I simply cannot resist posting more fabulous pictures that I've gathered on the internets of the actor Aadhi. He sure has a lot of name variations floating around: Aathi, Adi, Sai Pradeep Pinisetty, Pradeep Pinisetty, Aadhi Pinisetty, Pinisetti... sheesh! By using all of these variations I was able to track down quite a few interesting photographs of the handsome specimen. Enjoy!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Film Thoughts: Oka V Chitram (2006, Telugu - Aadhi)
Thanks to the awesome Piyaara, I was reminded that my new crush Aadhi apparently appeared in a seemingly-obscure 2006 Telugu film called Oka V Chitram (or Oka Vichitram) under his real name Pradeep Pinisetty. When I first read this online I figured it was an error because Aadhi is no where to be found in the stills. But as fate would have it, I suddenly remembered that I had actually bought this DVD a couple years ago and forgotten about it. With excitable anticipation, I began to play the DVD and suddenly saw Aadhi's face staring back at me on the menu! Main character! Joy!
Doesn't this totally look like an 80s film?
We'll get to Aadhi in a moment. This film seriously sucked which was no surprise. Fullhyderabad sums it up best:
"Oka V Chitram is easily one of the most ridiculous movies made anywhere. If you think the title is innovative, you are perhaps the target audience. Even that, however, won’t prepare you for the sheer inanity of what you find inside the theater... Oka V Chitram would have perhaps worked if it were made to be a comedy or a spoof...To talk about how absurd it is is to actually demean ourselves and our readers, and to dignify this film..."
Basically, the whole film centers around my beloved Aadhi who plays Balram, a sweet bumpkiny villager who cleans lorries for a living. After revealing to a group of crazed fans that he hated the recent film of "Andhra Amitabh" superstar, he accepts a challenge to make a film starring said superstar or else he will drink poison and kill himself. Fantastic. He runs away from home to Hyderabad and the rest of the film is all about how he ends up secretly filming the superstar hiding behind fake trees and camoflauge tarps and how this "movie" becomes a hit that is fought in a court battle at the end. The music is weird and mostly bad techno, half of the film looks like it was shot in the 1980s, and modern 3d computer settings and cartoon characters appear at random. It's totally rediculous low-budget crap, though there were some rare moments that made me chuckle.
These screencaps should succinctly make clear the level of crap I endured:
A character asks something like "who thought of this amazing film" and suddenly...
Okay. Enough about the movie and onto the important stuff. I was REALLY surprised to see Aadhi making all sorts of crazy facial expressions and yelling and shouting and doing the whole constant-headbob-villager-aao-sir routine (though his deep voice was dubbed much higher). Could this really be the same person that did the cool and reserved cop in Eeram?! I was under the impression that his Eeram persona was his real self coming through (as evidenced by his reserved interview clips), but Oka V Chitram shows that he can change himself and dare I say it... act! And I haven't even seen Mirugam yet in which he apparently plays a total rapacious prick. Though to make me feel better, in this article Aadhi claims he had a very difficult time acting in the rough intimate scenes.
What I want to know is why is Aadhi claiming Mirugam was his debut? If it was phrased "Tamil Debut," that would be one thing. Maybe he's trying to not own up to the steaming pile of dung that is Oka Vichitram. :D
Anyways, looks-wise, Aadhi is kind of goofy and fluffy-haired sometimes and quite lovely other times. Roll the screencaps!
And now for the closing eyes-of-mystery shot enlarged for your viewing pleasure:
Doesn't this totally look like an 80s film?
We'll get to Aadhi in a moment. This film seriously sucked which was no surprise. Fullhyderabad sums it up best:
"Oka V Chitram is easily one of the most ridiculous movies made anywhere. If you think the title is innovative, you are perhaps the target audience. Even that, however, won’t prepare you for the sheer inanity of what you find inside the theater... Oka V Chitram would have perhaps worked if it were made to be a comedy or a spoof...To talk about how absurd it is is to actually demean ourselves and our readers, and to dignify this film..."
