Jeevi review (Rating 4.5 out of 5 scale)

Story
The film opens with a series of events that leave an astounding impact, shown in time intervals of decades about how one blood-seeking family is trying to annihilate another peace-making influential family in the land of Rayalaseema. In the process they show a kid called Indra Sena Reddy occupying the big chair of the peace making family at a tender age of 8 years.

Then the scene shifts to Varanasi, where the newly appointed UP governor Chenna Kesava Reddy (Prakash Raj) comes to visit Varanasi along with his family, which includes a beautiful daughter Pallavi (Sonali Bendre) who is studying at BHU (Banaras Hindu University).

When Pallavi takes holy dip in Ganges her pearl pendant floats off and adorns the neck of a guy who is also taking holy dip. According to the mother of Pallavi, if somebody leaves something that is dear to them in the Ganges at Varanasi, his or her wishes would come true. But Pallavi does not know that the pendant reached a person called Shankar Narayan.

Shankar Narayan (Chiranjeevi) works as a taxi driver to make his living. He (removed also here) has a trusted lieutenant Valmiki (Tanikella Bharani) and a loyal assistant Giri (Sivaji). Shankar Narayan is very fond of his nephew and niece.

On seeing Shankar Narayan when he visits BHU where his niece Nandini is studying, Pallavi realizes that her pendant is adorned on Shankar Narayan's neck. Nandini and Pallavi are friends. Pallavi falls in love with Shankar Narayan, as she believes that as a 'Shivudi Aagna' (Command of Lord Shiva). She acts as a pilgrim and manages to reach Shankar Narayan's house as guest. She stays there as an orphan. The Governor is worried that his daughter is missing from University. He contacts the local mafia people and summons them to search her daughter. They report to him that she is staying in the house of a taxi driver named Shankar Narayan and she is in love with him. Then Governor uses his mafia links to abduct the family members of Shankar Narayan and transports them in a train. Shankar Narayan gets hold of a helicopter (owned by a Muslim friend Khan - played by Punit Issar) and chases the train to get back his family members.

The irritated Governor lands up at the house of Shankar Narayan with a fleet of cars carrying armed men. When he spots Shankar Narayan, he is very much surprised. He salutes Shankar Narayan and asks him about how and why is he in Varanasi. When Pallavi says that she is in love with Shankar Narayan, the Governor requests Shankar to marry Pallavi. But Shankar Narayan says that he is a responsible guy and he will have to wait till his niece Nandini is married. Then his loyal assistant Giri informs that he is in love with Nandini and Nandini also likes him.

Nandini's marriage with Giri is fixed. When Giri is about to tie the nuptial knot, a fleet of cars enter the compound with a group of villains and a beautiful girl gets down from a Mercedes. That beautiful lady comes to the podium and asks Giri to come out by calling him as Veera Reddy. The black sheep Veera Reddy under the guise of Giri comes out and joins the villain gang. Then the lady tells the crowd that Shankar Narayan is Indra Sena Reddy. And she challenges Shankar Narayan to come back to Rayala Seema.

<interval>

When asked by the crowds to tell the flashback, Valmiki starts telling the flashback.

<begin flashback>

Indra Sena Reddy is the peace-loving youngster who performs Yagnam for the rains in Rayalaseema. When he is about to complete the last day of Yagnam, the just-release Veera Kesava Reddy comes to the spot to foil Jala Yagnam. Indra kills him. As soon as he dies the clouds start becoming darker and it drizzles.

Veera Kesava Reddy has got five sons and a daughter. The elder one Veera Shankar Reddy (Mukesh Rushi) heads the five brothers. When Indra Sena Reddy rescues Veera Shankar Reddy's son from a road accident - Veera Shankar Reddy treats it as a humiliation and kills his 6-year-old son. In the mean time, her sister Sneha Latha Reddy (Arti Agrawal) arrives from states after completing graduation. She falls in love with Indra for his goodhearted deeds.

Indra realizes that Rayalaseema needs a reservoir to store the water from rains. But Veera Shankara Reddy and his brothers own the place suitable for building reservoir.

