Anthu Inthu Film Mugeetu!

Anthu Inthu Preethi Banthu Movie Review By Raju Shanbhag

Producer cum hero Aditya Babu is a ruthless man! First, he invests his hard earned money (let’s at least assume that!) in a film and then, he mercilessly strangulates his own venture as his irresistible urge to become a hero takes over. May be the makers of the film decided on the name of the film after they finished shooting for the film. The frustration shows in the name itself!

The story, although is not earth shatteringly different, is the stuff actors like Ganesh and Sudeep would have feasted upon. It’s a remake of a Telugu super hit Aadavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule (No wonder it was a huge hit in Telugu with Venkatesh in the lead role). Here in Kannada, Aditya Babu stands like a stumbling block between the film and its success. In the film, the hero doesn’t know English and he keeps getting rejected at countless interviews in software companies (if there was an interview for acting, he would have been shown the door there too!), and when he gets a job, he falls for his strict and slightly overweight manager Ramya. But then, if the story was that simple, then the film would have ended near the interval point and we the viewers would have attained salvation much earlier. But hang on, there is an interesting twist in the story and we get to see more of Aditya Babu’s pathetic acting skills throughout the film.

Staying true to his name, director Veera Shankar fights bravely to make this film work. He has many elements going for him too. The songs are good, Ramya, although looks like she is in desperate need of a treadmill, does act well, and there is good photography. But every time something seems to be going well for the film, the producer cum hero pokes his face in the frame and everything comes crashing down. It seems that Aditya relies more on his hands for acting as they shake more prominently, almost threatening to shove the camera away. As if this felicity of acting conferred upon the viewers was not enough, he sometimes looks straight into the camera and utters some incomprehensible dialogues, again shaking his hands, legs and face. Is he overjoyed or is he plain nervous? You will get no help from his face; it reveals nothing.

When it comes to speaking about acting, we have to talk about one more actor, who is stunningly talented but is systematically destroying his reputation with each film; Rangayana Raghu. He is fast replacing late N. S Rao as the quintessential buffoon of the Kannada films with his abhorrent dialogues and disgusting mannerisms. The man is too talented, probably one of the best character artists in the mainstream commercial cinema in India today. But his buffoonery is only partly funny and the earlier he realizes this, the sooner he will come out of this new N. S Rao Avatar.

Ramya was angry last week, when we saw her in Bombat, and she is angry again this week. If last week it was the director who was the cause for her anger, we assume that this week, it was producer cum hero Aditya Babu. She stares at everyone, cries a bit when Aditya Babu proposes to her in his unique style (well, we guess she was frightened) and does her job as an actress. Other actors like Srinivasa Murthy and Harish Raj are good in their roles. In fact, when you compare Aditya’s acting with that of Harish’s, Harish almost looks like a reincarnation of Marlon Brando in comparison!

Songs are well framed. In fact, as Aditya doesn’t have to deliver his dialogues in the film, they look a class apart from the film.

Well, we would have almost called Anthu Inthu Preethi Banthu a neat entertainer. But after enduring Aditya’s acting for such a long time, we can only say, “Anthu Inthu Film Mugeetu!”

Versatile!

Anthu Inthu Preethi Banthu Music Review By Raju Shanbhag

Well, we really don’t know if the producers of Antu Intu Preethi Bantu wanted to set a new trend by signing two music directors for their film. Or may be either Yuvan Shankar Raja or Gurukiran had an awakening one fine day; and decided that composing music for this film was not worth the effort, which compelled the producers to look for a quickie replacement. Whatever is the reason, the music of the film has a touch of versatility laced in it. If you are looking for some different sounding beats, some songs in this film are just tailor-made for you!

Hey Baby: The rhythmic drum beats spread throughout this song fills you with hope, and the tune doesn’t disappoint either. Chaitra HG sounds sensuous enough to sing the song and Hemanth Kumar sounds interested enough to hum along. A really good effort by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The lyrics by Kaviraj speaks about love being poisonous and living corpses. Hey baby, cool down!

Mandara Mandara: This is the song where Yuvan Shankar Raja gives a clear indication of where his genes come from. The tune of the song seems to have taken its inspirations from the hummable “surmai akhiyon mein” from Sadma, for which Yuvan’s father Ilaiyaraaja was the composer. Rajesh Krishan renders the song beautifully, as always.

Minugu Minugu: It’s hard to set apart Gurkiran’s manly voice from Apoorva’s husky voice in this song. Although this is not as good as the previous two songs, Yuvan Shankar Raja again shows his versatility wit
h some unique violin play to sign off.

Nee Chumu Chumu: The song starts off well, with hummable tune. Just when you begin to get settled into the couch with cozy expectations, Yuvan strikes hard as the tune derails midway. Kaviraj tries to put the song back on track with his rejuvenating lyrics and succeeds considerably.

Anthu Intu: Music director and signer Gurukiran bares his soul with this heart wrenching song about the demise of love. The song is not lovely; but may grow on you if you have been ditched by someone recently. Wanna like this song?

Kodavara Kolu: If Yuvan Raja thinks a song needs only beats, Gurukiran goes a step ahead and discards even that notion with utter disdain. This song is eminently forgettable, more because Gurukiran is such a talented composer. When you have high hopes from such a wonderful composer and when you get half baked tunes like this, it hurts more.

Modala Sala: Gurukiran almost washes away the threatening memories of Kodavara Kolu with this unique sounding song. Nitpickers may complain that this song looks like a mixed curry of different Bollywood tunes and western numbers. But this is unique at least for Kannada music and Gurukiran proves his talent for the first time in this album. Was lyricist Hrudaya Shiva targeting Gurukiran when he wrote the song? Just kidding!