Mitra Boga

MITRA BOGA’s REVIEW “Beast” is a Nelson Dilipkumar film at its core masqueraded as a fanservice compilation for the star. From the get go Anirudh brings you into the Beast zone with his killer BGM, although I found it to be a bit repetitive and not as versatile as his other scores (especially coming from “Master” and “Doctor”). The opening stretch and in fact the entirety of Beast's first act is executed very well. Characters are introduced seamlessly while establishing the plot. Take for instance the whole opening action stretch that is choreographed brilliantly in a very unique manner with fight sequences we haven’t ever seen before. Furthermore, we get a very Nelson type of treatment with the love angle; straightforward, quirky, and naturally lowkey development. Where this falls apart is the fact that Pooja exists only to be the love interest and nothing more, whereas in “Doctor” the love interest is the basis of informing the rest of the story whether it be the family dynamic and the character arcs and their morals. Vijay steals the show whilst sleepwalking throughout: all I saw was Vijay as Veeraraghavan not the inverse. The fan service elements are a hit or miss as well. By going overboard, the potential of “Beast” was slimmed down to just a fan compilation for the star. For instance the opening stretch and dance number were executed really well and synced with the screenplay but unnecessary over the top sequences like the rollerblade scene and mini cooper scene seem overly witty. The rollerblades come out of nowhere and the mini cooper fly’s midair without any space for acceleration and only acts as an interval card scene as it's never shown or used after. Nevertheless, I appreciate the thought of integrating items in the mall to use the environment and help enclose the audience within the mall. A much more efficient and satisfying alternative would have been to foreshadow the roller blades by using the Checkhov’s gun technique and even tho this was done very minutely for the mini cooper, where it falls flat is the payoff as I already said it only serves as a fanservice scene for the interval. We never feel like our protagonist is in danger and I get that he is a literal “Beast” as the title suggests, however giving him some flaws and actually showing them would help the audience be tense for what the terrorists plans next and will allow our Beast to truly get enraged by his strong opponent and come out as a Beast. Another point is that there was tremendous talent in this film but used underwhelmingly. Yogi babu and Redin Kingsley must have definitely got fans cheering but only serve as hostages who crack a few jokes. Furthermore, Selvaraghavan does his job but there isn’t too much scope for an actor of his caliber to perform either. Ultimately, “Beast” was a decent watch and definitely will get Thalapathy fans going crazy but other than that pretty lackluster coming from Nelson. I hope he comes back strong in his next, especially considering that he will be collaborating with thalaiva Rajini!

MITRA BOGA’s REVIEW PART I ‘RRR’ is a spectacle extravaganza with heart! To be honest I have no words. I don't know if it’s because of how much I screamed or because of how mind-blown my brain is. Rajamouli is our Kohinoor and we should cherish his brilliance and efforts. From his mastery of storytelling to conveying emotions visually he nailed it. Despite being a 3 hour long celluloid, I left wondering how time flew by so quick. Rajamouli wrote a VERY well paced screenplay! From the get go the sound design pinned my focus to the screen and Keeravani deserves much more credit than he gets. Everyone gets too critical about the enjoyability of his songs off screen but his responsibility is to enhance the story first and foremost. Every beat was spot on and the songs continue to tell the story rather than cutting off one’s focus for an unnecessary dance number. The balance of volume was brilliant and we can clearly see how Rajamoulis understand the emotional power that sound AND silence have. He lets shots linger silent whenever apt and helps us breathe with Bheem n Ram. The action sequences were choreographed in a way I have never seen before, perfectly marrying our mass masala flavor to realism to an anime-like fluidity.