Christopher Nolan stated that his Inception in a way was “James Bond meets the Matrix.” In many ways it was just that. The action pieces are Bondesque, while the complexity rivals that of the Matrix. Yet, unlike the Matrix though complex on paper, the idea behind the ‘dream theft’ in Inception was explained to the viewer in a relatively simple way. But, if you want a no-brainer action flick like Die Hard or Ironman, just give this one a miss. You need to be involved in the film & watch it. Not passively like most of India’s multiplex generation who watch movies texting & chatting away in between. Specifics of the plot can be difficult to pin down, especially at first but the 140 odd minutes is a highly engaging and entertaining journey.

The Inception ensemble of Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the rest of the cast strikes just the right tone for the enterprise. This role should propel Leonardo into the stratosphere of Hollywood’s most bankable, amongst the likes of Smith, Cruise, Pitt and Hanks. Hans Zimmer’s score is very effectively, but it has to be conceded that it has a Dark Knight hang over.

Summer blockbusters are so dumbed down, where characterization and story are often sacrificed for spectacular CGI scenes that, while easy on the eyes, begin to wane as a movie progresses. Inception is welcome break from those no-brainers. The ideas are fascinating and backed by great performances and jaw-dropping visuals that you won’t mind the endless explaining. If only we could be held captive by more films like Inception, a process and film that stays with us long after we leave the cinema.

Rating : *****

There are some cool insider jokes on Arnold, the Rambo movies and other stars of the movie. Arnold is on screen for a few minutes. Bruce Willis doesn’t get to flex his muscles. Mickey Rourkey just hangs around there tattooing people. The action is left to Sly, Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews and Steve Austin. Having so many people on board, the movie doesn’t do justice to them all. It could have been more fun. Should say Stallone did a better job with his last Rambo film. What the movie lets down with its average storytelling, it makes up through some mind-blowing action scenes. It’s got knives being thrown, gun battles, kicks, punches, car chases and mighty explosion – everything a true blue action fan would want. This is what saves the movie from being a downer. A decent flick for genre fan. Rest can give it a pass.

RATING : ***

The plot is basically an excuse for some testosterone filled characters, double crossing villains, bad-ass action heroes and over the top stunts. While the story is simplistic, the way it goes about is fast, with a dash on unpredictability and loads of action pieces. The characters are well-defined and have enough funny one-liners for each. Like most other movies, the hero gets beaten to pulp, blown away in explosion, yet manages to survive and completes his mission. A-Team too suffers from the AMS (action movie syndrome), where the some of the stunts just go overboard in order to thrill the audience. The scene where the four parachute out of a plane on a tanker was just too much to digest. While most of the stunts are good, episode at the LA dockyard where huge cargo containers are blown give away that’s it’s all CG work. The movie falters during the climax, but that’s excusable. Rest of the movie is enjoyable. It’s a perfect summer popcorn flick, where you exactly know what to expect. And get it. Fun!

RATING : ***½

Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and his mother (Taraji Henson) move to China has her job demands so. Dre tries to fit into the local society and falls for Mei Ying (Wenwen Han). The feeling is mutual, but isn’t approved by the school bully, Cheng (Zhenwei Wang) who makes his life miserable. Enter the scene Mr Han, the local maintenance guy who also happens to be a kung-fu guru. Han takes Dre under his wings and trains him for a championship where he needs to take Cheng head-on. Any guesses who would end up winning?

Interestingly, the Govt owned China Film Group is one of the producers of the film. And looking into tap into the huge Asian market, the makers ensured that there was no spoofing or parodying Eastern culture not to offend their audience. Unlike most Hollywood films, China was shown as a friendly, livable place.

Jaden looks vulnerable yet like the champ who can deliver. He’s good with comedy, like his dad Will. Jackie Chan is lovable as ever. The movie’s picks up from the moment his character comes on screen. The other characters of Mei, Cheng and his kungfu coach are apt. There are some great montages of Dre being trained by Han, and the both bonding together, which the family a feel-good family affair. The only bummer in this film is its 2 hour 20 minutes running length. But that flaw is overcome by good storytelling.

