Film: Dookudu
Rating: 3.5/5
Banner: 14 Reels Entertainment
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Samantha, Prakash Raj, Sonu Sood, M S Narayana, Brahmanandam
Music: S S Thaman
Dialogues: Kona Venkat
Cinematographer: K V Guhan
Editing: M R Varma
Story, screenplay, direction: Srinu Vaitla
Producers: Anil Sunkara, Achanta Ram, Achanta Gopichand
Release date: 23/09/2011 
The much delayed and most awaited movie has finally arrived. It has brought Mahesh Babu along with Samantha under the direction of Srinu Vaitla. Let us take a plunge into the details.

Story:
Shankar Narayana (Prakash Raj) an honest man with ideals who does a lot for the poor. His good deeds find enemies (Kota, Supreeth, Sayaji). Shankar’s son Ajay (Mahesh Babu) grows up to be an honest and tough cop.

While the whole world thinks Shankar Narayana is dead, he is actually recovering in a hospital. Meanwhile, unaware of all this flashback Ajay sets on a mission to hunt Nayak (Sonu Sood), a dreaded mafia don. In this process, he comes across Prashanti (Samantha) and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Shankar Narayana recovers but he is not supposed to go through any sort of stress.

For this, Ajay starts doing all sorts of things to keep him happy. The story takes a turn when Ajay discovers about the attack on his father and decides to take revenge. How does he do that? Whether he is successful or not forms the rest of the story.
 
Performances:
Mahesh Babu gives a powerhouse performance. His versatility in acting and emoting of various expressions is impressive. As usual, he rocks with his style and handsome looks.

Samantha looks sweet. She manages to do justice in songs and the light romance track. However, she must reduce her dose of makeup and start focusing on adding few extra pounds, that will make her double sexy.

Prakash Raj was matured as usual. Though he doesn’t have intense scenes in it, he maintains a contained act and does his bit as required.

Sonu Sood looks stylish as a villain but his characterization is not that powerful. This time, he was not able to create the required impact.

Nasser was natural, Brahmanandam was hilarious, M S Narayana was fantastic, Vennela Kishore brought few extra smiles and made his presence felt, Sonia was alright, Subbaraju made his presence felt, Kota was effective, Sayaji Shinde was standard, Aditya Menon was apt, Tanikella Bharani was elegant, Supreeth was okay. Special mention must be made of Parvathi Melton. Her item song and her oozing sex appeal is a visual delight. The others did their bit as required and added value.
 
Highlights:

    Mahesh Babu’s performance
    Brahmi, M S Narayana comedy
    Second half
    Parvathi Melton’s item song

Drawbacks:

    First half
    Length
    Routine Vaitla formula
    Weak romance track
    MLA get up Mahesh Babu got wasted

Analysis:
The two names, Mahesh Babu and Srinu Vaitla, are enough to set high expectations for the film. But the best way to enjoy this film is to go with an open mind. As such, this is a typical Srinu Vaitla film and his formula and pattern is the same from start to finish.

Subba Raju’s character resembles Jaya Prakash Reddy in ‘Dhee’. Brahmanandam’s character resembles what he portrayed in ‘Ready’.

Only difference is, the commercial elements are high and for a change he has shown villains as villains and not converted them to good beings.

As usual, Vaitla relied on his strengths ie comedy and dialogues. During the first half, things are quite erratic and it is hard to connect. Many were looking at their watches for the interval bang. During the interval many gave thumbs down reactions and somewhat negative vibes.

The much hyped Mahesh Babu’s MLA get up is wasted in the film. The purpose of raising curtain for a reality show by Mahesh Babu is not at all convincing but boring. Taking the bigger risk of reality show to keep father happy is like a cock and bull story. The entertainment graph falls down suddenly due to that. Audience gets disconnected to the film at that moment for about 20 minutes. Although the purpose of that reality show is not convincing, the pattern in which it goes with other artistes brought the humor.

But second half covered up the entire thing and no one looks at the watch anymore. There are few points which are worth mentioning here:

    When Dharmavarapu faxes a celebrity photo to the villains. All are shocked. You must watch the film to enjoy that.
    The scene between Sonu Sood and Prakash Raj. It is a straight lift from ‘Sarkar’ scene between Amitabh Bachchan and Zakir Hussain, but a weak imitation.
    Last twenty minutes comedy and the dialogues of Brahmi and M S Narayana

Overall, the film has the right ingredients to appeal the family audience and though most of it is expected, it is the pace and ability with which the audience is engaged and the entertainment value they get.
Source: Idlebrain

In a statement issued by his office, the 41-year-old Chief Minister said "while it is true my wife and I have separated, the speculation about motives and about my future course of action are unfounded, untrue and deeply hurtful to all concerned."

Omar said he was dismayed and anguished over the "growing tide of speculation in the media about my private life, particularly the status of my marriage."

"The stories about my remarriage are completely false and concocted. It is a pity that while repeating these lies, no effort was made to ask me whether any of this is true. In the process a lot of people have been hurt," he said.

		vidya-hot VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Source: Yahoo

Mumbai: Four days of heavy downpour has hit the lifeline of Mumbai — the local trains. Tens of thousands of passengers had a harrowing time getting to office Monday morning as service at most stations was suspended due to flooding on the tracks, officials said.

All Central Railway suburban train services were hit between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus-Thane and beyond Karjat (Raigad) where a portion of the track was washed away Sunday.

Similarly, the Harbor Line service was suspended between VT and Mankhurd and was being operated only between Panvel and Mankhurd, an official spokesperson said.
Source: MSN

It was the most-awaited race of the year and what an anti-climax it turned out to be. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt was disqualified in the final of the men’s 100 metres event at Daegu after jumping the gun. The unexpected bolt left him angry, frustrated and unfortunately brought out the bad side in him. Take a look at these pictures to know why.

The dreaded red card

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt reacts as he is disqualified for a false start in the Men’s 100m final as France’s Christophe Lemaitre, Jamaica’s Nesta Carter and Yohan Blake, USA’s Walter Dix, Saint Kitts and Nevis’ Kim Collins, Antigua’s Daniel Bailey, and France’s Jimmy Vicaut, look on during the World Athletics Championships in Daegu. Bolt’s dream of defending his title ended up in smoke the moment the red card started pointing towards him.
Source: MSN

As Hurricane Irene petered out leaving 18 dead across seven states and impacting millions with strong winds and drenching rains, authorities prepared to fight dangerous, damaging flood waters along the East Coast.

Waves crash along a seawall as Tropical Storm Irene, downgraded from a hurricane, slammed into Fairhaven , Mass. Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. From North Carolina to New Jersey, Hurricane Irene appeared to have fallen short of the doomsday predictions, but more than 4.5 million homes and businesses along the East Coast reportedly lost power, and at least 11 deaths were blamed on the storm.
Source: MSN

YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has set a new record in expanding his business empire from a small power plant to a vast network of industries with ill-gotten investments.

This was the observation made by Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader Nama Nageshwara Rao, who was the richest parliamentarian in the country before Jagan took his place recently.

While Jagan claimed that he deserved to be given the best industrialist award for his business acumen, Nageshwara Rao feels the Kadapa MP deserved punishment for earning such a huge wealth through dubious means in such a short time. Nama came down heavily on the MLAs resigning from their seats for the sake of a corrupt politician. “It is the most unfortunate development, at a time when the country was going agog against corruption,” he said.
Source: Greatandhra