Indra convinces the collector Chenna Kesava Reddy (who later became the Governor of UP) that he would make the settlement for the land if he arranges a meet with Veera Shankara Reddy brothers. In the meeting the brothers of Veera Shankara Reddy ask to surrender all the land and houses to them and leave the Rayalaseema in exchange to their land for reservoir. As the final wish, Sneha Latha Reddy asks Indra to marry her. Indra accepts all their demands and says that he would give property immediately, then marry Sneha Latha Reddy and leave Rayala Seema only after completing the reservoir project.

You have to wait and see what exactly happens in the flashback and what follows next on the giant screen with DTS effect to get the maximum viewing pleasure.

Artists:

Chiranjeevi: Chiranjeevi is known as the greatest dancer of Telugu cinema and his dances have not been so exhilarating in his recent releases. But with Indra, Chiranjeevi is back on the track as the dancing sensation. His facial expressions and agile body movements to accentuate the exciting tunes of Mani and RP are amazing. Chiranjeevi is also known as the mass hero of Telugu cinema. But, the mass angle was amiss in the latest films. In Indra, Chiranjeevi dished out a visual treat with ferocious fights and breathtaking stunts. Chiranjeevi is probably one of those very few stars of Telugu cinema, who can excel in any aspect of acting, be it stunts, dances, emoting or comedy. He has entertained the audience with sensible and clean comedy in Indra. We have not seen Chiranjeevi utter ferocious dialogues and make the villain cringe in fear in a way the frontbencher jumps with joy. Indra is one film where he delivers powerful and reverberating dialogues with élan. To comprehend Chiranjeevi's performance, one might be at loss of words. He is simply the best and Indra once again echoes that fact.

Sonali Bendre: The lissome lass Sonali has the entire first half to dazzle. She has two songs to shake legs with the Megastar. She suited the role to tee and did her bit to perfection.

Arti Agrawal: Aarti has a meaty role as a stubborn individual. She is the perfect cast. She leaves her fans asking for more as she has just two songs. Thankfully, her dubbing is not done by Savitha, which gave some freshness and authenticity to her role of 'Seema Ammai'.

Other Cast: Brahmanandam, MS Narayana and Dharmavarapu Subramanyam gave very good entertainment in the first half as the crooks who cheat the pilgrims at Varanasi. Brahmanandam is simply superb. SP Balu acted as singer SP Balu. Prakash Raj is redundant with his action. Sunil performed well in his cameo role. Tanikella Bharani is also given a good role.

Technical Departments:

Story: The story of the film is based on a very good commercial point that is time tested one. Bad man trying to sabotage the good man and the good man retaliates with his kindness and when betrayed uses bloodshed and finally delivers a message that violence is bad and adheres to peace. But the only novel point in this storyline is taking water problem in Rayalaseema as the base point against the faction backdrop. Chinni Krishna has delivered the goods well.

Screenplay - Direction:This film is a B Gopal trademark film. He knows the emotions of the masses and catches the pulse accordingly. He is known for canning good action sequences and narrating flashbacks in style. He proved himself as the undisputed king at making mass films. The screenplay of the film is very tight and there is never a dull moment. We observe that B Gopal has been on back foot in the first halves of his earlier films, though he has given fine finishing in the end. But in Indra, he excelled in providing an extraordinary first half too. Indra would be a perfect birthday gift to him.(He is born on 24th of July).

Dialogues: Paruchuri brothers did a fine job in dialogue department by writing apt dialogues. They did not go overboard in ferocity section of dialogues. The best dialogues of the film come in the lead scene to climax where Chiranjeevi comes to the house of villain and dare him. There are political oriented dialogues as well for Chiru.

Choreography: Lawrance has done a fantastic job along with Raju Sundaram for this film.

Songs: Mani Sharma and RP did wonderful job for songs. The background music is also very impressive. Here is the song sequence in the film

1. Bham Bham Bhole: This lengthy song appears short on screen as it engrosses us more into it. Chiranjeevi has done slow classical steps choreographed by Lawrance. This song is shot in Varanasi backdrop. The steps done by Chiranjeevi with red dress are amazing. (Song rating 4.5/5)

2. Radhe Govinda: This song is on Chiranjeevi and Sonali Bendre, that is picturized on sets with five color themes (red, blue, green, white and yellow) and cool steps by Chiranjeevi and Sonali Bendre. There is one reference to jada in this song. And Raju Sundaram made sure that he plays around with that word and choreographed accordingly. During that word in the song, Chiru runs his fingers down on Sonali's bare back and is surprised by not seeing a jada. (Song rating 4/5)