RATING : ****

Whats it all about :

What’s Good : The story movies very quickly. The twists begin from the word go, without wasting much time. The movie has a lot of twists, keeping the interest levels high.The hero actually feels he has a mission to carry out, infact realizes he is a just a pawn sent out to do some one else’s dirty work. Unlike modern-day sci-fi, the movie doesn’t waste time in showing the era in which the story is happening. The focus is only the story and less on technique and visuals. Arnold & Sharon Stone make fantastic leads.

What’s Not Good : The mutants looks really ugly and weird. It’s hard to sympathize them. The climax where a reactor created by aliens releases air into the whole of Mars and making it livable for human seems far-fetched.

Final Say : Its one of the classics of the genre. Looks like the “red pill” from Matrix, implanting of dreams from Inception and some of the fight scenes in Metro trains from Bourne were inspired by this master flick. Also, the telugu film Golimaar is an accidental pawn to the villain’s dirty deeds as a template looks similar to that Total Recall.

RATING : ***½

1)      Getting the audience to the theatre
2)      Getting enough audience to the theatre

Getting the audience to the theatre :

This is something many people might not agree. From a small-budget film, be it in Bollywood or Telugu the audience have modest expectations. A decent film with no great credentials can do well at boxoffice, if only it could convince the audience to come to the theatres.

The biggest challenge lies in getting them to the theatre.  In most cases, they have better alternatives. It could be watching a movie at home at fraction of the cost on DVD, or for free on TV. Their biggest obstacle is that a ‘big film’ too costs them the same ticket price & is vying for their money. When they have so many low-cost, high-value options why should they opt for a ‘small film’ over this? Out of sympathy that it’s being made by a small Producer? Or out of moral responsibility that they should encourage films made by new talent? The paying audience doesn’t care about these things.

Their only question they have be it a big or small film is? “Is this film worth my time and money?” Many small-budget films fail to address this basic question. If you watch the trailer of most of these films, there is nothing that creates anticipation or interest in the audience. The common man, wouldn’t have even heard the titles of nearly 50% of the 120-130 odd movies the Telugu film industry produces every year. People are not even aware of these film, forget considering to watch them.

If only using marketing or whatever trick, the filmmaker can get the audience to the theatres – chances are high they will feel satisfied. Like I said in most cases, they have modest expectations from the film. The first thing a small-budget movie should focus on is getting people to come to the theatres through whatever means – controversy, good music, sound marketing or a very saleable concept . Then half the job is done.

Getting enough audience into the theatres

This is something that’s not in the filmmaker’s hand, but is one of the prime reason why small-budget movies don’t make big money. Its not enough if the movie appeals to a really small niche. It needs to have sizeable audience to sustain its run in the theatre. But, why all this? Read on.

Most theatres in Andhra Pradesh have a seating capacity of anywhere between 500 to 1200 seats. The largest one has over 1600 seats! To attain break-even, a movie has to fill in atleast 20-25% of the seats. For a big movie, even if it doesn’t perform too well it easily fills in this kind of crowd. But imagine, in a theatre with 800 seating, for an average performing small-budget movie to pull in 250 people per show for 28 shows a week is no easy feat. Especially considering that it’s not the first choice of entertainment for people.

All this hue & cry by a section in the film industry about high rentals is because small-budget movies can’t make big money in this model where theatres are too big for small-budget films to fill up easily. Who is to be blamed for the really large theatres we have in our state?

So for a small budget film playing in an 800 capacity theatre, the Producer needs 7000 people to watch it just to attain break-even. He gets to pocket the money from the 7001^st movie goer onwards. But this is not an impossible feat. With sound marketing & decent content, a film can fill in a movie theatre enough to make decent money. We shouldn’t forget that Nuvve Kavali, Chitram, Anand, R. Narayana Murthy’s Orei Rickshaw, Mantra & many films in the industry were big money spinners despite being small-budget films. So, all these theories that the ‘system’ in Telugu film industry is designed to make small-budget films bleed always are just conspiracies.

