Magadheera (2009)

I'm especially excited to write about this film as I saw it twice (yes, I went twice because it was so much fun!) in a cinema in my home city (Cracow) with Polish subtitles. All this happened thanks to Srikanth who organised the screenings in Poland. I'm also thankful to my mom and all my friends from bollywood.pl (especially to Louella who authored this lovely write-up of our adventure) who went with me. The cheering, shouting, clapping and singing along will be remembered for a long time! :D

Magadheera is quite a simple story based on reincarnation. In 1609 the brave warrior Kala Bhairava (Ram Charan Teja) and the proud princess Mitravinda (Kajal Agarwal) met a tragic fate. As their love never got fulfilled their souls would not find peace until they met again. 400 years later Harsha, a young and gutsy motorbike racer (again RCT) and Indu (Kajal again), a college student accidentally brush fingers. Harsha feels an "electric" jolt and starts having recollections of his previous life. Indu on the other hand feels nothing as she is less susceptible to any sort of links with the past. It is up to Harsha to first find out who the mysterious girl is (he didn't manage to see her face in time!) and then convince her to believe him. Unbeknownst to him Indu is only a hand reach away... Will he find out the truth in time? And time is scarce as the villain who brought them death in their first lives (Dev Gill) reincarnated as well...

As I said, the story is not that novel but it is handled well. First we are shown the demise of the warrior and the princess, which makes us want to find out what lead to it. We have to wait for the answer throughout the first half as we watch the adventures of their modern counterparts. Right before the intermission Harsha fully remembers his past life and as the intermission sign says "we will travel 400 years in 10 minutes" (too bad in Poland we never have an actual break in the films :P). The second half shows us the past and then the resolution in the present. The narration makes one involved in the story. Its only flaw is that the modern part could have been a bit shorter in comparison to the past one.

An additional advantage of the plot is the sense of humour the creators handle their characters with. A great example of this is the mighty warrior king Sher Khan (Srihari, known for example from Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana, where he played Trisha's older brother) reincarnating as a simple (but also brave) fisherman with a fascinating accent and a crazy sense of humour. Also RCT, generally shown as The Mighty Hero has his moments of auto-irony, for example being afraid of horses (almost as much as Indiana Jones is of snakes xD) before his warrior spirit kicks in, or drunk dancing after the fisherman tries to "heal" the unconscious boy with arrack. The signs of nature that are meant to show that the hero meats his nemesis are also a riot. It's not that easy to get a volcanic eruption in Hyderabad, so the forces of nature have to handle differently. I'll let you find out this one for yourselves ;)

The minus points are a few too predictable ideas (especially in the finale). And a few jokes that include unnecessary violence on the part of the hero, and thus fall short of the generally tasteful humour of the film. Also a few scenes were too chauvinistic for my liking (such as Indu falling in love with Harsha after he beats up some guys who picked on her - Harsha has other much more likable qualities than that and what's more the teasing was too mild to merit beating the guys into a pulp - he could have simply told them off instead). I know this happens often in "hero movies" but it doesn't mean I like it. Also I would have gladly seen the princess do some action. Seeing her wear an armour and practise archery made me hope for that so I was disappointed to see her as a damsel in distress in the end.

The acting is mostly good.
RCT could be taking his role too easy as the son of Megastar Chiranjeevi, but he puts in a lot of effort. One can also see the development of his acting since his debut film Chirutha. This however, does not mean that Charan is 100% there as an actor. His facial expressions are convincing, his fighting and dancing impressive, but he still needs to work on his line delivery. He's decent at casual or funny dialogues but the serious and dramatic ones leave a lot to be desired and make him sound artificial. Overall it is a good effort of such a young actor but he can't stop at this. I hope the commercial success of Magadheera and prizes he got for the part won't make him too complacent, as this was the downfall of many a young actor. From his interviews RCT seems like a modest and reasonable guy, so let's just hope he'll act accordingly to this. To end on a more optimistic note I'll say that he looked fantastic as a warrior and I hope to see him in more costume dramas in the future.

Kajal is likable and definitely shows more acting prowess than some of the models making a career in Telugu cinema only because of their figures and fair skin. I liked especially her pride as the princess and the murderous looks she gave the villain. Overall they make a cute couple with Charan. Not an exceptional one however. Some of their scenes like the Dheera Dheera song and the dialogue with the apple are sizzling but especially some of the modern ones left me cold.

Dev Gill is efficient as the villain. Also a young actor, he was fresh and engaging to watch. Some of his clothes (actually more so in the modern part, where he plays a sort of an evil prince) were drop dead gorgeous. Actually quite a few friends of mine (notably askay) liked him more than the hero :D

Srihari is a real show stealer both as the mighty yet jovial king and the colourful fisherman. The interactions between him and RCT are adorable and in a way their friendship is more endearing than the main romance itself :D

The supporting actors did a good job as well. Even the comedians weren't annoying (it often is a problem in Telugu cinema). Actually I would have even gladly seen a bit more of Sunil, who seems to disappear in the second half.

Lastly the technical aspects and the music deserve a few words. The cinematography is lovely. The colours are fresh and vibrant, there are many impressive wide and dynamic shots. The special effects are a mixed bag, some great but some plainly bad. The Telugu industry is very proud of them, and yes they are a big step forward (even compared to Arundhati - the previous landmark) but they are still not up there with Hollywood. Overall Magadheera is a treat to watch at the cinema but more progress in the future is needed.

The soundtrack features many foot-taping numbers. Jorse Jorsey is a favourite of mine as I have a soft spot for drunk!songs and RCT is fabulous in it. I don't care much for Kim Sharma, but one can't have everything :P Dheera Dheera is all that is monumental, passionate and epic. It's also a good preview of the past part of the film. Panchadara Bomma is adorable and features the beautiful Golconda fort. Anaganaga shows the entire film crew chilling MHN/OSO style :D Bangaru Kodi Petta is a remix of Chiru's song from the film Gharana Mogudu and ends up with a dance off between father and son. The only drawbacks are that Mumaith got little to dance and Chiru's dance sequence was a cut out from the old film, which is slightly awkward.

In conclusion Magadheera is an extremely entertaining flick which defines the words paisa vasool (one's money's worth). Don't miss it if you're looking for a fun romp. The only thing that worries me is that Telugu people are TOO proud of this movie. It's fun and well made but this shouldn't be the ONLY face of Telugu cinema. It's the perfect masala, but one shouldn't forget about other types of films.

My rating: 4+/6