Basically, the whole film centers around my beloved Aadhi who plays Balram, a sweet bumpkiny villager who cleans lorries for a living. After revealing to a group of crazed fans that he hated the recent film of "Andhra Amitabh" superstar, he accepts a challenge to make a film starring said superstar or else he will drink poison and kill himself. Fantastic. He runs away from home to Hyderabad and the rest of the film is all about how he ends up secretly filming the superstar hiding behind fake trees and camoflauge tarps and how this "movie" becomes a hit that is fought in a court battle at the end. The music is weird and mostly bad techno, half of the film looks like it was shot in the 1980s, and modern 3d computer settings and cartoon characters appear at random. It's totally rediculous low-budget crap, though there were some rare moments that made me chuckle.
These screencaps should succinctly make clear the level of crap I endured:
A character asks something like "who thought of this amazing film" and suddenly...
Okay. Enough about the movie and onto the important stuff. I was REALLY surprised to see Aadhi making all sorts of crazy facial expressions and yelling and shouting and doing the whole constant-headbob-villager-aao-sir routine (though his deep voice was dubbed much higher). Could this really be the same person that did the cool and reserved cop in Eeram?! I was under the impression that his Eeram persona was his real self coming through (as evidenced by his reserved interview clips), but Oka V Chitram shows that he can change himself and dare I say it... act! And I haven't even seen Mirugam yet in which he apparently plays a total rapacious prick. Though to make me feel better, in this article Aadhi claims he had a very difficult time acting in the rough intimate scenes.
What I want to know is why is Aadhi claiming Mirugam was his debut? If it was phrased "Tamil Debut," that would be one thing. Maybe he's trying to not own up to the steaming pile of dung that is Oka Vichitram. :D
Anyways, looks-wise, Aadhi is kind of goofy and fluffy-haired sometimes and quite lovely other times. Roll the screencaps!
And now for the closing eyes-of-mystery shot enlarged for your viewing pleasure:
Sunday, January 24, 2010
My Latest Actor Discovery (i.e. Crush): Aadhi
I watched the Tamil film Eeram on YouTube with no subtitles this weekend and was extremely impressed by it. Not only was the cinematography slick and the supernatural-thriller story extremely well-done and something fresh for South Indian cinema, but also it starred two verrrrry attractive men that seem to be relatively unknown. This needs to change! I introduce to you one of these men: Aadhi.
The most striking thing about him is his piercing, almost feminine, eyes. He has simply gorgeous features, though his gorgeousness varies depending on how much facial hair he has and other factors. And that deep, sexy voice! Though I am not a fan of thick squared-off moustaches, he rocks his most of the time. He also has a lovely build with wide shoulders and very grounded, quiet, masculine strength. I can imagine myself discussing philosophy with him as he flutters his eyelashes at me… :D
The most striking thing about him is his piercing, almost feminine, eyes. He has simply gorgeous features, though his gorgeousness varies depending on how much facial hair he has and other factors. And that deep, sexy voice! Though I am not a fan of thick squared-off moustaches, he rocks his most of the time. He also has a lovely build with wide shoulders and very grounded, quiet, masculine strength. I can imagine myself discussing philosophy with him as he flutters his eyelashes at me… :D
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Mugavari (2000, Tamil - Ajith, Jyothika)
Can I please have the last two hours of my life back? I’ve always heard good things about this film online and decided tonight was the night to watch this little “underrated treasure” as one reviewer put it. I can only conclude that people who like this film are bonkers!
Alternatively spelled Mugavaree, apparently.
Mugavaree is about Sridhar (Ajith), a sweet but mopey young man who dreams of being a music director. In trying to meet with film and music industry folks and get his “foot in the door,” he repeatedly runs into Viji (Jyothika). After hearing Sridhar hum a tune, Viji immediately falls in love with him and they embark upon an incredibly boring "journey" to fulfill his dream.