Why high rentals?

Most of the theatres in our states were built between the 70s & 90s. Cinema was one of the few entertainment options then. People came in hordes to theatres to watch a movie. Hence the theatres made in that era were really big. But that’s slowly changing as people have alternate entertainment choices. Many people fail to understand that theatre business is part entertainment & part real-estate. The rent a theatre-owner charges is linked to the real estate value of his theatre. A theatre owner would expect the same rent from the theatre, which he would get had he given it to any other commercial activity like shopping mall or office space. For the same reason a movie hall in the prime city area would chargea higher rent than a one in the outskirts though, both of them might have the same seating capacity.

Andhra Pradesh – lowest rentals in India.

Any person in the trade would tell you Andhra Pradesh has one of the lowest rentals in the country. Much lesser than our neighbours like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu & Maharashtra. Chattisgarh & Orissa probably have lesser rentals. This is despite the fact that real estate in AP has grown much faster than the inflation in ticket rates. For many theatre owners it doesn’t even make business sense to run theatres. They’d rather build a complex & lease it to office spaces. But, many of them do as it’s a prestige investment, have an emotional bond with the business or its source of soft power in the community. All these work in advantage of the film industry. If a film can’t make money in Andhra Pradesh, probably it can’t make anywhere else in the country.

Profit-sharing basis :

Some people suggest the theatre should rent out itself on ‘percentage basis’, ie : charge a % instead of a flat fee. This will be a risky proposition for the theatres. Right now, a hit or flop doesn’t have much impact on the theatre owner – as they get paid a flat rent no matter what. But, if single-screens are to run on profit-sharing basis, the theatre owners would avoid risks and opt only for big-budget film as they manage to pull crowds easily.

Why would a theatre owner want to risk & give his theatre to a small-budget film when their success rate is so low? For the one odd movie that makes money he can’t bleed for the remaining 7 or 8 films. Theatre owner don’t have any sentiment towards the cause of ‘saving small-budget films’. Its business – whatever makes money! Despite running on ‘profit-sharing’ basis, this is one of the reasons why most multiplexes in the Hyderabad don’t screen many small-budget Telugu movies.

Arrghh.. So what the solution, then?

There is no magic solution to this. Probably in the future, with newer theatres and renovations of existing ones, we should have screens with smaller seating capacity. Then the rentals would be lower & require smaller audiences to make the movie profitable. A lot of the theatres in the state are already breaking down large halls into multiple screens to offer more choice to consumers & make money with a smaller crowd. But it’s a process & will take time. It’s not a doom’s day situation either. Let me remind you even today a small-budget Telugu film can make good money, but needs to work a little harder towards it. Smaller capacity single-screens with lower rentals would only make things a little better, that’s all. So again it finally boils down to the same things : 1) Good content, backed by 2) Good marketing & distribution.

The movie is a decent, entertaining watch. It falls short of other films of its genre, such as Mummy or Stargate but better than most other video-game adaptations like Hitman, Tomb Raider & Mortal Kombat. Most action films have wafer-thin or mediocre stories, but the “fantasy” backdrop limits that restriction. But, PoP doesnt make great use of it. As a testosterone-filled, male movie goer, where I was diappointed was the action episodes. There was not a single “WTF! moment” in the action scenes, nor great use of the swords & archery. With the same $150 million budget, Troy made a better on-screen granduer & action.  The movie’s story is no greater than any of the stories, Telugu cinema had churned out before in this genre. Like most other “Chandamama” stories of folklore, fantasy and mythology variety – this one has a archetypical setup. The ‘damsel in distress’” heroine, a villain seeking super-powers & the underdog hero with modest backgrounds and a “clause” in the path to resolution.

Hero of a modest background :
Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari : Chiranjeevi a is tour-guide.
The Mummy : Brendan Fraser is a convict, who seeks adventure.
Pathala Bhairavi : NTR is the son of a gardener.
Anji : Chiranjeevi is a tribal living in the forest.

The villain seeking a super-power :
Anji : Bhatia (Tinu Anand) wants to attain immortality by drinking water of the Akasa Ganga
Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari : Mahadrashta attains magical powers by sacrificing a divine woman.
Prince of Persia : Time can be reversed by the person, who plugs the dagger into the giant Sandglass.
The Mummy : Imhotep will destroy the world if he’s resurrected.

The “clause” to Resolution.
But, what brings this movie closest to our own stories is the “Clause in conflict”. There’s is a clause or hindrance to the resolution of the movie, which adds greater drama.

Prince of Persia’s clause : The dagger can turn back time, but only upto 60 seconds.
Pathala Bhairavi clause : The sorcerer S.V Ranga Rao a magic statuette which grants wishes. But that can be attained only by sacrificing a young lad.
Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari clause : Sridevi,a Goddess needs to find a ring she lost to re-enter heaven. But, she needs to find it within 30 days else, will remain on Earth as a mortal.
Anji clause : The Akasa Ganga showers only once in 72 years, that too only where the ”aathmalingam” is present.

Fantasy, folklore & mythological films can literally be “trademarked” by the Telugu Film industry. No other industry in India, produced as many films (and successes) in these genres like Telugu cinema did, during its Golden era (1950s to 1970s). We had very few films in these genres between 1990 and 2009. Reasons, I dont know myself.I feel with the right technicians, Telugu cinema can produce equally entertaining films such as The Mummy & the Prince of Persia within our own budgets (Less than Rs. 40 crore). As an aderant Telugu movie buff, I wish more movies of these genres are made in our industry. Below are more movies of the “folk & fantasy” genre. I have deliberately avoided the mythological & devotional genre. I might have missed some films, either due to oversight or lack of knowledge as most belong to an era before I was born. Feel free to suggest more titles.

Jagadeka Veeruni Kadha [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266659/ ]
Aditya 369 [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252196/ ]
Bhairava Dweepam [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264415/ ]
Suvarna Sundari [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0257209/ ]
Ammoru [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264357/ ]
Arundathi [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1361809/ ]
Magadheera [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1447500/ ]
Yamadonga [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0924317/ ]
Yamudiki Mogudu [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246339/ ]
Yamaleela [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268042/ ]

The writing, be it screenplay or dialogs were top-notch. Seeing grey characters play lead roles in Telugu cinema is a rarity. Despite its relaxed pace, at no point did I lose interest in the movie.  Seeing the realistic screenplay, I wondered how an ‘outsider’ like Deva was able to depict the political scene so accurately. The dialogues are hands-down the best in recent times. While the music was alright, Mahesh Shankar’s background score made up for it. Along with Deva Katta, another behind-the-scenes star of the film was cinematographer Shyam Dutt. The film was like visual poetry. The input of all the technicians involved in the film, was pretty evident on-screen.

This is my first Sai Kumar film and I feel we’ve missed a great actor along the way. He’s a talent powerhouse & should have got bigger roles in mainstream Telugu Cinema. Hope that happens post Prasthanam. This film is Sharwanand’s quantum leap as an actor. This is his best work till-date. I appreciate producer Ravi Vallabhaneni for producing this film. I was happy in a way that I dint produce this classic. Had I did that, out of anxiety if it would click commercially, I would have attempted to “basterdize” the film with a comedy track, twist or action episodes. I appreciate the Producer for sticking to his director’s vision. Supposedly, he was offered two scripts to produce. One a love story with comedy & the second was Prasthanam. And he chose this film. Bravo!

But I am equally sad, that my company Geetha Films dint distribute this film. In that case, we would have planned an elaborate marketing campaign, given better theatres and ensured the movie gets watched by a wider audience. I just  wish the movie lasted longer in theatres as the word-of-mouth started picking up, but the movie wasn’t running in cinemas. I am happy that the Telugu audience are responding well to newer kinds of cinema. The boxoffice success of Shambo Shiva Shambo, Leader, Yem Maya Chesavo and Prasthanam are a testament to that. As an industry, I feel slowly yet steadily we’re pushing our limits creatively. There’s still a lot left to be achieved, a movie like this is a step in the right direction.

