Raaja Kiran’s Geethanjali (2014) Movie Review
Cast: Anjali, Harshvardhan Rane, Srinivas Reddy, Shakalakka Shankar, Satyam Rajesh & Rao Ramesh
Director: Raaja Kiran
Screenplay: Kona Venkat
Music Director: Praveen Lakkaraju
Censor Certificate: A
Runtime: 145 Minutes
Story: A meek tale, the story begins with a Sri Sai Residency, being empty from past three months and a ghost Geethanjali (Anjali) needs help as she wants to take revenge on the person responsible for her certain death. In the backdrop of this, an aspiring director Srinivas (Srinivas Raju) steps in the same apartment with his friend Vishu (Madhu). What follows is a burst of activities replete with spoofs, songs and puns. Although, beneath all these lies a satirical message about the luxuria and society. Due to certain circumstances, Srinivas meets up with Ramesh Rao (film buff) head of Easy Solutions for narrating a script. But things take a solid turn around when he tells the true inspiration behind his script. Ramesh accepts the offer, and asks Srinivas to travel with the issue in his life to conclude the screenplay of his film. Whether it is just cooked up story or there is something to it forms rest of the storyline.
Performances: Its only the actors who salvage the film to certain extent. Actors like Anjali, Srinivas Raju, Rao Ramesh are perfect in their parts while the likes of Satyam Rajesh, Sapthagiri, Shakalakka Shankar are hilarious. Its their comic timing which makes some of the weakest gags also humorous. Much hyped Shaitaan Raj (Aka. Brahmanandam) character gets wasted due to poor writing. Madhu lacks promise. Harshavardhan Rane and Dil Raju’s cameos are okay.
Technicalities: One could easily get away with saying that Geethanjali has no REAL story. And they wouldnt be entirely wrong. The one line description and the detailed description would be pretty much the same. There’s a very thin line between a truly scary horror film and one that like a comedy. With an extremely slow pace, Geethanjali never really starts it keeps testing your patience with zooming shots (main leads) and camera movements introducing you to the every corner of the house/grave yard. A very lazy and uninteresting first half clearly gives you an idea that Kona Venkat has once again tried to play around with one liner ideas. Movie survives due to some comedy scenes here and there in the first half. Moving into the second half the viewer doesn’t feel excited anymore to see what happens next as he can easily guess all the future proceeding with his eyes closed (except for one.. No Spoilers!!). The over lengthy and unexplainable climax comes as another torture for the viewer and one just wants to leave the theater (as he has seen similar kinda climax in Om Shanti Om).
In other words, the movie has nothing to offer (other than few scenes in the first half) in any of its department involved in film making. Writer Kona Venkat has written the sequences only around a single line idea provided to him and have added the same old family – love – hoo-ha – revenge into the script and that’s it. Music Director Praveen Lakkaraju is fine with the songs, but fails to surprise audience with suspense and thrilling tunes. The cameraman (Sri Sai Ram) gives his best for the film, nearly succeeded in connecting audiences to major scenes of the film. Dialogues in the film are routine. Editing of the film is mediocre. However, editor should have used his scissors well for the second half of the film which appears draggy at times. The film ends abruptly and leaves you perplexed with a number of questions lingering in your head. (Spoilers ahead…) What happened to spirit in lemon till the end? Why did it reappear suddenly? How spirit was easily captured in the cams? Why did Anjali come to apartment 11 Pm for clues? Will Srinivas ever realize Arudra/Athreya are cheaters? There is no concrete situation how come a traditional girl falls in love? How come Brahmanandam was able to deliver final case statement when a murder happens in an apartment in the end (when he is a witness to the event)? Production values of M. V. V. Cinemas are good.
Analysis: Horror movies not necessarily have to be made revolving around the same repeated idea of a haunted house and a spirit. It’s high time our makers start researching new concepts for horror films. The problem with Geethanjali is, it never really manages to scare nor entertain audience with its subject. With extremely slow pace and no storyline what-so-ever, movie lacks suspense and thrill due to predictable thrills. On the whole, Geethanjali tries too hard to be funny and fit the bill of a commercial dido. Sadly, it falls short by miles.
Survi Review: 1.5/5
Theatrical Trailer:
Hi, I have been looking for a reasonable reviews for the Telugu movies and I find that your rating very well is what all the other movies deserve. So, in future, I want to follow your reviews to assess the movie before I see. However, with this rating on this movie, I am a bit sceptical. I am sure it is not a great movie, but your 1.5 rating says watch at your own risk. I believe there needs to some weight given to the first half of the movie where the suspense was very well carried. So, I would have been happy if you gave at least 2 for this movie, so that people would watch it once. If attarintiki daaredi can get 3.5, this should get at least 2.