is yet to be finalised and Sudeep will start on the project once the Kannada version is released.
Meanwhile, the actor is getting ready for a journey to Germany for the last schedule of 'Just Maath Mathalli'. The shooting would be concluded by this month end and Sudeep is planning to release the film in October.

'Raaj, the Showman will be a top commercial entertainer'

Prem, the director of Raaj the Showman is the highest paid director in Kannada having struck gold with three of his four films made so far.

His first film Kariya ran for 500 days and made Darshan a very big star. His second film Excuse Me ran for nearly 35 weeks in Bangalore's Kapali theatre. The third film Jogi with Shivaraj Kumar was a blockbuster.

Despite the debacle he faced in his fourth film, he was selected by producer Suresh Gowda and Sreenivasa Murthy to direct Raaj, the Showman with Puneet Raj Kumar and Priyanka Kothari in the lead.

Prem, who has been shuttling between Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore for the past one month for the post production work of Raaj, speaks exclusively to R G Vijayasarathy about his film and reveals many things that were not disclosed till now.