Shakuntala Devi REVIEW from DAMAGED DEVDAS

SHAKUNTALA DEVI movie review from DAMAGED DEVDAS

DIRECTOR -Anu Menon

CAST- Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra, Amit Sadh, Jisshu Sengupta

Shakuntala Devi - This is the biopic of world renowned mathematical genius, astrologer, author and politician. These are just the names of professions but beyond that this film is more about a woman who has always been independent in her life, a passionate lover who never cared anything about how the society sees her. A daughter who always ignored and hated her mother and she's also a mother who loved and tried to give the best to her daughter. Shakuntala Devi as a person has truly lived a hundred lives. Her journey as a person is surprising, controversial and just too dramatic. Like the dialogue in this film as she says "We Indians are like that only, Drama or Nothing!"         Vidya Balan as an artist is truly apt for this role. She brought grace to this film and respect towards the character. Sanya Malhotra played the role of Anu, the daughter Shakuntala Devi. She was awesome in portraying the entangled relationship with her mother

Both Amit Sadh and Jishu Sengupta played supporting roles very strengthening their leading ladies. There is no craft that was not appreciable in this film. This is not normal since this film travels throughout several timelines it is very important to be cautious in terms of putting appropriate costumes and artwork. Cinematography and music are nice too. As a film, audience are supposed to be loving the character. But the new age films like Arjun Reddy/Kabir singh and biopics like Sanju, Azhar are not ought to be flawless. The characters playing the lead/title characters contain few or for a reason many flaws. So we as audience might not like them, but we will still be able to appreciate their life journey. Shakuntala Devi is a millenial born in the era of Boomers. Advanced, Brilliant and a strong Woman

Positives - Vidya Balan, Technicalities and Stage show scenes

Negatives - Self centered and narcissistic character design which disappoints the audience in parts

Review - 6.5

UMA MAHESHWAR UGRA ROOPASYA from DAMAGED DEVDAS

UMA MAHESHWAR UGRA ROOPASYA MOVIE REVIEW from DAMAGED DEVDAS

Directed by - Maha Venkatesh 

Starring: Satyadev Kancharana, Hari Chandana 

Producer : Vijaya Praveena Paruchuri, Shobu Yarlagadda, Prasad Devineni

Music : Bijibal

Maheswar Rao UgraRoopasya - There are many emotions that we experience in our life everyday, But when it comes to movies only one emotion like Love plays the dominant part. There is no balance of emotions in the characters we often see in our films. But kudos to the director Venkatesh Maha who made C/O Kancharapalem earlier manages to keep this balance. He chooses those kind of scripts where we get see the real people and not some fake actors. It can be innocent as Uma Maheswar Rao, Supportive as Suhas, Dynamic as Jyothi or protective like Babji. So many emotions and qualities already. Their capabilities as actors are noteworthy. Their names stay in our memory as the character names and not their real names. That's something phenomenal. Maha brings out the natural emotions and realistic situations to the script which drives the film forward. Screenplay works out just fine and perfect. A petty ego clash between two people transforms into anger and thereby affects many people through Butterfly Effect and humiliates the protagonist in front of the whole village. From then he vows not to wear footwear until he seeks his Vengeance. This forms the basic premise of the movie. It may sound basic in nature, but the director takes you through a whole lot of emotions and ends the film perfectly. Technically too the crafts were very well managed. Thanks to the Cinematography i felt my presence in Araku, sitting in my living room itself. Music is also pleasant to hear. If you didn't watch the original then you will surely fall in love with this film. Great adaption.

Strengths - Naturality, Locations, Realism, Actors, Screenplay

Weakness - Few boring scenes, Lack of chemistry between lead pair, No Compelling conflict or the Antagonist

Review - 8/10

Breathe into the shadows Review from Damaged Devdas

BREATHE INTO THE SHADOWS REVIEW : 

CAST AND CREW : Abhishek bachchan, Amit Sadh, Nithya menon

REVIEW : The sequel to the crime thriller Breathe starring Madhavan released on Amazon Prime this friday. For this second season the story revolves around two new characters Avinash and Abha played by Abhishek Bachchan and Nithya Menon respectively along with several other characters. The only continuing characters in this series are Kabir Sawant played by Amith Sadh and the comic relief character Kamble played by Hrishikesh joshi. Lets see how this series goes. Avinash and Abha are a happy couple living in Delhi with their daughter Sia. Avinash is a well reputed psychiatrist who helps policemen in solving several crimes and Abha is a Chef. Avinash drops her daughter in her friend's birthday party one day and someone kidnaps her from that place. Parents, Police and their friends try to search her for many months but they don't find any luck. After suffering from grave trauma for a long period of time they finally lose their hopes about their daughter and accept that she is not going to return. Just then the sociopath who kidnapped their daughter starts to send in the clues about her existence through messages and to keep her safe asks them to commit heinous crimes in return. How did 2 parents tackle this unusual situation without getting caught to police is briefly the plot of this series.

This Series definitely falls into the Big league series like Sacred Games, Family Man and Inside Edge as it has the Ensemble Cast and required technicalities like the Lavish Production design, Suitable Costumes and Noteworthy Cinematography. Most of the background score in moments is owed to the first part itself. I felt it would have been much more gripping as this is a thriller. The strongest tool to make a successful thriller is the Screenplay. Unlike Breathe which solely runs of survival of a kid and organ donation, this Breathe into shadows manages to explore new territories like Indian Mythology, Bad Childhood, Homosexuality, Multiple Personality disorder, Prostitution and Work life pressures managing the "Saving Kid" emotion neatly. Every murder in this series has a challenging concept. But since there are so many avenues, things do get a little messed up in few moments. Many times the situations become very convenient for the characters. It would have been much more thrilling if new conflicts added up instead of flattening the thrill. This series also reminds you of films like Seven and Aparichithudu too. But nothing seems blatantly coped from anywhere. The screenplay is organic for sure. While the first part ended perfectly the second season teases another season. Indian Web world is finding a decent space these days due to Lockdown and closure of theatres. In such scenario there is a great chance for Breathe 2 to be liked by audience as this is family friendly and new of its kind. Abhishek Bachchan played 2 different shades in this series. In One shade he shines like a silver but in the other shade there's not much to perform. Audience couldn't figure out whether the character arc itself is like that or he is underperforming. Nitya Menon's role deserves a some more depth and class into it.  Amit Sadh did very well in his part. Can surely look out for next season.

                            Positives : Screenplay, Conceptual Crimes, Technicalities, Screenplay and twists.                            Negatives : Few convenient scenes, Deeper impact from characters.           

RATING : 7/10  ( FOR MORE REVIEWS FOLLOW US AT