Maya Bazaar

Laughs, Imagination and Wit.

A pure spectacle of cinema.!

A complete treat for soul.!

You are not alone in thinking this is the best movie ever made, rgulla. In a poll conducted in AP, this movie was voted the best telugu movie ever made, and I totally agree.

What makes this movie fascinating is, in my opinion, this is only movie ever made that speaks to all ages at the same time. Harry potter is a children's' movie, we all know that. Similarly there are adult, young people's movies etc. But this is the only movie that a child can see for the magic and Gatothkacha. A young adult will watch the love story, and finally, an older adult will see the interaction between the two families, the politics that are played out. To top it off, for the retired person, this is a religious movie! No other movie, in any other language, is able to reach out to every moviegoer of every age.

No other Telugu movie has transcended the boundaries of language as this film did and it goes on.

If there is one telugu film to refer to say that it is the all time great of all, then this film in every sense does justice to the statement. It indeed, is seriously the best film technically, culturally and aesthetically. Acting is one heck that makes it a must watch and so is the music that will be alive even 100 years later. I love many songs today too and the tiles of most songs are later made as titles for other films. Now, we can understand how loved the film was to every telugu movie goer.

The story is not as though a tale taken from Mahabharata but a fable written by the writer Pingali Nagendra Rao and also Nagireddi and Chakrapani (both Reddy and Chakrapni are founders of Chandamama magazine too) but nevertheless its based on Mahabharatha.

If I were to simplistically write then this is about out how a man helps a girl elope and gets her married to a dear relative of his own. But this movie is not that simplistic it's multi layered and comes out in many folds as we go about each character. What's more astonishing is that Ghatothkatcha (who is the main character of the whole film) comes an hour into the film and takes this film head on and gives us a really enthralling performance.

The movie is slow for today's times but perfect and in fact you will crave for more after the completion of it. Such is the magic of this film, just terrific and enjoyable. The cinematography by Marcus Bartley (I suppose the greatest cameraman ever for Telugu films) is so awesome like we wonder how those scenes were made possible in 1957 when there was no CG or computer or any other equipment apart from a camera. Man, he must have been god to create illusions as they were shown in the film.

Everyone did their best from writing to editing to sound design to every aspect of the film. There has since not been a movie that can beat this in all departments in Telugu at least.

I have both the Black and White and the Colour DVD's but I prefer to go with B & W. It's lengthier and pristine so that helps the magic live longer. Having said that, the colour conversion is done well and I was very happy with the fact that this film was being re released.

I bet, that most films made in those good old days of Telugu are much better and much relevant than the crap being made today.

I will go with 5/5 for this movie that will ever be called the best of all Telugu movies.

This movie I have been watching since I was a little girl. Even though I speak very little Telegu, I find that I need not know how to speak the language to understand what is going on. My father and I still make jokes about little lines that I remember. I dare not type them, for I do not know how to spell them, only how they sound. This movie is truly amazing, and an instant classic! I love how the giant changes into so many different things, and the bow and arrows used. The stunts are perfect. I am in the middle of ordering a DVD copy, so I may watch it all the time. I fell in love with music after listening to the soundtrack, hearing songs that me and my father still sing, once again, not daring to write to words, because I don't know how to spell them.

Maya Bazaar (1957) : Brief Review -

A Colossal Tower of filmmaking that raised the bar of Indian Cinema forever. An Astounding and Unmatchable Cinematic Grandeur. Historical Epic tales have more appealing stories than any other literature or books but almost all Indian Filmmaker failed to understand this fact. Ramayana and Mahabharata have plenty of gorgeous stories that can be turned into Masterpiece films but who would dare to try hands in it? And would that person be enough intelligent to understand how big responsibility it is? These two questions are the reason why Indian Cinema hasn't produced lots of Magnum Opus despite the fact that we have stupendous larger than Life Stories available in our history books. I always complained that Hollywood made two of the biggest grandeurs of all time like 'The Ten Commandments' and 'Ben-Hur' in 50s and both were biblical but why didn't Indian Cinema achieved something like that when we have almost 50x more number of traditional and religious stories than them? Bollywood made 'Mughal-E-Azam' and raised the bar but why just one? Now i think i must say Two. Yes, Maya Bazaar is that First One and then Mughal-e-Azam follows. What MEA means to Bollywood, Maya Bazaar means to Telugu and Tamil Cinema. What those two grand biblical means to Hollywood, Maya Bazaar means to INDIAN CINEMA. I am speechless looking at the grandeur and finesse in storytelling along with stupendous sets and grand scale execution. Maya Bazaar raised the bar of Indian Cinema for generations to follow and nobody has been able to match it till date except for 'Mughal-E-Azam'. Acting, writing, screenplay, production, dialogues, music, execution and direction everything has come together in their best forms to deliver an astounding and unbelievable Magnum Opus to remember forever. If i have to make a list of Top 5 Biggest and Best Grandeurs made in the history Indian cinema then Maya Bazaar will be in Top 3. A GIGANTIC MASTERPIECE!

RATING - 9/10*

By - #samthebestest.