3. Dayi Dayi Damma: This song is picturized on Chiru and Sonali in picturesque locales in Switzerland. The steps in which Chiranjeevi mocks the Veena-play is instant hit with the theater crowds. Lawrence strikes again with this song. (Song rating 4.5/5)

4. Ghallu Ghallu: This song suits the mood and pace of the film and immerses audience into the theme of the film. A nice situational song beautifully choreographed by Raju Sundaram. This song has similarities to the rain song in Hindi film Lagaan (Song rating 4.5/5)

5. Ayyo Ayyo: Chiranjeevi and Arti Agrawal danced to this song in gay abandon in Switzerland. This song is choreographed again by Lawrence and there are amazing slow and fast steps that show Chiru teasing Arti Agrawal. (Song rating 4.5/5)

6. Ammadu Appachi: This song is pictured on sets erected by Ashok. This song has total mass dances by Chiru and Arti. (Song rating 4/5)

In addition to the six songs, there is one bit song where Chiru sings in classical style in front of SP Balu, when his niece exhibits stage fear to start the song.

Photography: The photography of VSR Swamy is just normal. He did not use lighting properly in the film and you can see different light shades for different shots of same scene. He should have taken care of it. The picturization of train chase with helicopter and canning of songs is pretty good.

Production: Aswini Dutt stated in an interview that Indra would become the biggest hit produced by Vyjayanti Movies. He stuck to his word and delivered a gem of a film. It's a perfect offing from a production house that is in business for the past 25 years. Indra indeed is Aswini Dutt's way of celebrating his existence and excellence in the industry.

Negative points in the film:

1. Inconsistency in Chiranjeevi's makeup.
2. Hero kills the goons left, right and center and gives a message at end that everybody in Rayalaseema should drop violence and love peace.
3. Inconsistency in the light schemes.

Good Scenes:

1. The comedy episodes involving Brahmanandam and Co trying to dupe the pilgrim AVS.
2. The comedy scene between Chiru and Sonali, where Chiru tries to get hold of his pearl pendant from the sleeping Sonali.
3. All scenes involving Khan and the scene in which Chiru says 'Khuda hafeez' to Khan
4. Helicopter chasing the train and the scene in which Chiru (with a great expression in his eyes) bashes the guy, who slapped his niece.
5. The interval scene where Arti challenges Chiru.
6. The scene where Chiranjeevi comes back to villain's house with the dead kid on his shoulders and then buries the kid in the compound of villain and plants a Thulasi Mokka on it.
7. The scene in which Chiranjeevi gives everything away to villains for the sake of reservoir.
8. The lead scene to climax in which Chiranjeevi challenges the villain in a ferocious style.
9. The scene in which Arti realises her mistake and goes back to Chiranjeevi's place and the wives of villains supporting that move.
10. The end scene in which Chiranjeevi is left with two nagging girlfriends (Sonali and Arti) to chose one from

Analysis:
First half is a perfect blend of mass and class elements. It's extraordinary. The interval scene gives the right finishing touch to the first half. The second half has typical B Gopal Kind of action sequences. But, at the same time the saint-like attitude and revenge seeking vigor is judiciously mixed for Indra Sena Reddy character. Second half of the film is excellent. This film is an 18 reel film, which leaves you in theater for about 2 hours and 50 minutes. But you would enjoy every moment of it. Another best thing about this film is that Chiranjeevi is shown as a 30+ guy, which adds some authenticity for the hero characterization. You can go to this film with full expectations and still you get what you want. This film is a super hit for sure. But what needed to be seen is if this film becomes industry's number one or not. Only future will tell!!

More about Indra

Cast and Crew Story Jeevi Review Gudipudi Srihari Review Experience - Excited fan Indra Mania Indra Audio Songs Indra Audio Release Fn Indra Audio Review Indra Dialogues Indra  Release Centres Indra  50 days Centres Indra  75 days Centres Indra 100days Centres Indra 125days Centres Indra 150days Centres Indra 175days Centres Indra 175 days function Indra 100 days KKD Rally Indra Posters Indra Records Distributors list Chiru Interview Before Indra Release (  1   2   3 ) Chiru Interview After Indra Release ( 1   2   3   4 )

Advertise | About this site | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer