Ashok - A Shock
Ashoka means “without sorrow”. Jr.NTR hopes to be “Ashoka” with his latest venture “Ashok” produced by Nandamuri clan-loyalist Vallurupalli Ramesh. The film is the second attempt of the stylish director Surender Reddy who stuck gold with his maiden effort “Athonokkade”.
As a pre-cursor to a discussion about the movie itself; let us have a very quick look (it’s a promise!) at the Jr. NTR phenomenon. After a nightmarish debut in “Ninnu Choodalani”, the young actor quickly covered some valuable ground with Student No.1 (SS Rajamouli directorial debut under Raghavendra Rao B.A.’s supervision. Now wake up. Don’t day-dream about navels, honey, fruits, milk and other diary products).Followed it up with a forgettable Subbu (essentially a remake of Student No.1). V.V.Vinayak resurrected his career with Adi (with a strong and violent Seema backdrop). Allari Ramudu (on the lines of NTR’s social movies) and Naaga fall flat on their respective tummies. Then comes the blockbuster Simhadri. SS Rajamouli’s mixture of emotion and action coupled with a power packed performance from Jr.NTR hits the right chords with the audience. The parallel downfall of Balayya Babu helped him to carve a nice niche for himself among the legend late NTR’s legion of fans. What lined up later is an arithmetic progression of mediocrity in the form of Andhrawala, Samba, Naa Alludu and Narasimhudu. The last one was producer-turned-politico Chengala Venkat Rao’s suicidal attempt (both literally and figuratively).
But WHY?
Typecasting. You might have heard this word a million times if you are into the most thankless job called programming.
New Jr.NTR Role = (Jr. NTR) (Any Role)
/* don’t try this piece of code on your office computer system, if you want to remain employed */
He was cast in the same role over and over again. Rough look. Powerful dialogues. Fighting on the side of masses. Bashing the goons. It has become a routine (to use a mild term). We all very well know that he can don that role effortlessly. But it so happened that he donned only that role.
Readers: Cut the crap !
Sopeti: Ok. Here we go.
Creativity is the ability to hide your sources as someone more intelligent than many of us has put. But all through the film you have this feeling of déjà vu. A son who is not considered as a son by his father (owing to the son’s liberal limb-numbing instincts) is as common on Telugu screen as a sister & mother combo pack trying to re-install Son System Software on their Home PC. To help you further; Think software. Think Satyam. No. I am not promoting Satyam Software firm here, but trying to remind you of Sumanth’s father-repellant character in the movie “Satyam”. The handling of the love tale is pale and stale.
To brush up your Set Theory, I would really like to give a list of scenes which are an intersection of Ashok and movies before that. I even typed some but deleted. I don’t want to spoil your fun. If you watch the movie; do mail me what you have found and we can compare. Anyways, keep these in your cache - Mr.Pellam, Adi, Satyam, Vasu, Super etc.
Novelty in story is a rarity these days. But for the given (rather not given) story, it has been well shot. Most of the scenes reek of technicality. Some of the action episodes are well choreographed. Three of the songs are good with the usual Jr.NTR’s energetic movements. How much I tried to refrain myself from typing this. But…I hate Sameera Reddy sincerely. As is the norm, Prakash Raj plays father. Sudha plays mother. Even the sister (don’t know her name) is also right from the standard template. “Super” hero Sonu Sood (Yes. That’s the film in which Nag did a supporting role) plays the villain. Hero’s friends keep changing throughout the film to offer the much needed variety to the audience, with only Rajeev Kanakala appearing from the start to end (menacingly, even after his end).
Marudhuri Raja’s words and sentences are good in patches. The dialogues from Krishna Bhagawan and Jeeva (at times) stand out. But it could have been better. There is a mandatory "Vamsam-Raktham" dialogue along with the "Amma Thodu Addamgaa Narikesthaa" (repeated from Adi).An uncalled-for satirical reference to a scene in Kushi doesn’t help either. (No. This review is not retaliation in any way…hehe)
On a whole, the film may satiate a few of his fans’ years-long hunger but for most of the rest of them and almost everyone of the average movie watchers, the excessive violence (it has become a norm rather than an exception these days) and the numerous meaningless chases/ assaults/ kidnaps/ warnings are too much to take in.Can't help but notice that the typecasting dragon rose it's ugly head once again.
Advices to Mr.Jr.NTR
1.Please try something different the next time around.
2.Do not hard-code “Heroine = Sameera Reddy” for the coming films.Please.
As a pre-cursor to a discussion about the movie itself; let us have a very quick look (it’s a promise!) at the Jr. NTR phenomenon. After a nightmarish debut in “Ninnu Choodalani”, the young actor quickly covered some valuable ground with Student No.1 (SS Rajamouli directorial debut under Raghavendra Rao B.A.’s supervision. Now wake up. Don’t day-dream about navels, honey, fruits, milk and other diary products).Followed it up with a forgettable Subbu (essentially a remake of Student No.1). V.V.Vinayak resurrected his career with Adi (with a strong and violent Seema backdrop). Allari Ramudu (on the lines of NTR’s social movies) and Naaga fall flat on their respective tummies. Then comes the blockbuster Simhadri. SS Rajamouli’s mixture of emotion and action coupled with a power packed performance from Jr.NTR hits the right chords with the audience. The parallel downfall of Balayya Babu helped him to carve a nice niche for himself among the legend late NTR’s legion of fans. What lined up later is an arithmetic progression of mediocrity in the form of Andhrawala, Samba, Naa Alludu and Narasimhudu. The last one was producer-turned-politico Chengala Venkat Rao’s suicidal attempt (both literally and figuratively).
But WHY?
Typecasting. You might have heard this word a million times if you are into the most thankless job called programming.
New Jr.NTR Role = (Jr. NTR) (Any Role)
/* don’t try this piece of code on your office computer system, if you want to remain employed */
He was cast in the same role over and over again. Rough look. Powerful dialogues. Fighting on the side of masses. Bashing the goons. It has become a routine (to use a mild term). We all very well know that he can don that role effortlessly. But it so happened that he donned only that role.
Readers: Cut the crap !
Sopeti: Ok. Here we go.
Creativity is the ability to hide your sources as someone more intelligent than many of us has put. But all through the film you have this feeling of déjà vu. A son who is not considered as a son by his father (owing to the son’s liberal limb-numbing instincts) is as common on Telugu screen as a sister & mother combo pack trying to re-install Son System Software on their Home PC. To help you further; Think software. Think Satyam. No. I am not promoting Satyam Software firm here, but trying to remind you of Sumanth’s father-repellant character in the movie “Satyam”. The handling of the love tale is pale and stale.
To brush up your Set Theory, I would really like to give a list of scenes which are an intersection of Ashok and movies before that. I even typed some but deleted. I don’t want to spoil your fun. If you watch the movie; do mail me what you have found and we can compare. Anyways, keep these in your cache - Mr.Pellam, Adi, Satyam, Vasu, Super etc.
Novelty in story is a rarity these days. But for the given (rather not given) story, it has been well shot. Most of the scenes reek of technicality. Some of the action episodes are well choreographed. Three of the songs are good with the usual Jr.NTR’s energetic movements. How much I tried to refrain myself from typing this. But…I hate Sameera Reddy sincerely. As is the norm, Prakash Raj plays father. Sudha plays mother. Even the sister (don’t know her name) is also right from the standard template. “Super” hero Sonu Sood (Yes. That’s the film in which Nag did a supporting role) plays the villain. Hero’s friends keep changing throughout the film to offer the much needed variety to the audience, with only Rajeev Kanakala appearing from the start to end (menacingly, even after his end).
Marudhuri Raja’s words and sentences are good in patches. The dialogues from Krishna Bhagawan and Jeeva (at times) stand out. But it could have been better. There is a mandatory "Vamsam-Raktham" dialogue along with the "Amma Thodu Addamgaa Narikesthaa" (repeated from Adi).An uncalled-for satirical reference to a scene in Kushi doesn’t help either. (No. This review is not retaliation in any way…hehe)
On a whole, the film may satiate a few of his fans’ years-long hunger but for most of the rest of them and almost everyone of the average movie watchers, the excessive violence (it has become a norm rather than an exception these days) and the numerous meaningless chases/ assaults/ kidnaps/ warnings are too much to take in.Can't help but notice that the typecasting dragon rose it's ugly head once again.
Advices to Mr.Jr.NTR
1.Please try something different the next time around.
2.Do not hard-code “Heroine = Sameera Reddy” for the coming films.Please.
posted by SOPETI at 8:52 AM
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