It sounds like a great movie on paper. I expected to see lots of footage of music studios and recording sessions and personal rejection and courage and getting back up again and all that motivational cheese. Funny thing is, we never once see any evidence of Sridhar having the ability to compose or direct or do anything remotely musical. He just… whistles. And apparently it is quite the whistle because anyone within a 10-foot radius is completely mystified! When he does finally get an appointment to do a recording session, all we see him do is slide one button up and down on the console to “bring in the violins.” Wow, way to show us how amazing you are and how much you deserve to realize your dream Sridhar! Unfortunately, the producer gets in a car accident and it is cancelled. At this moment Sridhar breaks down in a slow-motion scene of anguish of the magnitude usually reserved for something more akin to the end of the world and the annihilation of humanity.
Basically, this movie is stupid. Everything is unrealistic and childish, Sridhar is extremely sensitive and cries at the drop of a hat, there are stupid little side plots and “oh isn’t this family so cute and funny” scenes that the director apparently didn’t realize would be interesting to anyone other than himself, and not that much happens. The sound editing in this film sucks. Everyone walks around in complete silence except for their voices despite being in crowds or out in rainstorms. Sridhar and Viji’s little “love story” is ridiculous and irritating. On top of that, I think the dialogues were translated terribly because half of the things they say don’t really make sense to me in English. It’s just so bad that I don’t even see the point in going into more plot detail because it’s simply not worth it.
While the movie was “so bad it’s BAD,” the songs were “so bad it’s GOOD.” The music is drum-loop heavy stuff that sounds like it’s from the early 90s, and one of the songs is a direct rip off of the “That Thing You Do” title song. The picturisations are completely lacking in creativity and are so cheesy I was laughing my tushie off. The most craptastic example would be the “Aandey Nootrandey” song which I can only assume was designed by some nephew of the director majoring in computer animation eager to show off his newfangled skillz.
*Spoilers*
The movie ends with Sridhar realizing that his dream was impractical and he gets an office job instead that “pays the bills.” At least I think that’s what happened as I could barely force myself to finish it. In reviews I had read online, people kept waxing eloquent about how this ending was “stunning” and “path-breaking” or some such nonsense. It’s actually a great concept for a movie but the whole thing is a big, big failure that takes itself waaaaay too seriously. Except for the songs...
*End Spoilers*
Screencap time!
Ajith as Sridhar
Jyothika as Viji
Their first meeting when he saves her from the perils of poorly-constructed seating arrangements!
Extent of her love...
“Aandey Nootrandey" song visuals... priceless
Jyothika's eyebrows after a plucking hiatus
Sridhar is all talk and no action
Viji visting a "famous producer" who apparently won a filmfare...
What in the whiskers did Vyjayantimala have to do with this film?
Sunday, January 10, 2010
When Stars Disappoint: Allu Arjun Edition
I have always been, since I first saw Desamuduru, an irrational Allu Arjun fangirl--despite him looking like an eternal 17-year-old (or what someone once wisely quipped: jail bait!) and having fairly silly movies until recently. After running across these pictures today of Arjun partying in some pub, I want to unsee them! I don't want to know about the personal lives of my crushes... just let me hold my idealized image in my head untarnished, okay! Though I must say, I could do a decent photoshop job and put myself in that last picture, on the left... ;)
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Intro to Evergreen South Indian Cinema Stars (from SouthScope Magazine)
Over on the BollyWhat forum, I posted a link to the December 09 online issue of SouthScope Magazine: http://emag.southscope.in/index.aspx?issue=issue02/
Starting on page 21, it has a fabulous overview of all the popular and stylish stars, present and past, from all four South Indian film industries. My favorite part of it was seeing pictures and descriptions of the stars from the 50s-70s-ish era. Here are all of the evergreen stars from the magazine, resized/edited (right click --> view image for larger version):
Starting on page 21, it has a fabulous overview of all the popular and stylish stars, present and past, from all four South Indian film industries. My favorite part of it was seeing pictures and descriptions of the stars from the 50s-70s-ish era. Here are all of the evergreen stars from the magazine, resized/edited (right click --> view image for larger version):
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