Please appreciate the filmmakers and their efforts. Dont watch pirated copies of the movie. Download/watch it from www.RajShri.com if you want to see it. Else, I am sure the DVD will be out soon. Its worth the wait!

Also read :  “My Take on Leader & why it works for me.” (Published on 20th February 2010)

Being an “insider”, I get asked on Twitter all the time whether to a certain rumour being circulated on the net is real. When its about my family, I do respond. At times I dont because its below my level to come and clarify every piece of junk. The more I answer, the more I will be made answerable. Many a time, I even get asked to clarify about celebrities who are not from my family. At this point – I really dont know what to say. I know its untrue, but how can I go about defending other people? I always wished I could do something about it. Sometimes, I see some hardcore fans of actors really getting worked up on these rumours.

While flipping OK!, one of the celebrity mags I bumped into a coulmn which totally caught my eye. Its titled “Real or Rumor?”, and simply states which of the gossip floating is true & which was one is real. I felt it was a good idea and suits our magazine very much. We could also get a quote from the celeb or their PR machinary. Would make it fun & authentic. While some harmless gossip can just float around, the ones that malign a celeb’s image can be dealt with. It would also make an interesting new feature in our magazine. I need your advice on whether we should introduce it.

Despite being the fastest & easiest way to popularity, Southscope kept away from rumour-mongering & attacking celebrities. Stars and our reader love our magazine for the fact that we keep away from yellow journalism. Doing this would would earn me more personal attacks from the “yellow press”, but I am game for it. Think it would be a good idea. Do vote and let me know your opinion.

But not all 100 days movie are equal success. Some of them run in more theatres. A movie that ran for “100 days in 100 centers” is a bigger hit than a movie that for “100 days in 80 centers”. BTW, in film terms, center means a town or city. The calculation was simple. The more the centers, the bigger the hit. The number of centers a movie had for 100 days was a testament to the hero’s stamina. Peculiarly, what the centers system couldn’t answer was which film was a bigger hit. A film that ran for 100 days in 50 centers, but had only 10 centers for 175 days or the one that ran for 100 days in 40 centers and ran for 175 days in 20 centers! See the paradox. Allu Arjun’s first film Gangotri ran for 100 days in 54 centers. Yet his third film Bunny, which was a much bigger hit, collected 40% more had only 35 centers. Yamadonga was the biggest hit of NTR’s career. Yet it had only 63 centers for 100 days, where as Adi had 95 centers. There are many more such instances.

Back then and even today all these centers, records and jazz don’t matter to a normal movie goer. They only know two things – good film, bad film. But, for the fans who have immense loyalties to the star, rivalries with other actor’s fans the “boxoffice records” meant more than a good movie itself. For me as a hardcore Chiranjeevi fan, all these mattered.  Release centers, 50 days centers, 100 days and silver jubilee centers. But things have changed and it’s time to move on.

The “Centers” Mania : Balakrishna’s Narasimha Naidu ran for 100 days in a record 105 centers. Chiranjeevi Indra passed that milestone and completed 100 days in 117 centers. NTR’s Simhadri beat that record by completing 100 days in 147 centers. Chiranjeevi’s Tagore finally beat that record by running for 100 days in 192 centers. Likewise, NTR’s Simhadri held the record for maximum number of silver jubilee centers. Then came Pokiri and so on.

The side-effects of records : These records were only meant for fans and the stars. But they burdened the industry quite a lot. Producers and distributors were forced to keep the movie in the theatres to please fans. For the theatre owners too it was a hassle, though they earn a flat rent irrespective of the boxoffice run. Empty theatres meant they wouldn’t be making money from parking fees, canteen sales which contributes a lot to their bottom-line. For many hit films, the producers had to spend 10-15% of his “take home” money (read : nett profits) on these records, which usually don’t last for more than a year. Also these theatres are ‘blocked’ by the old film, which is running to empty halls, where as if terminated it could accommodate a new film. Also these records can be easily manipulated by the Producer or Distributors, by running the film in the theatre and losing money. Thankfully, all this is fading quickly in Telugu Cinema.

Why we need a 100 days to make money? In those good old days, the number of theatres a movie released in were limited. A big star’s movie would release in about 150-200 theatres in the state. People dint have alternative entertainment choices. Movies used to run for long in theatres. Some movies even ran for years! For a movie to make Rs 20 crores at boxoffice it had to be in the over 100 theatres for about 100-150 days. For a producer to recover his money, the movie had to play in theatres for so long. So in those good old days more centers equals a bigger hit. This era lasted through the early and mid 2000s.

In this age of piracy, alternative entertainment options one cannot hope that his movie will run in theatres forever. Hence distributors of big-budget film adopted a strategy, known in Hollywood as “tentpole release”. The movie would open in the highest number of theatres, accommodate as many people in the first week and recover most of its budget in the first week few weeks itself. As the stakes are big in a expensive film, distributors want to reduce risk by getting maximum number of people to see it in the first week itself before any word-of-mouth about the movie spreads. This is the reason why we see many films that just seemed like ordinary films, yet are termed “hits” at boxoffice as they made big money.

Gross – the global standard : The metric used across the world to see which movie is a bigger hit is the “boxoffice gross”. Which simply is the amount of money the movie made by selling tickets at theatres. The more number of people see the film, the higher the gross. As simple as that.  The film that has a higher gross is a bigger hit. A film that grosses $100 million could get all that money in one week itself, or over a period of 4-8 weeks.

Avatar grossed over $2.7 billion worldwide, higher than Titanic’s $1.8 billion. It took Avatar only 21 weeks to collect this sum, where as Titanic took 41 weeks to reach that total. How long doesn’t matter. How much does. Avatar was watched by more people in theatres, collected more and is a bigger hit than Titanic. Period. All equations like “But, Avatar was made on budget of $300 million, where as Titanic was made for $180 million” don’t matter. Which film is more profitable is impossible to tell and doesn’t matter to most people. In all probability, Avatar will be a more profitable film to the studio than Titanic.

Short Life span of Telugu blockbusters : Jalsa released in over 1000 screens, grossed 20 crores in its first week. In the next 10 weeks the movie grossed another 22 crores. Nearly half the money it made was earned in the first one week itself. At 42 crores, the movie was telugu cinema’s second-highest grossing film back then. But it had only 25 centers for 100 days. Same case with Adhurs. The movie released in the most number of theatres, grossed over 20 crores at boxoffice in the first week. Went on to become one of the highest grossing films, yet it had only 15 centers for 100 days. Magadheera is Telugu cinema’s biggest hit till date. Yet it has only 3 centers for 175 days.

All the movies mentioned above released in over 800 screens instead of 300 like a few years back. Most of its audience got to see it in the first few weeks itself. So, why should they run in the theatres for longer? If the movie is terminated from theatres, it could accommodate a new film instead.

To simplify, the metric to measure a movie’s success has to change. It can’t be number of 100 days or 175 days centers, but boxoffice gross. The highest gross is the biggest hit. The second highest grosser is the second biggest hit and so on.

So, is that the end of the silver jubilee era?

Mostly, Yes. Probably, the film would be running for 25 weeks in a handful of theatres at most. Even Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu and NTR Jr can’t break their own 100 days and silver jubilee records. Not that they cant give hits like Tagore, Pokiri, Simhadri again. But the era where a film runs for months together in theatres is gone. All the records that were made between 2003 and 2008 will remain unbroken in the future, in all probability.

On the 175^th day, blockbusters would be making attempts to create “records” on a newer turfs. On television, for the highest TRPs. On home-video, for most number of DVDs and Blu-Ray sold. On the internet, on which is the most downloaded film. So, records are here to stay but have a new address. Let’s take our fight to the next level.